The problem I have with that article is that it discounts correlated noise, which I understand to generally be the dominant source of electrical noise. If the noise is correlated, then a balanced amp (truly balanced, so fully differential) would actually reduce it (which happens in practice with...

Somebody sounds like some sort of an ogre even if it's not you. Of course, I'm not necessarily suggesting a one size fits all approach. Someone whose job it is to interact with people on a near constant basis probably shouldn't listen to music, but I suspect the vast majority of jobs that people...

This is ridiculous. I am significantly more productive listening to music than I am in silence, and my experience has been that a lot of people are as well. If you value... I don't even know what over productivity, then what's the point of even working? It just seems like a ridiculous policy...

I'm fairly certain that not even dance clubs play Sandstorm any more. It has mostly been relegated to hockey arenas and internet jokes by this point. But I don't judge anyone's taste in music. What moves you, moves you.

I mean, what are they going to do? Re-do the take? Make sure everyone clears out the condensation from their instruments before every take? Punch in Cannonball's hits? What's next? Punching in on flubbed notes? Jazz isn't always perfect, but sometimes "perfect" can be a little too sterile.

Just listened on my entirely different equipment to make sure it is what I thought it was, and know exactly what you're talking about in the first track. It's 100% in the recording and is caused by too much spit behind the reed. I played clarinet for about 10 years, so I'm intimately familiar...

I haven't heard any listening reports, but you might run into damping factor issues with the low input impedance of the Clear. S6 output impedance is 10 Ohm (20 Ohm balanced). Rule of thumb being generally that it shouldn't drive headphones with input impedance of less than 80 Ohm. Of course, it...

Much ado about nothing. Of course it's safe in the final form (same with asbestos, actually), but the real issue and - of course - cost is in transforming it from the raw material to its final form. There are significant precautions necessary to machine beryllium safely, and that's a significant...

I would be incredibly surprised if there were a way to seal the material in a way that makes it safe to machine. The dust is the real danger, and machining creates a whole lot of that.

I strongly suspect that the machining is much more expensive than the bulk material cost. Beryllium is great, but it's pretty nasty stuff. It's not cheap to protect people from it (and to demonstrate to the relevant authority that you're doing so) while you're shaping it into what you've designed.

I have the Amazon item as padding for my work M40X. It works pretty well, but be warned that the "red" is definitely pink. It looks exactly like the pictures. I was fooled by them calling it red in the description.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

They're a little bass light, but the soundstage and imaging of the HD 598 (which I've heard is pretty much the same as the 599 previously recommended) is quite good for gaming. They look the same, so you're probably not interested in those either, but the HD 598 SE is all black. I don't know...

Welp, my bad, everyone. Just so it's clear to anyone looking back on this: Single ended amp -> TRS (or other single ended) plug -> Single ended to balanced adapter -> Headphones = Simple, easy, and a decent first soldering project if you're looking into doing things yourself Truly balanced...

I agree with that. Is that what people meant when they said "You can't go SE to balanced"? I was thinking in terms of signal path, I guess. It shouldn't be too hard to find a ground in the amplifier to allow for a single ended connection, but a direct adapter would short R- to L-.

A single ended output only has a ground, no differential output. My diagram acknowledges that the balanced cable is supposed to be a differential (though, a lot of "balanced" amps do not actually have a differential output), but can be just as easily tied to a ground. The headphones don't supply...

Here is a (really terrible) schematic that I came up with to illustrate what connections there are. There is no short to ground, you just don't have the differential R+ compared to R- and L+ compared to L- that you do for an actual balanced connection because they're both just ground.

It ties the grounds of both drivers to the same, single-ended ground that's coming out of the amplifier. I don't understand where there's a short in a circuit.

Only once they make them in a way that harvests power from the air and thus last forever without needing a recharge, like wires. You can totally go single ended to balanced. You just bridge the negative connectors to ground. It's not true, differential balanced, but it's connecting to the...

I think you got a bit confused typing that up. The base Modi 2 only has USB input and RCA output. The Uber (and multibit) has USB, optical, and SDPIF. All but the base model also have a wall plug, which could help if your USB power gets noisy at all. The base model seems to be quite sensitive to...

We've been discussing them in this thread. Go on over and post any pictures you have of that farkled out Ducati. Maybe you'll get inspired and get back into riding.

My first "real" headphones were a pair of used M40X. I have since moved through HD 598 and onto HD 600 (going through a pair of HM5s that I just didn't like), but I still keep the M40X because it's nice to have a closed back when I need isolation (I use it at work, and am even looking for...

I get nearly everything used. It allows me to get better gear, and I don't lose as much value when I go to sell it later on. There's certainly more risk, but I think it should be if you're careful.

The only real way to tell if you're going to prefer a DAC, amp, or both is to listen to them. If they get loud enough and you don't really hear any electrical noise, then you don't need either, but they can definitely offer some improvements. If you have any way to go to a store and listen to...

When I demoed the 009, it sounded like the music was coming through a metal pipe. Almost every headphone that I've heard has been superior to the 009. I was listening to it from a Stax SRM006 fed by a Pro-Ject Stream Box, for what it's worth.