The diary entries of a little girl who is now 30! ~ Part 2 - Page 476

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Originally Posted by tomscy2000 

Hey y'all, so I posted up a writeup about Alice in WonderlandTralucent 1Plus2 here. I know there are a few people interested in reading about it here. Now, back to work...

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Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

Here are some very early TH600 impressions from yours truly: http://www.head-fi.org/t/631594/fostex-th600-dynamic-headphones/375#post_9215527

Thanks everyone for being so productive lately, that makes being lazy feel all the more comfortable. 

Joking aside, great impressions @ Romy & Tom! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

The AK100 seems to be quite popular in Japan, enough to where various companies are marketing IEMs specifically for it. First there was the special AK100 FitEar F111; now there's the AK100 Heaven IV from Final:

 

 

I'm assuming these earphones get special tuning to make them play nicely with the AK100. I wonder how the RWA mods would potentially effect that? If I ever got one, I'd want the red version which isn't out yet I think.

Is the build better on the Heaven IV now? I remember you being discouraged before.

The new RE-400 looks like its channeling some FAD spirits on the cheap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drez 

Main deal breaker for me was the metallic ringing, if they fixed that I might be interested, if they didnt fix that then no deal. Strangely I have also noticed metallic ringing on some Audio Technica full size headphones, mabe this is some kind of Japanese fetish

Yep, they mostly fixed this, seemingly by tuning the treble drivers down. The tinge returns depending on the source. Out of my iP5 and O2 amp they sound more natural now, but out of my new 4th gen shuffle it still sounds tizzy. It still seems like something you can only recommend with specific and verified pairings.

Overall the XBA-40 sounds a little darker than the XBA-4 as a result.

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_recording 

 

Yep, they mostly fixed this, seemingly by tuning the treble drivers down. The tinge returns depending on the source. Out of my iP5 and O2 amp they sound more natural now, but out of my new 4th gen shuffle it still sounds tizzy. It still seems like something you can only recommend with specific and verified pairings.

 

Overall the XBA-40 sounds a little darker than the XBA-4 as a result.

Hmmm, if it really sounds better, I might want to try it.

I've tried the XBA-4 and I found it shocking. Treble was too tizzy. The XBA-3 was a bit better but still suffers the same problem. Haven't heard the XBA-2 or XBA-1.

It's the Sydney Mardi Gras tonight! I don't want to wear my full size headphones and get 'headphone hair'. Anyone else experience this? (The headphone hair bit, not the Mardi Gras bit.)

Muppet can you give some comparisons between the Flat4 SUI and Kaede? Is the Kaede a significant upgrade over the SUI? Which do you prefer? I just ordered the SUI hearing so much good things about the Flat4. :)
 

MF - I can appreciate your recent obsessions.

My recent obsession has been achieving the most analogue-like sound from digital gear.

This is somewhat related to noise floor / black background.  in that achieving the one will likely yield the other.

Pictured below is a headphone amp that will soon be released, the Sileo by Human Audio.  (Sileo means silence, quietness - pretty apt, huh?)

Runs off batteries, like most of their gear.

The company's whole raison d'etre has been to create products with the lowest noise floor and the most analogue-like and musical sound.

Eliminating AC power / DC conversion was one step that has seen them move toward that goal.

Their aesthetic sensibility also gels with mine.  i love the bamboo surround.

I own their DAC and USB transport (Muto and Tabla, respectively).  They make exceptional products.

I'd be surprised if this headphone amp did not set a new standard for black background and fine detail retrieval...

I personally am excited to hear it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

I'm kind of at a bizarre stage in this hobby. My interest in full-sized headphones continues to dwindle, yet my interest in headphone amplifiers continues to grow.

 

I also have this extreme fixation on black backgrounds... even the slightest amount of noise or hiss drives me up a wall. That's why I pretty much freaked out when I turned on the Apex Glacier. Hiss with sensitive headphones on a massive desktop amp designed to push power is understandable. On a portable amp however it seems inexcusable to me.

 

In the case of the LG, the hum issue has been fixed, but apparently there's still a tiny amount of hiss on extremely sensitive headphones like the AD2000. It also varies depending on the tubes used. I was kind of hoping this would be completely eliminated, but it seems inevitable given the design of the amp. At this point I'm just wondering about the extent with, say, the Q010. I'm really hoping it's not HSSSSSSSSS when I use the Q010 on low Z with the volume turned down all the way.

