[zachmal]

Welcome to the other side

An exciting new year is looming


Anyone know of a cheap portable amp (not necessarily with battery) that can power up planar drivers (like Shuoer S12, Tin Hifi P1 Max, KZ PR1, etc.) ?

I'm currently thinking of the Tempotec Sonata E44 since it has plenty of juice and as a bonus a 3.5 mm adapter cable (no 2.5 mm or 4.4 mm in my collection yet).

Cheaper and AMP-only would be appreciated since I already have quite a few DACs

Thanks in advance

 

[Lobarkaine]

Welcome to the other side

An exciting new year is looming


Anyone know of a cheap portable amp (not necessarily with battery) that can power up planar drivers (like Shuoer S12, Tin Hifi P1 Max, KZ PR1, etc.) ?

I'm currently thinking of the Tempotec Sonata E44 since it has plenty of juice and as a bonus a 3.5 mm adapter cable (no 2.5 mm or 4.4 mm in my collection yet).

Cheaper and AMP-only would be appreciated since I already have quite a few DACs

Thanks in advance

Happy new year

I find the 7HZ 71 dongle DAC AK4377 quiet good, it has 70mv at 32ohms, cost less then half price then Sonata (178mv at 32 ohms) but has less then half output power.

An alternative could be the Jcalli JM10 pro DAC CS43131 95mv at 32 ohms.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Welcome to the other side

An exciting new year is looming


Anyone know of a cheap portable amp (not necessarily with battery) that can power up planar drivers (like Shuoer S12, Tin Hifi P1 Max, KZ PR1, etc.) ?

I'm currently thinking of the Tempotec Sonata E44 since it has plenty of juice and as a bonus a 3.5 mm adapter cable (no 2.5 mm or 4.4 mm in my collection yet).

Cheaper and AMP-only would be appreciated since I already have quite a few DACs

Thanks in advance

Like @Lobarkaine mentioned, those two sounds a solid offer for the current market.

There is a but higher bracket one and old school qudelix 5k with Dual ES9219C and it has parameteic EQ that let you adjust you IEM with high precision.

https://www.qudelix.com/blogs/5k-dac-amp/equalizer

For high-end USB amp, Luxury and Precision W2 outperforms in terms of sound quality.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Ok, there you go for my Top 10 chifi IEMs of 2022.
I will try to do a top 5 sub-100$ IEM too. Perhaps Top 3 dongle of 2022 too....
Any love for the Raptgo Hook X HBB? these + Penon Serial could be enough to cover all my musical need.

 

[Lobarkaine]

A new dongle Just arrive at home.

The Jcally JM7 dac ES31993, cheap, very well sounding and more powerfull then JM10.

 

[TheVortex]

A new dongle Just arrive at home.

The Jcally JM7 dac ES31993, cheap, very well sounding and more powerfull then JM10.

Link?

 

[Lobarkaine]

Link?

Serching on Ali by name you may find many options, this is one link with reviews:

https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005...00029327926628!sea&curPageLogUid=SQweEnHiYHOZ

 

[Lobarkaine]

To share my impressions on the replaciable opamps in the DAC/DAP in more coerent forum way I've open a personal new tread dedicated, for those that could be interested this is the link:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dual-opams-audio-test-on-dap-and-usb-dac.966422/

Thanks all.

 

[Lobarkaine]

Always for those how are interest in dying ther DAP/DAC I have done a comparative test of all tree LM4562NA/LME49720NA/LME49860NA, teorically the same opamps, and I may say that they don't sound the same.

 

[4ceratops]

Two new youtube reviews of Truthear Hola:





I'm going to go play them right now.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Two new youtube reviews of Truthear Hola:





I'm going to go play them right now.

these seem promising, but i admit im even more curious about Shio dongle....i mean, wth....dual CS43198 for 70$!?!? Its just insane!

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Ok there you go guys, my review of Raptgo Hook X HBB is up, and if there a proof im not enough active here its this very IEM which i listen non stop for near a month and sincerely adore. In french we could say it got this ''Je ne sais quoi'' but i do know what it is, its a versatile W shape tuning done well and first coherent hybrid planar out there that is musical, dynamic, snappy, holographic...
One of few IEMs keeper of 2022 for me, out of about 50 pairs....

My headfi review is there: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/raptgo-hook-x-hbb.26284/reviews#review-29959

 

[AmericanSpirit]

these seem promising, but i admit im even more curious about Shio dongle....i mean, wth....dual CS43198 for 70$!?!? Its just insane!

I ordered both mate, will have an input vs same CA43198x2’s L&P W2

Yea Truthear, is really making difference in every segment.

HEXA for med-fi killer
ZERO for new LCP 2DD segment and I have to admit it sounds better than Aria.

HOLA as Aria killer (they got almost same tuning)

SHIO as new budget USB dongle benchmarking

 

[AboveNBeyond]

Hi guys, so 2022 is almost over and I was just wondering what everyone's favourite value or budget IEM was this year? I made a video on mine - come say hi

HBB x QKZ for me. Aside the cable (huge earhooks with no way to change their shape).
Natural mids with no shout, no peaks, great treble extension for 1dd.
Bass is just a smidge above neutral for me and it doesn't resonate with distortion on low piano which is incredible for the price and tuning it goes for.

Disappointed with Wu being thin and shouty/splashy despite decent graph. My first planar, maybe it's supposed to sound like that, but it feels like inventing the wheel. Soundstage width would be redeeming factor and it hard-stumbles here aswell with the most narrow "inside your head" stage i have ever heard.

 

[Carpet]

HBB x QKZ for me. Aside the cable (huge earhooks with no way to change their shape).
Natural mids with no shout, no peaks, great treble extension for 1dd.
Bass is just a smidge above neutral for me and it doesn't resonate with distortion on low piano which is incredible for the price and tuning it goes for.

Disappointed with Wu being thin and shouty/splashy despite decent graph. My first planar, maybe it's supposed to sound like that, but it feels like inventing the wheel.

Most of the other planars seem to focus even more on details and speed at the cost of note weight. Zetian Wu is probably the best behaved planar in that respect.

Be grateful you didn't start with Moondrop Stellaris or Muse Hifi.