[Surf Monkey]

That is all well and good, and is good for you (well, your ears anyhow LOL); however, there are those that find a balanced connection to sound better, which makes sense since these are planars and require more current than typical DD sets, rather than voltage. That isn't to say that the experience from 3.5mm SE is bad by any means, but from my experience, these DO scale with more power, which a balanced connection provides more of in most cases. And, depending on the type (and mixing) of music one listens to, crosstalk will come into play here as well, which a balanced connection will always do better than SE (it is simple physics in this case).

You are definitely correct that it CAN degrade the sound, but not because it is a balanced connection. It is more likely that it is because it simply doesn't synergize well with that particular amp. You are also correct in that a well implemented 3.5mm socket can sound VERY good.

Bottom line is, use what you like. Most of this hobby is purely subjective anyhow.

Yeah, I run my Deva Pro balanced fairly often and a single cable connection for that doesn’t bother me at all.

 

[Light - Man]

It might be more helpful if we mention the specific amps that we are talking about and also have tried with the Deva Pro?

What desktop amps, as well as portable amps, or even DAPs sound good with the Deva Pro wired?

It is not just only raw power, but transparency is very important, after all, balanced amps have way more electrical components in the way of the output.

Many clever people say that they are a compromise to a good SE design.

A lot of people also say that the implementation of design is way more important.

 

[Surf Monkey]

It might be more helpful if we mention the specific amps that we are taking about and have tried with the Deva Pro?

What desktop amps, as well as portable amps, or even DAPs sound good with the Deva Pro wired?

It is not just only raw power, but transparency is very important, after all, balanced amps have way more electrical components in the way.

Many clever people say that they are a compromise to a good SE design.

A lot of people also say that the implementation of design is way more important.

I run mine primary single ended out of my Schiit stack. It’s a Modi/Magni+. It’s a good pairing. But I also play them with my HiBy R6 2020 in balanced mode and they sound excellent there too. The Schiit has more headroom and somewhat wider DR. The R6 2020 has no trouble powering them but sounds maybe a bit more cold and analytical. I’ve run them off of a BTR7 as well where they sound fine but a tad thin compared to my other sources.

 

[samandhi]

Many clever people say that they are a compromise to a good SE design.

Interesting. I have never seen this written anywhere. Rather that a good class A fully balanced amp is normally considered superior to SE (from all that I had heard to this point).

A lot of people also say that the implementation of design is way more important.

This is so true. I have heard a well implemented SE that sounds better to my ears than does a balanced out with some head gear (but not others). Having said that this is coming from the same DAP (iBasso DX300) using a tube ampcard vs. a SS amp card. The Tube amp card is a dual 3.5mm SE. The higher powered output is using opamps to help in the circuit. It is my opinion that iBasso is a master in implementation where this is relative (as well as many other companies also).

It is not just only raw power, but transparency is very important, after all, balanced amps have way more electrical components in the way.

Of course you are right about raw power. But if you don't have the power to properly dampen a given driver then it doesn't matter if there is transparency or not. Having said that, sometimes an "under damped" transducer can sound better to some people...

 

[Juturna]

Hey people!
I got my Deva Pro's yesterday after a spontaneous purchase (I picked the wrong color though... the one I liked was $90 less and so much nicer, but that's besides the point), and I'm a bit puzzled.

I've been trying to listen to them on my phone, trying out different codecs (LDAC, AptX, AptX HD, AAC), and they sound pretty doodoo to me.
I tried using them with the actual 3,5mm cable instead on my work computer (a really run-of-the-mill cheap Dell laptop) through the regular headphone jack, and they sound so much better! Like, i'm not blown away, but the sound actually has some bass, the treble doesn't cut into my eardrums, and the vocals don't sound hollow as all hell, and overall it's a comfortable and open sound.

I understand that using headphones wired usually means better sound, but then I've also heard that people complain that regular Windows-computers often sound like absolute junk to play music through, and I haven't seen people complain about the audio with the Bluemini R2R as well.

Do you people notice that huge of a difference as well, or is it something related to my phone that is making things sounds bad? Even EQ:ing with Wavelet doesn't help it from sounding pretty crappy.

 

[samandhi]

Hey people!
I got my Deva Pro's yesterday after a spontaneous purchase (I picked the wrong color though... the one I liked was $90 less and so much nicer, but that's besides the point), and I'm a bit puzzled.

