[ChrisSC]

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Thanks for the preliminary review, but mp3's? What's up with that?

ipad!

 

[gnarlsagan]

256k mp3's are transparent to 99.9% of people.

 

[kenman345]

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256k mp3's are transparent to 99.9% of people.

We're on Head-Fi, we are not the 99.9%, we're the other .1%
 
Let's stop this comment from going any further than just a single comment.
 
I have the AS-1's and the AS-2's. When it comes to the AS-1's, yea, 256kbps is pretty transparent but I find I prefer better quality anyways. 
 
With the AS-2's though, 256kbps is the minimum I listen to because they are really unforgiving to poorly encoded music or even to poorly mastered lossless music. I've had enough time with them to know this to be true. I'm quite confident a high majority of people that have spent enough time to test the AS-2's or ASG-2's with different quality tracks will be able to confirm this. 

 

[Swimsonny]

any pics yet?!

 

[kenman345]

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I have to say, that comment is somewhat arrogant. I own very nice, high-end, expensive gear and listening to 192-256 MP3s is just fine with it. The original comment about why mp3s was also a bit over the top. You are right, this isn't the place for bit rate discussions, but sometimes high-quality, expensive phones, sources etc. will still allow you to listen to poorly encoded or mastered tracks without sibilance or similar listening issues. No, you can't put lipstick on a pig, but the difference that ChrisSC is hearing exists and it may not be because the tracks are poorly mastered or encoded.
 
Have to say I am one of the 99.9 percent but also on HF and happy to be in that group. Enough with the "aren't we special on HF" angle.

Indeed, everyone hear's differently. Sorry if you find my comments arrogant. I just apparently fall in the .1% though. I never said you can't use 192-256kbps mp3's, but if you take lossless tracks and down convert them to 192 or 256 and then compare to the lossless version with the AS-2's or ASG-2's, you can notice a difference. Or at least I can. I am interested to hear what others hear when they do the same test.

 

[vocalist]

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I have to say, that comment is somewhat arrogant. I own very nice, high-end, expensive gear and listening to 192-256 MP3s is just fine with it. The original comment about why mp3s was also a bit over the top. You are right, this isn't the place for bit rate discussions, but sometimes high-quality, expensive phones, sources etc. will still allow you to listen to poorly encoded or mastered tracks without sibilance or similar listening issues. No, you can't put lipstick on a pig, but the difference that ChrisSC is hearing exists and it may not be because the tracks are poorly mastered or encoded.
 
Have to say I am one of the 99.9 percent but also on HF and happy to be in that group. Enough with the "aren't we special on HF" angle.

I've got to jump in and say I agree with this (not the arrogant part - the music part) and am also in the 99.9 percent.  I have some (not many) lossless files on my iPhone and honestly, I can't hear a difference back to back with the same song at 256kbps.  Now what I can say is that I do hear a large difference when a song is something below 256.  Apparently when I uploaded some of my opera cd's to the computer it was at a lower bit-rate which I hope to fix soon.  
 
One thing I love about my Samsung player is that by using Poweramp, it shows me the bit-rate at the bottom of the screen which is really helpful - especially when I notice an audible difference. It's an immediate confirmation of what I'm hearing, if you will. For me the larger difference when listening to the AS-2 is whether I'm using my iPhone (rare), Sony A865 or Samsung player.  I absolutely prefer the last two sources because they sound tighter, cleaner and fuller.  I feel like my iPhone distorts things a bit and like I have to EQ it to get the sound I want.  I don't feel that way at all with the Samsung or Sony.  So I guess what I'm saying in my case is that the source I'm using seems to make a larger difference than the bit-rate. But that's just what I've noticed for me, personally. 

 

[kenman345]

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I guess the part of all HFers being in the .1 percent was what sounded arrogant, because it's just not true. Otherwise, fine. But the entire bit rate debate has been done to death. I for one can't hear a difference between a good 192-256 rip and a lossless rip (or a down conversion from flac/lossless to 192-256). But not saying you can't. My view is that there is nothing wrong with MP3s in the 192-256 range if ripped/encoded properly. Let's just say there is no reason to think that a pair of earphones are going to "require" lossless encoding to sound good, because if that is true, they have very limited use for me. And just as an FYI, I have plenty of lossless and even some 24/96 files here (played through JRiver Media Center and a decent DAC (Sabre DAC) and amp (Arrow) and to me the MP3s/AACs sound just as good with the HD600s, AD900x and other decent phones on hand.

Thanks for clearing that up. I think most any gear benefits from it having the optimal input. To me it's, "Crap In, Crap Out". So it's not necessary to have the best quality source files possible, but It's not like it's gonna hurt it any. 

 

[eke2k6]

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I guess the part of all HFers being in the .1 percent was what sounded arrogant, because it's just not true. Otherwise, fine. But the entire bit rate debate has been done to death. I for one can't hear a difference between a good 192-256 rip and a lossless rip (or a down conversion from flac/lossless to 192-256). But not saying you can't. My view is that there is nothing wrong with MP3s in the 192-256 range if ripped/encoded properly. Let's just say there is no reason to think that a pair of earphones are going to "require" lossless encoding to sound good, because if that is true, they have very limited use for me. And just as an FYI, I have plenty of lossless and even some 24/96 files here (played through JRiver Media Center and a decent DAC (Sabre DAC) and amp (Arrow) and to me the MP3s/AACs sound just as good with the HD600s, AD900x and other decent phones on hand.
 
