[Tumyum]

   
For example, if you vary the volume knob of the DAP, and the sound that comes out of Mojo also  varies, then the setup is definitely wrong.  It is a proof that the DAP has altered the bits from the original ( in an inferior if not detestable way ), and defeat the purpose of shelling out big bucks on a TOTL gear. The digital volume control on Mojo uses a very powerful processor and top notch algorithm, and is the preferred and correct way to play music.
 
I use foobar2000 on PC with DSD plugin (https://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/), and set output device to  DSD:WASAPI(push). Then the output is bit-perfect.

I don't understand why some people love to overkill with everything, especially when it comes to music or this forum. They got a perfectly fine DAP but still put a Mojo on it. Stack on top of stack and we got lots of Mr. Stackhouse here. My next question will be: what's the purpose of the DAP or the Mojo in the first place? They swears through their legions that it sound good/bad with or without the Mojo. They also say the same thing between 320kbps and 1411kbps. I read an interest thread here somewhere a few days ago about this topic when people said they could definitely tell the differences between 320 and 1411, while most of them didn't do the blind test.

The more I read into these things regarding to music quality such as stacking gears and formats , it leans me toward to think that things just happened in people's head instead of their ears, unless someone was gifted with excellent hearing or seasonal audiohead, which are plentiful at this forum.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I think the seasoned audiohead is a good point, or blessed with good hearing or young ears.

What ever activity we do we get better at it and notice more details and fine tune within those parameters.

There is also the thing of listening to the music or the gear. I have become much better at it, an analogy could be a wine expert, but I am am not as great as some.
As a hobbyist reviewer I have to listen to the gear.

The last two weeks I have been studying for examination (I passed yesterday) and had not been listening to any music/gear during that time.'I had to to concentrate on studying.

It was interesting putting the earphones back in my ears yesterday afternoon (I had three very different pairs of IEMs with me) and finding my taste had changed a bit. And my analytical listening was a bit less sharp than before.

When I am in constant reviewer mode I notice different nuances @Shigzeo more easily and faster.

*Stacks were all we had before the age of decent dedicated Daps we have now.
There stick exist stacks but more dac/amps to go with a mobile phone. Before it was mainly amps.
I have a variety of gear and cables and like to try out different configerations for fun.
But nowdays it seems to be the age of the dedicated dap plus phone, or phone plus dac/amp, or cheap Dap as transport and a dac/amp to keep the phone memory free etc.

Anyway saw Ken at the show yesterday, friendly as usual and his table was very busy.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/829283/e-earphone-tokyo-headphone-show-12-2016-expatinjapan#post_13095282

 

[Tumyum]

Thanks for inputs as always Expatin! Going through your pictures and I learned about Jomo Audio, which I never heard of. Interesting thing is that they were from Singapore if I'm not mistake, and their designs resembled of Noble Audio except more choices. 

 

[audio123]

Thanks for inputs as always Expatin! Going through your pictures and I learned about Jomo Audio, which I never heard of. Interesting thing is that they were from Singapore if I'm not mistake, and their designs resembled of Noble Audio except more choices. 

i have jomo 4. Good iem for vocals.

 

[Tumyum]

Hi audio123,

How would you compare between Jomo Audio and Noble Audio? I'm thinking of my next IEM would be custom fit with cool design like Noble or Jomo. I'm not getting anytime soon tho and probably in a year or two. I saw Jomo5 V2 got the setup that I like in BAs. Dual low, dual mid, and one high. I dislike something like dual low, dual mid, and quad high. I like a little more emphasize on the bass. Thanks!
 

i have jomo 4. Good iem for vocals.

 

[audio123]

Hi audio123,


How would you compare between Jomo Audio and Noble Audio? I'm thinking of my next IEM would be custom fit with cool design like Noble or Jomo. I'm not getting anytime soon tho and probably in a year or two. I saw Jomo5 V2 got the setup that I like in BAs. Dual low, dual mid, and one high. I dislike something like dual low, dual mid, and quad high. I like a little more emphasize on the bass. Thanks!

Jomo is better than Noble.
Jomo is relatively unknown to the western market but let the sound do the speaking. SQ is ahead of Noble.
The new Jomo 5 V2 is phenomenal in the lows.
Ultrainferno flinkenick are experienced with Jomo products too. Maybe they can share some impressions with you.
Cheers.

 

[ngoshawk]

I think the seasoned audiohead is a good point, or blessed with good hearing or young ears.

What ever activity we do we get better at it and notice more details and fine tune within those parameters.

There is also the thing of listening to the music or the gear. I have become much better at it, an analogy could be a wine expert, but I am am not as great as some.
As a hobbyist reviewer I have to listen to the gear.

The last two weeks I have been studying for examination (I passed yesterday) and had not been listening to any music/gear during that time.'I had to to concentrate on studying.

It was interesting putting the earphones back in my ears yesterday afternoon (I had three very different pairs of IEMs with me) and finding my taste had changed a bit. And my analytical listening was a bit less sharp than before.

When I am in constant reviewer mode I notice different nuances @Shigzeo more easily and faster.

