First meet up for me, was a great time. Fun meeting others and talking about equipment. My best set of cans so far is Beyerdynamic DT990. It was great to be able to hear cans I have only read about. First time hearing planar magnetic and electrostatic, and all-BA iems. The Stax were...

I like the sound character of the F9's. Not super experienced with audiophile terminology, maybe there's a better term for this. I've done some primal A-B testing between my F9's and my over-the-ear headphones, and receiver/speakers. The over-the-ear headphones sound like they're playing...

I have the black F9's. With stock cable I tried the all-black tips and they had too much bass and high end seemed constrained, the opaque black with red core tips had less but good bass and opened up the high end. I then got a silver plated cable and it was a bit bright with the opaque black...

Just want to confirm the SurfCable MMCX connectors fit the F9 easily. Don't notice much difference with these cables/balanced. Seems like I do need to turn the volume up 1 extra click for same volume as stock non-balanced cable, maybe due to different cable materials? Still sounds fantastic...

I just got the PonoPlayer to do balanced audio, got a good discount and sounds amazing. Unfortunately I discovered it's not 2.5mm TRRS. I would like to keep the Pono instead of changing to another DAP, since I'm happy with the sound so far. Is there any PHA-3/Pono balanced cable that would...

Just got the Fiio F9 yesterday and am happy with them! Very enjoyable, engaging listening. I'm not a very experience audiophile, but am dabbling in some higher end audio gear the last few years. Had a decent IEM, Shure SE315. Lost those and haven't found them in a year. Was looking for a...

I did end up going with the Starlight.  Upon first listen it was not as powerful and immersive sounding as the Bravo Audio V2 and I was a bit worried I might be disappointed.  I wonder if that's a difference that a "Class A" amp like Bravo Audio V2 may have, the mosfet's compared to the...

Hi All,   Looking for headphone tube amp recommendation, new under $200.  I had picked up the Bravo Audio V2 hybrid tube amp.  It sounded great with the Chinese tube at first listen (maybe pre-burned in?), compared to listening on my cell phone only.  After reading some forums I swapped the...

Another option for basshead phones is Sony V55 extra bass.  They are a good price compared to beats and get huge bass vibration, like 'bass soundstage'.  They manage to keep it realistic, so you can hear the rest of the music great with the bass pretty darn heavy.  Some detail with...

That sounds like good advice.  I may save up for something better in the future instead of getting the cheaper range for dac/amp.   Thanks

Bump (first post took time for approval).   Basically - do you think I can improve headphone experience much with less then $100 portable dac/amp?  Or would it be more the range of $200 or more for noticeable difference over Samsung S6?   Thanks!

I listened to 5 grados at a store recently (325 was top model in the display). Didn't notice much difference between 125 and 225, but noticably better sound in the 325's to my ears. I didn't even go there for Grados but was impressed and found myself checking what they're going for on Amazon.

I got my first non-bottom-shelf headhones a year ago. Started wanting better audio quality when noticing the difference between my Samsung S6 and Macbook Pro- (mid 2012 version). Spent some time here at head-fi and learned to improve my S6 by answering yes to everything in it's "Adapt Sound"...

Hi,   I've been doing research for a month or so, looking to upgrade headphones.  Was looking at the same headphones as you, something with a more accurate EQ.  I didn't get a chance to listen to many but listened to AKG K612Pro and decided they were a little too flat sounding for me, at least...