[pichu]

There's so many combinations and i'm curious on what everyone is running! You can be as simple as you want but honestly the more detailed the better. I'll start by sharing mine in the most detail possible and one of my more simpler chains. I'm curious to see everything from simple to complicated setups!

1. Dedicated Listening Setup

Wall Outlet > 2x PS Audio Noise harvesters > Furman PST-8 Power Conditioner > Belden 1505A RF Coaxial Cable & Netgear Nighthawk C7000 v2 Modem/Router > Blue Jeans 6a Ethernet Cable > Silent Angel Bonn N8 Audiophile Network Switch > Sonictransporter i5 Server w/ SGC 12v LPS & Wireworld Starlight Cat8 Ethernet Cable > Sonore Ultrarendu Streamer w/7v SGC LPS & Wireworld Starlight Cat8 Ethernet Cable & Forza A to B USB > Mytek Brooklyn DAC w/ SBooster 12v LPS > Alex Cavalli Liquid Platinum Amp & Blue Jeans XLR Interconnects, Eddie Current Zdt Jr w/ Pangea 14SE Power Cable & Forza RCA Interconnects > ZMF Auteur with ZMF Atmos C 1/4" cable & ZMF OFC 4 pin XLR Cable & Focal Elex w/ Forza Claire HPC MK2 1/4" cable & Forza Copper Series HPC MK2 4 Pin XLR cable

Source: Use Roon 1.7 with HQPlayer 4 embedded streaming Qobuz Sublime+ and Tidal Master

2. Work Desk Setup

Gaming PC > Forza USB A to B > SMSL SU8 v2 > Forza RCA Cables > Meier Audio Corda Classic > Any headphone I feel like & Blue Jeans XLR Cables > ADAM Audio T7V Studio Monitors

Source: Fidelizer Pro on Windows 10 using Foobar and streaming Spotify/Qobuz/Tidal/Youtube/Neflix/Disney+

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I need to make a map of my system. It got to the point I can't keep track of the various inputs to my amps and DACs... There should be some PC tool to make nice pics for this.

BTW how do you like your Brooklyn? I'm expecting to buy one soon.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Four random chains out of many.......all pretty decent? But it’s all so very serious and one false item could run the risk of complete failure? It’s just all so overwhelming in the end. I can’t go with one or ten different systems?

1)
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord-Denon DL-103 Moving Coil Phonograph Cartridge-VPI Scout Turntable-PS•1 Phono Preamplifier and HC•1b Dual Mono Power Supply by Monolithic-Virtual Dynamics Master Series RCA Interconnects-Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP-Sony IER-Z1R IEM #124 (Sony Silicone Tips)(Included cable 4.4 Pentaconn to MMCX)

2)
Sony NW-WM1Z DIgital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Sony MUC-M12SB1 Headphone Cable-Sony XBA-Z5 No. #017526 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced IEM

3)
Sony NW-WM1A Digital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Noble Audio Kaiser 10 Encore IEM Universal (Sony Clear Silicone Hybrid Tips)(HanSound Audio ZENTOO 4 wire OCC litz copper cable terminated 4.4mm)

4)
Electra Glide Audio Epiphany MK2 Power Cord-Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP-AudioQuest Carbon USB cable-Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10-Sony NW-WM1Z DIgital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Sony MDR-Z1R #5680 Over-Ear Headphones

 

[gimmeheadroom]

What's a Japanese Tourist Edition? Does it come with a camera and Nikon lens?

 

[Redcarmoose]

What's a Japanese Tourist Edition? Does it come with a camera and Nikon lens?

Because UK stuff has volume cap, it's a way of defining what model they are.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Because UK stuff has volume cap, it's a way of defining what model they are.

I prefer my explanation

 

[pichu]

I need to make a map of my system. It got to the point I can't keep track of the various inputs to my amps and DACs... There should be some PC tool to make nice pics for this.

BTW how do you like your Brooklyn? I'm expecting to buy one soon.

