Introducing NOIRE X

[Ilomaenkimi]

Dan Clark Audio VIVO Cable

Has anybody experience with the Dan Clark Audio VIVO Cable?

Torben

I'm interested about this also.

 

[Conan1974]

If you spend 5 minutes at a headphone store trying the same headphones on different source gear you’ll realize that you’re incorrect in thinking that way.

I agree with @BowWazoo on the cables.
Did checked some headphones in the store. Most expensive was Susvara UnV. They did not sound really different from each other.
LCD2 Padauk, Noire X and new Arya on Feliks Audio - the biggest one, can not remember the name. Noire 2 open, MM500, LCD2c, Arya Organic and HE1000 stealth,i think it was against the Auteur Classic on Chord Hugo TT2. I really want to hear the differences to justify the prices but they were not present. Beside the ones caused by the kind of construction. Everything else was sounding very clear, full and pleasent.
But since it is NoireX thread i can say they did very good against the rest. Comfortable, clean full sound and great looks. So light

 

[simonpep]

I'm interested about this also.

Written a few posts about the VIVO cable I bought for my Aeon2 Noire, see
Post in thread 'Sky Audio Cables'
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sky-audio-cables.916261/post-17756824

Beware get the ordered length right, as there are no returns on cables with DCA. You could like me, stuck with a $500 purchase that can’t be used.

 

[Kevintj604]

I agree with @BowWazoo on the cables.
Did checked some headphones in the store. Most expensive was Susvara UnV. They did not sound really different from each other.
LCD2 Padauk, Noire X and new Arya on Feliks Audio - the biggest one, can not remember the name. Noire 2 open, MM500, LCD2c, Arya Organic and HE1000 stealth,i think it was against the Auteur Classic on Chord Hugo TT2. I really want to hear the differences to justify the prices but they were not present. Beside the ones caused by the kind of construction. Everything else was sounding very clear, full and pleasent.
But since it is NoireX thread i can say they did very good against the rest. Comfortable, clean full sound and great looks. So light

I agree with him on cables as well. I purchase high end cables for all of the other reasons to own nice things. I've never claimed they make any audible differences.

I disagree with his claims that reference level can be achieved at $199 and that source gear doesn't make any difference. I think that's a nonsense claim personally. Maybe to him he can't hear any differences but source components in the 2-channel world have long been known to make a huge difference and headphones are no different.

 

[Conan1974]

Known?
For me personally, there is no such a thing as huge difference, day and night difference ... in the audio world. Because i did not hear that, not even ones. Stereo or headphones.
Difference caused by the type of construction, in headfi, ok. Agree. The rest not.
I know if i say that, some will say that i am crazy or deaf - but what the hell.
Susvara UnV was not sounding better, even not different than the HEK stealth.
Singxer SDA2 was as good as the Mola Mola Tamb... I was thinking, that at least, with these price difference i will get something , but no.

 

[Kevintj604]

Known?
For me personally, there is no such a thing as huge difference, day and night difference ... in the audio world. Because i did not hear that, not even ones. Stereo or headphones.
Difference caused by the type of construction, in headfi, ok. Agree. The rest not.
I know if i say that, some will say that i am crazy or deaf - but what the hell.
Susvara UnV was not sounding better, even not different than the HEK stealth.
Singxer SDA2 was as good as the Mola Mola Tamb... I was thinking, that at least, with these price difference i will get something , but no.

Just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing here. You tried the exact same headphone on multiple source pairings (amp & Dac) and heard zero audible difference?

 

[Conan1974]

Just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing here. You tried the exact same headphone on multiple source pairings (amp & Dac) and heard zero audible difference?

Not zero, difference caused by the construction, like open vs closed. But like Hifimans, did not hear anything different. HEK1000 stealth, Susvara Un, Arya Organic, Arya UnV. With the difference like sharpness of the Organic. Rest was same. They just sound very good. Voices, hights, base, its all there. Instruments separation and placing. Soundstage.
It was not a long test, but even so, a 9000 euro headphone should show his QA straight away. When its tested vs headphones that cost 1000 or 1700.
But that is my take on that matter. Like the company sees my money on their account, this is how it should work the other way around - i should be hearing that money in my ears, when using the headphone. Not looking for the differences or waiting for the cans to be burn in. No, right away, if its not there, it does not exist.

 

[Kevintj604]

Not zero, difference caused by the construction, like open vs closed. But like Hifimans, did not hear anything different. HEK1000 stealth, Susvara Un, Arya Organic, Arya UnV. With the difference like sharpness of the Organic. Rest was same. They just sound very good. Voices, hights, base, its all there. Instruments separation and placing. Soundstage.
It was not a long test, but even so, a 9000 euro headphone should show his QA straight away. When its tested vs headphones that cost 1000 or 1700.
But that is my take on that matter. Like the company sees my money on their account, this is how it should work the other way around - i should be hearing that money in my ears, when using the headphone. Not looking for the differences or waiting for the cans to be burn in. No, right away, if its not there, it does not exist.

Source pairing and synergy between headphones can be a difficult thing to wrap heads around. I've heard some people claim that all that's required is an Apple Dongle and others that say source equipment should be a 40% spend of the total setup. I'm personally somewhere in between but I can definitely hear a big difference in the amps that are in my current roster and I'm nowhere near a Summit-Fi level where the differences should be a bit more extreme.