I've been trying to listen to them on my phone, trying out different codecs (LDAC, AptX, AptX HD, AAC), and they sound pretty doodoo to me.
I tried using them with the actual 3,5mm cable instead on my work computer (a really run-of-the-mill cheap Dell laptop) through the regular headphone jack, and they sound so much better! Like, i'm not blown away, but the sound actually has some bass, the treble doesn't cut into my eardrums, and the vocals don't sound hollow as all hell, and overall it's a comfortable and open sound.

I understand that using headphones wired usually means better sound, but then I've also heard that people complain that regular Windows-computers often sound like absolute junk to play music through, and I haven't seen people complain about the audio with the Bluemini R2R as well.

Do you people notice that huge of a difference as well, or is it something related to my phone that is making things sounds bad? Even EQ:ing with Wavelet doesn't help it from sounding pretty crappy.

First of all, did you get the OG Deva or the Deva Pro? AFAIK the Pro only came in silver and black, and the OG Deva came in tan and silver. If you got the Deva Pro, are you putting the Bluemini in the correct port? I am also wondering if you have a hardware issue with the Bluemini?! IMO the Bluemini was matched very very well with the Deva and should have some really nice bass and treble while having nice and smooth mids.

Yes, they will not sound very good from a computer, especially out of SE connection. These are planars and while they CAN run (wired) from a very low power source, they will not be driven properly (the way they were intended to sound).

Bottom line is that I believe you have an issue having something to do with your Bluemini if it doesn't sound good at all, and you are running it wired from a source that is normally even lower in output than a phone (planar drivers require some amperage to run correctly and PC's are NOT set up to provide that). Have you tried connecting the Bluemini to your PC rather than your phone? I know it can't produce LDAC, LDHC, or any of the other higher end codecs, but it should give you a comparison. Also, have you enabled LDAC in your BT connection on your phone, or are you choosing it from Developer's Options in your phone? If from the options of your phone, that will not change it, and your phone might just be conencting via SBC... Just some thoughts off the top of my head for now.

Edit: Also, you could try and run it via USB from either your PC or phone to test the sound. This should work equally from the PC or the phone.

 

[Juturna]

First of all, did you get the OG Deva or the Deva Pro? AFAIK the Pro only came in silver and black, and the OG Deva came in tan and silver. If you got the Deva Pro, are you putting the Bluemini in the correct port? I am also wondering if you have a hardware issue with the Bluemini?! IMO the Bluemini was matched very very well with the Deva and should have some really nice bass and treble while having nice and smooth mids.

Yes, they will not sound very good from a computer, especially out of SE connection. These are planars and while they CAN run (wired) from a very low power source, they will not be driven properly (the way they were intended to sound).

Bottom line is that I believe you have an issue having something to do with your Bluemini if it doesn't sound good at all, and you are running it wired from a source that is normally even lower in output than a phone (planar drivers require some amperage to run correctly and PC's are NOT set up to provide that). Have you tried connecting the Bluemini to your PC rather than your phone? I know it can't produce LDAC, LDHC, or any of the other higher end codecs, but it should give you a comparison. Also, have you enabled LDAC in your BT connection on your phone, or are you choosing it from Developer's Options in your phone? If from the options of your phone, that will not change it, and your phone might just be conencting via SBC... Just some thoughts off the top of my head for now.

Edit: Also, you could try and run it via USB from either your PC or phone to test the sound. This should work equally from the PC or the phone.

Interesting, you're right. These are the Deva Pro, I didn't notice that the tan ones were Devas, non-pro. They are selling the non-pro's with the Bluemini as well, that's what confused me.
I'm putting it in the port/jack on the left earcup, that should be right, right?

I've tried running them on both LDAC and AptX like I mentioned in my post, so I had to go into developer options to do so.
It could be the Bluemini, because I feel like there's something wrong with the battery life... I literally charged it for several hours, and then after playing music for like 2 minutes it dropped to 80% battery. I mean, my phone only shows in increments of 10 or 20 so it might be 89% or 80, difficult to know. Even though I know the battery life isn't supposed to be anything noteworthy it seems worse than whatever I've read.

The thing is that I'm listening to them now with the bluemini and I think they sound better than what I thought they did yesterday, maybe I just need to get used to their sound signature. They clearly output some bass for sure, but for some dumb reason I feel like they sound way less open than they did wired. I got vocals a lot closer to how I like them on my PC as well. The more I'm listening right now, the less I think there's something wrong with them though. I think I might get a little ****ed by this volume issue that i've seen people discussing. It's either too high or too low for my tastes, and if if I go slightly too loud they sound way worse.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Interesting, you're right. These are the Deva Pro, I didn't notice that the tan ones were Devas, non-pro. They are selling the non-pro's with the Bluemini as well, that's what confused me.
I'm putting it in the port/jack on the left earcup, that should be right, right?