*Stacks were all we had before the age of decent dedicated Daps we have now.
There stick exist stacks but more dac/amps to go with a mobile phone. Before it was mainly amps.
I have a variety of gear and cables and like to try out different configerations for fun.
But nowdays it seems to be the age of the dedicated dap plus phone, or phone plus dac/amp, or cheap Dap as transport and a dac/amp to keep the phone memory free etc.

Anyway saw Ken at the show yesterday, friendly as usual and his table was very busy.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/829283/e-earphone-tokyo-headphone-show-12-2016-expatinjapan#post_13095282

Thank you for the insight and congrats on passing your exams!:muscle_tone3:

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Thanks my friend

 

[warrior1975]

Tumyum I hear you bro. I used to stack too, especially when I first got into this. I thought I'd hear a huge difference, never really did though unless there was a boost for treble or bass.

I rarely stack anymore, just not worth it. As far as the format of music, when I upgraded some of my old stuff, 128 and upgraded to flac I heard a difference. I definitely don't hear a difference between 320 and up though... I still buy my music in flac or better though, just because.

Stacking is still fun when I get new equipment, to listen to the equipment... But not worth the trouble for my normal daily use.

 

[davidmolliere]

@Tumyum I hear you bro. I used to stack too, especially when I first got into this. I thought I'd hear a huge difference, never really did though unless there was a boost for treble or bass.

I rarely stack anymore, just not worth it. As far as the format of music, when I upgraded some of my old stuff, 128 and upgraded to flac I heard a difference. I definitely don't hear a difference between 320 and up though... I still buy my music in flac or better though, just because.

Stacking is still fun when I get new equipment, to listen to the equipment... But not worth the trouble for my normal daily use.

 
Same here, I don't stack anymore, it does explain shooting for better DAPs in the end you spend more
 
Format of music, I'd say I didn't really hear any significant difference between 320kpbs and FLAC until I went down TOTL IEMs and better DAPs.
 
I find that the Vega in particular, especially since I got the WM1A are more revealing of improved quality than any of my previous gear.
I know find a difference even between 16bits and 24bits in term of dynamics for well mastered albums (same for DSD, mainly dynamics makes a difference) , I don't hear any improvement with 88.2, 96 or even 192Khz though. 

 

[Tumyum]

I totally understood regarding to stacking if you had lots of gears laying around so may as well stacking for fun as ExpatinJapan mentioned above, and of course not recommend to carrying them around because it just look silly to me. When I first started to get into this game, this topic is just confused the hell out of me and keep wondering, is it worth it? As I kept reading and understood more especially from the last few posts in this thread.

As music formats go, thank you guys for being honest. It is very hard to tell the difference between 320 and 1411 kbps. It's detectable and it's there, but hard to tell the differences since it's so small and not worth to go through all the trouble. I found out the hard way and spend a couple of days just listen between the two formats over and over again, with the same 3 songs. I cannot tell the difference at all. Guys like warrior1975 and davidmolliere are considered veterans to me and had way more experience than I do, and still admitted can hardly tell the difference. This is the reason why I enjoyed coming here and gaining knowledge for my new hobby. No BS!

 

[warrior1975]

I thought I heard a difference between Hi res and flac, until I guessed a few songs wrong, thought the flac sounded better. Very hard for me to hear a difference. Not sure if I had better masters with the flac recordings.

 

[davidmolliere]

I thought I heard a difference between Hi res and flac, until I guessed a few songs wrong, thought the flac sounded better. Very hard for me to hear a difference. Not sure if I had better masters with the flac recordings.

 
Anything over 44.1KHz is overkill IMHO, but 24bits against 16bits I was able to tell apart with accuracy (with IEM and headphone).
But sure it's not night and day. Bear in mind I am just an amateur, not a musician or not a skilled reviewer as many here are.
 
One thing I'd like to test over a little is ear fatigue between compressed and not.
Most people don't need hi res or even flac as they use poor earbuds or speakers and won't notice a difference (I wouldn't either).
I for one can't notice with speakers whereas I hear some difference with higher end headphones and IEM.
 
Another thing to consider is the "loudness war" and all the controversy about loudness range and dynamic range (one great article here). I am no expert and I don't know which is true but I think the difference between compressed and hi res will depend on what kind of recordings, how they were mastered and the type of music you listen to, IMHO. I think mastering is the most decisive factor in any case, and a well mastered compressed file is a good testimony of how efficient those codecs are. Hi res requires a whole chain to make sense, and it gets expensive quickly. My other hobby, photography falls under the same principle. Sure you love your primes and big sensors and they'll get you an IQ that you won't get with a compact but the price/performance ratio of a good/prosumer camera will get you 4/5th of the way and most people won't tell a difference in most situations.

 

[pervysage]

My foamies are beginning to crumble, I guess that is a common think for foam tips? How long have you guys found they usually last?

Also what should I buy next? More stock foam tips straight from Campfire or try some Comply tips?

 

[blazinblazin]

My foamies are beginning to crumble, I guess that is a common think for foam tips? How long have you guys found they usually last?

Also what should I buy next? More stock foam tips straight from Campfire or try some Comply tips?

 
Mine will start to tear within a month.
 
Isn't foam tips given with the IEM, Comply tips?