[dd051]

Also, wow, that's a cool story! Yearly trips to Colombia and getting recruited by music labels and then producing work that blows you and them away, all while using some janky bluetooth headphones?

So, I guess now you have a mobile setup and an office setup.

Is there a lot of mobile/ on-site work done in your field? I'd guess the main reason would be to interact more directly with the musicians and recording studios?

 

[martel80]

Also, wow, that's a cool story! Yearly trips to Colombia and getting recruited by music labels and then producing work that blows you and them away, all while using some janky bluetooth headphones? Wow!

That to me was a testimony of the idea that it is not the tools you used to create that is important but how you use it and your knowledge of knowing its limitations. Obviously nothing is ever perfect but you can always trade off in some areas and come up with something satisfying. For that reason I insist on the idea that what I’m sharing is really just my point of view and that yours is just as valuable because we have different perspectives.

Do what you see fit. If you can’t figure out the mid range worth, don’t torture yourself and get back to the big impact sound. The goal here is for you to enjoy what you love. It’s not a race but a journey.

Edit: just saw your other questions. There’s a lot of remote work done. Even most recording is done at the artist place nowadays. I work with urban music artist so there’s no need for big studios anymore and the artist and labels know that. A lot more convenient for everyone.

Yes, I do have my home rig and mastering room setup at home and can now rely on my Nanos while travelling. It’s a blessing really.

What do you do for a living ? What’s your goal using the nanos vs using other cans? Did you chose them randomly or because of the price tag ?

 

[TheR0v3r]

It's definitely cool to have professionals like @martel80 willing to help us! I think it's good to approach it with a sense of humility - we can learn a lot.
I'm wondering about those (I don't know if they use them anymore?) sound boards, where you could tweak frequencies on them with dials, I think?
I feel like that tactile sense of adjust frequencies would have been really cool to play with. Obviously, the digital engine and system is superior in terms of technical ability, but I think it would have been cool to physically play with dials and hear the changes in the music.

I am tired from trying to EQ these headphones though, hahaha. I keep going back and forth between martel's settings and others. I keep finding different things I like in each style. So tiring haha

I've been trying to use these to tweak things
https://producelikeapro.com/blog/eq-cheat-sheet/
https://hyperbits.com/eq-cheat-sheet/

Probably seems silly to martel

I feel your pain. When I started EQ:ing I was also constantly going back and forth between different settings. I went thru several setups in pure frustration.

One thing that has really helped me is deciding on what I want to accomplish with EQ and what kind of sound I’m going for - my personal preference. This is what is sometimes called a target curve. I tried the different harman targets etc but have ended up preferring what’s sometimes called a ”flat curve”, in reality it’s more apt to call it ”neutral”. And it’s neutral because it aims to represent sound as it’s heard in a studio.

The only advice I can give is go find your target now so you know what kind of sound you’re aiming for.

Addendum:
One more thing

I spend time in a local shop. There I can play some ”reference tracks” on their amazing speaker system(s), listen, discuss and take notes. Then at home I try to compare with how the same music is experienced. How does it sound? What’s different? Why?

So I really value that relationship and that’s also where I do my business.

 

[dd051]

That to me was a testimony of the idea that it is not the tools you used to create that is important but how you use it and your knowledge of knowing its limitations. Obviously nothing is ever perfect but you can always trade off in some areas and come up with something satisfying. For that reason I insist on the idea that what I’m sharing is really just my point of view and that yours is just as valuable because we have different perspectives.

Do what you see fit. If you can’t figure out the mid range worth, don’t torture yourself and get back to the big impact sound. The goal here is for you to enjoy what you love. It’s not a race but a journey.

Edit: just saw your other questions. There’s a lot of remote work done. Even most recording is done at the artist place nowadays. I work with urban music artist so there’s no need for big studios anymore and the artist and labels know that. A lot more convenient for everyone.

Yes, I do have my home rig and mastering room setup at home and can now rely on my Nanos while travelling. It’s a blessing really.

What do you do for a living ? What’s your goal using the nanos vs using other cans? Did you chose them randomly or because of the price tag ?

College professor.

I don't know if I had a particular goal in mind other than getting a good pair of headphones with which to listen to music. After researching a bunch, I pretty much settled on Hifiman as it seemed to be the company offering the best price/value, in general, across multiple price segments, along with having almost all of their cans highly rated.

As for why the Ananda Nano specifically - I don't consider myself an audio hobbyist. I don't really want to have multiple pairs of headphones or multiple dacs or multiple amps. I was looking for a setup to enjoy music from. I also didn't particularly want to spend what I considered an excess amount of money on a small interest that I didn't know if I would continue with.

