[waynes world]

 
Listening to the Noble 4 now with the C3, bass response is much more revealing with EQ off. The sub bass still rolls off but that's because the C3 does roll off under 50hz. Adding the JDSlabs C5 even with bass boost OFF corrects this problem and I can now easily hear 20hz on the Noble 4. It's now almost as warm as the iPod touch 5gen but has better 3Dness and airiness.

 
Not quite sure I grok the above d marc0. How does the C5 bring back sub bass that is rolled off out of the C3?

 

[d marc0]

   
Not quite sure I grok the above d marc0. How does the C5 bring back sub bass that is rolled off out of the C3?

 
I did ask the same question before but I didn't get much answer really... but I can personally confirm by using the Avril Lavigne test track.
 
Anything But Ordinary - 00:31 to 00:36 there's a couple of sub bass slam that is quite faint. Easily heard with IEMs with boosted bass such as the H200. With the low end neutrality of the Noble 4 it's quite faint but still audible but using the C3 with no amp, I almost can't hear it. I can detect it because I know it's there, but for one who doesn't I doubt he'll hear it.
 
To hear it clearly with the C3 alone, I have to increase the volume to 33! And that's VERY LOUD with the Noble 4 because its quite easy to drive.

 

[d marc0]

@waynes world 
 
How ironic... I found that post by ClieOS and it was in response to your question! 

Maybe we should ask @ClieOS maybe he has the technical knowledge to explain why...

  Sidenote: I wonder if ClieOS had the BH on "high gain"? My BH seems to provide plenty of power and dynamics to the C3.

 
I do think C3 benefits rather positively from an amp. The first reason is that, (1) any amp will fix the bass roll-off on C3. (2) more power. Of course, the reason for more power is because power brings tightness and impact to not-so-demanding headphone as well as the needed power to those that do need power. But for the reason of actually keeping the setup as portable as it can be, I'll rather not use any portable amp if I don't find the improvement to be great enough....
 

 

[ClieOS]

  @waynes world 
 
How ironic... I found that post by ClieOS and it was in response to your question! 

Maybe we should ask @ClieOS maybe he has the technical knowledge to explain why...

 
Because of capacitor on the output, to put it short.
 
When you have a capacitor followed by a resistor (the headphone load), it forms a high pass filter electronically, so some low frequency signal will get filtered out. How much frequency is filtered out depends on both the capacitance as well as the resistance. If the resistance is fixed, then higher capacitance will lower the corner frequency (the -3dB point of the high pass filter). Vise verse, if the capacitance is fixed, the higher the resistance the lower the corner freq will be. Since most of us won't want to change the caps inside C3 (I tried actually, but there isn't enough space), the more sensible / easier thing to do is to increase the resistance. But simply increase the headphone impedance / resistance to fix bass roll-off is problematic in itself, as C3 isn't a very powerful player to begin with, not to mention the high possibility of coloration on the headphone. So here is where an amp is helpful, since most portable amp has input impedance over 5kohm, which is way bigger than any headphone you will ever find, it will push the corner frequency very low and solve the bass roll-off issue.

 

[H20Fidelity]

ClieOS is just full of useful information. He's like the audio bible. 

@d marc0, thanks for the informative posts mate, sorry I haven't been able to reply in full. I've been flat out with a few things. But believe me I have read everything you have mentioned!

 

[d marc0]

  ClieOS is just full of useful information. He's like the audio bible. 

@d marc0, thanks for the informative posts mate, sorry I haven't been able to reply in full. I've been flat out with a few things. But believe me I have read everything you have mentioned!

+1 @ClieOS is a legend! Thank you 

 
@H20Fidelity 
It's all good mate... glad to be able provide info on the Noble 4. But you'll soon hear it anyways, so maybe just a couple more weeks of wait time. 

 

 

[lin0003]

The Noble 4 looks very interesting indeed. Sounds like the tonality of the HE-500 which would be very nice. 
 
