[peter123]

Hello, my friend! I've been on a life adventure that has taken me away from this hobby for quite some time. You and the rest of the old gang are not forgotten. I miss you all.

Yeah, I miss the old days as well. I'm not nearly as active as I used to be in here myself but can't fully let go of this drug. I hope everything is fine with you and your loved ones.

 

[Roderick]

How´s the sound of the zx2 compared to zx1?

I have no idea what zx1 sounds like but zx2 sounds like a turd. There is no subbass but there is a midbass hump that does bleed into the mids. So it is bass light but has the disadvantages of a traditional bassy headphone. Upper mids sound very nice because of the clarity however regions after one 1khz are so boosted that it will either give listener fatique and if not plasticky tonality is guaranteed. It sounds as bad as it measures. Sennheiser HD650 included for reference.

I tried pushing the pads to get a better bass response but all it does is increase volume significantly and bring the upper mids peak closer to 1k.

I really don't get what that cable is about

I enjoy the foam pads. I'm one of those people who actually find grados comfortable.


Matter of taste of course but I think that red lining looks out of place. Headband is barely padded...quite uncomfortable.

That black Part appears to Be wood also

Metal baffle is pretty cool

All in all I'm disappointed.

 

[mbwilson111]

It sounds as bad as it measures. Sennheiser HD650 included for reference.

Where did those measurements come from?

 

[Roderick]

@mbwilson111 I measured them. Minidsp hears using gustard h10 amp and Hegel hd10 dac. On ear designs are harder to measure but I did some test where I artificially (tied the headphones on the rig) added pressure(better seal) and it mostly just increases volume.

 

[Roderick]

I'll remeasure zx2 tonight. I'll do both "normal" and added pressure seperately. I'll again use hd650 (which I'll measure again) as a reference. And I'll add Takstar hf2050.

I'm a enthusiast for chifi headphones but besides msur related models I don't think there has been much improvement since the takstar hf2050 and Superlux hd681 which started the craze years ago.

Msur headphones were the highpoint but those are vastly discontinued or just expensive.

Iem scene is different. I have about 10 chifi iem's that are so good they make my jaw drop.

 

[mbwilson111]

Iem scene is different. I have about 10 chifi iem's that are so good they make my jaw drop.

Would you like to list them? In no particular order....

 

[Roderick]

Gladly, once I've gotten more time with them. I'm in the process off thinning out my fullsize headphone collection. Not fair to dig into cheap iem's when I'm focusing on $1500 fullsize headphones.

Anyway thanks to @Markolav I got a bagfull of iems to try. Before that I've enjoyed tin hifi T2 and kz zsn. Out of the the more expensive ones ikko oh1 is quite impressive. For price to value urbanfun with berylliym driver is exceptional. Maybe the most impressive was the one I can't recall...about $50 and with such a natural presentation. I need to check which it was.

Iem's are not usually my cup of tea. I know 100x more about fullsize headphones. I might write something in the chi-fi iem thread when time is due.

Generally I find fullsize superior to iem, but on the the sub $50-100 pricerange iem's could be the best choice.

 

[maxxevv]

Gladly, once I've gotten more time with them. I'm in the process off thinning out my fullsize headphone collection. Not fair to dig into cheap iem's when I'm focusing on $1500 fullsize headphones.

Anyway thanks to @Markolav I got a bagfull of iems to try. Before that I've enjoyed tin hifi T2 and kz zsn. Out of the the more expensive ones ikko oh1 is quite impressive. For price to value urbanfun with berylliym driver is exceptional. Maybe the most impressive was the one I can't recall...about $50 and with such a natural presentation. I need to check which it was.

Iem's are not usually my cup of tea. I know 100x more about fullsize headphones. I might write something in the chi-fi iem thread when time is due.

Generally I find fullsize superior to iem, but on the the sub $50-100 pricerange iem's could be the best choice.

ToneKing has an interesting dual driver headphone that seems to be only available within the China market. Based of the Blon B8 cups.

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0d.6639537.1997196601.508.625d7484JJM1Jj&id=558751074570

Another interesting headphone is actually a ribbon driver one !

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0d.6639537.1997196601.204.625d7484JJM1Jj&id=596834851143


They are not sub-US$100/- but are definitely interesting/ different from the typical offerings anywhere.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I have to report one of those unexpected but satisfying moments of audio synergy. At the moment I'm on vacation; my best headphones, amps, and DACs are 1000 miles away:

• I brought up my FiiO e10K DAC/amp. It's tiny and usually sounds quite good on any efficient HP
• Also brought my favorite Chi-Fi HP, the Marantz MPH-2. It's a somewhat bassy, slightly warm, opposite-of-bright, musically satisfying listen.
• I'd never heard the 2 together until the other day...

