Fostex HP-P1 Portable Amplifier and DAC for iPod/iPhone (Short REVIEW and Impressions Thread) - Page 18

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowhatimean 

Does anyone have any tips on how to increase the comfort level when wearing the Beyerdynamic DT1350 headphones? (I would really hate giving up on these due to the lack of comfort. They are exceptional sounding!) Thanks, Steve

Not a solution but a work around is to let your ears rest after a while for just a few minutes after listening for extended periods.  This will save your hearing and allow you to enjoy those headphones over a longer period but this is true for any headphone no matter how comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser 

Not a solution but a work around is to let your ears rest after a while for just a few minutes after listening for extended periods.  This will save your hearing and allow you to enjoy those headphones over a longer period but this is true for any headphone no matter how comfortable.

 

Yep... You are right, thanks for the reality check. I was thinking(& I try to keep this to a minimum,as it makes my head hurt) maybe I could "double Van Gogh" it but the cost of prosthetic outer ears(for when I'm not listening) would probably be prohibitive. (for human looking ones anyway)

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowhatimean 

While I'm off subject ; Does anyone have any tips on how to increase the comfort level when wearing the Beyerdynamic DT1350 headphones? (I would really hate giving up on these due to the lack of comfort. They are exceptional sounding!) Thanks, Steve

At first they annoyed the hell out of me....after 5 minutes or so they hurt my left ear quite a bit....now a few weeks later, no more pain...no more nothing. Just give them some time. I see other people put them on boxes or something to stretch them a bit.

Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by triodesteve 

At first they annoyed the hell out of me....after 5 minutes or so they hurt my left ear quite a bit....now a few weeks later, no more pain...no more nothing. Just give them some time. I see other people put them on boxes or something to stretch them a bit.

Steve

 

Yes, I've discovered bending them out just a tiny bit works wonders. I've been leaving them clamped to a soccer ball when not in use & will continue to do so for a few weeks.
 

So, yesterday I'm sitting in a Barnes & Noble with my iPad2 & listening (w/ my HP P1/beyer 1350 rig) to  Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra from the Anthology of the RCO live, vol.# 6 box set (a fantastic series of recordings, which I'm glad I put all 14 CDs of on my iPod) & the first thing that comes to mind is that "I'm listening to a desktop audio setup" reallity sets in as I look around & confirm I'm still at B & N. This is fun not noticing the restrictions that are clearly present when you are not listening to music coming from a home music system. The first thing I normally notice when listening to orchestral music on any system is the sense of "scale" of the sound. If the "noise floor" is'nt low enough you won't hear any of the ambient information available from the recording that will suggest there is sound coming from a dimensonal stage from dimensional instruments with spacial relationships between the locations of the players on that stage. While, I don't believe there is any playback system that can reproduce the "absolute sound" of live music, some playback equipment is more suited to presenting an acceptable approximation than other equipment. I'm finding the sound I'm getting from good recordings to be "very acceptable"in terms of these ideals. While,not that small in terms of portable systems the sound is absolutely "big" in terms of sound (I've just listened to one of the Wagner overtures & Debussy's LaMer , very nice. How, did I get the concert hall clamped to my head ?)

Now the DX100 has come out, initial impressions are swinging me back towards a 64GB Touch and this. Just can't handle buggy UIs! What I really would like is a way to ensure if I got an HP-P1 it's the most up to date version.

I am listening right now to Arvo Part's Lamentate going between the HP-P1 vs the ALO Continental using both my portable headphones: the DT1350 and ESW10JPN.  The DT1350 are baby HD800s while the ESW10JPN are baby L3000s in sound profiles in my opinion.  The HP-P1 sound great with both headphones, the ALO sound best with the more precise DT1350s and a little thick with the ESW10JPN, maybe not.   This is just a touch of what I am hearing with these.  The HP-P1 is one great unit including its amp section.  Maybe I am not as critical a listener as a lot of others but the HP-P1 seems to be a better all-rounder as far as its amp section and maybe Fostex will not scale as high with the right phones as the ALO but this is my opinion with these phones and this music.  It is also nice that I can listen to both out of the same DAC, the HP-P1 dac's section while going between them.