 

That's one reason why I'm so drawn to ECP Audio: they seem to be some of the quietest amps around. The other Black Diamond owner was telling me that the amp is just ridiculously quiet. Doug, the main man behind ECP, has been working to resolve a slight noise issue with my Black Diamond (which is why I don't yet have it). He replaced the transformer because the previous one made *some* noise with the volume turned all the way up to the highest setting. I totally appreciate his dedication to abyssal black backgrounds.

 

But yeah, I'm more interested in headphone amplifiers than headphones right now which is kind of hilarious.

>:0 dem qualias. Sexehphones. One more year or service ):

I realized I probably wouldn't be happy with a turntable setup for less than $3k, but that's money that could go to better things right now so I'm holding off on that.  Maybe after I finish school and ****?  Iuno. 

I'm still feeling tempted on and off to get some kind of power conditioner because the supply in the NAD M51 seems dinky (although the rest of it is pretty great).  I barely know the science behind it, but looking at it in pictures of the inside I've seen make me want to improve it somehow. 

Also, speaking of the M51, I found an odd issue with it the other day.  If I play any FLAC I have from "Total Loss" by How to Dress Well I get popping artifacty noises, similar to what happens when an iPod's digital out is messing up, if the volume's at 0db.  If I set it to -1db, however, it all goes away.  I've read the sound doesn't degrade until you go down to something like -65db due to the very high bitrate it operates at, so I guess I don't care?  It's just weird, is all, and I've only encountered it with the one album so far (it's something completely distinct from the regular artifacts in there, btw).

Installing mother****ing Crysis 3.  I hope my 6970 is adequate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

 

The bass actually isn't anemic or lacking in quantity for me. My problem is a quality thing: it sounds one-note, flat, etc.

 

That's rather disappointing, sounds like they did the best they possibly could with the highs and mids and threw in the one note low end as an afterthought. I would have thought they would have taken the time to at least throw in a little extra mid and sub bass flare and give the listener a touch of rumble for the sheer joy of it.

By the way I read your early impressions in the TH600 thread and believe it or not I like what I read. A step down from the TH 900 but a step up from the D7000 has me really intrigued and makes me wonder if this is the bargain hifi can for me. The comment concerning there being less powerful and prominent bass was also a plus for me. I like bass but if I'm going to spend around a grand on a can I want something that's multi genre friendly because I can't stand to much bass in my rock metal or jazz unless it's supposed to sound overly bassy. Would you characterize the mids detailing ability as close to top tier status and do you think by the end of the year we might see the price come down 1 or 200 bones from the current MSRP?

In other news......

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss 
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

 

MF - I can appreciate your recent obsessions.

My recent obsession has been achieving the most analogue-like sound from digital gear.

This is somewhat related to noise floor / black background.  in that achieving the one will likely yield the other.

 

Pictured below is a headphone amp that will soon be released, the Sileo by Human Audio.  (Sileo means silence, quietness - pretty apt, huh?)

 

Runs off batteries, like most of their gear.

 

The company's whole raison d'etre has been to create products with the lowest noise floor and the most analogue-like and musical sound.

Eliminating AC power / DC conversion was one step that has seen them move toward that goal.

 

Their aesthetic sensibility also gels with mine.  i love the bamboo surround.

 

 

 

I own their DAC and USB transport (Muto and Tabla, respectively).  They make exceptional products.

I'd be surprised if this headphone amp did not set a new standard for black background and fine detail retrieval...

 

I personally am excited to hear it...

 

 

Silent? A Black background?? C'mon man, you been holding out on me!  Thanks for the mention, as I'm going to add a new piece of gear(s) this summer to the rig. Sounds interesting.

I hope their pricing doesn't discriminate against destitute but decidedly determined folk  like me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

I'm kind of at a bizarre stage in this hobby. My interest in full-sized headphones continues to dwindle, yet my interest in headphone amplifiers continues to grow... But yeah, I'm more interested in headphone amplifiers than headphones right now which is kind of hilarious.

If you'll indulge me for a moment, I think I have a way of understanding why that might be so.

I'd wager that we all have an expectation of continued exploration when it comes to IEMs (and cans).  I don't imagine the journey ending for any of us - at least not any time soon.  But I think that source and signal path components tend to be an area where we aren't as capricious.  This is typically so - not only because of cost - but because of a fear of chaos.  After all, the farther back into the signal path we go, the more we'll need to change downstream to account for it.

Is it at all possible that, since you're anticipating a significant change in environment, you've taken this time to kind of cut loose a little with the audio gear as well?  I guess what I'm trying to say is that your recent interest might be in concert with life events in general?

Or alternatively, I am just waayyyy off (wouldn't be the first time).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silent One 

 

destitute but decidedly determined folk  like me.

And me.