I've tried running them on both LDAC and AptX like I mentioned in my post, so I had to go into developer options to do so.
It could be the Bluemini, because I feel like there's something wrong with the battery life... I literally charged it for several hours, and then after playing music for like 2 minutes it dropped to 80% battery. I mean, my phone only shows in increments of 10 or 20 so it might be 89% or 80, difficult to know. Even though I know the battery life isn't supposed to be anything noteworthy it seems worse than whatever I've read.

The thing is that I'm listening to them now with the bluemini and I think they sound better than what I thought they did yesterday, maybe I just need to get used to their sound signature. They clearly output some bass for sure, but for some dumb reason I feel like they sound way less open than they did wired. I got vocals a lot closer to how I like them on my PC as well. The more I'm listening right now, the less I think there's something wrong with them though. I think I might get a little ****ed by this volume issue that i've seen people discussing. It's either too high or too low for my tastes, and if if I go slightly too loud they sound way worse.

There are two versions of Bluemini. The one that comes with the original Deva and the newer R2R architecture version that comes with the Deva Pro. Hifiman is less than clear about that.

 

[samandhi]

Interesting, you're right. These are the Deva Pro, I didn't notice that the tan ones were Devas, non-pro. They are selling the non-pro's with the Bluemini as well, that's what confused me.
I'm putting it in the port/jack on the left earcup, that should be right, right?

I've tried running them on both LDAC and AptX like I mentioned in my post, so I had to go into developer options to do so.
It could be the Bluemini, because I feel like there's something wrong with the battery life... I literally charged it for several hours, and then after playing music for like 2 minutes it dropped to 80% battery. I mean, my phone only shows in increments of 10 or 20 so it might be 89% or 80, difficult to know. Even though I know the battery life isn't supposed to be anything noteworthy it seems worse than whatever I've read.

The thing is that I'm listening to them now with the bluemini and I think they sound better than what I thought they did yesterday, maybe I just need to get used to their sound signature. They clearly output some bass for sure, but for some dumb reason I feel like they sound way less open than they did wired. I got vocals a lot closer to how I like them on my PC as well. The more I'm listening right now, the less I think there's something wrong with them though. I think I might get a little ****ed by this volume issue that i've seen people discussing. It's either too high or too low for my tastes, and if if I go slightly too loud they sound way worse.

Yes, I think you have it in the correct port, but you can't enable LDAC in developers options, you need to go into BT options, and click on the cog wheel next to the Deva Pro connection, and enable LDAC (and maybe AptX also). So you MIGHT be listening to them in SBC right now, which would explain why they don't sound very good. If that is NOT the case then I still think something is not right with them because while they might not be a tuning you like, they aren't THAT different in tuning than other headphones that the sound would stick out that much as being offensive. I still wonder what they might sound like via USB from your PC or phone to the Bluemini connected to the Deva?! This will bypass the internal DAC in both devices, but also BT, so it (on paper) should be the sound that was intended with these phones.

What does your Bluemini say on it? Maybe they sold you the Deva Pro with the OG Deva Bluemini??? From what I have read the OG Deva and the Pro sound a bit different, and the Bluemini are matched to their counterpart.

Yeah, the volume thing has been a part of the Deva since their OG version, and Hifiman didn't bother to fix it when the new Pro came out. That has been my one and only complaint about the Deva.

There are two versions of Bluemini. The one that comes with the original Deva and the newer R2R architecture version that comes with the Deva Pro. Hifiman is less than clear about that.

Yes, they certainly are... LOL Actually though, there were three versions (technically speaking). There were two versions of the Bluemini on the OG Deva, then the R2R version... I don't remember off the top of my head what changed between the OG Deva versions though.

 

[Juturna]

Yes, I think you have it in the correct port, but you can't enable LDAC in developers options, you need to go into BT options, and click on the cog wheel next to the Deva Pro connection, and enable LDAC (and maybe AptX also). So you MIGHT be listening to them in SBC right now, which would explain why they don't sound very good. If that is NOT the case then I still think something is not right with them because while they might not be a tuning you like, they aren't THAT different in tuning than other headphones that the sound would stick out that much as being offensive. I still wonder what they might sound like via USB from your PC or phone to the Bluemini connected to the Deva?! This will bypass the internal DAC in both devices, but also BT, so it (on paper) should be the sound that was intended with these phones.

What does your Bluemini say on it? Maybe they sold you the Deva Pro with the OG Deva Bluemini??? From what I have read the OG Deva and the Pro sound a bit different, and the Bluemini are matched to their counterpart.

