[Neweymatt]

Of course! The Senn cable is this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32843066350.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3e1963c0UmKc2p
gongheyfacai Store, model Earmax 2.5 black, 26,08 euros. Works very well so far but looks a bit delicate, I hope it lasts.

For the Final I bought the Linsoul Tripowin Zonie MMCX-2.5mm from Amazon 25,95 euros https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B07ZQCH9CN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Looks and feels stronger, initially had a funny smell that fortunately disappeared.
My only experiences with balanced so far have been very positive.

Cool thanks for that! I just want to try out a simple balanced cable with my Shure SE535 for now. I'm seeing that Tripowin Zonie MMCX cable even cheaper with FREE shipping to Australia, Apple Pay made it that much easier to just impulse buy it!

I may make a more serious cable investment once I've made a more serious IEM investment...

 

[Luis Mad]

Cool thanks for that! I just want to try out a simple balanced cable with my Shure SE535 for now. I'm seeing that Tripowin Zonie MMCX cable even cheaper with FREE shipping to Australia, Apple Pay made it that much easier to just impulse buy it!

I may make a more serious cable investment once I've made a more serious IEM investment...

I hope you will like the cable and report back with your experience.
how does the Shure SE535 go with SR25? I was thinking about buying one. I like very much the Final as Iems but they do have something I do not like, the isolation is not so good. They are wonderful for home but not so much to go out as outside noise leaks in. Also i have never had Shure, upgraditis and so on...

 

[robert766]

Check Amazon Deal of the Day

Thanks! I know absolutely nothing about micro SD cards. There are not a lot of options for 1tb disks though and they're quite expensive still. Maybe it's wiser to buy a 512gb card and see how far it will take me.

When using the SR25 with andromeda's through the balanced out I have the volume at 55 and it's more than loud enough.The CA marshmellow tips are pretty great for blocking outside noise. .

 

[erich6]

Thanks! I know absolutely nothing about micro SD cards. There are not a lot of options for 1tb disks though and they're quite expensive still. Maybe it's wiser to buy a 512gb card and see how far it will take me.

When using the SR25 with andromeda's through the balanced out I have the volume at 55 and it's more than loud enough.The CA marshmellow tips are pretty great for blocking outside noise. .

Yeah, they are pricey.

SanDisk 1TB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - C10, U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD - SDSQXA1-1T00-GN6MA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9W5HJV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2vweFb007DPTQ

was on sale For $189. Should drop again so just keep an eye on it

 

[Neweymatt]

Thanks! I know absolutely nothing about micro SD cards. There are not a lot of options for 1tb disks though and they're quite expensive still. Maybe it's wiser to buy a 512gb card and see how far it will take me.

When using the SR25 with andromeda's through the balanced out I have the volume at 55 and it's more than loud enough.The CA marshmellow tips are pretty great for blocking outside noise. .

Maybe have a look at prices on 400gb cards, for some reason they seem to be better value price/Gb than 512gb cards. 1tb cards seem prohibitive to me, vs multiple 400gb, but then convenience has a cost. My plan is to get a 400gb to use with SR25 for offline Tidal for now, and if I need to get larger later, use it with my DSLR..

 

[Neweymatt]

I hope you will like the cable and report back with your experience.
how does the Shure SE535 go with SR25? I was thinking about buying one. I like very much the Final as Iems but they do have something I do not like, the isolation is not so good. They are wonderful for home but not so much to go out as outside noise leaks in. Also i have never had Shure, upgraditis and so on...

I auditioned SR15 with my SE535 all the way back in March, and absolutely loved it. Then AK came out with SR25 in the meantime, so I had to get that instead, oh well.

You do have to spend a bit of time with the different tips on the SE535 to find what isolates best, but I’ve settled on the yellow foamies, and they’re very good.

 

[Neweymatt]

So I'm trying to use the SR25 as USB DAC, streaming Tidal to it via USB from my MacBook Pro, but I'm a little confused about a few things.

According to Tidal website, they recommend to enable "Use Exclusive Mode" when using external DAC. At least I think that's what it means here:
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005773698-Optimizing-HiFi

That support article seems to suggest to use Passthrough MQA, which I took to mean that it would be the external DAC (SR25 in this case) that would decode/unfold/whatever to the MQA stream.

