Geek Wold Discussion

[AmericanSpirit]

Another measurement:

Pairing match: from my end
FiiO BTR5: good
FiiO BTR3K: hmmm
FiiO M11Pro ( AK4497EQ THX AAA 78) = too boomy
FiiO M11Pro (AK4497EQ line out) = great balance
HiFiMan HM801: great balance, great thumb
AK70: above good
L&P W2: Best Match

Conclusion: L&P W2 is the balance closest to my ML speaker reference sound system(fast yet powerful bass, neutral and crisp overall)

 

[HealPerson]

Is there any chance to pump em via smartphone with some cheap type-c dac like meizu?

 

[Strifeff7]

Is there any chance to pump em via smartphone with some cheap type-c dac like meizu?

yeah, it should be good enough,

 

[FSTOP]

The stated impedance is something I was mentioning from the beginning. ALL of my sources play the GK10 well enough, but most of mine have decent outputs and variable gains - V60, DX160, JDSLabs amps (have several that i've custom-modified from the PCB up, and op-amp rolled with John Seaber's input), BTR5, but even my Note9 plays it OK.
I'm concerned that if there are different impedances with the drivers and how X/O is implemented, some sources (amps, output) could be pushing different drivers differently, as in the sensitivity of each driver pairs better with a certain source impedance, hence more mid-bass bloat, etc.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Another measurement:

Pairing match:
FiiO BTR5: good
FiiO BTR3K: hmmm
FiiO M11Pro ( AK4497EQ THX AAA 78) = too boomy
FiiO M11Pro (AK4497EQ line out) = great balance
HiFiMan HM801: great balance, great thumb
AK70: above good
L&P W2: Best Match

Conclusion: L&P W2 is the balance closest to my ML speaker reference sound system(fast yet powerful bass, neutral and crisp overall)

So after extensive list of comments and experience, we may discuss:
For incoming GK100
-overall bass floor gain (10db) could be lowered a bit, to those many of TOTL adopts (5db)
-mid-bass (100-300) range maybe could use a bit lowering in overall balance vs sub bass (100 and lower), the bass bloat

 

[FSTOP]

I have been burning my set in for over 100 hours and there has been very little change. I have tried a variety of cables and tips but no major changes in sound have been detected. Should I try narrow or wide bore tips, and what cable material is thought best? I have tried pure silver, silver plated and copper/silver hybrid so far. Any help would be great, but perhaps I have a poor sample.

Nimweth, I'm using a silver-plated copper cable on mine, which works well. But all of my cables still retain a lot of treble detail with my sources.

 

[FSTOP]

Just arrived..

tgx78,
That blue shell is beautiful!
Looking forward to your impressions--particularly from someone with more classical music b/g and how specific stringed instruments are presented/timbre accuracy.
I think the less note-weight in the mids are interesting with classical presentation, certainly presents the treble detail and imaging forward. Try a few different sources if you can.

 

[ian91]

So after extensive list of comments and experience, we may discuss:
For incoming GK100
-overall bass floor gain (10db) could be lowered a bit, to those many of TOTL adopts (5db)
-mid-bass (100-300) range maybe could use a bit lowering in overall balance vs sub bass (100 and lower), the bass bloat

+1. A small 'nip and a tuck' is all it needs really, then give me a metal shell and I'll be so happy.

 

[Nimweth]

Nimweth, I'm using a silver-plated copper cable on mine, which works well. But all of my cables still retain a lot of treble detail with my sources.

Now that I have found a compatible source, I will do some cable rolling again. Although I am very happy with the Faaeal Hibiscus cable I am using at present.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

+1. A small 'nip and a tuck' is all it needs really, then give me a metal shell and I'll be so happy.

Yea but many of them basically just use stock tips, especially for reviewers that they believe no-after market justified type.

on Antdroid’s website, there is a very useful FR tools that let users to stack up as many as FRs as possible, which also includes various target curve for independent reviewers and we can see manybof their target curves on bass range is 5db-10gain with 200hz and below. Oh and my targe curve is very close to Antdroid + a bit inclined to Crinacle’s IEF one (western-ish Eastern domain)


Overlaying:

Crinacle(IEF) vs Antrdoid vs Precog

GK10: to my impression, this is very close to my set with stock tips:

I can see BGGAR target is the highest 200hz hitter, but still he got 5db gap between sub-bass and 200hz mid bass.

So if we set BGGAR as the extreme end of most “Western Profile*” prefers mid-bass, the stock GK10’s 200hz balance is exceeding even that extreme point. Over that point I would call bass-head region.