I do know that a lot of headphones respond completely differently with amp and dac pairings so I definitely think synergy is important. This is especially the case with headphones that require more power and current to sound optimal. The Susvara, HE-6, Tungsten all come to mind but also most of DCA's line-up is like this as well.

The Noire needs a lot of power and current to sound correct for example.

 

[Ilomaenkimi]

My english is not top tier, so with google translator, sorry;

First impressions of Noire X; the first thing to say is that Sash Tres SE serves here as a comparison point, which is an open planar. Which has been listened to quite a lot now. So my ears are still in ”Sash mode”.

After all, the soundstage in Noire x is really good; airy, open and reasonably dimensional. That's what i was looking for, a cramped soundstage doesn't please me, it has to have air, lightness and dimensionality.
I was afraid that i would get too much bass again (as happened with the Fiio FT1) based on the measured response, but again it was seen that the measurement tells quite a bit about reality. The bass comes from these the same/less than the Sash.
The measured response in terms of bass is pretty close to Fiio, but the reality is quite different.
A little juiciness runs out from the middle area, more like a dry one. Even thin sometimes. The same way I would describe the upper end; the support is a little tiring.
The reproduction is cleaner across the board, the small disturbing graininess of the Fiio wears out.
I would like more of that general juiciness though.
And that DCAs are praised for their low distortion? If so, it would be interesting to see Sashi's distortion values.

But yeah, i have to give them some time now and maybe the "burn in" will play a part, even if I don't really believe that.
But if i now compare my own first impressions and the online hype Noire got with Sash, then Sash is indeed a top-class headphone.
Noire is a very positive surprise in terms of soundstage.
5 times the price of the Fiio FT1 is looking for some justification, but there is quite a lot of difference in sound from Fiio. Whether it is worth the financial investment is up to each person.
But the sound of these is such that it doesn't hurt in those moments when you "have" to use closed backs. However, there are quite a lot of those moments in our household. And the search was specifically for a headphone with an airy, reasonably large soundstage and good isolation from the sounds of the environment. Both of which are confusingly good in Noire.

However, Noire gives you the opportunity to enjoy high-quality sound without disturbing the surrounding noise. Or that I would disturb others with my earphones.

And you have to remember that the exhaustion of the Wau effect in the first meters is usually a good sign.

Edit: if Noire X was put on blindly, I'd say it's open. The sound image is better than many open ones. Also in terms of accuracy and 3D.

Edit: correcting my statement, NX needs more volume. When it wakes up we are talking!
To be continued as listening proceeds...

 

[Pashmeister]

looks like this will be my next pair. I am in the market for something not too expensive to take with me travelling, something compact, easy to drive, and will not call too much attention on itself in public. I almost got the E3 when it was released but it was too hard to drive for portable use.

Would these work well with iFi Gold Bar / CMA18P?

Thanks!

 

[Kevintj604]

looks like this will be my next pair. I am in the market for something not too expensive to take with me travelling, something compact, easy to drive, and will not call too much attention on itself in public. I almost got the E3 when it was released but it was too hard to drive for portable use.

Would these work well with iFi Gold Bar / CMA18P?

Thanks!

Nope.

These are not easy to drive at all. Your KANN Max won’t even drive them properly. You’ll be perfect using them at home with your HA-3A though. That’s a phenomenal pairing.

The Noire is very close to the E3 with power and current requirements. Not quite as the Noire is a bit more efficient but close.

 

[BS5711]

If you spend 5 minutes at a headphone store trying the same headphones on different source gear you’ll realize that you’re incorrect in thinking that way.

If you were to do that you leave yourself wide open to the effects of bias caused by price, appearance, brand name, amplifier design, presence of tubes etc etc etc.

You also have absolutely no way to control the listening volume anywhere near close enough to make a comparison remotely meaningful even if you could remove the bias from the equation.

 

[Kevintj604]

If you were to do that you leave yourself wide open to the effects of bias caused by price, appearance, brand name, amplifier design, presence of tubes etc etc etc.

You also have absolutely no way to control the listening volume anywhere near close enough to make a comparison remotely meaningful even if you could remove the bias from the equation.

I use my ears to evaluate, not my eyes. Not everyone is going to hear the same things or believe the same things.

Reading back what I said was probably overly dismissive and that's my bad.

Having said that I can volume match in my own home and hear drastic differences between the four source pairings that I have with practically every headphone in my roster. This would result in zero bias. Especially when the Noire X for example responds beautifully with my Gryphon and its the cheapest amp I have. I prefer the Gryphon to my Ferrum Stack which is hugely different in price. Both present the Noire with a very different sound and it has nothing to do with SPL as volume matching is super easy.

Amp & Dac synergy between headphones in my opinion is hugely important and plays a larger role than most people would expect. But that's just my opinion with my own experience. If you disagree that's all good.

 

[BowWazoo]

You have to hear this

 

[BS5711]

Amp & Dac synergy between headphones in my opinion is hugely important and plays a larger role than most people would expect. But that's just my opinion with my own experience. If you disagree that's all good.

Absolutely fine of course.

My opinion (observation actually) is that psychological influences, biases (even if not conscious) and perceptual errors created by these things along with subtle volume differences (even though not recognised as such) are hugely important and play a much bigger role than most people would expect.

Like you I have listened to different gear I own and “heard” differences in sound until I got curious and set up a blind test. Upon doing so those previously seemingly apparent differences even between quite different amplifiers oddly vanished.