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The Official Headphone Thread 2.5: We're Making WAVs and Catching FLAC

nitewulf

Member
Its really a textbook example of how to tune a headphone towards a more coloured sound signature without trying to drown the midrange with excessive bass or trying to deafen you with stupid treble peaks.
Yes, that's exactly what it is. It's tuned to be lush and musical, I know full well it's not "accurate", but I love the presentation and it's what suits me. Also found a speaker pair with similar qualities, though a lot more neutral than the Fostex variants, and I might go for those instead of a super high tech uber pair of speakers I've also auditioned.
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Yeah, the current Fostex variants are better than anything else Fostex had previously released by actually providing a tuning that isn't an uneven mess. Cheaper too. Its really a textbook example of how to tune a headphone towards a more coloured sound signature without trying to drown the midrange with excessive bass or trying to deafen you with stupid treble peaks.

Mmm, now I am tempted to take my Teaks home and try them with my Yggy/Rag. Have been using them at work with Bimby/Asgard so far. Will be interesting to compare them with HE-1000s, they certainly punch far above their price.
 

Jabronium

Member
Sent you a PM about the Mimby if you are still in the market.

Thanks for keeping me in mind. You the homey. Wound up snagging one with my Lyr 2 as a package deal, got both for the price of a new Lyr 2 as the seller was local.

Time to give the wallet a little rest and just enjoy what I've got for a while.

I'm still finding that I keep reaching for my Teaks over my HD650's. The Senn's just sound...muffled, almost, compared to how lush and detailed the Teaks are. I thought the Lyr 2/Mimby might help with that but no such luck. I guess I just prefer the sound signature of the Teaks.
 

matmanx1

Member
If I'm gonna drop a grand though I'm probably going to opt for the Elear personally.

Really? Hmm. I liked the Elears when I had them for that week to demo but I honestly preferred the sound of my TH-X00's. The Elears are comfortable, well built and have really, really agile and detailed drivers but their particular sonic signature was not my favorite. I don't know if it was the mid-range dip or the "flavor" of the Be driver material. But that's just me.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
I thought BE driver were for the utopia?

I do like the elears a lot, but there are so many new phones coming out since then to distract me from them. Like the new Hifiman Susvara(edition 6)!

Haha nah fuck that phone and everything hifiman represents nowadays.
 
The adapter that came with my X2s 3.5mm to 6.5mm is kinda loose. Smallest wiggle will leave me with only one headphone working. I have no idea how that happened :(

Can I buy a cheap one or do I have to try and get quality part?
 

matmanx1

Member
The thirst for Modi Multibit is real. I posted mine up over at Head-Fi this morning and I've had 9 inquiries throughout the day. The first person this morning said they would Paypal me tonight so I've just been telling folks it's sold with the provision that if I don't get paid I will come back to them.

Still, that DAC is absolutely incredible for the price. No wonder they don't last long on the used market.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Time to up my portable game.

buxtth2x8mmy.jpg

BP6qN84.jpg
 
Lol wut. He's using open Grados too. Those poor people around him.


Recently received the DT990 Premium from Amazon. Currently great price at $139 and I wanted something similar to my HE400 but more comfortable for long sessions. Loving them so far.
 

nitewulf

Member
absurd....the ambient noise itself wouldn't make it an audiophile experience...i don't understand people who required massive rigs for portable music or upgrade their car speaker systems to high end...it's pointless.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
TBF he's probably taking the piss. You see that he wrapped together power cables, multiple usb hubs, a MMCX cable and an additional IEM (looks like dunu 2Ks to me)

There's even a 6.3 plug hanging out not being plugged in lmao.

edit: omg just noticed that he duct taped a Sony NWZ-ZX2 and Sony WM1Z together.
 

Noctix

Member
Hello Headphone gaf,
I need a recommendation for headphones for gym. Preferably wireless, noice cancelling + great sounding (preferably better sounding then my hd598).
 

e90Mark

Member

Ashhong

Member
Where can I read about that?

No article or anything. It was in the comments for the discussion on the 37X by a Massdrop employee

richardgao
Massdrop Team

Really excited to see everyone posting pictures and their thoughts and as of right, now more than 2/3rds of the orders have been delivered! I still need to buy that bottle of champagne for the team...

