Totally, to my ears DM6 & Q1 is a great sounding combo - however, I am new to the hobby and my gear portfolio is pretty small meaning i don´t have much to compare it with. I´d love to compare it to one of those sexy Sony & else DAPs but up until now I am super happy with what I have.
Exactly, a little bit more warmth for dm6 should make them easier for ears and more relaxed. I feel so. BA makes them a little bit hot on treble. For my ears when using default cable so copper is the best way to give themtmore warmth. Also warmer source. Sony for me also associates with more warmth than other sources. Ofcourse it's not alway the rule. But someone said hiby r3 also good combo. As r3 is more darker warmer sounding. So this signature goes well for dm6
Yeah, that DSP technology I spoke about here, is pretty much what makes even compressed music sound good. The same thing on my axon 7, and it's the same thing on the 1Z and so on, What it does, it tries to "reconstruct" the compressed/clipped harmonics, using various tricks in the pipeline (SoX algorythm upsampling > a sophisticated EQ at the right fundamental/harmonic notes> randomizing quantization error - dither, and then applying a roll-off filter).
Basically, even my sub 320kbps mp3's sounded good. Still fuzzy compared to my lossless library, but well... You can't beat the actual information, with a "reconstruction".
- - -
And now, a small talk about balanced outputs again (plus a fun experiment), if you feel like having fun with me.
So, most of you already know, that balanced pretty much allows more power WITHOUT LEAKAGE, which basically sacrifices "dynamics" (just to clarify - leakage sacrifices dynamics/stereo). But, as I've said in my post here, balanced for most DAPs means - more noise. It's basically choosing one at the expense of the other (more noise - less resolution, with better dynamics and stereo separation - balanced, vs. less noise and more channel leakage/less dynamics - single end).
In theory, a source with very low internal impedance from a good single end should be better than a high power balanced output with the DM6 (but still, dynamics should be a bit better with balanced every time, just because there is nothing that can cause leakage, even if we are talking about very low-power signal).
If those Sony DAPs sound better in balanced with the DM6 (which doesn't require a lot of juice, so low-powered sources should be fine driving it properly), it's most likely because the single end output is not very good. But I can't say for sure, because I don't have one at hand, and probably never will (these things cost more than my life). So, take this as a "theory". Or, the DM6 is really showing the breaking point of sensitivity (which we kinda know already LOLz), and every bit you can squeeze of your source in terms of channel separation noticeably helps it and it's dynamics.
The ultimate practical test everyone here can do to understand what channel leakage does, something that pretty much every smart phone suffers from (including the LGs), aside from the Axon phones per my experience, is that channel leakage, or stereo crosstalk test. To understand what I'm trying to say, here's the following experiment you can try.
Get foobar2000 for your phone (or if you have an Android based DAP), and turn on the "Meier Crossfeed" DSP (for those that don't know what crossfeed is, check this post). Here's some instruction pictures:
Yeah, once you've activated the "Meier Crossfeed" DSP, play with the setting while listening to music (less crossfade means stereo, higher means mono). Now, the amp leakage is a amp deficiency/flaw of course, and the crossfade DSP is a "feature" that aims to correct the biggest problem that exists with Headphones/earphones/IEMs, which is STEREO (most music is recorded with speakers in mind, where both of your ears hear both channels, with lets say your right ear hearing the left channel slightly out of phase, or we should say phase delay, which gives us humans our directional hearing).
What we are doing here, is for you guys to experience what happens when there is channel leakage (or the exaggerated difference in "dynamics" between single-end and balanced outputs). And I will let you hear for yourselves without spoiling the answer, but if you really want to cut down to the chase, the answer is in the spoilers:
DYNAMICS, from which the soundstage gets congested and narrow, the more you go up the crossfade levels. It's exactly what happens with bad single ends with lots for leakage, and why DAPs exist, to correct a flaw that pretty much every phone has.
BTW, you can use my test song from this link if you want. I use it to test bass, and channel separation (stereo).
(can't embed it here for some reason)
There are several repeating very fast channel sweeps on this song (from the sample, its's at these marks - 00:41-00:45, 00:48-00:52; 00:57-01:00, 01:04-01:08).