Sometime in the next two weeks I should get an additional amp (SR-71B) and the iBasso balanced DAC, the DB2.  Hopefully I will able to simultaneously connect these up the the Fostex using it's optical out into the DB2 to feed the SR-71B to be able to easily compare all three using the DT1350 both single ended and balanced using my newly configured Moon Audio IEM cable with a Switchcraft mini-XLR connector to either a balanced connection or single ended connection.

Note for clarity, the AT-ESW10JPN is the better headphone over the DT1350 in this setup.

I notice my HP-P1's battery life only last for around 3 hours.  Firmware is 1.1.0 and Hardware is 1.1.2

When I don't use the HP-P1, I turn it off but my iPhone is plugged in and in sleep mode.  Will this drain the battery?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannyBai 

I notice my HP-P1's battery life only last for around 3 hours.  Firmware is 1.1.0 and Hardware is 1.1.2

When I don't use the HP-P1, I turn it off but my iPhone is plugged in and in sleep mode.  Will this drain the battery?

Dan, I saw your post last night but I was feeling a bit "under the weather"(even though it's been a mild winter here on the east coast(N.J)). I have a question/comment & then a couple suggestions to make
 

First, I think the iDevices do draw a "trickle" charge from the HP P1 even when they are off. The thing is, are the iPods,or Phones really "completely" off or are they actually just in a standby mode. Do you press an actual power on button when you turn it off & then move the "red slider" icon to the right & then observe the small power off swirl on the screen, as on the Touch ? With the older iPods such as my new Classic 160g you really don't get any confirmation that you've turned it off or it is just in a "sleep/standby" mode. At the end of the day the devices should be off. Now, if you notice whenever you attach a normal usb charge/sync cable to your device it draws some power from the host . I think there may be a "slight trickle" power draw from whatever the HP P1 is connected to (that may keep whatever is connected to the HP P1 from turning completely off ,anyway!) via the USB/LOD cable. Keep your HP P1 charge cable & you can power it(even while playing) from an external power pack battery (like an xpal or similar, do a search on Amazon.com) or use the "wall wart" plug you use with your iPod sync cable if you have access to an AC outlet. It's a slight inconvenience, but I usually unplug the usb/lod cable from the player & HP P1 when I'm done for the day. I'm still going back & forth between using it by itself or with my Stepdance2 (which I originally bought the XPAL XP8000 to use with a regulated 19v cable) so I'm not really sure how many hours I'm getting, only that I'm ready for as much playtime as I decide to listen.

I leave my iPhone in sleep mode like you and I'd estimate that I get four hours of battery life, but I've never timed it. My guess is that it is highly dependent on the gain and volume settings that you use. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by knowhatimean 

Dan, I saw your post last night but I was feeling a bit "under the weather"(even though it's been a mild winter here on the east coast(N.J)). I have a question/comment & then a couple suggestions to make
 

First, I think the iDevices do draw a "trickle" charge from the HP P1 even when they are off. The thing is, are the iPods,or Phones really "completely" off or are they actually just in a standby mode. Do you press an actual power on button when you turn it off & then move the "red slider" icon to the right & then observe the small power off swirl on the screen, as on the Touch ? With the older iPods such as my new Classic 160g you really don't get any confirmation that you've turned it off or it is just in a "sleep/standby" mode. At the end of the day the devices should be off. Now, if you notice whenever you attach a normal usb charge/sync cable to your device it draws some power from the host . I think there may be a "slight trickle" power draw from whatever the HP P1 is connected to (that may keep whatever is connected to the HP P1 from turning completely off ,anyway!) via the USB/LOD cable. Keep your HP P1 charge cable & you can power it(even while playing) from an external power pack battery (like an xpal or similar, do a search on Amazon.com) or use the "wall wart" plug you use with your iPod sync cable if you have access to an AC outlet. It's a slight inconvenience, but I usually unplug the usb/lod cable from the player & HP P1 when I'm done for the day. I'm still going back & forth between using it by itself or with my Stepdance2 (which I originally bought the XPAL XP8000 to use with a regulated 19v cable) so I'm not really sure how many hours I'm getting, only that I'm ready for as much playtime as I decide to listen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VandyMan 

I leave my iPhone in sleep mode like you and I'd estimate that I get four hours of battery life, but I've never timed it. My guess is that it is highly dependent on the gain and volume settings that you use. 