Guess either the AS-2s are just vastly superior to the HD600s and other phones I own or my ears are inferior. You may be in the .1 percent, but many many people are not.

 
Yup.
 
There's ZERO audible difference between lossless and a well-ripped 320 mp3 file.
 
I ripped several of my flac albums to mp3 using dbpoweramp, and sat there for hours trying to find differences. The result? Zilch. Nada.
 
Convert to MP3 and save space on your player to enjoy more of your tunes.

 

[kenman345]

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Yup.
 
There's ZERO audible difference between lossless and a well-ripped 320 mp3 file.
 
I ripped several of my flac albums to mp3 using dbpoweramp, and sat there for hours trying to find differences. The result? Zilch. Nada.
 
Convert to MP3 and save space on your player to enjoy more of your tunes.

This little argument was not talking about 320kbps, which I also happen to find good enough for most cases. I just can't use mp3's on my DAP so it doesn't really save me any space. I find the real difference is above 256kbps though. 
 
Let's get back to the Aurisonics talk. I'm looking forward to the Head-Fi Meet Up next weekend where I should be able to do a comparison between the ASG-2's and the generic version of the UE RM's. Should be a fun little side by side

 

[eke2k6]

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This little argument was not talking about 320kbps, which I also happen to find good enough for most cases. I just can't use mp3's on my DAP so it doesn't really save me any space. I find the real difference is above 256kbps though. 
 
Let's get back to the Aurisonics talk. I'm looking forward to the Head-Fi Meet Up next weekend where I should be able to do a comparison between the ASG-2's and the generic version of the UE RM's. Should be a fun little side by side

 
It's not good enough, it's perfect.

 

[whitefroded]

Wasn't my intention to start a debate on audio encoding. If the iems are sibilant with high quality mp3's, then they will probably be sibilant with FLAC as well. It will be interesting to see if the sibilance settles down with some burn in, mental or mechanical.

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

This all reminds me of that one time I commented on Mike of Headphonia's observation that he found the AS-2 to be sibilant (he also stated that he found the AS-2's frequency balance to be, (in his words) extremely good). As Kenman is really the only one who's had ample time with the AS-2, we should give him the benefit of the doubt until others have spent sufficient time with the AS(G)-2 to arrive at a more concrete stance in regards to the AS(G)-2 (given that ChrisSC only had an hour with them and prefaced his preliminary findings with the usual "take with a massive grain of salt"). I feel that although early impressions are useful in providing a bit of insight into a phone's signature, they're also prone to change, as once the dust settles and the listener acclimates to a phone's signature, its strengths and flaws become more apparent. 

 

[kenman345]

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This all reminds me of that one time I commented on Mike of Headphonia's observation that he found the AS-2 to be sibilant (he also stated that he found the AS-2's frequency balance to be, (in his words) extremely good). As Kenman is really the only one who's had ample time with the AS-2, we should give him the benefit of the doubt until others have spent sufficient time with the AS(G)-2 to arrive at a more concrete stance in regards to the AS(G)-2 (given that ChrisSC only had an hour with them and prefaced his preliminary findings with the usual "take with a massive grain of salt"). I feel that although early impressions are useful in providing a bit of insight into a phone's signature, they're also prone to change, as once the dust settles and the listener acclimates to a phone's signature, its strengths and flaws become more apparent. 

I think Mike's observations have some credibility. Granted, his observations are of the old driver and of a demo unit of the AS-2, not even the full ASG-2 yet. Also, you need to be careful with his wording as it becomes very easy to confuse which unit he's talking about. 
 
I thank you for taking my comments with a little bit of credibility. It has been a great joy to have my Aurisonics gear to use on a regular basis. I am really glad more people will be hearing what I've been hearing and hope that I won't be the only voice raving of Aurisonics latest products, but just one of many. They put out a solid product and while their are some struggles currently with their workload, it is something that happens with a small company when you have such a flood of orders. 

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

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I think Mike's observations have some credibility. Granted, his observations are of the old driver and of a demo unit of the AS-2, not even the full ASG-2 yet. Also, you need to be careful with his wording as it becomes very easy to confuse which unit he's talking about. 
 
I thank you for taking my comments with a little bit of credibility. It has been a great joy to have my Aurisonics gear to use on a regular basis. I am really glad more people will be hearing what I've been hearing and hope that I won't be the only voice raving of Aurisonics latest products, but just one of many. They put out a solid product and while their are some struggles currently with their workload, it is something that happens with a small company when you have such a flood of orders. 

True, true, that totally slipped my mind. As I remember it, you yourself don't have access to the full production model (with the final driver implementation) of the AS-2 no? If that's the case, then I don't believe there are many in a position to deliver a final ruling on the (production) AS(G)-2 given that most people have only had theirs for but a few weeks at most 
 
And no prob. I find a lot of people are likely misconstruing the tone of your posts for defensiveness or slavish fanboyism which isn't exactly fair 

 

[kenman345]

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True, true, that totally slipped my mind. As I remember it, you yourself don't have access to the full production model (with the final driver implementation) of the AS-2 no? If that's the case, then I don't believe there are many in a position to deliver a final ruling on the (production) AS(G)-2 given that most people have only had theirs for but a few weeks at most 
 
And no prob. I find a lot of people are likely misconstruing the tone of your posts for defensiveness or slavish fanboyism which isn't exactly fair 

Yes and no, I have experience with the old and new driver thanks to the AS-1's I own having the new driver.