[tonyfiore75]

Well, Costco is having a sale and knocked another $50 off this M&D MW08 Sport package. Just got price matched. For $229, this is an even better deal now.

It's a good thing I don't belong to Cosctco then, haha, or else I'd surely be emptying my pockets

 

[Not so fat head]

Yep, people connecting $2k IEM’s to $200 dongles is a little weird.. But who am I to judge..
I’m thinking about buying a second home to store my headphones..

 

[jasonb]

Yep, people connecting $2k IEM’s to $200 dongles is a little weird.. But who am I to judge..
I’m thinking about buying a second home to store my headphones..

What price range of IEM’s deserve to be used with a $200 dongle?

What should a $2k IEM be connected to?

I don’t understand. Plenty of people seem to say the $10 apple dongle is all you need for most IEM’s.

 

[allesa]

Anyone using B&O EQ? I can't seem to trigger aptx adaptive on all my phones.. only aptx. I've tried to connect it to oppo find X5 pro, Xiaomi 12 pro, S22 ultra, and more (I'm a tech reviewer so I've got plenty of phones here lol).

I have bowers and Wilkins PI7 and other aptx adaptive supporting wireless earbuds triggering aptx adaptive no problem with all my phones except S22 ultra which does not support aptx adaptive.

From what I've read, the EQ does support aptx adaptive. Qualcomm also has it listed on their website.

 

[Ceeluh7]

What price range of IEM’s deserve to be used with a $200 dongle?

What should a $2k IEM be connected to?

I don’t understand. Plenty of people seem to say the $10 apple dongle is all you need for most IEM’s.

There are great products $200 and under that easily pair well with any price of iem. Price has nothing to do with it but I understand the thought. $2000 iems do the exact same thing as $30 iems. Just find a pairing that suits you between dac/amp and iem etc. I will say that if the apple dongle is good for you than that is all that matters... It's about enjoying the same thing we are all in pursuit of... Music. Many guys even on this forum here put thousand dollar iems on a $100 utws5. Price has nothing to do with what sounds good. Truthfully also... Just because something costs more does not equate to better. It's an odd hobby though because with such over priced and over hyped iems costing over $1000-$8000 dollars and they barely sound better then a $300 iem. Not always the case but it happens.

 

[Not so fat head]

What price range of IEM’s deserve to be used with a $200 dongle?

What should a $2k IEM be connected to?

I don’t understand. Plenty of people seem to say the $10 apple dongle is all you need for most IEM’s.

Seems to me, a $2k IEM needs to be wired to a high performance source..
To each their own. Can’t get around the fact that all Bluetooth uses band limited data.. Sony has some excellent documentation on their ATRAC encoding/decoding scheme, which most other compressions follow to a certain degree…
The acoustics mapping is really amazing, based on throwing out sounds masked by louder sounds.
It’s claimed you won’t hear them anyway.

 

[Not so fat head]

The most I’ve spent on IEM’s is around $350. They were ultimate ears ans Shures..
A $2k IEM must sound out of this world.
I’m talking being able to tell the difference between Violin makes. Picking out a Stienway and a Bosendoefer; otherwise why pay the price?

 

[jasonb]

Seems to me, a $2k IEM needs to be wired to a high performance source..
To each their own. Can’t get around the fact that all Bluetooth uses band limited data.. Sony has some excellent documentation on their ATRAC encoding/decoding scheme, which most other compressions follow to a certain degree…
The acoustics mapping is really amazing, based on throwing out sounds masked by louder sounds.
It’s claimed you won’t hear them anyway.

I honestly don’t have a real comment on the matter and my most expensive headphone is $600. My $600 headphone is usually just plugged into the headphone jack on my M1 MacBook Air. I have a Qudelix 5K, and a Topping NX4DSD and I don’t notice anything missing when I just plug directly into the MacBooks headphone jack so lately I’ve just been doing that. I also use Bluetooth earbuds from time to time, either when I’m not home or sometimes even at home when it’s convenient. The Bluetooth earbuds are just using AAC, not LDAC since right now I’m using apple stuff.

 

[jasonb]

The most I’ve spent on IEM’s is around $350. They were ultimate ears ans Shures..
A $2k IEM must sound out of this world.
I’m talking being able to tell the difference between Violin makes. Picking out a Stienway and a Bosendoefer; otherwise why pay the price?

I doubt the difference would make it so that you could pick out the brand of the instruments. You still have to factor in the space it was recorded in, the microphones being used, and whatever is done at the mixing and mastering stages. There is always the law of diminishing returns with audio.

 

[Not so fat head]

A good test is the rock band America and the song is Ventura Highway…
Pay close attention to the cymbals and striking the wood block…
Very well recorded…
The wood block separates out the truly good headphones..
It should sound like, well, wood.. and have its own acoustic space…

 

[PixelSquish]

I tried Comply's, Spinfits, i think Auvio tips and one other set I can't remember what they are, with the AZ60's - the stock tips definitely seem to be the best.

I am digging these. I see why a lot of people are quite happy with them. I do really like that you can set it to double tap to ambient sound, and it pauses the music when you do so. Then the music starts back up if you tap it to another mode like OFF or ANC on. The MTW2 did that pause, but the XM4 do not which always bugged me. If I'm turning on Ambient Sound mode that means I want to pause the music, interact with the world around me, then when I'm done, I want to start the music back up. That always seemed most intuitive to me.

 

[PixelSquish]

The most I’ve spent on IEM’s is around $350. They were ultimate ears ans Shures..
A $2k IEM must sound out of this world.
I’m talking being able to tell the difference between Violin makes. Picking out a Stienway and a Bosendoefer; otherwise why pay the price?

When I went to Bloom Audio to pick up my Meze Rai Pentas (which I loved but sold due to low usage of all wired IEM's, they were $1299 new I think) and talked with the owner, who is a really nice dude and huge audiophile - he kinda said what a lot of people say, there is definitely a big point of diminishing returns - once you get to around the 1K/low 1K price points for IEM's - you are like 96% there towards top SQ. You can double the price point for that little extra, which many people can't hear anyway for any number of reasons.

 

[LCMusicLover]

... the rock band America ...

Wait, what!?!

Yes, good test track, but ...

Rock band? Saw them in concert twice back in the day -- pretty sure there was no Rock involved. Folk Rock? Isn't that like Jumbo Shrimp or Military Intelligence?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Not so fat head]

Ha!!!
Yeah, not a rock band, my bad..

 

[jant71]

I wonder if these could work with the case with foams on them?