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Guys, thank you for your heads up.
Now I am 90% sure what my next purchase will be, guess what????
Tim, what cable should I order for my HE-500 to amp it with the asus muse? Preferably from Toxic...
, a link or picture of the cable is appreciated
If it's the Essence One then it will be solid.
A Taiwan computer manufacturer (5th largest) started to target the audio industry, of course with their enormous capital resources along with the fact that so many electronic parts come from Taiwan, they'll be able to make a high quality parts for cheap. Let's not forget they're known for making motherboard PCB's, so to create a multilayer audio pcb, they're already on top of the hill. They have their own Audio Team of engineers for creating audio equipment. Thus, they do not talk to other teams, and focus mainly on the job at hand
I've used regular OFC (Canare), Silver Plated OFC, OCC Copper, OCC Silver Plated Copper, and is about to use a Pure Silver Cable (much like the silver dragon and silver poison).
It's all thanks to HeadphoneLounge.
I have a few OCC Copper and OCC SPC left for the HE-500, so if you'd like, we can work something out.
To me, i've noticed OCC headphone cables sound better than the standard stock cables. (not that subtle at all)
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So would you say that 5% is worth the extra £300 as I'm seriously considering getting the Essence One and HE-400, also how do they sound with the stock op-amps?
Also whats the launch date for the Muses edition or has it already been launched as I cant make up my mind whether to get the muses edition or just upgrade the op-amps with the MUSES01
I would say it's worth it if your music genre is more focused on vocals and instruments.
For music listeners like me who prefer the upbeat hip hop and pop songs, the HE-400 does better, HOWEVER, sometimes i like to hear the vocals more forward and separated, which is where the HE-500 comes in. Thus when i want to have fun flare, i'll use the HE-400 and when i feel less energetic i'll grab the HE-500. That is why i chose to own both. instead of selling one off.
The HE-400 comes very close to the HE-500 when you're using a high quality wire. The bass and treble Improves greatly, so you're getting the best of both worlds.
The HE-400 is already bass heavy, so with the stock cheap $1 op amp (NE5532) the bass is very boomy and harsh when using the HE-400. I'm pretty sure they were made to be swapped out right away, or for those computer gamers who knows nothing and think that sound quality requires a "fat" bass and nothing more. This boomy bass helps add a little more realism in games, specifically for gunfires and bomb sounds. I've found that the running sound, closing a vehicle door, etc sounds extremely fake with the NE5532.
Muses has already been launched, if you go back 3-6 pages, one of the ASUS members gave a buying like, you'll also noticed that i recommend buying the Original Essence One and Muses01's separately as it is cheaper. Grab the MUSES Edition if you ever feel as though you'll be using In Ear Earphones with them, the MUSES Edition has a gain switch so it will not out blast IEM's.
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+1
Yea, that has been bugging me too with my HE500/E1 combo. Absolutely fantastic for live recordings, but almost unbearable with aggressive pop/rock songs, it's too "in your face". Maybe it'll be better with closed cans...
Also, thanks for the ebay links! I got the premade ones from Thailand, hopefully they'll be here soon since Thailand is pretty close to my country. Only have 2 pairs though, so I'll probably replace the headphone buffers.
WOW, REALLY? You have the same problem as me! I thought i was just the one, no matter how many times i've listened (must be 100x) the aggressive pop/rock are always too forward, but live recordings does give you center stage seats which are, like you said, AWESOME.
I've noticed the LME49710HA improves it a bit, maybe because they're metal can edition which are, like what the creators say, just plain better. They have less current and noise/distortion than the LME49720NA that are in the headphone buffer so that may attribute to something.
Do not forget to buy the gold pin DIP8 sockets, you need to raise your adapter higher as it will hit your components on the Essence One PCB.
Also use the gold pin DIP8 sockets that you buy instead of the one that comes with the Thailand's as those are not fully gold plated.
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It seems that Asus has changed the opamps in the standard edition after the release of the Muses edition. This is from Asus' spec page:
Operational amplifier:
●Balanced/Un-balanced I/V:4 x NE5532
●Balanced/ Un-balanced LFP: 2 x NE5532
●Balanced /Un-balanced Buffer: 3 x NE5532
●Headphone: 1 x I/V: NE5532; 1 x LPF: NE5532; Current Buffer: LME49600
Mine, which I bought in May, only had Ne5532's in the I/V and LFP stages, the rest are LM4562/LME49720. I replaced the 5532's with 4562's a couple of weeks ago, with good results.
I'm thinking about doing as Cssarrow and installing LME49710HA in headphone stage.
I thought it was going to be like that too, until they came and the XLR/RCA were LM4562's, Headphone were LME49720NA's.
I have the LME49710HA's in both the headphone stage and RCA buffer. XLR i don't use as my speakers do not have that input.
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Hey guys,
Did any of you try the MUSES 02's or know how do they compare against MUSES 01?
I wonder how they sound like, i doubt they will sound as good as the MUSES01 since ASUS has already tried both and preferred the 01.
It would be nice if someone gave it a shot, too bad it's $300 just for a sneak peek.
Tim