Yeah, the volume thing has been a part of the Deva since their OG version, and Hifiman didn't bother to fix it when the new Pro came out. That has been my one and only complaint about the Deva.

Yes, they certainly are... LOL Actually though, there were three versions (technically speaking). There were two versions of the Bluemini on the OG Deva, then the R2R version... I don't remember off the top of my head what changed between the OG Deva versions though.

I don't think that's necessarily correct, at least for my phone.
Because first of all they actually choose LDAC as default, and I can't actually choose AptX or LDAC in the audio options on my phone. There's only a toggle called "HD Sound" and in this case "HD Sound: LDAC" and then a toggle, if you toggle it off it changes back to what I presume is SBC.
Also weirdly enough if I set it to AptX in developer options, it still shows it as being LDAC up in the Bluetooth menu, and it defaults back to LDAC every time I reconnect the headphones, so I don't seem to be able to set it to always connect with AptX for an example.

Don't think they would send me the OG Deva Bluemini, I mean the Bluemini is packaged inside the box with the headphones so I don't think that would be likely to happen.
It's the R2R version that I have, anyway.

But anyway, I've listened some more to the headphones and they sound great now. Maybe not 100% what I want them to sound like but I will try to EQ them more later on. I'm not sure what has changed, let's call it burn-in (even if it's a myth), I would say brain burn-in but that shouldn't happen since I've listened to other headphones and earbuds in between (?).
Maybe chalk it down to being me not having had open headphones for several years and not being used to it when I'm more of a TWS/IEM guy, or maybe I dialed in the right EQ in Wavelet to make them sound nice, but I don't think I've changed anything since I last listened to them and thought they sounded meh/bad on my phone.

They're very detailed (at least in comparison to what I usually use), the bass response is there for sure as well, even though I'd love a little bit more oomph at times.

 

[darmok]

Mystery solved. Cracked it open, and there was a board attached by a jumper and secured with literally nothing else (hello, screws?) that had become disconnected and caused this issue. I sure hope they fix that on this new version...

How did you crack it open? Just prying around the seam? Mine also broke from a short fall and Hifiman customer service hasn't even replied to my email asking about service or whether I can buy a replacement Bluemini by itself.

 

[Nogoodnamesleft]

Does anyone know if there's an appropriate cable I could use (preferably a short one) to connect the Qudelix 5k 2.5mm balanced output to the 3.5mm TRRS on the Deva pro?

To my ears the Qudelix sounds better and has lots of tweaking options and more codecs.

Lavricable makes such a cable. I have one terminated in 4.4mm for sale. If you get a 4.4mm to 2.5 mm adapter it would work. None the less you can check lavricables.

 

[darmok]

Mystery solved. Cracked it open, and there was a board attached by a jumper and secured with literally nothing else (hello, screws?) that had become disconnected and caused this issue. I sure hope they fix that on this new version...

How did you crack it open? Just prying around the seam? Mine also broke from a short fall and Hifiman customer service hasn't even replied to my email asking about service or whether I can buy a replacement Bluemini by itself.

Ah, I found someone on the Deva thread who cracked open a V1, and working the same clip got mine open as well.

Bluemini version1 teardown. I figured I'd post this incase anyone is curious about the inside of the bluemini. It looks like the battery has no outside info and is hardwired. It would not be easily replaced by the user.

Also incase anyone wants to try, the main tab you need to work to open it up is indicated by the red arrow. Best to use a thin soft plastic tool if you do try.

Turns out mine had the same problem as Gearhead503's. Taking it apart and reseating everything was enough to make it work again. For anyone else in this situation, I'd highly suggest working on an anti-static mat if you try, and if you're not super-nearsighted like me a magnifier will probably come in handy.

For anyone who's curious, here are photos of the inside, showing how it's assembled and the back of the Himalaya DAC board with the connector that can pop loose. Note that the DAC board actually has a similar layout and controllers on both sides, which leads me to believe that the Bluemini R2R isn't just a balanced amp, it's also a balanced DAC.

Spoiler: Photos

 

[clerkpalmer]

Deva Pro owners - dusted mine off for a while. Not bad but a little thin and bright. Would like a little more weight and bass. What's the best step up? Edition XS? Ananda Stealth? Nanos are probably out of my price range. Thanks.

 

[bazza71]

Deva Pro owners - dusted mine off for a while. Not bad but a little thin and bright. Would like a little more weight and bass. What's the best step up? Edition XS? Ananda Stealth? Nanos are probably out of my price range. Thanks.

Got rid of mine, now got a pair of Beyerdynamic Amiron wireless, the creme de la creme in wireless.