So, I went with the Topping DX3+Pro after reading a bunch about it being just the ideal dac/amp combo and not needing anything besides it. As for the Nanos, I was leaning towards the XS initially, but after reading a bunch of information about the comfort issues it seemed to have for many people and reading reviews as to how the Nano seemed comfortable, I picked up a pair of Nanos that were used like 2-3 times for a pretty decent discount off of MSRP. For my level of caring about listening to music, I wasn't really willing to drop more money on something like the Arya Organics or Arya v2 or RE10 etc etc etc. So, I went with the Nanos figuring that hey, if I don't like them, I can always sell them.

Pretty simple - listening to music and getting earphones that can produce detailed and high quality sound. I definitely like detail, though!

 

[dd051]

I feel your pain. When I started EQ:ing I was also constantly going back and forth between different settings. I went thru several setups in pure frustration.

One thing that has really helped me is deciding on what I want to accomplish with EQ and what kind of sound I’m going for - my personal preference. This is what is sometimes called a target curve. I tried the different harman targets etc but have ended up preferring what’s sometimes called a ”flat curve”, in reality it’s more apt to call it ”neutral”. And it’s neutral because it aims to represent sound as it’s heard in a studio.

The only advice I can give is go find your target now so you know what kind of sound you’re aiming for.

Addendum:
One more thing

I spend time in a local shop. There I can play some ”reference tracks” on their amazing speaker system(s), listen, discuss and take notes. Then at home I try to compare with how the same music is experienced. How does it sound? What’s different? Why?

So I really value that relationship and that’s also where I do my business.

Interesting. So, you're trying to match your home setup to the setup you hear at the shop? At least in terms of a frequency response curve?

Isn't that a bit dangerous? I mean...as in, if you listen to a pair of great speakers in a well optimized room, doesn't that make you want to 'chase the dragon' and keep climbing the audio price mountain?

 

[TheR0v3r]

Interesting. So, you're trying to match your home setup to the setup you hear at the shop? At least in terms of a frequency response curve?

Isn't that a bit dangerous? I mean...as in, if you listen to a pair of great speakers in a well optimized room, doesn't that make you want to 'chase the dragon' and keep climbing the audio price mountain?

Maybe not match per se, there are things that are just impossible to achieve on a headphone system. It’s more about understanding how the music sounds in a ”calibrated” room on a really good system.

Sure, ”chasing the dragon” is a risk, but there is ALOT of ”jewellery” in the world of Hifi. ”Jewellery” are the things companies market/promote/sell that have zero correlation with performance. Let’s take the Focal Utopia as an example with its carbon fibre headband. Make no mistake, it’s a great (really great!) headphone, but that headband adds NOTHING to the performance (and costs ca. €1500 €2000 to replace). Here I like Hifiman’s much more functional approach and appreciate that more of ”my money” goes into things that have to do with performance. Together we can help each other find all those gems, like the Ananda Nano, when you’re paying below market for the performance your getting.

Here are some tracks I use, and in this case, also show off the capabilities of the Ananda Nano:

• ”Okay”, Shiba San
• ”Counting Waves”, Sarah Fimm
• ”Boy With a Coin”, Iron & Wine
• ”Gemini”, Alabama Shakes
• ”Backbone”, Gojira

These tracks cover alot of ground - enjoy!

 

[ahmonge]

Let’s take the Focal Utopia as an example with its carbon fibre headband. Make no mistake, it’s a great (really great!) headphone, but that headband adds NOTHING to the performance (and costs ca. €2000 to replace).

2,000 € for a headband?

 

[TheR0v3r]

2,000 € for a headband?

I maybe have this wrong, about $1600. I’ll edit my post.

 

[ahmonge]

€1,500 for a headband? It's still an absurd figure, in my opinion. How much will it cost to replace a driver?

 

[TheR0v3r]

€1,500 for a headband? It's still an absurd figure, in my opinion. How much will it cost to replace a driver?

It’s about €1000 per driver IF I remember correctly. I don’t know how that compares to other TOTL headphones.

My point was more about non-performance related parts potentially having a large impact on the long term cost of ownership.

 

[dd051]

It’s about €1000 per driver IF I remember correctly. I don’t know how that compares to other TOTL headphones.

My point was more about non-performance related parts potentially having a large impact on the long term cost of ownership.

Power cables

 

[TheR0v3r]

Power cables

Without power cables my system performs very poorly

 

[dd051]

Without power cables my system performs very poorly

But have you really tried using it without power cables?

 

[martel80]

 

[Enther]

Any comparison between Ananda Nano vs Arya Stealth?