Would appreciate some answers. Here's a litmus test. What would you listen to Sandstorm by Darude on? Out of curiosity, how do these iems compare to the Sennheiser HD650 in sound quality?
Campfire - Solaris
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Would appreciate some answers. Here's a litmus test. What would you listen to Sandstorm by Darude on? Out of curiosity, how do these iems compare to the Sennheiser HD650 in sound quality?
Reading the four more formal user reviews on this site it seems like Solaris is supposed to be a good fit for pop, dance, and edm. Granted this site and its members can have pretty questionable judgment and there is generally a rather strong positive bias I've at least learned to read in between the lines, although I may be deluding myself.
Vocals are stated to be good, bass may not be heavy but it's supposed to be notable and surely not light, treble is reined in, and space is good.
What full-size headphone would you compare Solaris to? How much is the iem premium? I recently saw someone claim the $1000 Shure se846 doesn't sound better than an HD650 at $350. The big positive is that rather than spending $5000 on a dac and amp to supposedly uncover the greatness of >$1000 full-size headphones a $500 dap hopefully suffices for the Solaris.
Vocals are stated to be good, bass may not be heavy but it's supposed to be notable and surely not light, treble is reined in, and space is good.
What full-size headphone would you compare Solaris to? How much is the iem premium? I recently saw someone claim the $1000 Shure se846 doesn't sound better than an HD650 at $350. The big positive is that rather than spending $5000 on a dac and amp to supposedly uncover the greatness of >$1000 full-size headphones a $500 dap hopefully suffices for the Solaris.
Audiophonicalistic
100+ Head-Fier
I have the hd650 and if I had to choose then I'd choose solaris everytime.
Elaborate. What are all the differences? How far did you have to go to drive the Solaris properly? I'm thinking a $500 dap has to suffice.
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I would compare the Solaris to the Sony MDR-Z1R.
I've heard Focal, Audeze, Hifiman, MrSpeaker (AFC/AFO), Sennheiser. No Sony.
Sorry, out and about so not able to post more coherent thoughts, but think the difference between Atlas and Solaris was pretty much mailed by one of the previous comments.
For me, Sandstorm would be enjoyable on both, but I'd probably out for the Atlas for sheer enjoyment factor. Solaris is definitely not an HD800 - the sound is still natural and fairly solid, which is pretty much a standard for the CA "house sound".
Solaris will respond to better source equipment, but I am more than happy driving it using a Cayin N5iiS, which is sub $500. There is an improvement in the overall staging and layering using the DX200 with amp 8, but we are taking marginal rather than massive. It has plenty of headroom for better gear, but you will still get great sound out of it with any reasonable modern DAP.
Hope that helps?
The Atlas has its comparative drawbacks and even its bass may be too much. At this point I'm concerned with whether Solaris' vices are too great. What would make you enjoy Sandstorm on the Atlas more than on the Solaris? Just a thundering bass as opposed to good bass or is there something more? What would the Solaris do better in that song?
Zhanming057
500+ Head-Fier
There's two questions here.
- Can the HD650 compete with the Solaris on a $500 portable DAP? No. If all you have is a portable DAP, you're much better off with IEM's. Alternatively, there are extremely efficient cans (the Aeon and the Sony Z7 mk2 comes to mind, also ALO's own Cascade) that will be a much better fit than the HD650 on a portable DAP.
- Can the Solaris compete with the HD650 when both are very properly driven? No. If you put the HD650's on a WA6SE or a Rudistor 010 it will smoke the Solaris in every genre. That's just physics.
Now, when it comes to IEMs vs. portable cans, that's a much more interesting discussion and at the end of the day, it really depends on the signature you want to achieve and what you care about. IEM's will generally outresolve cheaper portable cans , but if you price match (e.g. TH900mk2) the portable cans won't be lacking in resolution either.
Nowhere near my gear at the moment, but will try to listen to the track on both tonight and post some quick thoughts on the difference between the two.
...Jesus Christ.
Here's some background. I've had an Audeze LCD-X ($1200) grouped with a Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC ($1250) and an Auralic Taurus MKII amplifier ($1500), with a balanced cable to boot. That crap sounded way too close to the LCD-X with an iFi Nano Black Label portable DAC/amp ($200) so I sold the dac and amp. Then it turned out that an unexceptional laptop sounded better with the HD650 than the Nano BL with the HD650 so I sold that charity purchase (Nano BL) too although not before I compared the HD650 to the LCD-X and thought there was excessively little difference (and this was with Sonarworks EQ making the LCD-X not sound like crap), so I sold the LCD-X too.
