I guess, by creating comfortable conditions for a less sensitive ear, you do not train it (as in ordinary life) and, thereby, provoke an increase in the difference between the ears. (the same for eyes and looking glass, but it's another story)
I agree. Do not know why you should try to make up for deficiencies in your hearing via eq. Your brain does it for you automatically. Your deficiencies are part of your hearing, if you try to change that it will sound unnatural! Do you ever think "this sounds wrong" and want to use eq, when you talk to someone or walk along a street and a car passes by?
The Hidizs AP80 Pro X specifications:: Recommended headphone impedance range = 8 to 200 Ohm. You can try the Yinman 600, which may sound fine, but may not get the best out of them with your DAP.
Yeah, I think the keyword here that will be of help to @0ostin0 is listening "at low volume". This means that it will probably push them just fine.The Hidizs AP80 Pro X specifications:: Recommended headphone impedance range = 8 to 200 Ohm. You can try the Yinman 600, which may sound fine, but may not get the best out of them with your DAP.
VERY good stuff here bro!Hmm, that's quite a lukewarm statement. I would have expected the RW4000 to surpass the RW3000 in view of the price and being the so-called sequel. If it is "just as good", that's not a good look TBH. But of course price and release date doesn't naturally mean it will be better, but that would be disappointing if the sequel is just meh.
The audio hobby has both a subjective and an objective component. Objective elements being stuff like measurements, graphs etc.
But there's a huge subjective component for sure, so saying "we all hear differently" is no hyperbole, for these reasons:
1) Hearing Health
Generally the treble frequencies are first to be lost with older age (presbycusis > 50 years old).
I work in the medical line and sign off on audiometry tests daily - please see the graph above on the general hearing range for each age band. It is a physiological phenomenon to lose the higher frequencies as one gets older, sadly. A 17 year old is gonna hear treble very differently from a 70 year old. So sometimes we disagree on forums, with someone saying this earbud is smooth as silk, another saying it is a banshee screaming mess. Both may not be wrong actually.
To complicate matters, some hobbyists suffer from noise induced hearing loss (from occupational or leisure induced), and they lose the 3/4/6 kHz areas first, as the hair cells that transmit these frequencies are found nearer to the outer ear and are the first to die with prolonged loud noise. So these regions generally cover the upper mids and lower treble, which may explain why some folk think something is shouty in upper mids, but someone else disagrees.
2) Fletcher Munson curve - aka volume played at
https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/fletcher-munson-curve/
Music is perceived to be more V shaped (ie boosted treble and boosted bass) at louder volumes. The treble and bass is less pronounced at lower volumes.
Consumers and reviewers hardly mention the volume they use their gear at, so this may be a huge area that affects how we perceive treble and bass.
3) Sources
Some sources are not neutral, and are brighter or warmer, which can influence tonal balance, even on the same earbud.
4) Eartips/Foams/Headpads
Like sources, some tips/foamies/headpads boost or tame treble. Some use naked buds, some use double foaming etc.
5) Ear anatomy
Different ear anatomy may influence sound at the upper mids (pinna gain).
There's an interesting post from Precog about this if you are interested: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/precogs-iem-reviews-impressions.937468/page-94#post-16524009
So in summary, sound is subjective for the above reasons, and how someone hears the same earbud may be a total 180 degrees different from another person. Thus, we should respect others' impressions of a transducer as such. It would also be helpful if we could follow a reviewer or fellow hobbyist who you know shares the same hearing impressions as you do.
VERY good stuff here bro!
Also let's not forget (where it is most related to earbuds) that flathead earbuds especially actually use the outer ear for the acoustics for the sound being piped into the ear canal. This effect is MUCH more prominent than in headphones and IEMs, because the headphones sit outside your ears, and IEMs go inside your ear canals. I am not saying this isn't true as well for those, but the makeup of the outer ear makes much more difference in the sound with flathead earbuds...
^^^ Very true story there...
Ohh okay! This is super helpful, thank you.The Yinman can get plenty of volume with less power, they just aren't exerting proper control over the drivers. Some people might even prefer them to sound this way.
The FF5 are not warm and relaxed. They are a bit colder and more aggressive in the treble region (though not sibilant, only comparitively speaking). But, if you want to give them a try, they are indeed TOTL sound, and yes, any set that has detachable cable can be replaced with one that has a mic on it.
Yes, you could definitely get the FF1 and FF3S and switch (proprietary) cables for the mic, but from all that I have seen, the FF3S aren't as warm and relaxed as the FF3; though, since I have not heard them, it could be enough for your needs. But the FF1 do fit what you posted that you are looking for.
I didn't suppose you wanted something that sounded just like the HD650, because truly the only one that does is the Yinman 2.0 600. The others on the first list are different, but still warm and relaxing in varying amounts (compared to most other earbuds).
If you are looking for something that is only slightly warm, then that actually changes the recommendations a lot, because most earbuds that have a full sound are on the warm side of neutral. The following are all warm(ish), but some can be more aggressive on the top end than others, but all of them are of good quality to top notch quality (IMHO):
Other than the DIY suggestions, these are all only the ones I have heard or own, so there are probably a LOT more that might fit your needs, and others might be able to speak up with those suggestions. The problem is that there aren't as many (not much more than my first suggestions) that have the combination of warm, plus relaxing, plus either detachable cable, or mic built in.
- Yincrow RW2000 (detach cable)
- Yincrow RW3000 (detach cable; over your budget by quite a bit)
- FiiO FF5 (detach cable)
- FiiO FF1 (detach cable)
- NiceHCK EB2S & pro version (not detach, but has option for mic)
- Lun Shem Aeolian Bells (comes with no cable)
- Smabat ST10S (detach cable; if you can still get them)
- Smabat M5 Golden (detach cable; sound like ICE picks in upper mids though)
- Smabat M4 (same as M5)
- Smabat M2s Pro (discontinued, but have detach cable, and sound really good with the right driver (either Super One 100ohm or ST10S 150ohm driver))
- Most all DIY purchases (as long as you order it with an MMCX or 2-pin connection; and some you can even have them custom tune for you)
- Your own DIY (if you felt like pulling the trigger in making your own set, you can customize it how you like)
- A bunch of budget sets, and you recable yourself (i.e. Monk Lite, Yincrow X6, etc...)
I still think that the Yincrow RW2000 or the FiiO FF1 are my top picks for what you described... My $.02, and I could be way off base here.
At first purchase, I will normally try and listen to a set for at least 2 weeks, if not a month or more to get acclimated with them and what-not... After that, I don't so much think about which set I want to listen to, but instead I put sets into my ears until I find the sound I am looking for (for that day or moment). Some days I will actually go through my whole stock to find the one that sounds good to me at that particular time. Having said that, there are but a couple that don't get much rotation time in this manner. For the most part, though most all of mine get rotation within a week or less, and I still like all of my buds.
(some obviously get more playtime than others though)....
