[Kitechaser]

Indecisiveness? Or the fact that you talked about joybuy earlier in the thread?
I get my shanling m5s on Monday or Tuesday, but if that's not an upgrade from my hiby r6, I might sell a few things to get a dx200 or wm1a. At the right price I might be able to be convinced into a zx300 though...

the indecision isn't where you think it is.
Just talked to someone on the bgvp thread that has both the WM1Z and WM1A. He loves them both, and thinks they complement each other, but also said there is about a 20-25% difference in SQ between them , and also added that he would be happy with having the 1Z from here on out period.
So if I spring for the 1Z, I am going to be wanting to keep the ZX300, as a mobile option.
Also Joybuy is apparantly no longer shipping to the US. I paid $575 for the one I have, it's the 64 gb version.
And honestly, this ZX300 is pretty damn good SQ wise. A 50% increase from this is a pretty crazy idea, that would be an end game level for me, no matter what Sony follows these players with in the future.
There is always the option of waiting and seeing what they release next year, and waiting for a further price drop on these current players.
Decisions decisions.
Edit: a bump of 50% on the CL2 is a scary proposition, might not ever come off my ears again.

 

[Kitechaser]

I wanna apologize to the people on this thread. All this player talk is probably driving a whole bunch of you up a wall.
Won't bring it up again.

 

[435279]

No problem for me if it is directly related to improving the CL2's sound in some way. Otherwise its probably better to discuss various DAP's in their related thread.

 

[geagle]

Keep them coming @Kitechaser ... always good to hear of possibilities to take things to the next level

 

[csglinux]

My review for the CL2 is posted:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/rha-cl2-planar.23337/reviews#reviews

Just for fun, I added a little poll Genuinely curious to see the results of it...

 

[Kitechaser]

The mid bump is more pronounced till the bass fully opens ups. That takes about 300-350 or so hours.
This driver sounds unbalanced and seriously tweaked pre 150- 200 hours.
Dozens and dozens of people have attested to that.
I am sure as the review tour goes on, and the drivers have more and more hours on them, the reviewers experience with the CL2 will match the people on this thread.

Having said that, thank you for the review, that is very exciting to know that the distortion levels on the CL2 are less than the Shure electrostats. I was trying to find that comparison but was unable to do so.
To my ears, this driver is the fastest driver I have ever heard, and will probably give the Shures a run for their money in that department too.

 

[csglinux]

The mid bump is more pronounced till the bass fully opens ups. That takes about 300-350 or so hours.
This driver sounds unbalanced and seriously tweaked pre 150- 200 hours.
Dozens and dozens of people have attested to that.
I am sure as the review tour goes on, and the drivers have more and more hours on them, the reviewers experience with the CL2 will match the people on this thread.

The odds of that happening are lower than my chances of winning the last Mega-millions lottery jackpot, given that I never even purchased a ticket. Read the quote from RHA in my review about the FR. This is how the golden reference sample is supposed.to sound and every unit sold is +/-1dB. We're both in LA, right? I'm willing to meet up to measure your unit. If that midrange peak measures substantially different from RHA's golden sample, your all-you-can-drink beer tab is on me Either way, I think it would be useful to post the result on this forum. PM me and we'll work out the details.

Having said that, thank you for the review, that is very exciting to know that the distortion levels on the CL2 are less than the Shure electrostats. I was trying to find that comparison but was unable to do so.
To my ears, this driver is the fastest driver I have ever heard, and will probably give the Shures a run for their money in that department too.

THD is very good, but this is not a particularly fast driver. Check out the comparisons of impulse response in my review.

 

[Kitechaser]

The odds of that happening are lower than my chances of winning the last Mega-millions lottery jackpot, given that I never even purchased a ticket. Read the quote from RHA in my review about the FR. This is how the golden reference sample is supposed.to sound and every unit sold is +/-1dB. We're both in LA, right? I'm willing to meet up to measure your unit. If that midrange peak measures substantially different from RHA's golden sample, your all-you-can-drink beer tab is on me Either way, I think it would be useful to post the result on this forum. PM me and we'll work out the details.



THD is very good, but this is not a particularly fast driver. Check out the comparisons of impulse response in my review.

Haha you are funny.
You owe my lying ears a round.
You are by the way measuring a driver that has not fully loosened up.
I'll take your figures with a huge "cup" of salt. We agree to disagree.
Anyways great review.
Thank you for posting it.

