Going fully Wireless IEMs. Too soon? Or are we there yet?

[subguy812]

Ha! You are one of the many people who mistake Average White Band for Wild Cherry

lol I thought he was just mentioning the song. I didn't know he thought it was done by Average White Band. I think the instrumental is their most known song. Lots of good funk during the 70's. Wild Cherry was good as well. Fortunately or unfortunately, according to your perspective I heard it when it was originally out.

 

[highlightshadow]

Slight fun -- I did actually rebuy the DPP's to give them another chance --- but would you know it, the left bud is faulty. Even in a quiet room with ANC on and no music the right bud feels silent and with ANC on (you know that feeling) but the left bud feels like it's 1/2 way between ANC and Ambient. Tried factory resetting them but even without setting up a profile the buds both go into ANC but the left just has this slightly distorted hiss noise.

So they're going back AGAIN

 

[highlightshadow]

Folks,

after more than 1 1/2 years I'm still very happy with my Technics EAH-AZ60. The only thing that's starting to bother me is their comfort, being stuck rather deep inside my ear canal. Now I know that this is part of the concept - a bit of noise isolation combined with active noise cancelling - but the longer I use them, the more I realize that I'm in desperate need of smaller eartips.

So this is where I need your help. What are the smallest, the absolute smallest eartips you know for the nozzle size of an AZ60, the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Beats Studio Buds (they're all the same size, basically)? It's not so much about sound quality but more about being really, well, tiny.

Any and all recommendations are welcome. Thanks!

I find the SpinFit CP1025 for True Wireless Earbuds
Are shallow and will take a good 1mm or more off the depth of an earbud fit.... it's what i use cos i struggle with deeper fitting stuff

 

[rlw6534]

I've got one of these for PC connectivity. Supports Aptx Adaptive at least
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/btd-600

I was never able to get AptX Adaptive to work in quality mode with my BTD-600, only low latency mode. Did you figure out how?

 

[Not so fat head]

lol I thought he was just mentioning the song. I didn't know he thought it was done by Average White Band. I think the instrumental is their most known song. Lots of good funk during the 70's. Wild Cherry was good as well. Fortunately or unfortunately, according to your perspective I heard it when it was originally out.

Ha!! It’s just old age…. I actually got it right many text back when mentioning the song before, as one of my test tracks..
Yes was Wild Cherry, I liked AWB too..
Earth, Wind and Fire’s September is another well recorded test track…

 

[highlightshadow]

I was never able to get AptX Adaptive to work in quality mode with my BTD-600, only low latency mode. Did you figure out how?

So the process i do.
Pair to phone 1st. Then go into the device settings and pair to BTD-600 2nd (always takes a little messing around to get them to do that)
But once you're connected to both devices in Multi-point (buds say multipoint) then you'll be able to see the Codec in the App on your phone.
My phone just shows AptX and nothing else.

While i'm playing music through the BTD-600 (PC) i just tap the button on the dongle (quick press), it'll trigger codec switch.
Once that happens the dongle lights up pink rather than white and then in the App the current codec is displayed
This is how Audirvana shows the BTD-600 in it's output options:

While listening in spotify it comes up Adaptive HQ 48K

When playing something high-res/MQA through Audirvana it comes up Adaptive HQ 96K

Amazon Music APp on PC shows this:

 

[BigZ12]

I was never able to get AptX Adaptive to work in quality mode with my BTD-600, only low latency mode. Did you figure out how?

Just buy a Creative BT-W5 instead. Soo much better.
I got my BTD-600 Friday, and it will go back tomorrow.
Was curious about the difference, and thought I could use the Senn' on my HTPC, and BT-W5 with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and Macbook Pro.
But the BT stability was atrocious with the B&W PX8 (dropouts/pops/clicks) and how the ¤%&# do you reconnect it to the second last connected headphones??

 

[rlw6534]

Just buy a Creative BT-W5 instead. Soo much better.

I did...