However, I've found in looking at the SP1000 and SP2000 threads that the A&K doesn't support this, don't really know why:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/new-tol-a-k-dap-the-ak-ultima-sp1000.850061/post-15127186

SO, my question is, what is the best settings to use from Tidal app when using SR25 as USB DAC to get best possible SQ? Spoiler alert, I've tried "Use Exclusive Mode", but for some reason, that kills the output volume so badly that I've got to go to 150 on the SR25 just to barely hear anything, and then I've got to unplug the USB cable and reboot the SR25 to restore normal listening with that "Use Exclusive Mode" disabled...

I could of course just use either the Tidal native or APK app on the SR25; but when I'm at my desk, using the Mac is a MUCH better experience to navigate Tidal, and the Mac gets a MUCH better WiFi signal for streaming...

What am I missing here?

Turns out what I was missing was a proper player for Tidal. I’ve grabbed my daughter's cheap HP Win10 school laptop, plugged in the AK supplied USB cable, and the SR25 as USB DAC works/sounds great.

Not sure how the $$$$ Macbook Pro with Apple's $$$$ USB-C cable is so crap, I wonder do you have to use the AK USB cable?

 

[erich6]

Turns out what I was missing was a proper player for Tidal. I’ve grabbed my daughter's cheap HP Win10 school laptop, plugged in the AK supplied USB cable, and the SR25 as USB DAC works/sounds great.

Not sure how the $$$$ Macbook Pro with Apple's $$$$ USB-C cable is so crap, I wonder do you have to use the AK USB cable?

Hmmm..the computer shouldn't matter. Could be a defective USB port? And yes, A&K recommends using the supplied cable. I haven't tried it with a different cable.

By the way, the setting for "fixed volume" is actually called "force volume." Turn this to ON.

I tried with passthrough MQA and without it and both work the same.

 

[Edyeded86]

Maybe have a look at prices on 400gb cards, for some reason they seem to be better value price/Gb than 512gb cards. 1tb cards seem prohibitive to me, vs multiple 400gb, but then convenience has a cost. My plan is to get a 400gb to use with SR25 for offline Tidal for now, and if I need to get larger later, use it with my DSLR..

I picked up a Kingston 512gb fro £62.50...works great - very fast, no issues...

 

[havagr8da]

When it comes to SD cards I like the Sandisk they are highly rated and reasonably priced. The sweet spot for me is several 400gb rather than one 1tb. If they fail or get corrupted and are not recoverable you are not out as much. 400gb is a lot of offline music and they are easy to swap out.

 

[Luis Mad]

Review by Minidisk

 

[Neweymatt]

Review by Minidisk

Ha ha, that guy sold me the Cascades to pair with the SR25 I has just bought from the other headfi shop in Sydney...

 

[havagr8da]

Just a shot in the dark. If you have the cash available, just try the Thieaudio Legacy 3. I grew up on three way speaker systems, Klipsch Heresy, Pioneer, Cerwin Vega, Kenwood, Marantz, even Sansui before they went kabuki. I remember the term kabuki referring to 4way 5way 6way and crazy arrays. Some of which became stellar in performance (Infinity). I always had a love and respect for the good ole 3way and that is what drew me to the Legacy 3. Combine it with the likes of the SR25 and you have a combo that rivals many higher priced alternatives.

I have also tried many iems with the SR25, single dynamic to 14 ba, and have come to the conclusion. The SR25 is well worth an audition with whatever you have.

 

[vaibuavchadha]

Hi guys i just bought SR25. Soon after i heard about SE200 which has great reviews. The retailer is allowing me to exchange SR25 to SE200 if i want by this monday. I am not sure if the $$ is worth the upgrade. Has anyone heard to both and has any suggestions?

 

[Neweymatt]

Hi guys i just bought SR25. Soon after i heard about SE200 which has great reviews. The retailer is allowing me to exchange SR25 to SE200 if i want by this monday. I am not sure if the $$ is worth the upgrade. Has anyone heard to both and has any suggestions?

I can't say specifically about the difference between the SR25 and SE200. But, I did audition both of their predecessors back in March, the SR15 and SE100, and tbh, I couldn't really hear much difference between them; I suspect the difference between SR25 and SE200 would be subtle at best? Certainly not enough for me to justify more than double the $AUD price difference, which is enough for a great pair of headphones or IEMs. Then again, if you have the $$, then maybe the 4x internal storage increase and option to select different DAC signatures is worth it to you.

Could just be my ears are now too old and not sensitive enough to tell. Best way is for you to have a listen yourself before making any final decision, which your retailer should be more than happy for you to do.