Final Audio Design Impressions and Discussion Thread
May 23, 2015 at 10:06 AM Post #5,537 of 11,627
Anybody tried Lab1 with Cowon P1?


Cowon P1 - Not the best paired but ok when Amp'ed
 
For me order of best pairing is:
 
Tera Player + Portaphile 627 Micro (OPA627BP)
Calyx M + NXT-2AK
Tera Player + NXT-2AK
Tera Player
AK240SS + NXT-2AK
QLS QA360
RWAK120 Titan
AK120II
 
Haven't tried other pairings!
 
May 23, 2015 at 12:23 PM Post #5,538 of 11,627
 
Cowon P1 - Not the best paired but ok when Amp'ed
 
For me order of best pairing is:
 
Tera Player + Portaphile 627 Micro (OPA627BP)
Calyx M + NXT-2AK
Tera Player + NXT-2AK
Tera Player
AK240SS + NXT-2AK
QLS QA360
RWAK120 Titan
AK120II
 
Haven't tried other pairings!

 
Hah, you will have me pulling out the NXT-2AK again tomorrow. I went back to listening without a few weeks ago. The cycle looks like a sine wave.
 
Interesting pairings. However I am not remotely interested in the Tera Player as a primary go-to DAP. Screens are quite an invention on DAPs, just like wheels are good on cars.  :wink:
 
May 23, 2015 at 2:54 PM Post #5,539 of 11,627
   
Hah, you will have me pulling out the NXT-2AK again tomorrow. I went back to listening without a few weeks ago. The cycle looks like a sine wave.
 
Interesting pairings. However I am not remotely interested in the Tera Player as a primary go-to DAP. Screens are quite an invention on DAPs, just like wheels are good on cars.  :wink:

 
Cars don't function without wheels, but hearing works perfectly without screens
biggrin.gif

 
May 23, 2015 at 6:45 PM Post #5,540 of 11,627
  FAD Just dropped a press release on some new full-sized headphones! The Sonorous VIII and Sonorous X, these look like fully dynamic as opposed to hybrid BA/Dynamic designs. Hopefully that means they are a bit cheaper.
 

 

 

 
The VIII is 600,000 yen. I had a quick listen at the show. Very disappointing. Sad, because the Pandora series is so good.
 
May 23, 2015 at 10:26 PM Post #5,541 of 11,627
   
The VIII is 600,000 yen. I had a quick listen at the show. Very disappointing. Sad, because the Pandora series is so good.

I wonder why this is. I like the Pandora series :frowning2:
Maybe since the designer passed away, the sound is changing as well.
 
May 24, 2015 at 5:22 AM Post #5,544 of 11,627
Well I had my first listening session with the Lab 1, it was certainly an interesting session, strange because they were what I was expecting and not what I was expecting all at the same time. Are they dark? Are they bright? Are they warm? Are they cold? Are they forgiving? Are they unforgiving? Are they fun? Are they analytical? Well too be honest they are all those things, you never really know where they will go next or what they'll do.
 
May 24, 2015 at 5:23 AM Post #5,545 of 11,627
Listening to the Lab 1 at home now. I want a portable rig that drives it like my Surface Pro 2 with Foobar > Wyrd > USB Monica > GS-X mk2 (medium gain). It is probably not going to happen though.

The Lab 1 does indeed scale - not radically like the HD800 but the soundstage opens right up.
 
May 24, 2015 at 5:26 AM Post #5,546 of 11,627
Well I had my first listening session with the Lab 1, it was certainly an interesting session, strange because they were what I was expecting and not what I was expecting all at the same time. Are they dark? Are they bright? Are they warm? Are they cold? Are they forgiving? Are they unforgiving? Are they fun? Are they analytical? Well too be honest they are all those things, you never really know where they will go next or what they'll do.

 
Welcome! 
smile.gif

 
Not bright IMO... but otherwise an adventure and lots of adjectives can apply. I would describe them as of great ambience.
 
May 24, 2015 at 5:34 AM Post #5,547 of 11,627
^ I would also say they never truly enter what I deem as brightness but they can flit between rather dark to a much brighter tone in the blink of an eye. Can I ask you which tips and insertion depth you are using, it sounds strange but I am in an odd position that I have never faced before where I can't decide whether I like the largest tips with a shallow insertion or the smallest tips with a deep insertion. Just wondering what other are preferring?
 
May 24, 2015 at 5:52 AM Post #5,548 of 11,627
Tera Player + NXT-2AK really is an incredible combo, and I'm loving Tera Player + MASS-kobo model404 even more.
 

 
Not exactly sure about the pricing but I didn't expect 10 to sound like that since I've been looking forward to the release a long time ago
 
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20150516_702280.html
 
SONOROUS 10が62万7,000円、SONOROUS 8が38万円となる。
 

 
For the protection of my FI-DC1601SS and PF X-G, I ordered a pair of Vero Standard Universal Headphone Dongles this morning
 
http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=56cea5721afcfabcc570111ab&id=e56e54821f
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/755120/the-vero-revolutionary-headphone-cabling-system-by-mit
 
NXT-2AK and Vero, let's see how that combo would sound with Tera-Player.
 
May 24, 2015 at 7:24 AM Post #5,549 of 11,627
  Tera Player + NXT-2AK really is an incredible combo, and I'm loving Tera Player + MASS-kobo model404 even more.
 

 
Not exactly sure about the pricing but I didn't expect 10 to sound like that since I've been looking forward to the release a long time ago
 
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20150516_702280.html
 
SONOROUS 10が62万7,000円、SONOROUS 8が38万円となる。
 

 

 
Whoops, I had it backwards in my post.
 
May 24, 2015 at 10:48 AM Post #5,550 of 11,627
^ I would also say they never truly enter what I deem as brightness but they can flit between rather dark to a much brighter tone in the blink of an eye. Can I ask you which tips and insertion depth you are using, it sounds strange but I am in an odd position that I have never faced before where I can't decide whether I like the largest tips with a shallow insertion or the smallest tips with a deep insertion. Just wondering what other are preferring?

 
The Lab 1 comes with one type of tip in five sizes (unlike the Heaven VI, for example, which comes with two types of tips, narrow and broad bore, in three sizes).
 
Let's call the Lab 1 tip sizes: L, ML, M, MS, and S. 
 
I may have the the largest ear canals you will ever encounter. You can hold a meeting, perhaps even organize a union, inside my ear canals. I use the the second largest Lab 1 tip, i.e. ML size. And these go quite deep. A shallow fit might expand the soundstage (and I should play with that more) but deep brings out the 3D, forward-to-back ambience.
 
I did originally have a problem that the Lab 1 would not stay in place with any size tip. (The Lab 1 is rather heavy/clumsy by IEM standards.) It was actually quite a serious problem and I did a fair bit of posting on it. Then, in a moment of inspiration, I developed the "Lab 1 Comply Ring Flange Mod". This uses Comply TS-400 tips with the plastic inner rings removed. (I suspect that any size Comply TS tip will do.) The rest, as they say, is history. The Lab 1 is now among my best-fitting, best-sealing and most comfortable IEMs.
 

 

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