I created a modified version of the original bass port design, which used a 2.5mm connector. I believe a 3.5mm connector would work as well. Mine have reinforced screw bosses to prevent them from twisting off so easily. (I have also created reinforced versions of the original hirose model and...

What are your recommendations for good quality paint brands, types, & sources? I picked up a pair of AEON RTs, which are now my daily drivers. So I decided to rebuild my Open Alphas with Hirose connectors, set screw bass adjustment, and (hopefully) a better finish quality than I was able to...

Excellent!

I was afraid the volume pot might have been one place they skimped to get to this price point. Is the channel imbalance on all the outputs (balanced, unbalanced, and variable RCA out)? I was thinking of using the variable RCA out to feed my Vali 2, which also has a terrible volume pot.

Here’s a stencil for cutting the felt on the ear side of the driver: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/67PFtjAkzmN Here’s a stencil for cutting the gasket between the ear cup and baffle assembly. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0oTNXVKIY0O

I'm curious about what others have experienced here. Power-wise, the Objective 2 is about halfway between what I've tried: These sound poor plugged directly to mobile devices and other low powered amps, and they sound magnificent with my Vali 2, which has nearly twice the power of the Objective...

It's been a while since I got mine dialed in, but here's my recollection: The midbass was the one band that I couldn't figure out how to dampen, so I loosened things up in other bands: Upper 2 bass ports covered, and the lowest one drilled out slightly. (Not sure why this worked, but it did.)...

Yes, they sound great with the Mk3 drivers. There’s always some tuning to be done with the ports, fill, earpads, etc., but beyond the initial soldering, no driver modification is necessary. The mrSpeakers pads are absolutely worth it. Super comfortable and one less variable in replicating the...

They look great! Those SLA parts seem well worth the cost. Now welcome to the (genuinely) fun stage of tuning them!

I'd love to hear how the open back version turned out. Given how much small changes in the earcup venting changes the sound of the semi/closed version, I'm certainly curious how they behave in an infinite baffle.

At 16/44 over USB, the only advantage of the EL would be the cool looking LED ring on the front and possibly the form factor. (I considered paying the extra for the EL’s wider chassis just so I could stack a Vali 2 on top of it.)

$99 OL DAC is USB only. $139 OL DAC is USB + optical $249 EL DAC is coaxial, optical, and Class 2 USB From the EL DAC website: “EL DAC supports up to 32/384kHz audio using a dedicated 45/49MHz clock pair. While we claim no measurable superiority of high sampling rates, UAC2 and ASIO support...

Or if you prefer to stay with CDs, get a good CD player and connect it directly to the Vali 2.

So you are playing CDs in a computer to a USB DAC to the Vali 2? If so, I think your problem is a combination of 1) the CD-ROM drive being a terrible transport mechanism for audio CDs, and 2) the computer being a really noisy source of USB audio. Laptops and desktops are generally very noises...

Another question: Is the OL DAC (USB) considered asynchronous? I bought it based on the DAC chip and power supply, but it just occured to me to wonder if the USB chip is asynchronous. (I did some googling, but didn't find an answer.)