You can make an experiment for me, and compare the difference you can hear between your single-end outputs, and your balanced outputs. The balanced output should make you completely "blind" at these marks, completely not able to hear what is being played. You can try the song on speakers, or down-mix it to mono to see what is actually there.
Yeah, these are two fun experiments you guys can do. Have fun, and don't forget to get back and share your results.
Yeah, that DSP technology I spoke about here, is pretty much what makes even compressed music sound good. The same thing on my axon 7, and it's the same thing on the 1Z and so on, What it does, it tries to "reconstruct" the compressed/clipped harmonics, using various tricks in the pipeline (SoX algorythm upsampling > a sophisticated EQ at the right fundamental/harmonic notes> randomizing quantization error - dither, and then applying a roll-off filter).
Basically, even my sub 320kbps mp3's sounded good. Still fuzzy compared to my lossless library, but well... You can't beat the actual information, with a "reconstruction".
- - -
And now, a small talk about balanced outputs again (plus a fun experiment), if you feel like having fun with me.
So, most of you already know, that balanced pretty much allows more power WITHOUT LEAKAGE, which basically sacrifices "dynamics" (just to clarify - leakage sacrifices dynamics/stereo). But, as I've said in my post here, balanced for most DAPs means - more noise. It's basically choosing one at the expense of the other (more noise - less resolution, with better dynamics and stereo separation - balanced, vs. less noise and more channel leakage/less dynamics - single end).
In theory, a source with very low internal impedance from a good single end should be better than a high power balanced output with the DM6 (but still, dynamics should be a bit better with balanced every time, just because there is nothing that can cause leakage, even if we are talking about very low-power signal).
If those Sony DAPs sound better in balanced with the DM6 (which doesn't require a lot of juice, so low-powered sources should be fine driving it properly), it's most likely because the single end output is not very good. But I can't say for sure, because I don't have one at hand, and probably never will (these things cost more than my life
The ultimate practical test everyone here can do to understand what channel leakage does, something that pretty much every smart phone suffers from (including the LGs), aside from the Axon phones per my experience, is that channel leakage, or stereo crosstalk test. To understand what I'm trying to say, here's the following experiment you can try.
Get foobar2000 for your phone (or if you have an Android based DAP), and turn on the "Meier Crossfeed" DSP (for those that don't know what crossfeed is, check this post). Here's some instruction pictures:
Yeah, once you've activated the "Meier Crossfeed" DSP, play with the setting while listening to music (less crossfade means stereo, higher means mono). Now, the amp leakage is a amp deficiency/flaw of course, and the crossfade DSP is a "feature" that aims to correct the biggest problem that exists with Headphones/earphones/IEMs, which is STEREO (most music is recorded with speakers in mind, where both of your ears hear both channels, with lets say your right ear hearing the left channel slightly out of phase, or we should say phase delay, which gives us humans our directional hearing
What we are doing here, is for you guys to experience what happens when there is channel leakage (or the exaggerated difference in "dynamics" between single-end and balanced outputs). And I will let you hear for yourselves without spoiling the answer, but if you really want to cut down to the chase, the answer is in the spoilers:
DYNAMICS, from which the soundstage gets congested and narrow, the more you go up the crossfade levels. It's exactly what happens with bad single ends with lots for leakage, and why DAPs exist, to correct a flaw that pretty much every phone has.
BTW, you can use my test song from this link if you want. I use it to test bass, and channel separation (stereo).
(can't embed it here for some reason)
There are several repeating very fast channel sweeps on this song (from the sample, its's at these marks - 00:41-00:45, 00:48-00:52; 00:57-01:00, 01:04-01:08).
You can make an experiment for me, and compare the difference you can hear between your single-end outputs, and your balanced outputs. The balanced output should make you completely "blind" at these marks, completely not able to hear what is being played. You can try the song on speakers, or down-mix it to mono to see what is actually there.
Yeah, these are two fun experiments you guys can do. Have fun, and don't forget to get back and share your results.
The Hulk looks gorgeous.
KZ stars are the go to tips. Fit these perfectly.
+1 this for DMG as well.KZ stars are the go to tips. Fit these perfectly.
Also the DM6 loves high quality music files. 24bit files sound really good.
The higher the quality of music you feed it, the better it does.
Copper cables are the only way to go.
Enjoy, you got a good iem
Pairs well with the ZX300.