I like the Brooklyn, to put it simply its a clean DAC that pushes towards the highs. It comes out detailed and analytical and the ESS Sabre bump is audible. It has MQA meme and feels fairly high quality other than the volume knob being sort of loose. This is because the volume knob also acts as a push button to access certain menus. Overall im happy with it. It has connections for my Liquid Platinum ran balanced and then the RCA for my ZDT Jr.

It can be kind of fatiguing due to it being on the high side, but a god amp like Liquid Plat, or something warm like the ZDT jr and or most tube amps will sound wonderful. Itll be fast and resolve transients, while having good oomph and fullness extending all the way down through the low end. As for the headphone output, i have yet to try it because to run it you need a XLR female to 2x 1/4" TRS adapter. Thats currently being custom made for me but it can also be found on ebay i think for $50 or $160 for a 'higher end' one directly from Mytek themselves.

 

[pichu]

Four random chains out of many.......all pretty decent? But it’s all so very serious and one false item could run the risk of complete failure? It’s just all so overwhelming in the end. I can’t go with one or ten different systems?





1)
Electra Glide Audio Reference Glide-Reference Standard "Fatboy" Power Cord-Denon DL-103 Moving Coil Phonograph Cartridge-VPI Scout Turntable-PS•1 Phono Preamplifier and HC•1b Dual Mono Power Supply by Monolithic-Virtual Dynamics Master Series RCA Interconnects-Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP-Sony IER-Z1R IEM #124 (Sony Silicone Tips)(Included cable 4.4 Pentaconn to MMCX)

2)
Sony NW-WM1Z DIgital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Sony MUC-M12SB1 Headphone Cable-Sony XBA-Z5 No. #017526 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced IEM

3)
Sony NW-WM1A Digital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Noble Audio Kaiser 10 Encore IEM Universal (Sony Clear Silicone Hybrid Tips)(HanSound Audio ZENTOO 4 wire OCC litz copper cable terminated 4.4mm)

4)
Electra Glide Audio Epiphany MK2 Power Cord-Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP-AudioQuest Carbon USB cable-Sony Walkman Cradle BCR-NWH10-Sony NW-WM1Z DIgital Audio Player (Japanese Tourist Edition) FW 3.02-Sony MDR-Z1R #5680 Over-Ear Headphones

thats some serious IEM money! Whats your favorite?

 

[Redcarmoose]

The Noble Encore K-10 is kind of a hold-over of the past. The aging flagship from 2016 that still is interesting but has been obviously passed up now by many IEMs. The sound is also kind of a tribute to old style audiophile neutral, where the IER-Z1R is Hi/Fi? Kind of a modern technical Hi/Fi sound?

I purchased the Encores new but you see deals on used ones from time to time. You can find them cheap. They are airy like bookshelf speakers, but also not as intense as the IER-Z1R. The Encore also has the mids emphasis, where the IER-Z1R doesn’t. The Encore has the lower midrange frequency dropped as well as hidden lows, so the emphasis ends up on a flat midrange and pushed treble area. So between the two it’s like having bookshelf speakers which are fast but midcentric and then home theater which has more frequency range. The IERs are technically way better but the Noble are like a twisted HD800; thinner sounding but good with guitar rock and metal. Not a really as edgy sounding in the treble as HD800s, but kind of a neutral yet pushed treble that has a slight haze/glaze making it forgiving? So the IERs are probably my favorite but I use the Encores more?

 

[pichu]

The Noble Encore K-10 is kind of a hold-over of the past. The aging flagship from 2016 that still is interesting but has been obviously passed up now by many IEMs. The sound is also kind of a tribute to old style audiophile neutral, where the IER-Z1R is Hi/Fi? Kind of a modern technical Hi/Fi sound?

I purchased the Encores new but you see deals on used ones from time to time. You can find them cheap. They are airy like bookshelf speakers, but also not as intense as the IER-Z1R. The Encore also has the mids emphasis, where the IER-Z1R doesn’t. So between the two it’s like having bookshelf speakers which are fast but midcentric and then home theater which has more frequency range. The IERs are technically way better but the Noble are like a twisted HD800; thinner sounding but good with guitar rock and metal. Not a really as edgy sounding in the treble as HD800s, but kind of a neutral yet pushed treble that has a slight haze/glaze making it forgiving? So the IERs are probably my favorite but I use the Encores more?

