I treat mine with a light coat of walnut oil wood wax. Hides the scratches.

I use Win 11 USB out to my FiiO DAC, with “Exclusive” mode in Tidal. My understanding is that this bypasses the Windows sound card drivers altogether.

I enjoy the FiiO KA3 driving my 7Hz Timeless IEMs, but through the 4.4 balanced out. You do not need a DAC as the Bluetooth connection to your phone should be satisfying.

Aliexpress has the PL50...

This is my "bass heavy" mix. Mostly acoustic, Latin, and a little EDM. https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/333e7833-4956-4cc7-af27-e7891910ceeb

I use HiBy Music on my iPhone for mobile listening. HiBy has two good EQ functions to tune the sound to your preferences.

I avoid downloading apps to my devices because of the permissions granted (no one reads the fine print before clicking “accept”). Did you follow the recent articles about inadvertently granting access to your camera and microphone? It’s getting harder all the time to glean good information...

I'm using both the K11 R2R and the K7 as my amplifier. I'm on a learning curve today, so I asked ChatGPT: Benefits of Resistor Ladder Volume Control (e.g., NJU72315 as in the K7) Analog Domain Volume Control A resistor ladder volume control operates in the analog domain, meaning it adjusts...

Why not use the LO-SE and adjust the volume/gain on the K11 R2R? Works well for me.

I have gigabytes of FLAC tracks, but the reality is I only listen to about 40Gb on any regular basis.

I am not sure if I added my Elegia headband conversion to this discussion... Headband broke after five years. The Audeze type steel band from Aliexpress was easy to adapt:

B&W PX8, and a Bluetooth transmitter dongle for airplane movies. Folds flat. Why: comfort, and sound quality. B&W ANC is not as aggressive as you get with Bose, but I find the "total cone of silence" seems to interfere with the sound quality The PX8 can also be used with 3.5mm cable.

These are still my first choice when I reach for a headphone. So comfortable. Please remember to let them break in for at least 50 hours before critical listening ;)

"Bites the dust"? You make it sound like you would bin the PX8 for this weakness. It took me 15 minutes to make my repair (above). How are your Dali phones holding up?

Kudos to FiiO for offering all the functionality we need in a dongle, and real buttons :L3000:, and at a great price.

UPDATE.... my Paypal payment was processed the day after I reset the payment type on Tidal.com

Phone plus a good dongle DAC will approach DAP sound quality.

I got the popup saying my Paypal payment was not accepted. I did not change anything on Paypal, so I suspected a scam. Anyway after a couple of days, I edited my payment method on Tidal.com and re-entered the exact same Paypal account. So far, no more popups. So far, my September payment has...

I don’t perceive a difference. Personally, I use LO-SE (preamp mode) because the volume control on my K7 is wonky. The K11 R2R volume offers much finer adjustment.

After two years, the headband seam opened up. This happened after I started using a ball cap during my walks. The repair was quick and easy. I used a toothpick to apply a little contact cement on the existing glue line. Then I tucked in the leather with a fine guitar pick. After couple of...

My old ears can hardly hear any difference. I have clean 110v power and have never heard mains interference in my systems. I would say that "golden ears" will hear a slight improvement in sound quality. Is it worth it? IMHO getting the K11 R2R is a way better investment. Effectively giving...

Tidal has a share function whereby you can copy the URL of the Tidal track, album, or playlist. Other Tidal users can paste the URL into their web player and save it. Tidal also allows you to share your playlists with other Tidal users.

I got mine at the end of July. It has been powered on since then. I can't say I noticed any sound change during it's early days. My idea is to keep the R2R resistors at a steady temperature. This is based on what I read on other threads on R2R and Multibit DACs. I am using the LO-SE output...