[koover]

Mine finally arrive today. REALLY intrigued how they’ll sound balanced and in a balanced system consisting of a MJ2 and Gumby. My understanding is they don’t especially scale up that great but we’ll soon find out.

 

[Natarian]

Just got mine today too. Everything sounds good so far just way smaller soundstage then what I am used to.

 

[equalspeace]

Burn-in is imperative with the 58x. They need at least 70 hrs before the sound really comes together, and 50 hrs just for the highs to become smooth.

 

[nickv]

Any tips on burning in headphones? Type of music, volume of playback?

 

[koover]

Any tips on burning in headphones? Type of music, volume of playback?

There’s so many varying opinions. Personally I just put music on (any) set them down and be done with it. Keep in on low/med volume. Others burn in with white/pink noise. Hell, sometimes I burn them in on my head jamming out every waking second when my wife isn't running my a$$ all over the place.

 

[Dsnuts]

Any tips on burning in headphones? Type of music, volume of playback?

Burn in is a hot topic. I get review samples from audio manufacturers and they tell me to burn in a particular phone for x amount of hours. This is coming from guys that make the phones. You would figure they would know if burn in actually has an effect or not.

Anyways what I do is I have a dedicated laptop fllled with music. colored noise works but I actually have a particular type of music I use.

I use a drum n bass album I bought a long time ago. It is about 5 hours of non stop drum n bass. I leave this album on mix and let it rip. Fast drum beats the poo out of drivers. I leave volume in medium- loudish. Not blasting but for dynamics it is ok to have a bit of a volume the idea is to work out the drivers.

This works too http://www.bassdrive.com/ Leave it on this station. pump up the volume till you feel it is at a good volume right before you feel it is loud. cover a jacket over the headphone. Let it rip.

I have burned in every single one of my headphones and earphones this way. Works fantastic. The only exception is earphones with BAs in them. I just use regular music and lower volumes.

 

[PeteMtl]

This 1/8 output impedance thing has had me confused for some time now. According to your above illustration HD58X impedance is 150, then applying the 1/8 rule = 19 ohms.

My Project Ember headphone amp has 3 adjustable amp impedance settings (0.1 ohm, 32 ohm & 120 ohm). So using my HD6XX: 300 ohm divided by 8 = 38 ohm, that would mean that I should choose the medium (32 ohm) selection. As for my HD58X as you already mentioned is 19 so again probably the middle or 32 ohm selection. However I don't really understand what type of headphone requires the low output setting of 0.1 which would be for a headphone that has an impedance of roughly 1 ohm and the high setting of 120 ohm which would be designed for a headphone of 960 ohms.

Am I understanding this correctly, or not?

I would simply use the lowest setting. The 1/8 rule is the recommended maximum ratio, the lower the better. With your 300 ohm headphone, the HD6xx which I also own, I would use the 0.1 ohm setting. The damping factor would then be: 300/0.1 = 3000, providing the flattest response and the firmest bass. The 32 ohm setting would still be okay and would respect the rule. The damping factor would be a little less, 300/32=9,4, again better than 8, providing a flat bass response, but with a theorically looser bass, but still over the 8x minimum rule.

 

[peter123]

This 1/8 output impedance thing has had me confused for some time now. According to your above illustration HD58X impedance is 150, then applying the 1/8 rule = 19 ohms.

My Project Ember headphone amp has 3 adjustable amp impedance settings (0.1 ohm, 32 ohm & 120 ohm). So using my HD6XX: 300 ohm divided by 8 = 38 ohm, that would mean that I should choose the medium (32 ohm) selection. As for my HD58X as you already mentioned is 19 so again probably the middle or 32 ohm selection. However I don't really understand what type of headphone requires the low output setting of 0.1 which would be for a headphone that has an impedance of roughly 1 ohm and the high setting of 120 ohm which would be designed for a headphone of 960 ohms.

Am I understanding this correctly, or not?

As everything else in this hobby it's highly subjective so there's really no right or wrong just a recommendation/guidance . Different driver tech is also more or less sensitive to the changes in output impedance (OI). Many OTL tube amps have high output impedance a lot of people seem to enjoy that with the HD650 for example.

If one's got an amp that it's possible to change the OI on I'd say use whatever sounds best to your ears. If one plan to have only one amplifier and it doesn't offer switchable OI I'd get one with closes to zero OI to be on the safe side. Just my 2c....