...
I swear I'm not deaf. The next step for me is to spend $5k just on a DAC and amp, which I'm not going to in the foreseeable future. I'm thinking that going with a higher end iem and a dap might get me some hi-fi sound but if $2000 won't be beating the HD650 with a Magni amplifier then what the hell? Like come on, are things really this nonsensical that I'm desperate to give people money and they can't earn it? Is the HD650 really that good? (by the way, the HD650 is as efficient as anything as far as full-size headphones go, it's right there with the LCD-X and Hifiman Edition X despite the impedance in how easy it is to drive, if not easier) I might as well move onto ecstasy pills.
PS
I've heard a bunch of full-size headphones at >$1000. Decidedly disappointed. I liked the "sound signature" of the LCD-X best but ultimately there's some lack of general quality, and with the HD650 it's awful to have even the LCD-X whose sound I'm fine with. Soundstage, separation, imagining are certainly qualities I'm looking for, as well as let's call it the balanced sound of the LCD-X with a good low end but better defined (higher quality).
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Zhanming057
500+ Head-Fier
You need to spend a bit more time with desktop systems. Sometimes the gain isn't apparent or there's something wrong in the chain. I do tend to think that the LCD-X isn't the most inspiring of cans, and that Audeze's house sound is a bit questionable all the way up to the LCD4 (way, way too much treble rolloff). Sometimes it's a simple matter of having the volume 1-2 db louder on the laptop without you realizing it.
What I will say is that the HD650 is a great design that has stood the test of time. It is however nowhere near efficient. I would say it's one of the hardest headphones to drive well in its price range. For me, driving the HD650 properly begins at strong OTL amps. The Taurus is a good amp, although indeed quite a bright one. I find that the 650 performs best with a little bit of treble rolloff, so something like the V281 would be a better fit.
Going back to the Solaris. You're not going to get most of what a Magni+HD650 is capable of with a DAP driving the Solaris. But if the tuning suits you and you're okay with a smaller soundstage, the Solaris will 100% outresolve the HD650, no issues there.
The liquidy muddy sound of Audeze I find to be bad but the LCD-X is tuned much differently. It's neutral and generally balanced with a good low end, although for instance the HD800S can outperform it there remarkably (definition, rumble). I've edited my previous post, I tried a bunch of things. Don't have the means to go back to that and am content with how much effort and time I gave it. Certainly wasn't a volume issue. My problem with the Taurus was that it was soft, but I also didn't find it to do all that much for the sound. In terms of volume the HD650 is unbelievably easy to drive. I would be shocked if it transforms with amps worth five times as much but that's a moot discussion. The V281 is the $2.4k amp I had in mind along with that Schiit dac at $2.4k to upgrade logically but none of this is proving logical and I don't have the money, hence moot for me. I bowed out at nearly $4k in value between dac, amp, and headphones after extensive testing of different >$1000 headphones, horrified.
...So the Solaris has a smaller soundstage than the HD650? What is this holographic talk then? What is the HD800S supposed to be by these standards, a stadium simulator? I'm not expecting that but come on. The HD650 is ok, nothing to gush about when it comes to soundstage, imaging, and separation. I had an encouragingly good experience with iems when I got a free cheap one from Hifiman for free so that gave me a little bit of hope. They also made my ears ring but that's a story for another time.
I can resell the Solaris but I'm wondering whether I should bother trying and hold onto $200-$300.
...So the Solaris has a smaller soundstage than the HD650? What is this holographic talk then? What is the HD800S supposed to be by these standards, a stadium simulator? I'm not expecting that but come on. The HD650 is ok, nothing to gush about when it comes to soundstage, imaging, and separation. I had an encouragingly good experience with iems when I got a free cheap one from Hifiman for free so that gave me a little bit of hope. They also made my ears ring but that's a story for another time.
I can resell the Solaris but I'm wondering whether I should bother trying and hold onto $200-$300.
ACheah
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Has anyone tried a pure copper cable with the solaris?
I read that a lot in certain other quarters however for what it's worth this place is way less one sided and exclusive as some forums and way less rife with toxic hive-minded stupidity as, say, Reddit. IMHO it's still far and away the best place on the internet to come for good discussion and a balanced view of audio gear-- even if you have to do a little digging to find the latter sometimes.
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