...when I hooked them to listen to .wav files on laptop. And damned if I didn't get easily the flattest, most musically satisfying sound ever out of the MPH-2. Quite flat, still every ear-pleasing, bass tighter, soundstage better than usual. It's as if this DAC/amp & headphone were made for each other.

The whole system cost $150 & sounds terrific. You can't make this up!

 

[Jumbotron]

Hello everybody,

Would you consider the Takstar Pro 82 to be an upgrade over the Takstar HD6000? I have the latter, but the Pro 82 are on sale in Aliexpress now. That is why I am asking.

 

[Rumcajs997]

Look what I have just bought:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucid-So...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucid-So...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

These are obviously not a chinese/asian brand but for the price I am just blown away. These are used headphones but in absolutely perfect condition. I have never heard about this brand but they both sound fantastic, very energetic and "fun" sound signature + the build quality is great. There is no better offer on the market for this price if you live in the UK and you don`t mind used headphones. 8 quid with free delivery, LOL

 

[BenF]

Hello everybody,

Would you consider the Takstar Pro 82 to be an upgrade over the Takstar HD6000? I have the latter, but the Pro 82 are on sale in Aliexpress now. That is why I am asking.

I think that's a very safe assumption to make.
You can have Pro 82 for 50.7$ during this ongoing Aliexpress sale, using the "5$ off 50$" Ali coupon: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html

If you prefer bassier sound, you may want to go for Takstar GM200 instead: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tak...scussion-thread.849965/page-197#post-15148815
It can be had for 51.5$ during the ongoing sale, with the 5$ Ali coupon and the 5$ Head-Fi discount.

It has bass response very close to TH900 MK2 all the way down to sub-bass, but without the crashing mids and the huge peak in treble.
Or you can look at it as a bass-heavy version of Pro 82.

 

[Jumbotron]

@BenF

Thank you, man!

 

[jaguor]

I've been searching Taobao for more headphones and have come across some interesting headphones and 'custom' headphone stores. Has anyone heard of these before?

Some notable stores:

• A store with a variety of headphones and IEMs, including noise cancelling ones.
• A store with cheaper popular headphones. Some of the reviews say that this cheap headphone is the best for the <$150 range.
• A store that supposedly designed some of their own drivers.

Some particularly interesting headphones:

• An open back version of the BLON B6/MSUR N550. The seller said that the closed version is more bassy while this open version is better for female vocals in particular.
• A gorgeous custom designed wood headphone.
• The aforementioned custom driver headphone.
• A almost sonically identical IE800 for <$100?

People seem to really like the MSUR and BLON (especially the B8) headphones. How do they compare to each other and other more common western headphones? I've seen around that the B8 is better than the B6. I've had my Sennheiser HD25 for 10+ years now and wanted an upgrade from them. How would these compare to it or the Audio Technica M50x? Does anyone have any other recommendations?

 

[Zerohour88]

I've been searching Taobao for more headphones and have come across some interesting headphones and 'custom' headphone stores. Has anyone heard of these before?

Some notable stores:

• A store with a variety of headphones and IEMs, including noise cancelling ones.
• A store with cheaper popular headphones. Some of the reviews say that this cheap headphone is the best for the <$150 range.
• A store that supposedly designed some of their own drivers.

Some particularly interesting headphones:

• An open back version of the BLON B6/MSUR N550. The seller said that the closed version is more bassy while this open version is better for female vocals in particular.
• A gorgeous custom designed wood headphone.
• The aforementioned custom driver headphone.
• A almost sonically identical IE800 for <$100?

People seem to really like the MSUR and BLON (especially the B8) headphones. How do they compare to each other and other more common western headphones? I've seen around that the B8 is better than the B6. I've had my Sennheiser HD25 for 10+ years now and wanted an upgrade from them. How would these compare to it or the Audio Technica M50x? Does anyone have any other recommendations?

going down the taobao DIY scene rabbit hole ain't gonna be cheap in the long run, impressions are all over the place and you're gonna run into lots of duds

that said, there are also lots of DIY enthusiasts that make damn good products (Tansio Mirai started from such a venture), so its not a totally worthless venture to try.

the DIY HE1000SE seems mighty tempting though