I also am happy to announce that we are going to be relaunching this headset this Thursday starting at 6AM for all of those who missed it as part of the first run!

And before anyone asks about the HD6XX, we are still working on it with Sennheiser.
 

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
absurd....the ambient noise itself wouldn't make it an audiophile experience...i don't understand people who required massive rigs for portable music or upgrade their car speaker systems to high end...it's pointless.
Higher end cars are really silent inside and have a high level of damping so a car stereo can sound really amazing.
 

Ashhong

Member
absurd....the ambient noise itself wouldn't make it an audiophile experience...i don't understand people who required massive rigs for portable music or upgrade their car speaker systems to high end...it's pointless.

Upgraded car stereos is FAR from pointless. Even in cheaper cars it makes an insane amount of difference. I could not drive if I had a cheap sound system in my car.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Hello Headphone gaf,
I need a recommendation for headphones for gym. Preferably wireless, noice cancelling + great sounding (preferably better sounding then my hd598).

Impossible for any wireless, noise cancelling headphone, to come within a mile of the 598.
 

deoee

Member
I recently switched from Spotify to Apple Music and the difference in sound is INSANE in some songs.

Spotify really sounds like shit in most cases after listening to Apple Music for some time now.
I'm shocked.
 

Vipu

Banned
I will look into this.

But as I see, it's 20€ for the HiFi abo.
That's 4x the price I pay now :-/

Yeah its pretty expensive and im not gonna pay for it ever and just get some free codes and trials whenever I can from somewhere.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
I'm on a free 6 month trial too.

Everything about the Windows desktop client is shitty, but the sound quality is the real deal.
 

Based_legend24

Neo Member
Hey guys, I have the Sony MDR-1000x. How do those stack up compared to other headphones in the $350-400 range. I want to connect them to the oppo udp 203 so I need an amp. What amp would be good for those headphones or is it even necessary?
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Hey guys, I have the Sony MDR-1000x. How do those stack up compared to other headphones in the $350-400 range. I want to connect them to the oppo udp 203 so I need an amp. What amp would be good for those headphones or is it even necessary?

Eh, probably not necessary.

Also by what criteria do you want it to be judged by? Sound quality considering that it's closed, wireless and noise cancelling? Probably the best one out there. Pure sound quality wise? Definitely better out there.
 

Based_legend24

Neo Member
Eh, probably not necessary.

Also by what criteria do you want it to be judged by? Sound quality considering that it's closed, wireless and noise cancelling? Probably the best one out there. Pure sound quality wise? Definitely better out there.

Thanks for your input! Yeah I know there are much better cans out there. Kind of want these new song hi res headphones coming out.
 

Vipu

Banned
I'm on a free 6 month trial too.

Everything about the Windows desktop client is shitty, but the sound quality is the real deal.

Everything?
At least you can select output in it unlike in Spotify.
Sure many things are worse too like something with already made playlists.
 
I hope this isn't too off-topic (couldn't see an applicable thread and not sure it's worth making one, but this is kinda like an audio thread so....)...my parents are buying a new TV and want a Soundbar. *don't shoot* Where the TV will be etc, surround sound is awkward etc. Anyway, if they would be having everything going into their TV then the only output they would need for the Soundbar would be Optical/Audio, right?

Iirc the TV they want has 4x HDMI inputs and they'd be using 2 for Sky and Blu Ray player. I'm pretty sure it'd be Optical from TV to the Soundbar, but just wanted to check :/

ty
 

Ashhong

Member
I hope this isn't too off-topic (couldn't see an applicable thread and not sure it's worth making one, but this is kinda like an audio thread so....)...my parents are buying a new TV and want a Soundbar. *don't shoot* Where the TV will be etc, surround sound is awkward etc. Anyway, if they would be having everything going into their TV then the only output they would need for the Soundbar would be Optical/Audio, right?

Iirc the TV they want has 4x HDMI inputs and they'd be using 2 for Sky and Blu Ray player. I'm pretty sure it'd be Optical from TV to the Soundbar, but just wanted to check :/

ty

Correct.

But maybe it's just me but I experience slight delay with optical out on my TV. If I could have RCA out I would prefer that.
 

matmanx1

Member
There is 30day free trial
I have 6 month free trial and im gonna be so sad when it ends, this quality is just too good.

