Yes, I saw that and the comparison to the Stax. However, still not sure what to think. I've read statements like "it plays like it costs 10 times its price or more" enough times to become jaded of hyperbolic language in audiophilia, but I know it's not that uncommon to run planar headphones that...

Could you elaborate on how (much) the speaker amp improves the HE400SE sound or are you planning to write a separate post about that?

Any news?

If your Explorer 2 is connected to a noisy source like a PC, it's very much worthwhile investing in something that can at least feed it with clean DC. Needs not be a huge investment; a cheap battery-based solution will work. I have the same dac and I'm using nimh battery packs to power it. Big...

Oehlbach XXL Masterclock €74 directly from Germany (€90 from Amazon). USB decrapifier very similar to the Uptone Regen. https://www.oehlbach.com/en/audio-equip/electronics/xxl-masterclock They also have a huge discount for the USB Bridge dongle €29 (down from €150)...

The German Maestro GMP400 has comparable or even better comfort than your Beyer. The sound lies somewhere between an K712 and an HD600. Might not be easy to find in the US, though.

Can take advantage of a used deal, but the owner (second owner) says the battery now only last about 3-4 hours... Is it safe to do this with the PB3 or will it hurt the battery eventually? Also, is the battery chloride ion or Lithium polymer type? I'm seeing conflicting data. @Paul - iBasso

I know but judging by the specs it's a very weak amp, not adequate for harder to drive or high impedance headphones. So it would make sense for some owner to pair it with the Head Box S2, which is a much more powerful amp. Hence the question. I'm just trying to get an idea of the sound of the...

Is anyone pairing this dac with Head Box S2 amp from the same company? Any experience with it?

Powerful compact desktop HP amp. Similar price and format to other currently popular options like magni, atom, liquid spark, etc... 5V DC input, two headphones jacks and made in EU. Output power is split between the two jacks when two headphones are connected, according to user manual...

If anyone wants to sell a GMP 400, or some of its parts, PM me.

Without mods and in no particular order: JVC Flats Sennheiser HD600 Sony MH1 Hifiman RE262 Absolute best sound I have heard is a modified full size headphone not included here. Pardon the IEMs, it's very rare to find a full sized can that doesn't sound obnoxiously distorted to my ears (in...

https://hporz.blogspot.com/2019/05/akg-k245.html Couple of months ago, I found by chance this binaural (I assume) sound sample of the K245. The website has sound samples of many other (mostly closed) headphones. To my ears (listening on any of my headphones), the K245 sample (linked above)...

I like randomness. Rare albums manage to avoid brain atrophying bias.

One could consider the things I mentioned distortion, yes, but they don't necessarily show up in the way distortion or FR are typically measured in headphones. They are more apparent in cumulative spectral decay graphs.

There's more to sound quality than FR and low distortion. Backwave reflections and resonances create odd colorations and contribute to the perception of a "noise floor" or 'dirtiness' to the sound. The best way to overcome this is a design that is as mass-free, simple and open as possible.

Are the K245 earpads replaceable? What's the size?

What kind of materials or coatings can be manually applied on the surface? Modding purposes, not driver building.

nevermind

nevermind

AFAIK, the only region of the spectrum where planar tech has an inherent advantage over dynamics is the bass and the overall linearity up to roughly 1KHz. Above 1KHz, planars don't do any better than dynamics. In fact, CSD plots show that planar drivers tend to suffer a lot from ringing problems.