I have HP-3 and NFB-15. Keep the gain on the low setting if you have it. The HP-3 is very easy to drive and Audio-gd gear puts out lots of power.

I have both HE-500 and K550. The K550 is better for sound leakage when around other people, easier to drive, and is a lighter phone if you are in for a long session. In all other aspects, the HE-500 is superior in every way if properly driven. Notably the soundstage, bass, and mids of the...

Mini-XLR is a small niche for headphone cables. Amazon has some from Cable Matters. Search for "mini xlr to 3.5mm cable". You could have the best of both worlds if you go with the AKG EK500S coiled cable. Its short but stretches long when needed. B&H sells them. I actually have one somewhere I...

Do you have a version with a detachable cable or one that's hardwired?

I got tired of my junk earbud headset working from home for COVID, so I...

For phone use, all you need is the USB-C OTG cable and you must use USB Audio Player Pro to let the DAC handle all of the work. S10 user here. For Windows, you will need to use software that can bypass the Windows direct sound software layer or else the DAC is not playing the music file...

I sold mine on eBay in January for $300 with free S&H. That was the headphone with original box and accessories, all in pristine condition. I bundled a DIY cable with it too. I tried to sell them on head-fi but got no takers. The flood of K7XX on the market makes it difficult to sell.

3.5mm jack fixed all my cable woes on my gen 1 K550.

I'm pretty sure the HP-3 has been discontinued. I ordered the walnut model from an online store but received the ebony model. When I contacted them they said the walnut was unavailable and they weren't getting any more. My choice was either refund or keep the ebony. I kept the ebony.

Some more Cobalt info here: https://darko.audio/2019/07/a-short-film-about-the-audioquest-dragonfly-cobalt/ Stereophile is also doing a giveaway: https://www.stereophile.com/content/audioquest-dragonfly-cobalt-portable-usb-dac-sweepstakes

You'd probably have to DIY to get below $100. Is that a possibility?

You could always buy my mine. Posted in the classified section. :beyersmile:

If anyone is looking for T1 spare parts or has the skill to transplant a USB board in a T1, I've posted mine for sale: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fs-aune-t1-mk1-usb-dac-not-working-amplifier-does-work.899763/

I just noticed Brainwavz now sells the XL pads in micro suede. That puts the number of Brainwavz pad material choices at six. Anybody try them on the K55x or have a guess how they might compare to the other materials?

Yeah, already tried on different PC. Do they sell the USB PCB part? Maybe I could do a full cap upgrade while I'm in there. Otherwise, I may have a bunch of T1 tubes to sell.

Well, I've had my T1 (MK1) for 5 years now but it looks like it no longer is recognized by my PC over USB or my phone via OTG. I get a "Device Descriptor Request Failed" error. Looks like the T1 USB board has crapped out. Does anyone have any DIY repair advice for me or first-hand experience...

Depends on what you're looking for in a cable. I wouldn't look for improvement in audio quality by upgrading cables, but if you're looking for convenience (shorter cable, different plug termination, etc.) then there are options. For my K702 AE, I originally swapped out the stock cable for an...

Here's a step-by-step how I installed the driver. This is for Windows 10 64-bit ONLY. First, download the driver from the Audio-gd website. If you're not sure which one, try the latest one: Next, extract the downloaded .rar file using a tool like 7-zip (www.7-zip.org): Ensure your...

I was installing 15.32 drivers last week and had some trouble too. It wouldn't work by using the setup exe file. I got the drivers to install manually in device manager by pointing Windows to the Vista64 folder after extracting from the downloaded audio-gd compressed file.

I don't own one, but it looks like it uses the same mini XLR connection to the earcup as other AKG headphones. If so, you could easily swap the cable out for an AKG coiled cable (about 1m coiled) like this...

The K550 MKIII has a removable cable. Pick and choose (or build) the length you want. I modded my K550 MK1 ages ago to have a removable cable and it's very liberating.

That second eBay link is what I had in mind for my project. I'll have to keep that in mind next time since I've already acquired a couple of the Sony plugs. For the Sony plugs, I was able to get the orange lettering off the barrel by using one of those Mr Clean magic erasers to carefully buff...

Replying to my own forum query here to help anyone else looking for a source for a quality threaded 3.5mm TRS DIY connector. B&H Photo sells the connector used on Sony phones part # SONY18TRSMV2. I don't care for the orange lettering and haven't found a non-abrasive way to remove it. Acetone...

Anyone have a good source for SMC Hifiman connectors? I ordered some from eBay coming from China like most here seem to do, but it's been three weeks since they shipped and I might just ask for a refund. Hifiman doesn't seem to sell them anymore. Moon-Audio sells them by the pair but for $12...

@cskippy Wow, thanks for the variety of pad impressions. You seem to have tried them all except for the MrSpeakers Dog Pads I'm using now. I guess for me it's a matter of angled vs level pads since the materials are pretty much the same. One of the things that pokes my OCD right in the eyeball...