 

I use my older iPhone as an iPod with the HP-P1 and leave it on in sleep mode when I'm not using it.  I assume this must drain the HP-P1's battery a bit.  I am going to turn it all the way off and see if this makes a difference.  VandyMan, I think you're right, the settings probably drain the battery more.  I mostly have been using it in high gain mode.  Thanks guys for the feedback.  

Nice one, I ordered the Just Audio Aha-120 for my Hp-p1. Have some hard time to choice which MIni to Mini I should use :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser 

I am listening right now to Arvo Part's Lamentate going between the HP-P1 vs the ALO Continental using both my portable headphones: the DT1350 and ESW10JPN.  The DT1350 are baby HD800s while the ESW10JPN are baby L3000s in sound profiles in my opinion.  The HP-P1 sound great with both headphones, the ALO sound best with the more precise DT1350s and a little thick with the ESW10JPN, maybe not.   This is just a touch of what I am hearing with these.  The HP-P1 is one great unit including its amp section.  Maybe I am not as critical a listener as a lot of others but the HP-P1 seems to be a better all-rounder as far as its amp section and maybe Fostex will not scale as high with the right phones as the ALO but this is my opinion with these phones and this music.  It is also nice that I can listen to both out of the same DAC, the HP-P1 dac's section while going between them.

 

Sometime in the next two weeks I should get an additional amp (SR-71B) and the iBasso balanced DAC, the DB2.  Hopefully I will able to simultaneously connect these up the the Fostex using it's optical out into the DB2 to feed the SR-71B to be able to easily compare all three using the DT1350 both single ended and balanced using my newly configured Moon Audio IEM cable with a Switchcraft mini-XLR connector to either a balanced connection or single ended connection.

 

Note for clarity, the AT-ESW10JPN is the better headphone over the DT1350 in this setup.

I'm in agreement with your assessment of the HP P1s amp section & am pleasantly surprised that it is better than I expected it to be. I may relegate using the Stepdance2(when used with a 19v regulated power supply) for use only with less efficient headphones. I guess I did'nt expect the amp section to be any more serious than the amp section included on the Hifiman HM 602( which I felt was inferior to the Stepdance2). As I'm still finding out things about what the HP P1 is capable of I was about to switch over to the Stepdance2 while listening to Reference Recordings "Britten's Orchestra" when I noticed that the gain switch on the P1 was on the lowest setting. I paused the player & reset the gain switch to the middle position. Once again I had to shake my head in amazement at the DT1350  bass response in terms of it's extension without any sacrifice to the clarity of the rest of musical instruments in the various passages. (Oh, by the way thanks for tempting me to upgrade to a Moon Audio modded version of the DT 1350s, I have a set of Moon Audio DT 880 600ohm headphones that I like quite a bit more than the stock version, As good as the 1350s are I'm anxious to hear the upgraded version. Now, if I can just send you the bill, I'll be all set!) I have one more thing to add. I think we have been glossing over the main reason that music is sounding exceptional through the HP P1 & that is the dac being used. If you can't hear the difference this dac is making you are missing the whole reason for using this product. Lossless music files played through this dac bear no resemblance to mp3 music.

I just picked up an HP-P1 and I had a couple questions.

I'm running it with a pair of Shure SE535 and I have a fairly noticeable hiss. The volume of the hiss does not change with the volume and I can hear it at low volume and in quieter passages of music. I know the SE535s are very sensitive. Would a less sensitive headphone like the DT1350 eliminate the hiss problem?

Also I notice a slight rattle when I tap on the case or give it s little shake. Has anyone else noticed this?

Thanks

I don't hear any hiss with the same setup. What gain, filter, and volume settings? I'll replicate it and let you know if I hear anything. I use filter 2, low gain, and volume around 10 o'clock. Also, make sure you are plugged into the front head phone port and not the back line out.