*about Eastern vs Western Profile

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/geek-wold-discussion-gk10.958787/post-16497408

As I mentioned on my impressions “I like lower bass floor” so I matched with less bass boosting source and tips SpinFit CP360. Which brings bass floor down by few db, my impression is that “to 5db gains from sub-bass all the way to the 200hz range evenly”. That’s why I call the bass line as “similar to KBEar Lark” almost flat bass.

From comments I went thru on headfi, and other web sources, I do note the majority of preference is “to tone down 200-400hz bass a bit down”.

So, I feel it is productive to discuss if GK100 need a same “flat from sub-bass to mid-bass, all the way running into lower mids with 10db of gain” tuning like GK10, or options like -lowering the whole floor to Lark level,
-make sub-bass fat ones like Moondrop Variations/Dusk, Monarch
-trim to like Vision Ears VE8, Anole VX, U12t

 

[darkgod5]

Yea but many of them basically just use stock tips, especially for reviewers that they believe no-after market justified type.

on Antdroid’s website, there is a very useful FR tools that let users to stack up as many as FRs as possible, which also includes various target curve for independent reviewers and we can see manybof their target curves on bass range is 5db-10gain with 200hz and below. Oh and my targe curve is very close to Antdroid + a bit inclined to Crinacle’s IEF one (western-ish Eastern domain)


Overlaying:

Crinacle(IEF) vs Antrdoid vs Precog


GK10: to my impression, this is very close to my set with stock tips:


I can see BGGAR target is the highest 200hz hitter, but still he got 5db gap between sub-bass and 200hz mid bass.

So if we set BGGAR as the extreme end of most “Western Profile*” prefers mid-bass, the stock GK10’s 200hz balance is exceeding even that extreme point. Over that point I would call bass-head region.

*about Eastern vs Western Profile

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/geek-wold-discussion-gk10.958787/post-16497408

As I mentioned on my impressions “I like lower bass floor” so I matched with less bass boosting source and tips SpinFit CP360. Which brings bass floor down by few db, my impression is that “to 5db gains from sub-bass all the way to the 200hz range evenly”. That’s why I call the bass line as “similar to KBEar Lark” almost flat bass.


From comments I went thru on headfi, and other web sources, I do note the majority of preference is “to tone down 200-400hz bass a bit down”.

So, I feel it is productive to discuss if GK100 need a same “flat from sub-bass to mid-bass, all the way running into lower mids with 10db of gain” tuning like GK10, or options like -lowering the whole floor to Lark level,
-make sub-bass fat ones like Moondrop Variations/Dusk, Monarch
-trim to like Vision Ears VE8, Anole VX, U12t

In the overlay, those targets don't appear to be normalized correctly as I have the BGGAR target (blue) and Harman 2019 target (green) as follows:

Regardless, what's interesting is that all those reviewer targets appear to have a mid-bass boost over harman and a significant dip in the treble leading to that warmer/darker sound signature most reviewers seem to prefer.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

In the overlay, those targets don't appear to be normalized correctly as I have the BGGAR target (blue) and Harman 2019 target (green) as follows:



Regardless, what's interesting is that all those reviewer targets appear to have a mid-bass boost over harman and a significant dip in the treble leading to that warmer/darker sound signature most reviewers seem to prefer.

Let see, here is BGGAR and Harman clip

It appear fairly close to my eye, and yes the reviewer preference certainly is preferring darker pinna gain compared to harman, with warmer bass floors

 

[430633]

For those sources that you guys have found to work really well, what is their output impedance like?

Also, anyone knows the output impedance of the sources of the reviewers who have measured the GK10 so far? I'm unfamiliar with their rigs and set ups

 

[430633]

So after extensive list of comments and experience, we may discuss:
For incoming GK100
-overall bass floor gain (10db) could be lowered a bit, to those many of TOTL adopts (5db)
-mid-bass (100-300) range maybe could use a bit lowering in overall balance vs sub bass (100 and lower), the bass bloat

Or there could be a GK100A and GK100B- let the masses pick their own poison, just as they always have

 

[AmericanSpirit]

For those sources that you guys have found to work really well, what is their output impedance like?

Also, anyone knows the output impedance of the sources of the reviewers who have measured the GK10 so far? I'm unfamiliar with their rigs and set ups

L&P W2 balanced out :
Output Power 195mW @ 32Ω, Output Power: 4Vrms @ 300Ω. Background Noise: <0.9μV, THD+N: 0.00032%(300Ω), THD+N: 0.00039%(32Ω), Output Impedance: 0.12Ω)

I recall M11Pro’s OI for SE was 1.1Ω ish and 2.4Ω for balanced. I prefer Line-out because of higher Signal-to-Noise ratio, I recall it was like 119db compared to unbalanced 113db and balanced 115db for GK10.