BTW d marc0, would you happen to be interested in coming to this year's Melbourne meet? Might hold it in a few months. 

 

[waynes world]

  @waynes world 
 
How ironic... I found that post by ClieOS and it was in response to your question! 

 
That is ironic! Missed that obviously.
 
@ClieOS, thanks for that detailed explaination! It's Friday night here though, so I'll have to re-read it again when it's not Friday night lol

 

[d marc0]

BTW d marc0, would you happen to be interested in coming to this year's Melbourne meet? Might hold it in a few months. 

Yes, I'd love to. I missed out on the last one so I intend to be there for the next one. Thanks!

 

[Wnuwk Siphon]

Originally Posted by d marc0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Congrats on getting the H200! You'll definitely love them with metal.
 
I personally listen to thrash, progressive, a bit of numetal, speed metal and old school glam metal. Just some of my favourites:
Pantera, Lamb of God, Trivium, Metallica, Megadeth, Newsted, Tool, Dream Theater, Helloween, DragonForce, SOAD, LInkinPark, etc...

 
Sorry for the late reply.
 
Hehe I basically listen to the metal genres you don't list: death, doom, black and some grindcore.. And a lot of unclassifiable stuff in between. We do have Tool in common though.
 
Still trying to wrap my head around the H-200. I love the incredible detail the BA's bring to the treble, without being too analytical about it.
On the other hand the bass from the DD - I was expecting more... But maybe I just haven't found the right seal yet. Also, I think I might be a bit of a basshead.

 

[d marc0]

   
Sorry for the late reply.
 
Hehe I basically listen to the metal genres you don't list: death, doom, black and some grindcore.. And a lot of unclassifiable stuff in between. We do have Tool in common though.
 
Still trying to wrap my head around the H-200. I love the incredible detail the BA's bring to the treble, without being too analytical about it.
On the other hand the bass from the DD - I was expecting more... But maybe I just haven't found the right seal yet. Also, I think I might be a bit of a basshead.

I tried to venture into the darker side of metal... started with Sepultura, Decide, Slayer, etc... but I really prefer a much brighter tone and cleaner vocals.
 
Wait for my review of the H300. I believe it has a bit more bass than the h200 so it might be the upgrade you're looking for.
Personally, the H200 bass is perfect to my ears. But since it all boils down to preference, I can't really discourage you from asking for more bass.
 
So stay tuned...

 

[d marc0]

This is such an exciting time... here's what's happening in the coming weeks!
 

Coming Soon:

 

 

• Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10pro Review               
• Noble 4 (Universal) Review                            
• Unique Melody 3X Review and Comparisons    
  
• T-PEOS H-300 Review and Comparisons          
• LEAR BD 4.2 Review and Comparisons            

 

[H20Fidelity]

Triple-fi 10 will conquer them all. 

There's nothing else quite like TF10's reputation it built for itself over the years. 

I think the UM 3X and H-300 will put up a decent fight, but if the Lear responds to it's price tag it should (in theory) wipe the floor with everything. 

d marc0 is going to be one busy beaver, I know that much.
 

 

[Bohdy]

Triple-fi 10 will conquer them all. :tongue_smile:


There's nothing else quite like TF10's reputation it built for itself over the years. 

Maybe I just got a dud pair all along, but I found the TF10 sound signature pretty poor, for metal especially. It was only after rather dramatic EQ that I began to appreciate its better features.

But maybe that's just me

 

[H20Fidelity]

Maybe I just got a dud pair all along, but I found the TF10 sound signature pretty poor, for metal especially. It was only after rather dramatic EQ that I began to appreciate its better features.

But maybe that's just me

If you notice the silly face next to my above comment, I was partly joking.  

 I am aware of TF10's limitations and I've heard many earphones that far excel the Triple-fi, though having owned them 3 times they're doing something right for me in general. Many other people in the almost 600 page long TF10 appreciation thread seem to agree.