Great you have found something that is worthy the crown. Did you you swap the standard cables on the H40 ? Tried DM6 in Balance ?
My FIIO BTR5 arrived yesterday which was purchased for a few reasons including 2.5mm balance out. I was at last able to use the also newly purchased custom UPOCC Litz cable with the DM6 in a Balanced setup.
Immediately I felt the sound was more intimate and holographic in soundstage presentation. Bass was more full and punchy, mids more forward and full sounding and the highs remained sparkly and detailed.
This is my first experience of using a balanced earphone cable setup and it turned out to be a very positive one. I feel the DM6 have just been given a big boost by the balance setup and they have become more musical overall.
I ended up listening to lots of tracks for a few hours until the BTR5 battery finally ran out.
I’m sure that the Balance out is the biggest contributor to the musical improvement as when I used regular jack on the BTR5 the music lost its extra new life. The cable is highly recommended by Hakuzen for producing textured low bass and a dark background with improved soundstage. Im sure that it’s also contributing to the sound signature.
Seems I had correctly suspected that areas other than the DM6 were the weaker link in my portable audio setup. Buying upgrades rather than yet another new earphone has been the right move.
Listening was done using the LG v30 as source connected to BTR5 over BT in highest quality LDAC mode. I didn’t have the correct cable to connect the BTR5 in usb mode directly to the LG and I wonder if the sound will improve even more.