OP is in Australia, which might make US companies like Schiit and JDS overpriced with shipping. Also look at companies like Topping, FiiO and SMSL. For bare-bones excellence, the VE Megatron is a DAC/Amp from China that's all of $56 shipped to USA, might be even less in Australia. It doesn't...

I'd enter if the Terms and Conditions didn't give rights forever (in perpetuity) to use my name, likeness, image, biography, etc. The below is just plain creepy -- even if it's copypasta that Bloom got elsewhere. You understand and agree that the Sponsor and anyone acting on behalf of the...

Yes. The higher the decibels, the more bass (or treble or midrange).

Bassier means more bass. So it should be "the higher the measured response goes down toward the 20K region." Crinacle's graph database lets you overlay two curves on each other (or more if you become a paid supporter)...

You could go portable and ultra-budget ($56 shipped to US) with VE Megatron, which has 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm balanced jacks and will play headphones from both simultaneously. USB-powered (no battery) and no volume control, but lots of power. Not recommended for sensitive IEMs...

You can do a rough hearing test online to see what highs you can actually hear. https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php https://hearingtest.online/ 22,000 Hz vs. 20,000 Hz might sound like a lot -- another 10 percent, right? Not really. Every doubling of frequencies is...

As an owner of the 470 ohm ATH-R70X, I'm perfectly happy with an amp that's <$100. (Monolith Liquid Spark at the moment, also have used Schiit Magni 3 and VE Megatron.) Your current amp looks pretty stellar -- plenty of power, excellent measurements. Don't succumb to upgrade-itis.

What headphones are you planning to use with the amp? Also, desktop (plugged in) or portable (battery- or USP-powered)?

When someone is very used to a particular sound signature -- and loyal to it as a matter of identity -- any change, anything different, may well sound "worse." So unless you're ready to keep that $500 set for yourself after the experiment, you might want to leave the status quo undisturbed...

And yet you have your own measuring rig and graph database. So while they are not the whole story, there must be something to be gleaned from graphs.

Graphs: https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/ https://squig.link/ Both have info on interpreting graphs.

The Artti R1 has big bass and non-piercing treble. Three dynamic drivers. They are heavy in the hand and they look ungainly in photos, but they turned out to be very comfortable in use. Also, if you want some real bass-happy beaters, you could get the Sony MH750 from Spassear on Ebay, who...

Maybe you've just been unlucky with Chi-fi quality control. I've gotten some crappy ultra-cheap KBear cables that were wired out of phase. But otherwise even very budget cables like TRN T2 have been fine. If you're doing a lot of cable swapping maybe the connectors in the IEMs are wearing out?

You're sending a source -- a DAP? a computer? a phone? -- into a DAC/Amp. Doesn't your source have a headphone jack?

With sensitive IEMs you could also skip the DAC/Amp and plug into the headphone jack....just saying...