Interesting. Couple questions: 1. Does the hip-dac 2 resolve the channel imbalance on low volumes that was present on the OG hip-dac? (I think that was due to the potentiometer, if I recall correctly.) 2. Does the unit run off battery continuously, or will it bypass the battery to draw power...

Huh. I'm not a fan of the Zen chassis, but I find the connectivity and capability of the Zen Stream quite intriguing. I wonder if the USB output would be able to connect to a 5-channel (or greater) system for multichannel audio or to take advantage of Apple's Dolby Atmos tracks. Either way...

I think part of the problem is that the approach to the issue is somewhat backward, at least in terms of the title of this thread. Beyond that, I think there's a lot of talking over one another, and the actual point is lost. So, what is the actual point? What do we really want to know? It...

Why do you think this is like an "alternate reality", though?

I have too much on my plate to do proper research at the moment, but here's my recollections (ie, take the following with a grain of salt). There are studies that show that people can hear a difference in DACs and cables, demonstrations, too. Problem is that none of these studies followed a...

If you liked the video, pass your thanks onto the creator, @GoldenOne here on Head-Fi. I'm re-evaluating my subscription to Tidal (discount runs out in a few months, and my two main DACs, Schiit Modius and Topping D50S don't do MQA rendering anyway), so @GoldenOne's post and video was...

It has something to do with the Pope drinking Gatorade messes with Texas, right? A Catholic in the presence of an electrolyte erases Galvelston? Or are we just talking about galvanic corrosion of two dissimilar metals when in electrical contact with each other? Which is one reason why gold is...

Ah, yes. @crinacle, who wrote this article on cables, in 2019, also happened to write "I’m sorry for making fun of cable believers last year" in a follow-up article exactly one year later. Both articles were written on April 1st as jokes and neither should be taken seriously. Yes, I would not...

Thanks for the response! So the Diablo truly is for *most* headphones. I just have to check the sensitivity of my gear to make sure it's ok. For the low volumes, how was the Diablo in terms of channel match? I'm looking at the iFi Hip-DAC as an example of a great device with poor channel match...

@Chibs - I'm not certain what you mean by lower bandwidth here. Does the Diablo not fare well at low volumes, or is this something unique to the Stellia (a product I am almost 100% unfamiliar with)? Thanks for trying to get the thread back on topic!

I think someone was talking about the Icarus III?

It's a forum, not a direct message, so literally anyone who has an account, like me, has the ability to answer any question in any thread, like here. Or add a comment, like this. I think this gets forgotten sometimes, and I'm not referring to just one user, forum or website. I see this in other...

Between lossless and Tidal premium? Kinda, sorta. Depends on what you use to listen and how you listen. At work, where I use the iFi Hip-Dac -> SendyAudio Aiya, the difference is not enough to notice. At home, when it's quiet and I'm using my absolute best equipment (which in all fairness is a...

Android is open source. FiiO's merely working around two issues. 1. Their own firmware design. 2. China's restrictions on Google Play access. Companies that operate out of China have provided multiple versions of firmware, one for those devices sold in China and units designated for...

What is(are) your specific concern(s)?

And now FiiO has officially backed a procedure to allow Google Play Store services of the M11, M11 Pro, and M15 models. Well, well, well. I think the two big downers with that are 1. This was developed by a couple of people unaffiliated with FiiO who haven't - as far as I can tell, yet -...

I'm sorry your Hip-DAC didn't sound great out of the box, mine certainly did. I'm glad it's improved! It's difficult to know when that ear-brain normalization (wrong word, maybe?) kicks in and what we expect to hear changes. Very possibly. I most certainly enjoyed the Hip-DAC right away, and I...

I'm sorry that come off as a troll, that wasn't my intent. Obviously I'm missing something here. Feel free to reply with what I missed (or PM if that floats your boat). I hope that the experiences which contribute to the desire to ignore people are few and far between.

Or maybe I thought the Hip-DAC sounded great out of the box so the comment didn't make sense.

It does seem like a simple sentence, doesn't it? But how simple is it, really? Let's ask a few questions to see if it really is as simple as you say - who knows, depending on the answers, maybe I'll learn something along the way! Here's the initial quote for reference: The first thing I have...

I was able to do Test 2 on Sunday, and got about 6.5 hours with no load. Monday, I ran into an issue and couldn't complete the test. I then realized that, when I updated the firmware to try out the GTO filter, I didn't switch back. So, Test 3, which lasted just under 6 hours, isn't a fair...

What does this mean? Or are you dumping on the competition?

That's actually a great solution! Not for every situation, mind, but it's a simple, low-tech and should be quite effective in many cases. I wish I'd thought of that. I wonder what keywords I'd need to find that on Amazon...

:thinking: How much time is that, again?

Cymbals/hi-hats were particularly prominent to my ears. But now I have to go and check the old memory banks because that's where I though those were, frequency wise. Checked one site, and I'll change the range to 3-5kHz. Checked the Ora documents and if that's accurate, then wowza, that's a...