Hey, @AudioCats thanks a million for all that efforts in tuning this Koss-Setup. I got mine yesterday from Drop. It feels like they have saved money wherever it was possible in order to sell an electrostatic headphone at this price tag. Indeed it sounds good for the cost, no doubt about that...

Received my sample today. From all full size headphones I owned up to now, its the only one I will probably keep for good. Soundwise, it is certainly one of the best headphones I have ever heard. The build, on the other hand, is probably the worst I ever had in my hands. Koss has obviously gone...

Hi there   I still use my HM-801 and it is just awefully hard to find an update. Actually, I am fine with the sound, but I'd love it to be just a little bit more portable (smaller) and convenient.   A delta-sigma-based dac or dap has never been an option for me, I am just too much used to...

Hi everybody! I still stick to the HM-801 - its still (one of) the best sounding player imo featuring the organic R2R-characteristics, even though it is indeed a bit chunky and not very easy to handle. I tried Rockbox, but went back to the original firmware V 0.23, as I want to listen to 24bit...

EDIT: I turn this one into a thread of its own...

I think there is no thread around for the S.M.S.L iDol, is there? Let me know if there is already another one and close this one, as double threads are quite annoying.   This is an update compared to my first review. I tested the IdOL again today, and I decided to modify my review. Here is my...

Just tried, no success. True, the battery icon shows as if the device would be charging on Rockbox. But after a couple of hours the battery was still at the same level, even though it was connected to a 2A wallwart charger that is strong enough to charge tablets. I believe it does not actually...

OK that's good to know, thanks. Not cool... Why the heck do they do this...? Does not make much sense imo. However, for what I listend up to now, all was 16bit/44.1khz material and sounded good.

I already did. Originally my FW was Version 0.23. After reading that 0.19 seems to have a better sound quality, I installed 0.19 beta. And then I installed Rockbox over it, which actually results in dual boot now. I must say that it sounds awesome with Rockbox. I have the impression that Rockbox...

  Just to know what happens: If I install ("downgrade") to 0.19 and patch it with rockbox, will it be the 0.19-Firmware that handles the sound, or is this part overwritten by rockbox? In other terms: If I install rockbox (as dual boot over the original firmware), does the sound quality depend...

I agree that the finding is difficult to explain, that downsampling is worse than recording directly at the lower sample rate. This is very probably due to shortcomings of the downsampling algorythm used.

You are of course right. However, there is a practical use, I think.   I have the feeling, for example, that many are cautious about spending money for exotic cables, and if they do, they will test their purchases carefully. On the other hand, it seems that many take it for granted, that so...

@ spruce music: Thanks for the references and your A-grade-summaries! These tests sound rather interesting, I will have a closer look tomorrow. And even if a difference is audible to some, it is not yet clear, which one sounds better or more close to the source. As @ sonitus mirus I believe that...

@RRod yes I did that. Using “Qobuz” “master recordings”, natively hi-res recorded hi-res tracks, and comparing the down-sampled ones to the originals. The tests were not really blind though, and I was trying hard to justify my investment into a decent hi-res DAC and hi-res tracks. But I was...

Thanks for your replies. However, there is no citation of a representative study that would include blind (or better double-blind) listening tests with good material (good means: native "hi res" - recordings on one hand, versus good material that was properly (!) down sampled to 44.1 or 48 khz...