Awesome and good to know as someone whose looking to getting into a portable IEM setup. In your experience, how is your iem chain? Anything you regret in it? Any simple setup you would recc? lets say budget isn't an issue but you're also trying to be reasonable. They setup would be used about two hours a day

 

[Redcarmoose]

thats some serious IEM money! Whats your favorite?

Awesome and good to know as someone whose looking to getting into a portable IEM setup. In your experience, how is your iem chain? Anything you regret in it? Any simple setup you would recc? lets say budget isn't an issue but you're also trying to be reasonable. They setup would be used about two hours a day

Well, I made a bunch of purchases and hindsight is always 20/20. So in that regard you can spend more money than just the stuff you end up loving. So you end up with gear that you don’t use as much. But you had to buy it and test it due to curiosity. Lucky I didn’t actually buy any flagship products by mistake.

The main thing is knowing your preferences in sound signatures and trying to emulate them in a portable set-up. I actually don’t take too much truly portable outside. If I leave the house I’ll just take a 6th Gen IPod Touch and a pair of mid-fi qdc Anole V3 IEMs. If I’m going to the gym probably budget IEMs.

But if someone wanted something to take to an office or something I could imagine someone being happy with the Walkmans. The Walkman 1A is a bargain really. Stays room temperature, battery lasts 30 hours, gets loud and has amazing firmware. Though for much of my uses I actually prefer the 1Z. So you have basically a 1A for $1000 to $1200, or the 1Z for $3000 to $3200. Strange that Sony made the players in 2016 and they are yet to be redone. Sony just came out with 2 Android players but they are still not up to 1A or 1Z standards. To want a 1A or 1Z you kind of have to only want 16/44.1 or DSD on file with something like a 400GB card along with the internal memory as there is no streaming. The players do Bluetooth two directions and can act as DAC for a computer.

The main thing is finding the sound you like. The two players are polar opposite, but the thickness and soundstage of the IER-Z1R brings the two players closer to being the same. The 1A is more reference where the 1Z is thicker more organic has deeper bass and tweaked up treble.

The 1Z has a more real-life response, and it’s more exciting, but you pay for it.

I probably couldn’t recommend IEMs to anyone as they are too personal. Though I’ve heard a few. The whole thing with IEMs is fit too. So it’s not just about them having synergy with your DAP. They need to fit into your ear a certain way and get an airtight fit to even start to really hear what the IEM is. The qdc Anole VX is nice. Very much a slightly warm but conservative tune. The IER-Z1R and 1A together are a great team. That’s like $1200 and $2000. But you need nothing else, no extra IEM cable or anything. Though some don’t like how the IER-Z1R fit, as they are heavy and big. But they are perfect for me, no fit issues and I don’t feel the weight.

There are just so many, very many IEMs out there that it’s hard to recommend any. Just have to try them. You may not even know what you like for six months. It’s like it takes at least a month of use to know if you will not want anything else?

The other thing is IEM cables, I have not spent much, but folks can go crazy obsessed with them. The thing that’s cool about the Walkmans is they use 4.4mm balanced ports. So you will notice a nice improvement with every IEM that you get a 4.4mm balanced cable for.

My IEM chain would be if not using the TA desktop.....the Encore/1Z with Hansound ZENTOO 4 core cable. Firmware 3.02 or 3.01.

Also 1A with IER-Z1R firmware 3.01 or Walkman 1Z 3.02 and the IER-Z1R.

Or

1A with 3.01 and Hansound Zen to Noble Encore Universal.

Cheers!

 

[Redcarmoose]

BGVP DM6-1A

BGVP DM6-1A

BGVP DM6-1A


Sony 1Z-IER Z1R

The thing with portables is not much chain. Firmware can be a big deal as well as cables; but that’s it.....IEM-cable-DAP.



Fearless S6Rui-1A

Noble Encore-1Z