I've been tinkering with headphones for a while and have a collection I am thinking of liquidating to go all in on a set up. By all in I mean headphones for ~$600 used. That is not a hard limit but I can't go crazy. For DAC/Amp I use a meridian explorer 2 and the P-51 for higher impedance...

Not sure if that was meant to be a jab at me or not, but for whatever its worth I don't buy things made in china if there is any way to avoid it.   I own: -AKG 701 - made in Austria -Focal Spirit Classic - Made in France -AKG 550 - not sure where its made, I traded an American Made HRT...

To be clear I love the Atrios but I would not spend $200 to replace them.  The IEM world has exploded since I bought them 9 years ago.  They were the several generations ago M8 before the upgraded driver etc... The G10 would have to be significant upgrade to the M8s to spend the money.  Also...

My beloved 9 year old Atrio M8s are on their last leg.  They've been held together with duct tape for a while now and recently i noticed another break in the wiring also fixed with duct tape.  Somehow they keep playing!!!  I use them largely for watching movies because of their outstanding base...

I have the FX850 and a much older Atrio M8 bought in Feb 2008.  The 850 is clearly superior to the M8 as it should be considering price and technology advancement between their release dates.  I'd be very interested in hearing your comparison.

10 db is ~10X the volume.  DB is logarithmic.  3db is 2x, 6db is 4x, 9db is 8x etc...  Every 3 db you add ads 2x the volume etc...  So if you are referring to the attenuation of outside noise 29 db is roughly 2^10 or cutting the volume by 1/1000th.  

I still have my first pair of IEMs, the atrio M8 purchased in Feb of 2008.  they really started me on a love affair with IEMs and headphones in general.  I can't believe they still function 7 years later and I have not treated them well.  They went to Afghanistan with me and a few dozen other...

My reading of the tea leaves is if you have a low impedance headphone paired with an amp designed for high impedance it will still sound good. Its the "fussy" factor.  It will sound even better with a properly paired amp.  The closer you can get to a 1 to 8+ ratio of amp output impedance to...

I like where you are going but what about sound quality?  Are there any good sq comparisons between the two?  I've found a few comparisons but nothing yet that is exactly what I am curious about.  I notice the asgard has 2 db greater s/n, you might hear that.   Thanks!

I sold the HD600s and before I got the Parasound.  And the Focals sound very good with the Parasound as the do with the Audioquest, but it is a whole other world with the P-51.  I'm certainly not complaining about the Parasound, it is a heck of a value!   I don't think gain will be too big of...

Or what about the Asgard 2?  

THanks, I'm not too concerned about portability, I have the P-51 for that.  The P-51 sounds wonderful but I want something dedicated to my main stereo.  I have a wife and kids and a dog and etc... Sometimes it is nice to listen to my stereo and cut all that noise out or listen while everyone is...

True but in my fiddling the Focals I've noticed they do significantly benefit from the better power amp on the P-51 in both cases.  They can be powered by portable devices but are good enough to really shine with higher end amplification.  I'm talking about sound quality not necessarily volume...

Interesting, I am like a green belt in circuit theory, meaning I know just enough to get my ass kicked.  But I thought impedance mismatches between the amp and the cans would lead to over or under damping.  Did I just make that up or is it a thing?  If it is a thing then an amp designed for high...

I'm sure you are correct but it is a bit out of my price range.  I was thinking something closer to the price of the Focals which retail from $400-$450 new.  I don't have a strict budget but I think $2500 is not something I can talk myself into!  Plus I really don't need a DAC.  I am happy with...

Greetings,   With so many great headphones coming out today that are not the normal 300ohm plus for high quality cans, what are the good power options?  I have a pair of Focal Classics which are wonderful.   I like them much better than my Sennheiser HD600s and slightly better than my...

I would be interested in hearing other comparisons to the Focals, or any of the headphones I mentioned here.

Thanks, head-fi has been a great source of information for me and hopefully this will be useful to someone else.   I love the DT880s.  If I had to choose between them and the Sennheisers I would easily go with the DT880s.  They've got more liveliness.  Like I said, I can see why the...

Yes absolutely.  Its been a while since I experimented but I recall that the JVCs did benefit from amplification.  These are the easiest to drive so it is not a matter of volume but just sounding better.  If I were using them to commute on a bus or something I wouldn't bother with amplification...

I surf Head-fi quite often but don't contribute that much.  I've gotten a lot of info from here as well as a few nice deals so I thought I should throw my hat in the ring and contribute what I know.  Perhaps it will be worthwhile to someone.  If want to skip to the meat of the review just go to...

Come on now, nothing?  I'm on my own?!? I've never been on my own!!!!

Greetings,   I've had a pair of Future Sonics Atrio (I think M8) for 8 years now.  I bought them shortly after they came out.  I have other IEMs I like better for music but really enjoyed the Atrios for their great bass.  I used them to watch movies and TV on my computer or phone.  After 8...

I own a pair of JVC FX700s and they are absolutely friggin wonderful.  They are the most expensive IEMs I've heard so I don't really know how they compare with their peers, but they sound great to me.  I want to address the recessed mids comment.  Its hard to describe but I think recessed mids...

I haven't heard the original version so I can't compare but this is for my money a very fine piece of gear.  I had been using an HRT Music Streamer II+ combined with a Ray Samuels P-51 Mustang for my portable/bedside set up.  That combo is a little clunky for that purpose, plus I wanted to use...

The Atrio M5s have amazing base and do everything else well enough.  I think they isolate at 22 db which is reasobable but not great.  A good value imho.