[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

I went with a Hybrid. Silver Plated OCC Copper. One of the guys on the forum here made it for me. It could be my imagination but it seems like I don't need to cut the Treble on my HE400s any more... They DO seem smoother on the highs than with the stock 10 foot cable. Also seems like they get louder without distorting now too. I know, I know... It might just be wishful thinking, but I talked to the guy that made the cable and he said that's a common perception he hears from customers, so who knows? Here's a pic he sent me during fabrication. 
 
 

 
I recognize those. The HeadRoom Micro amp was the giveaway

 

[bareyb]

 
I recognize those. The HeadRoom Micro amp was the giveaway
 

 
Ha! Good eye. 
 
ETA: You have a nice Site. 

 

[bareyb]

Quote:

 
I think it's easy to drive HE-400 so this should be fine. But if u can wait few days till I get Magni and Modi which is same price as this unit I can let u know how does that work.

 
The big attraction for me with the iDo is that you can bypass the DAC in the iPod and use the higher quality DAC built into the iDo.  With the Magni you need to use a Laptop's USB out. I can't always bring my laptop and this seemed like a good semi portable solution.
 
UPDATE: Couldn't hold back and pulled the trigger on one. I read some reviews and I think this is going to be the best solution I'm going to get for my iPod only, semi-portable rig. 

 

[Flisker]

Quote:

 
The big attraction for me with the iDo is that you can bypass the DAC in the iPod and use the higher quality DAC built into the iDo.  With the Magni you need to use a Laptop's USB out. I can't always bring my laptop and this seemed like a good semi portable solution.
 
UPDATE: Couldn't hold back and pulled the trigger on one. I read some reviews and I think this is going to be the best solution I'm going to get for my iPod only, semi-portable rig. 

 
In this case, sure M&M wouldn't be optimal. Btw is it possible to use iDo while charging it, or do u have to charge it ... use it ... charge it and so on ? 
 
I find this absolutely annoying with FiiO E11 My longest listening session is about 4 hours +- because than I am out of juice 

 
I am actually also interested in this iDo thing now for my "portable" iPhone - FiiO E11 - SRH940 setup.
 
By bypassing built in stuff u mean iDo provide also something like this :
 

 
 
some kind of LOD cable ?

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

 
In this case, sure M&M wouldn't be optimal. Btw is it possible to use iDo while charging it, or do u have to charge it ... use it ... charge it and so on ? 
 
I find this absolutely annoying with FiiO E11 My longest listening session is about 4 hours +- because than I am out of juice 

 
I am actually also interested in this iDo thing now for my "portable" iPhone - FiiO E11 - SRH940 setup.
 
By bypassing built in stuff u mean iDo provide also something like this :
 

 
 
some kind of LOD cable ?

 
An LOD only bypasses the amp section of an iDevice. Only a few devices can bypass the dac+amp of an iDevice, and the iDo is one of them.

 

[beaver316]

 
A little experiment which would surely please bass-heads 

 
I can feel my head vibrating 

 

[wje]

Spoiler: Oh%20Oh%20...

 
 

 
A little experiment which would surely please bass-heads 

 
I can feel my head vibrating 

 

 

 
Good think that graph doesn't represent a patient's hear beat.  Can anyone say "flat line?"  

 

[dshlapak]

An LOD only bypasses the amp section of an iDevice. Only a few devices can bypass the dac+amp of an iDevice, and the iDo is one of them.

How does that work? There are only two ways that signal gets out of an iDevice, right? The headphone jack and the docking port. How does the iDo bypass the on board DAC?

Not arguing, just curious.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

Spoiler: Oh%20Oh%20...

 
 
 
 

 
Good think that graph doesn't represent a patient's hear beat.  Can anyone say "flat line?"  

 
I can feel my heart skipping a few beats with this config lol.
 