 

[DavidA]

To all those a bit curious about impedance and its effect on sound go to the HD650 thread here, great info on impedance.

@Tuneslover, I like my HD58X paired with my Ember with the output impedance set at 0.01 but with my HD650 or HD6XX I've always liked the middle 35ohm setting since it cleans up the bass a touch and has the nice full sound that is only bettered by my BH Crack.

 

[RandomDave]

So put together my Uber schiitstack today. Sounds great with the jubilees. I am suprised that on 3oclock on the magni high gain there is still very low distortion even when blasting it real loud.

 

[koover]

Well after just one night with these? Impressed coming straight outta the box Granted I’m running these full balanced on a descent to good rig (MJ2/Gumby) so that may have a bit to do with it. Also slapped in a nice 6C8G 1958 Ken Rad.

Initial impressions versus 6xx/650

*Better and tighter sub bass
*Not as much mid bass which gives them a more neutral and a balanced signature. Not quite as warm.
*The treble isn’t as veiled and is lifted somewhat giving them a more dynamic sound and more top end. Definitely clearer throughout the frequency.
*With toned down midbass, faster/tighter/more/better sub bass, forward mids with elevated sparkle up top makes these an incredible value to say the least.
*I like the width of soundstage but depth and height are still polite.
*Definitely easier to drive and can be used straight out of my phone. I didn’t like it though compared to my desktop. I even had it hooked with my DFR and was 1 notch below maxed out to get to the level I like listening too....probably 85 dB. I won’t be using these for portable use and will stick with my Meze 99 Classics.

I’m looking forward to burning these in another 100+ hours to really give them an opportunity to hear what these can do. Granted these impressions are only after a few hours of headtime, but you can get a lot of info and enjoyment after just 1 sitting. So far, so very, very good. I like!

 

[Ichos]

I have upgraded from Fiio Q1 markii to Q5.
Contrary to what i am reading i have to report that they do scale good very good.
Listening from the balanced output and thinking that this is the bargain of the century!

 

[tolis626]

I have upgraded from Fiio Q1 markii to Q5.
Contrary to what i am reading i have to report that they do scale good very good.
Listening from the balanced output and thinking that this is the bargain of the century!

Hey, talking about it, how do you like the Q5? I was thinking of saving up for that instead of a desktop setup because for the next 6 months at least I won't be staying in one place. But posts here have mostly swayed me away from that thought. But if it can get me 90% of the way there, I will start considering it again.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for it? And where did you get it from? Thanks!

 

[equalspeace]

Biggest advantage of the 58x over my M40x is the sensitivity (M40- 98, 58x-104). On SE, I need to get my M40x above a volume of 70 at high gain on the ZX300 to get full sound even though the impedance on them is 35 ohm. The 58x with their 150 ohm impedance get full, detailed sound at around 50 on the volume pot on low gain on the ZX300. These headphones are just so well excuted. The ability to run the 58x at low volume and still get great sound on a DAP is a beautiful thing. With this 58x they basically took the frequency response of the 6xx, improved it (unvieled it, gave it deeper bass and similar highs/mids), then made it way faster in attack/decay, and playable from almost any source. This is the best headphone in the 6 series lineup imo. The 58x is a revelation!

 

[nickv]

Burn in is a hot topic. I get review samples from audio manufacturers and they tell me to burn in a particular phone for x amount of hours. This is coming from guys that make the phones. You would figure they would know if burn in actually has an effect or not.

Anyways what I do is I have a dedicated laptop fllled with music. colored noise works but I actually have a particular type of music I use.

I use a drum n bass album I bought a long time ago. It is about 5 hours of non stop drum n bass. I leave this album on mix and let it rip. Fast drum beats the poo out of drivers. I leave volume in medium- loudish. Not blasting but for dynamics it is ok to have a bit of a volume the idea is to work out the drivers.

This works too http://www.bassdrive.com/ Leave it on this station. pump up the volume till you feel it is at a good volume right before you feel it is loud. cover a jacket over the headphone. Let it rip.

I have burned in every single one of my headphones and earphones this way. Works fantastic. The only exception is earphones with BAs in them. I just use regular music and lower volumes.

Thanks for the advice. My Jubilees enjoyed 9 hours of drum and bass yesterday!