geezweez
Head-Fier
Do you know if just putting a 4.4mm adapter on a 3.5mm plug would make it a balanced connection? Or do i need to buy a whole nother cable? Like is the cable itself balanced or is it the connector that makes the cable balanced
Finding the endgame (recommendations)
- Thread starter geezweez
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Don't know how you came to that conclusion, but good decision.
It's really an amazing IEM especially at $500. You'll like it a lot.
If you can stretch another $80, I recommend the ISN H2 cable. Pairs nicely with Penon 10th AE.
InvisibleInk
Headphoneus Supremus
You don't want to do that! Adapting a 3.5mm plug to balanced will result in damage to equipment. You can only adapt a balanced connector to 3.5mm. Never the other way around.
Definitely invest in a balanced cable to connect to a 4.4mm port on a source.
KinGensai
500+ Head-Fier
Cool! Hope it works well for you.
Looks like this set has a pretty aggressive pinna gain region & rolled off treble past 13k.
Looks like this set has a pretty aggressive pinna gain region & rolled off treble past 13k.
geezweez
Head-Fier
Idk what that means or how it relates to me and the other sets
InvisibleInk
Headphoneus Supremus
I’m sure it will be awesome. Everything they’ve learned from the excellent ISNs over the past couple of years and packaged in an affordable set.
That is not correct.
If the 4.4mm output on the source device is grounded you can use an iFi or ddhifi 3.5mm female to 4.4mm male adapter to use a 3.5mm cable with a 4.4mm jack but you only end up with a single ended connection and don't make use of the balanced architecture or power. If the device has a 3.5mm jack then obviously there is no point to this but if you happen to have a device that only has a 4.4mm jack and you have a 3.5mm cable and don't want to buy a new cable to use the 4.4mm balanced output these adapters will work perfectly safely.
They only do outside the device what the internal wiring does inside to get a 3.5mm single ended output from a device that has fully balanced architecture. That is they take the positive from each channel and return them to the ground leaving the negatives unconnected. It is fundamentally the same as as a single ended only device, two amplifiers one for each channel and a ground, the only difference is you have two other amplifiers in the device that are not being used in that set up.
The only scenario that the adapter would not work is if the 4.4mm jack isn't grounded as some devices aren't but in that case you have no circuit and it will simply not work, you are not shorting anything out so there is no way that you can harm anything.
All that said, your recommendation to get a 4.4mm cable is typically the best advice.
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KinGensai
500+ Head-Fier
Humans hear a theoretical range of 20Hz to 20kHz, although it's more realistically up to 15kHz on average. 20 ~ 300 Hz is bass, 300 ~ 4000 is mid-range, 4000+ is treble.
Pinna gain region refers to the area of the frequency response that is affected by the shape of our outer ears. IEM manufacturers guess at what this region should be tuned like because IEMs bypass the outer ear, so the way this region is tuned will affect how the sound is "shaped" in our perception (sound imaging) very heavily. I regard this as one of the most important factors in choosing what IEM to buy and how to tune it in my parametric equalizer to match my natural hearing. I noted this region as aggressive in the Penon 10th anniversary you chose because the graphs I pulled up elevate the 1.3k to just past 4k quite significantly compared to the 500 to 1k area.
As a comparison, the sets I recommended have less of a difference between the lower mid-range and the pinna gain region because this is apparently a more natural tuning for a majority of listeners out there. Not all of course, since I happen to fall in the outlier of preferring elevated pinna gain regions, but because I didn't have any data on your preferences to go on, I went with the safest recs on that front. That's why I said I hope it works well for you, this tuning tends to be more of a niche kind of tuning that could make energetic tracks like classic metal recordings a bit screechy.
MJSable
New Head-Fier
I’ve just now seen reviews up for the Penon 10th anniversary, and I hope you enjoy it, if that’s what you decide to try.
For me the best I’ve heard in the $500 and under for iems are the Thieaudio Oracle Mk2, and the Thieaudio Monarch OG (used in great condition are usually $500ish). Absolutely amazing iems imo. Very detailed, great sound sig, and honestly hold their own against much higher end iems. I enjoyed them both.
And as for the 3.5mm unbalanced to 4.4mm balanced adaptors, they make them, but unless there’s no 3.5mm port on the device you’re trying to connect to, it doesn’t actually have any benefits.
For me the best I’ve heard in the $500 and under for iems are the Thieaudio Oracle Mk2, and the Thieaudio Monarch OG (used in great condition are usually $500ish). Absolutely amazing iems imo. Very detailed, great sound sig, and honestly hold their own against much higher end iems. I enjoyed them both.
And as for the 3.5mm unbalanced to 4.4mm balanced adaptors, they make them, but unless there’s no 3.5mm port on the device you’re trying to connect to, it doesn’t actually have any benefits.
InvisibleInk
Headphoneus Supremus
That's interesting I had no idea these types of adapters were being made.
https://www.ddhifi.com/productinfo/963215.html
MJSable
New Head-Fier
On here in the classifieds, and on AVexchange (Reddit), and usaudiomart.
Personally I’ve used here and AVexchange the most, and as long as the sellers have good feedback that’s recent I’ve had really good experiences.
Helps make the most of your budget imo.
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HappyDragon
New Head-Fier
I would buy a used Hifiman Arya Stealth.
You should be fine with the dongle you have with those. Tho the impedance is kind of low on that set. I can't imagine there'd be a noticeable difference when streaming lossy content with a better dongle.
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