 

[Kitechaser]

The odds of that happening are lower than my chances of winning the last Mega-millions lottery jackpot, given that I never even purchased a ticket. Read the quote from RHA in my review about the FR. This is how the golden reference sample is supposed.to sound and every unit sold is +/-1dB. We're both in LA, right? I'm willing to meet up to measure your unit. If that midrange peak measures substantially different from RHA's golden sample, your all-you-can-drink beer tab is on me Either way, I think it would be useful to post the result on this forum. PM me and we'll work out the details.



THD is very good, but this is not a particularly fast driver. Check out the comparisons of impulse response in my review.

By the way where in LA are you?
Your sig doesn't show location.

 

[Kitechaser]

The odds of that happening are lower than my chances of winning the last Mega-millions lottery jackpot, given that I never even purchased a ticket. Read the quote from RHA in my review about the FR. This is how the golden reference sample is supposed.to sound and every unit sold is +/-1dB. We're both in LA, right? I'm willing to meet up to measure your unit. If that midrange peak measures substantially different from RHA's golden sample, your all-you-can-drink beer tab is on me Either way, I think it would be useful to post the result on this forum. PM me and we'll work out the details.



THD is very good, but this is not a particularly fast driver. Check out the comparisons of impulse response in my review.

And it's nothing personal, whenever I see graphs, my eyes glaze over, and I get a strong inclination to just doze off
Especially when the graph tries to beat me over the head, and force me to accept something I am not hearing.
I kind of feel like that right about now.

 

[Duncan]

I can get them to sound bad, by not using a solid core tip, and with bad placement...

Maybe I have a golden ear shape than in combination with a solid core tip can cancel out the peak - I have no idea, however - and this is not dismissing anyone else’s opinion, I trust my ears, and what they perceive as an acceptable tonality more than I do a graph.

 

[Kitechaser]

God forbid an audio company not just copy the tuning of the exalted andromeda, and work out their own solution.
What kind of world are we living in where that is possible.
All earphones must sound the same or the graphs will be angry.
Can't anger the graph gods, or the heavens will rain down thunder and lightning.
All jokes aside, graphs are a tool, though useful, should not supplant your hearing.
The peak, however you want to explain it, gets resolved with use, proper tips, etc.
Anyone interested can read a 105 pages of testimonials.
Past that, it's all opinions.
And we all have one.

Listening to the most beautiful rendition of lean on me. It sounds magical.
Now should I trust me ears, and the utter bliss I am experiencing?
Or some bump on a graph, that keeps telling me, I must be out of my mind?
Decisions decisions

 

[Napilopez]

How closely does impulse response correlate to speed? Because I've had the the KSE1200, for a couple of weeks now and they don't really sound faster than the CL2s, at least with what I've traditionally considered to mean 'speed.' What should one be listening for?

Not just trying to be a CL2 fanboy but just my honest impressions. I've not listened to many BA-only IEMs, but these are among the fastest headphones I've heard. While I don't let measurements supplant my hearing, I do believe in them and take them seriously (some physics background)... so perhaps I need a new definition of speed!

On the other hand, sometimes measurements can be misleading - often because we don't have all the measurements we think we need (like the whole jitter thing) Not at all trying to discredit your work csglinux - I've actually just purchased some MiniDSP EARs to start doing some basic measurements of my own - but trying to strike that oh so rare balance of objectivity and subjectivity =]

All this being said, I think its fair to say that most of us think the CL2 could probably do with a few less DB in that contentious region. There are many things I love about the CL2 - I appreciate their unique tuning and I think they're brilliant overall - but I think the benefits of taming that area outweigh the cons

 

[Kitechaser]

How closely does impulse response correlate to speed? Because I'm currently testing the KSE1200, and they don't really sound faster than the CL2's, at least with what I've traditionally considered to mean 'speed.' Not just trying to be a CL2 fanboy but just my honest impressions. I've not listened to many BA-only IEMs, but these are among the fastest headphones I've heard. I do believe in measurements though... perhaps I need a new definition of speed.

In signal processing, the impulse response, or impulse response function (IRF), of a dynamic system is its output when presented with a brief input signal, called an impulse. More generally, an impulse response is the reaction of any dynamic system in response to some external change.

Impulse response is directly related to what we all regard as speed.
How fast the driver reacts to an input.
The CL2 is super fast, and the measurements in the review say otherwise, among other things.

 

[Duncan]

I’m intrigued now - with the mention in @csglinux review about age - how old the likers are versus those that don’t get on with these...

Me, I’m 41.