mellowjamie
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2015
- Posts
- 52
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- 155
Hi all!
So, I've been merrily listening to my FiiO X5ii for a couple of years - firstly with some Fidue A73 IEMS, then my B&O H6, and finally with some Sony MDR-650AP in ears. The Fidues were great but started to get a little fatiguing treble wise (I think the X5ii can cause some sibilance if not matched well). The H6 I absolutely adore, but don't want full size for work, am frightened of breaking them whilst commuting, and so now they stay at home with my Rega Planar 3/Graham Slee Gram Amp/Graham Slee Novo. I bought some Sony MDR-650AP that were half price on Amazon to tie me over, which are actually pretty good.
I've been lucky enough to be getting a Pioneer XDP-30R DAP, which I am pretty excited about. Whilst I am aware implementation is as important as the chipset, it is packing a mean spec with dual SABRE ES9018C2M DACs and dual SABRE ESS9601K amplifiers, a balanced output, Bluetooth, connectivity with Tidal and Deezer, 2 clocks and remote control via your phone!
What interests me most is the balanced output. I've read a fair bit about it, and whilst opinion seems to be split between "pointless" and "massive improvement in sound quality due to eliminating cross channel blah blah". I assumed that you'd just Google "balanced earphones" and jobs a goodun. Then I realised that usual the word "balanced" refers to "balanced armature" and nothing to do with the output. In fact, there is very little out there that ships with a 2.5mm jack and balanced cables. I'm assuming I need to buy an IEM with removable cables (something that has MMXC for example) and buy a balanced, 2.5mm MMXC cable separately.
Which brings me on to the reason for my post.
Firstly, I'd love to get some custom IEMs made, but the only thing that is in my budget is single armature. Whereas if I was to buy some universal IEMs for the same money, I could get triple driver BAs or hybrids. So my first question would be, what's going to achieve the better SQ? A universal BA with multiple drivers or a custom IEM that only has 1 driver but has superior fit? In particular, I was looking at using The Custom IEM Co to get something like some Cinears S150 or ACS Evoke, or from the universals I was looking at Ultimate Ears UE900s (quad drivers), Shure SE425 (dual driver), Westone UM Pro 20 (dual) or UM Pro 30 (triple), Orivetti New Primacy, Fidue A83... in fact there's a few at the £230 to £280 price bracket.
After that, what's the best option for achieving the balanced cables? As a stop gap I was going to get the cheapy FiiO balanced cables, and then get some Toxic or Plussound cables made up.
Sound wise, I don't want something to bright, which I realise as a requirement can sometimes be detrimental to detail which is important to me.
Any pointers of advice would be appreciated.
So, I've been merrily listening to my FiiO X5ii for a couple of years - firstly with some Fidue A73 IEMS, then my B&O H6, and finally with some Sony MDR-650AP in ears. The Fidues were great but started to get a little fatiguing treble wise (I think the X5ii can cause some sibilance if not matched well). The H6 I absolutely adore, but don't want full size for work, am frightened of breaking them whilst commuting, and so now they stay at home with my Rega Planar 3/Graham Slee Gram Amp/Graham Slee Novo. I bought some Sony MDR-650AP that were half price on Amazon to tie me over, which are actually pretty good.
I've been lucky enough to be getting a Pioneer XDP-30R DAP, which I am pretty excited about. Whilst I am aware implementation is as important as the chipset, it is packing a mean spec with dual SABRE ES9018C2M DACs and dual SABRE ESS9601K amplifiers, a balanced output, Bluetooth, connectivity with Tidal and Deezer, 2 clocks and remote control via your phone!
What interests me most is the balanced output. I've read a fair bit about it, and whilst opinion seems to be split between "pointless" and "massive improvement in sound quality due to eliminating cross channel blah blah". I assumed that you'd just Google "balanced earphones" and jobs a goodun. Then I realised that usual the word "balanced" refers to "balanced armature" and nothing to do with the output. In fact, there is very little out there that ships with a 2.5mm jack and balanced cables. I'm assuming I need to buy an IEM with removable cables (something that has MMXC for example) and buy a balanced, 2.5mm MMXC cable separately.
Which brings me on to the reason for my post.
Firstly, I'd love to get some custom IEMs made, but the only thing that is in my budget is single armature. Whereas if I was to buy some universal IEMs for the same money, I could get triple driver BAs or hybrids. So my first question would be, what's going to achieve the better SQ? A universal BA with multiple drivers or a custom IEM that only has 1 driver but has superior fit? In particular, I was looking at using The Custom IEM Co to get something like some Cinears S150 or ACS Evoke, or from the universals I was looking at Ultimate Ears UE900s (quad drivers), Shure SE425 (dual driver), Westone UM Pro 20 (dual) or UM Pro 30 (triple), Orivetti New Primacy, Fidue A83... in fact there's a few at the £230 to £280 price bracket.
After that, what's the best option for achieving the balanced cables? As a stop gap I was going to get the cheapy FiiO balanced cables, and then get some Toxic or Plussound cables made up.
Sound wise, I don't want something to bright, which I realise as a requirement can sometimes be detrimental to detail which is important to me.
Any pointers of advice would be appreciated.