I know, right? I'm already convinced that I will pay them once my 6 month sub ends. It's just too good and I'm adding songs and artists that I like to my playlists daily. For the amount of use I am getting out of Tidal right now it really is worth $20 a month.

In other news, my PS Audio PerfectWave mkII DAC sold on Ebay so I decided to buy the loaner/demo Metrum Acoustics Musette from SBAF. The PerfectWave DAC (PWD) was amazingly detailed but I had a sort of love/hate relationship with it. I loved the imaging and instrument separation but it always felt like listening to music on it was a clinical exercise and not an enjoyable hobby.

Anyway, I've been curious about the Musette ever since Zach at ZMF mentioned how much he loved it (and he is now a Metrum Acoustics distributor - so that's how much he likes them). I'm hoping the ZMF Eikon + Metrum Musette will have great synergy and be musically enjoyable even if some of the ultimate detail retrieval of the PWD is given up.

I feel like the PWD is ideal for a home stereo digital control center, especially if you are putting big money into actual speakers. For personal audio and headphone use it is overkill to a large degree.
 

matmanx1

Member
So since I am "DAC'-less tonight (having shipped off the PWD this morning) I have plugged my Logitech UE6000's directly into the speaker out on my Asus mobo while listening to Tidal.

And it sounds surprisingly good! Now the UE6000's are extremely efficient and designed for use with mobile devices but even so, the sound quality is not total crap. It sounds closed in and a bit congested and smooshed in terms of instruments but overall I'm enjoying myself.
 
So since I am "DAC'-less tonight (having shipped off the PWD this morning) I have plugged my Logitech UE6000's directly into the speaker out on my Asus mobo while listening to Tidal.

And it sounds surprisingly good! Now the UE6000's are extremely efficient and designed for use with mobile devices but even so, the sound quality is not total crap. It sounds closed in and a bit congested and smooshed in terms of instruments but overall I'm enjoying myself.

What are you listening to?
 

matmanx1

Member
A custom playlist made up of stuff I've added to "My Music". It's a lot of metal and rock but really has a little bit of almost every genre. It's admittedly a low bar to cross though because the UE6000's sound decent to good out of almost everything. I've recommended them before but they can be had really cheaply on Ebay and elsewhere and are quite a good value considering the sound quality and the fact that they will work with almost any source.

Edit - Right now it's Born for Battle by Grand Magus which is just silly good fun.
 

nitewulf

Member
Higher end cars are really silent inside and have a high level of damping so a car stereo can sound really amazing.

Upgraded car stereos is FAR from pointless. Even in cheaper cars it makes an insane amount of difference. I could not drive if I had a cheap sound system in my car.

I drive a 911 Carerra S.

The system is nice (I have the Bose), very nice actually, but no way in hell is the Burmester high end system (+$8000) suitable for a car.

My previous ride was a BMW with a Harman system, again, very nice, but it's not silent inside when you're driving! I think what I meant was, it's nice to have a default "good" hi-fi system in a car, but when I see people actually replacing the drivers with Focal and Dynaudio drivers and use solid state McIntosh amps...that seems pretty pointless to me.
 

Ashhong

Member
I drive a 911 Carerra S.

The system is nice (I have the Bose), very nice actually, but no way in hell is the Burmester high end system (+$8000) suitable for a car.

My previous ride was a BMW with a Harman system, again, very nice, but it's not silent inside when you're driving! I think what I meant was, it's nice to have a default "good" hi-fi system in a car, but when I see people actually replacing the drivers with Focal and Dynaudio drivers and use solid state McIntosh amps...that seems pretty pointless to me.

Well....I don't know anything about THAT high end. I meant like a Civic vs BMW HK system lol.
 

Jake.

Member
how is the "short" coiled cable on the AT M40x? is it still way too long or okay? wish they included the short straight cable with the M40 as well as the M50.

i'll be using them on my work commute/phone 90% of the time. they will be replacing my sennheiser hd 202s which have a straight 3m cord that is a pain in the ass.
 

SmartBase

Member
Today's the saddest day of my life, the right driver in my DT770 crapped out. They were my first "real" headphones too.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to replace them with, all I know is that I liked the sound of the DT770 through my amp and that I need big, closed cans. Not sure I want to rebuy the same headphones either because they only lasted three years.
 
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