I have to say the HE400 handles it really really nicely, not a hint of distortion, just sweet bass.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

How does that work? There are only two ways that signal gets out of an iDevice, right? The headphone jack and the docking port. How does the iDo bypass the on board DAC?

Not arguing, just curious.

 
It uses the docking port of the iDevice, but the cable terminates to USB rather than 3.5mm. A cable such as this:
 

 

[wje]

Spoiler: Quoted%20Post

 
 

 
I can feel my heart skipping a few beats with this config lol.
 
I have to say the HE400 handles it really really nicely, not a hint of distortion, just sweet bass.
 

 

 
Yours sort of reminds me on a previous setting that I had made once.  However, I was using some slightly more expensive medical equipment to perform the adjustments and not some free parametric EQ software for the computer.  

 
 

 
 
In other news, I've completely purged my headphone / audio surplus gear so I can get down to a focused level of equipment as I plan to do more listening.  It's a great feeling to no longer have to deal with buyers who still try to offer you a lower price, even though you didn't select the "Or Best Offer" option when opening the listing.  3 to 4 packages a day to the USPS has got to give them some sort of quick cash infusion to maybe make their financial loss for the year a bit less devastating.  

 

[dshlapak]

UPDATE: Couldn't hold back and pulled the trigger on one. I read some reviews and I think this is going to be the best solution I'm going to get for my iPod only, semi-portable rig. 

Accent on the "semi," right? Are there options other than the FiiOs that are truly portable? And, none of the FiiOs actually bypasses the iDevice DAC?

Sorry to be slow this morning.

 

[wje]

Quote:

Accent on the "semi," right? Are there options other than the FiiOs that are truly portable? And, none of the FiiOs actually bypasses the iDevice DAC?

Sorry to be slow this morning.

 
Correct on that question.  I've heard from a very knowledgeable forum member and amp builder that getting certified by Apple for such and operation involves their approvals on everything -- even down to the package logos and how the implementation is utilized in the process.  Due to these higher hurdles, it appears many vendors would rather avoid such red tape from Apple and just market their products to work with the Apple DAC as opposed to working around it.  Fostex also makes a variant to handle the process, but their option is about $600.  Or, one could just go with an original iPod Classic 5 / video which has the 30gb or 60gb storage capabilities.  That model was the last to use the Wolfson DAC chips in it.  And, the last version to actually sound pretty good right out of the headphone jack.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

Thanks for your impressions! I only disagree with the statement that LCD-2s don't feel heavier than HE-400.
Having myself LCD-2s and yesterday comparing to my newly bought HE-400, I can clearly feel that HifiMans are lighter than Audeze. Anyway comfort of both is very good for me. Of course I wouldn't mind they were both 1/3 lighter, especially Audeze, than it would be perfect!

 
 
Actually it is a funny phenomenon.  My initial impressions were with only the LCD-2 on for a while, and never going back to the HE-400.  The first time I put the HE-400 back on my head after wearing the LCD-2 for a bit I thought to myself 'lol do I have headphones on my head?'  The HE-400 was light as a feather in comparison.  When putting the LCD-2 on my head, it doesn't feel heavy, it's only when I put lighter headphones on afterwards that I get a sense of how heavy the LCD-2 is.  

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
 
Actually it is a funny phenomenon.  My initial impressions were with only the LCD-2 on for a while, and never going back to the HE-400.  The first time I put the HE-400 back on my head after wearing the LCD-2 for a bit I thought to myself 'lol do I have headphones on my head?'  The HE-400 was light as a feather in comparison.  When putting the LCD-2 on my head, it doesn't feel heavy, it's only when I put lighter headphones on afterwards that I get a sense of how heavy the LCD-2 is.  

Yeah, humans compare more effectively than gauging absolute amounts.
 
That's also why headphone reviews where the reviewer goes "oh bass is great, oh midrange is terrible" etc etc mean next to nothing to the readers, who will demand that the reviewer compare the headphone to reference points a.k.a. headphones with well-characterized sound signatures e.g. HD650.