Try running balanced with a 4pin XLR
Talk about not being about to turn it up. I gotta place the POT on the lowest possible level, low gain, before it blows out your ears. Sounds great though but overkill.
I had it down to 30 (out of 120) in high gain and it was actually hurting my ears. I didn't buy the cable to get more power to my 'phones (obviously), but my player sounds so much better in balanced VS SE.
I have a set of HE4XX's coming next week and now I have two balanced cables that will work with them.
I tried the 99 Classics last week with my DX120. I loved the build! The sound was not very pleasing to my ears- after garnering quite a bit of feedback on my review, I am reconsidering my opinion that the pair I tried was possibly defective.
I'm going to eventually try out another pair and write up a new review.
I did, and unfortunately, I did not find them to significantly improve to the point where I would consider buying them That being said, I really liked your review! I found it to be one of the more informative ones when I was doing my research on which headphones I wanted next. However, after trying quite a few headphones out, I ended up buying the Grado 325e... the sound just jumped out at me.
I don't think it's particularly useless- I imagine you aren't under the impression that I thought they sounded great. But 'tis true, it's not a great description, so I have a whole review written about them.
Actually, I've gotten quite a few replies that my observations in the review are confounding. So I will give these another shot and test another pair, just to be sure. Yay, more reviews!
I don't think it's particularly useless- I imagine you aren't under the impression that I thought they sounded great. But 'tis true, it's not a great description, so I have a whole review written about them. I'm pretty descriptive there.
But here are some highlights-
The following observations are using the balanced output of the DX120. I did not use the equalizer during the following 3 albums. Obviously, using the balanced cable.
I listened to Kamasi Washington's The Epic. The first song on there, 'Changing of the Guard', came out sounding like garbled chewed bubblegum. No, really, it was an amorphous mass or indistinguishable sound trying to bust its way into my head and out of the cups. I was thinking, holy crap, these things are busted. Unfortunately, the other songs sounded just as atrocious.
Next, I listened to Michael Jackson's Thriller, in DSD128. The sound was an incessant vibrating throb of bass, with some smaller bass rumbles. You could barely make out Michael's voice, it sounded like, well, imagine talking to your friend with two tin cans and a string. That's what the treble sounded like. The thing is, if you listen to The Thriller album with balanced cans, and without EQ, there's not really a whole lot of bass on most of the songs. It's there, but not overpowering, especially on Thriller (the song) This is why we we're always hitting that 'Loudness' button when we were kids, to make Billie Jean thump.
Finally, I tried out the highest resolution classical album I own, Gabriel Faure Requiem in DSD 128... the treble sounded a bit like what you'd hear out of one of those old handheld transistor radio speakers that your grandpa listened to baseball on, but in stereo, and in a cave (i.e. claustrophobic, not echo) Ok, it wasn't full of static like grampy's radio, but, the music was about as enjoyable. Way too much muddy bass for what is basically a choral work.
Did the new pads change it for the worse? If that's the case, then it's very unfortunate. These things are gorgeous, and I had gone in to buy a pair when I tested them out.
I can see three reasons why you described the headphones this way/manner.
Reason 1- your headphones are faulty.
Reason 2- you used bad pads.
Reason 3- you did your negative post for a purpose/deliberately.
Nothing more, nothing less. The headphones are divine (and not only IMO).
Did the new pads change it for the worse? If that's the case, then it's very unfortunate. These things are gorgeous, and I had gone in to buy a pair when I tested them out.
I did, and unfortunately, I did not find them to significantly improve to the point where I would consider buying them That being said, I really liked your review! I found it to be one of the more informative ones when I was doing my research on which headphones I wanted next. However, after trying quite a few headphones out, I ended up buying the Grado 325e... the sound just jumped out at me.
I think 325e is a great headphone as well, a totally different sound, with much less emphasis on bass and much more emphasis on midrange and treble, more focused on sounding crisp and clear. As I like some treble, I find 325e quite interesting, although the comfort really wasn't so good with my larger ears...
I can see three reasons why you described the headphones in this way.
Reason 1- your headphones are faulty.
Reason 2- you used bad pads.
Reason 3- you did your negative post for a purpose/deliberately.
Nothing more, nothing less. The headphones are divine (and not only IMO).
Well, if the headphones are faulty, or the pads are bad, then its probably best to not have these out for people to try if they would like to buy them. And by that same rational, you also admit that there are factors that could cause these headphones to not sound good. So I'm going to find another pair and try them out!
I can see three reasons why you described the headphones in this way.
Reason 1- your headphones are faulty.
Reason 2- you used bad pads.
Reason 3- you did your negative post for a purpose/deliberately.
Nothing more, nothing less. The headphones are divine (and not only IMO).
Since the pikc finally was Grado 325e, I think the reason was completely different sound, knowing how that Grado sounds, I think he would want his music to be brighter, more treble and less bass, would probably have required a more drastic EQ than I typically suggest
Saying a headphone is terrible on a thread for that headphone and do expect some pushback. Do I think it is the greatest headphone ever no but terrible it is not. You can find as many here to say that Grado is the worst headphone made. Instead of saying terrible you could say not for me and not call those that like them more or less morons. You can look at my profile and I have a few headphones and I would never say another was horrible. People like what they like and would not ever say what you liked was horrible I might say I didn’t like it but Audio is too subjective to have horrible thrown around.
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That being said, I really liked your review! I found it to be one of the more informative ones when I was doing my research on which headphones I wanted next. However, after trying quite a few headphones out, I ended up buying the Grado 325e... the sound just jumped out at me.
