[maxh22]

It appears my V20 has not been fully broken in yet. Just today I was listening and noticed that the Treble and sub bass opened up tremendously.

Sounds completely different than it did a few days ago. I experienced a similar thing with the V10 except the V10 didn't sound good out of the box while the v20 did.

 

[Onitsuka]

I don't think you need to burn in a smartphone or a DAP or IEM.

 

[maxh22]

I don't think you need to burn in a smartphone or a DAP or IEM.

I disgree. Not all DAPS, IEMS, or Headphones need to be broken in but enough of them do. One headphone in particular is the Audioquest Nighthawks. Even the manufacturer includes a card recommending it.

 

[Taggerung]

I don't think you need to burn in a smartphone or a DAP or IEM.

Time and place for everything. This is Head-Fi you're talking on now.

 

[eio]

modern electronics don't need burn in, however our auditory cortex needs time to learn to appreciate/ignore the nuances in a sound signature.

i'm also feeling the V20 is even more detailed and coherent than before, and the slight lack of sub bass impact is less of an issue.

 

[killeraxemannic]

How do the HifiMan Mass Drop RE00 IEM's pair with the V20? Any one have experience with them? I normally hate IEM's but I found out I am getting a pair for christmas so I guess I am going to be giving them a shot. The last IEM's I tried were the rockit sounds R50 which sounded absolutely down right horrible. 

 

[ljnew]

modern electronics don't need burn in, however our auditory cortex needs time to learn to appreciate/ignore the nuances in a sound signature.

i'm also feeling the V20 is even more detailed and coherent than before, and the slight lack of sub bass impact is less of an issue.

I'm thinking the v20 sound is better than v10 after listening to the only the v20 for a week or two then listening to v10.
 
Do you still prefer the v10?  

 

[ljnew]

  I disgree. Not all DAPS, IEMS, or Headphones need to be broken in but enough of them do. One headphone in particular is the Audioquest Nighthawks. Even the manufacturer includes a card recommending it.

Not saying that i don't believe in burn in, but I know manufacturers promote burn in because you have less time to return.  So if i have two weeks to return and manufacture recommends 100 hour burn in, I wont have time to return it....

 

[eio]

  I'm thinking the v20 sound is better than v10 after listening to the only the v20 for a week or two then listening to v10.
 
Do you still prefer the v10?  

each model has their strenghs, i can't determine which one i prefer now.
but this is driving se846, which is a somewhat extreme case. i can imagine V20 driving another headphone without the sub bass issue being obvious.

 

[eio]

tested V20 with Shure SE530:
no perceptible noise at all, even with LCD on and USB plugged.
since SE530 is one of the most sensitive headphones ever made, i think its safe to assume that noise floor/interference is a non-issue for V20, given that you don't cheat with the gain mode of V20.
 
no, actually there is a perceptible noise floor on SE530, it's just barely noticeable when volume is bottom low (volume 1) and music is quiet (classical), then you can notice the automatic noise gate kicks in when the music goes silent, lifts off when sounds comes back.
and when noise gate is not on, there is a faint noise floor there. aha! gotcha!
 
the sound quality degrades as volume goes down, i think the revolutionary integrated AVC is not being used (when ESS bragged about "The ES9218 introduces advanced features previously found only in Audiophile equipment", i guess AVC is what they are refering to)
volume control seems still being done in digital domain, with volume 1, that is 58db lost in SNR 

the good news is, every smartphone does this, ES9218 is the only chip with the capability to adjust volume in analog domain. 

 

 

[ljnew]

  tested V20 with Shure SE530:
no perceptible noise at all, even with LCD on and USB plugged.
since SE530 is one of the most sensitive headphones ever made, i think its safe to assume that noise floor/interference is a non-issue for V20, given that you don't cheat with the gain mode of V20.
 
no, actually there is a perceptible noise floor on SE530, it's just barely noticeable when volume is bottom low (volume 1) and music is quiet (classical), then you can notice that the automatic noise gate kicks in when the music is silent, goes off when sounds comes back.
and when noise gate is not on, there is a faint noise floor there. aha! gotcha!

you see a sub bass issue with SE530 on lgv20?

 

[eio]

  you see a sub bass issue with SE530 on lgv20?

no problem, V20 drives SE530 perfectly.
 
but SE530 doesn't have much sub bass after all, and it is extremely sensitive.

 

[ljnew]

  no problem, V20 drives SE530 perfectly.
 
but SE530 doesn't have much sub bass after all, and it is extremely sensitive.

 

  each model has their strenghs, i can't determine which one i prefer now.
but this is driving se846, which is a somewhat extreme case. i can imagine V20 driving another headphone without the sub bass issue being obvious.

I keep forgetting u r using the international v20 but im using the American version.  Maybe thats the reason why i believe the v20 sounds alot better than v10 because im on the American version.

 

[eio]

personally i don't think there is any difference between branded and non-branded version.
 
joshnor713 expressed similar feelings with V20+SE846 in this thread:

  My headphones are the SE846 and IE 800, and my typical DAC is the micro idsd. First impression is that the sub-bass and soundstage are meh (compared to the idsd), but the detail and clarity (especially treble) is where it should be.

and they can be verified in the measurements.

 

[maxh22]

How do the HifiMan Mass Drop RE00 IEM's pair with the V20? Any one have experience with them? I normally hate IEM's but I found out I am getting a pair for christmas so I guess I am going to be giving them a shot. The last IEM's I tried were the rockit sounds R50 which sounded absolutely down right horrible. 

Very engaging pairing!. The V20 goes into high gain and makes them sing!