Took me way to long to get this together but.... I made a promise There has already been quite a bit of ink spilled over the LCD-1 and the packaging up of the Audeze sound into a sub $500 portable headphone. I won’t spend a lot of time treading a well-worn road. I won’t be going into depth...

I would actually like to throw my hat in on this one. I am not a big fan of DAPs in general because I tend to use my iPhone with a couple apps and Tidal.   That said I love the C5Dac.... And it's not practical to keep an amp strapped to my iPhone 24/7. The C5dac has turned my iFi, ALO Audio...

I know. And I completely understand that it's an unfair comparison to stack a portable amp no matter what model it may be, against desktop units that MSRP out the door for $1300 and $2900 respectively.   I was just trying to add a counterweight because a couple people specifically asked about...

I listened to the Mojo with my iPhone last night via of friend of mine in Lakewood. I don't disagree that is has enough output power to play the Elear loud and the DAC is definitely superior to the iDSD, but I still hold to my original position. The Elear sounds good with it, just like it sounds...

I tend to think so. Like the Mojo, I've not heard the Elear with the the QP1R, but the QP1R is pretty obviously designed for easier loads direct from its headphone socket.   It won't sound bad per se.... It just won't sound anywhere near as good as it could.            

I was listening to the Elear last night for about 4 hours with the C5 (dac version) and it sounds pretty good with the bass boost switch engaged.  Without the bass switch engaged the sound is fairly lean compared to what the Elear sounds like out of a full sized amp.   I think that is...

Yeah my Luxman amp is a tube amp and the Elear sounds absolutely glorious through that thing. Good to know I am not crazy. My Stello (Solid State) sounds a bit thin when connected direct but adds a good helping of body and that dynamic richness back when I use the analog filter. Maybe falls...

I know right? I am pretty stunned by Elear.... The Utopia must really be something special if it is a significant improvement over the Elear.

You know I just hooked up the iDSD to handle USB to SPDIF duty to feed my other dac which feeds the Luxman rig, so I could switch between the Luxman and iDSD and the difference is really something. The iDSD really sucks all the life out of it.   I wonder if because the Focal driver has the...

I just got back into the office yesterday after a extended weekend vacation and lo and behold what was waiting on my desk but a box from Headroom with a Focal Elear inside.   Out of the box, the Elear actually shares a lot of qualities with the T1.... A slider/ pivot mechanism built into the...

Good impressions.... Glad to hear that you think the Elear trumps the T1 in the sonic dept.   I've never been completely satisfied with the build quality on the T1... Always felt that the suspension system, headband/ slider mechanism was a bit lacking in the durability dept. The Elear looks to...

And that is often where a lot of the money gets spent that can't be easily quantified.... Down to the quality of the PCB... number of layers and thickness of traces, grade of resistors and capacitors, premium or custom wound transformers etc...   Sony doesn't pull punches on flagships (IMHO)...

I agree... Sony consumer grade products are built to a price point and have a level of obsolescence built in.   But when Sony puts out a TOTL flagship product, they usually design, build and execute their products to a standard few in the industry can match.   There are top shelf Sony amps...

I can't speak to the Elear yet, still waiting on Headroom to shoot me a tracking number but I can speak to the LCD2, PM1 vs. the X2 and another poster mentioned the T1, which in the $1k market, should be a shortlist consideration.   I tend to think if you like the punchy factor with the X2...

Oh BTW.... ACUPWR makes some pretty good Step Up/ Down trafos.... My Luxman is made in/ for Japanese market so I bought a 500 watt step down. Small enough to travel here to there, but stout enough that it gives me some peace of mind that a $40 Amazon unit won't provide.

Sony amp is pretty sexy.... Expensive, but sexy. The whole release is pretty stunning.   Originally I bugged out at the $2199 asking price for the deck, but then realized (glass houses) I've got that much + in my Luxman amp and a Stello deck around 2/3 it's price sitting in my office and the...

I'm sure they'll offer replacement pads eventually but are backlogged on the headphones themselves. But I doubt they'll offer over ear pads... Maybe brainwavz will come up with something that works. On the cable its 2 ea mono 3.5mm so the audioquest nighthawk and Oppo PM3 both use the same...

I just wanted to throw a micro review and a hat tip out to Audeze.   I got a pair of Sine's about a month ago and they sound gorgeous, maybe a bit north of my own personal neutral (moar bass!) and a little harder to drive directly out of an iPhone than I expected... but I listen with a Cayin...

Guess 2 1. A small in line amp/dac that plugs into your smartphone with a built in CTIA to OMTP switch 2. First button is the power button for the amp/dac 3. Second button is the CTIA/ OMTP switch

Guess 1 1. An in line microphone that plugs directly into your phone with a built in CTIA to OMTP adapter so that it can be used on any 3.5mm port. 2. First Button is the all purpose button to answer calls. 3. Lower Button is the switch to change between CTIA/ OMTP TRRS standard.