I think there is some confusion on the USB connection speed and the BT transmission mode. I can only check with my Qudelix 5K Chrome extension and the BTD-600 only transmits AptX Adaptive BT at the slowest (LL) rate. The BT-W5, of course, can be switched to HQ mode with the app and it shows as HQ (highest rate) on the 5K. Also, the BT-W5 tells you what mode it is in by the color of the LED, which helps...

 

[helmutcheese]

AFAIK LL Mode is not just due to the fact it lowers to 24/48 as many dongles including Creatives own BT-W4 are limited to that as that was what aptX Adaptive launched as until it later became 24/96 capable.

The BT-W4 did not have the LL mode/Colour the last time I tried it.

 

[highlightshadow]

I did...

I think there is some confusion on the USB connection speed and the BT transmission mode. I can only check with my Qudelix 5K Chrome extension and the BTD-600 only transmits AptX Adaptive BT at the slowest (LL) rate. The BT-W5, of course, can be switched to HQ mode with the app and it shows as HQ (highest rate) on the 5K. Also, the BT-W5 tells you what mode it is in by the color of the LED, which helps...

The Creative dongle is 2x the price which makes it kinda expensive for what it is -- however i can see that having an app on the PC which allows you to control the dongle and the codec's would be valuable cos that's the issue with the Senn dongle -- it's hard to control or know whether it's working as expected unless you have a set of buds/headphones with their app which shows what theyr'e receiving.

Plus i do find getting it paired to the DPP's a total pain -- never works first 3 times -- end up messing about

 

[rlw6534]

AFAIK LL Mode is not just due to the fact it lowers to 24/48 as many dongles including Creatives own BT-W4 are limited to that as that was what aptX Adaptive launched as until it later became 24/96 capable.

The BT-W4 did not have the LL mode/Colour the last time I tried it.

Just to be clear, AptX Adaptive LL transmits at 279 kbps and AptX Adaptive HQ at 420 kbps as verified on my Q5K. The BTD-600 only does 279 kbps. However the Q5k only supports 24/48 rather than 24/96... but I don't think that matters? My FiiO FW5 only shows the codec in the control app but not the transmission rate but should support 24/96...

BT can be a pain to understand what is actually happening... Maybe I should just stick to AAC....

 

[helmutcheese]

DP

 

[helmutcheese]

I have both the BT-W4 and BT-W5 and I think there is more to it than simply lowering the Bitrate for LL vs HQ Modes.

I might unbox my BT-W4 and see if there is any FW updates (it never had any but BT-W5 got one real soon) and compare but I will not be able to see the bitrate for a USB device.

 

[assassin10000]

Folks,

after more than 1 1/2 years I'm still very happy with my Technics EAH-AZ60. The only thing that's starting to bother me is their comfort, being stuck rather deep inside my ear canal. Now I know that this is part of the concept - a bit of noise isolation combined with active noise cancelling - but the longer I use them, the more I realize that I'm in desperate need of smaller eartips.

So this is where I need your help. What are the smallest, the absolute smallest eartips you know for the nozzle size of an AZ60, the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Beats Studio Buds (they're all the same size, basically)? It's not so much about sound quality but more about being really, well, tiny.

Any and all recommendations are welcome. Thanks!

The XM5 have XS foam tips now. They might not be available separately yet.

I think Sony did an xs silicone tip.

Final audio tips. Auvios had an xs size but are hard to find. Not sure if they'll fit due to nozzle size but JVC as well.


You can also loke around the best eartips thread for more ideas:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/best-iem-tips.626895/


Where are you located? I may have some smaller tips laying around. I sold some of them so I'd have to see what I have left.

 

[ZMan2k2]

Well, after getting the DPP twice, and returning both times for technical defects, I went with the MTW3 this go round. Really is a shame about the DPP. The sound is “exciting” to say the least, but the QC of them seems to be hit or miss. I tried to live with the glitches, but in the end, I want with a more established brand. Wish me luck!