[davidcotton]

Problem is I always like silicone better, I auditioned it using small spinfit tips, I did hear the flex once when I was inserting it, when all is good the music is not interrupted, until I need to readjust.

Get some silicone custom tips done, problem solved

 

[chickenmcnug]

To follow up on CB13 vs balanced Litz cable, Litz wins hands down, idk how to describe it in technical terms. I'l try describe what I heard different.

For example, in the song Custom Concern by Modest Mouse, I can hear his fingers glide across the strings of the guitar and the maracas sound a lot nicer, the strums and everything just sound more full compared to the CB13. If anyone cares my source is the Hiby R6.

EDIT: Lastly to add, CB13 gets a little too heavy with the already quite hefty Atlas, hurts my ears.

 

[MyPants]

I dont know if its me or maybe that my music collection is mostly mp3's or that I listen to a lot of streaming (spotify) or that I just havent heard a really high end source dap/amp or what, but I honestly hear pretty little difference between different sources. Right now, I own a chord mojo, and one or two lower end players, like a cayin n3, and an earstudio es100 bluetooth receiver. Between them, differences are always relatively minor. Maybe im just not sensitive to it, but at best, the mojo feels just slightly cleaner, and maybe has better instrument separation and resolution. But its to the point that unless I am doing extremely critical listening, I am usually more than satisfied just listening to streaming audio from my phone directly (a oneplus 5t, not sure what dac it uses). Dont know if I am missing out or if its really all about talking in the margins here.

That said, I find my atlas excellent. Currently on final audio tips, though like others have said, I definitely get driver flex. Not just the popping, but audio tends to go out (left ear mainly) when they are first inserted, but usually seems to clear up relatively quickly. Though I guess thats a bit related to how tight of a seal I get. And it feels tight enough that bass is very present, so I am guessing its enough. Tried out spinfit cp145 for a bit and they also work fine, and maybe open up the treble a bit since they actually have a slightly wider bore than the final audio tips. Though I started getting a bit of a pressure point on my left ear. Still going through my tip rolling for these, mainly just for comfort and ease of use.

My vegas are feeling very neglected and I think they are almost definitely going to be sold on soon...

It's most definitely your music collection. Differences between DACs are never truly extreme, but it's way way harder to hear it when the source material is sub-optimal. Grab some lossless tracks, even 16/44, or go whole hog and find something you like in native DSD. I suspect you'll notice a more significant difference. If not, lol consider yourself lucky since you don't need to spend any more on DACs.

 

[subguy812]

My Custom Art custom eartips arrived today excited to try them

 

[Stranger Than Fiction]

Vegas are frustratingly still being sold for the same price here in Australia.

 

[Apputty]

Vegas are frustratingly still being sold for the same price here in Australia.

Yeah I am with you on that.
The other thing was Lyra 2 on massdrop, is sold for 399 USD. Only shipping in US.
What a Shame!!!
Iems and audio stuffs are not cheap in Australia.

 

[ryanjsoo]

Nice review mate, I quite like it a lot myself.

I would like to know your thought about the Atlas vs Andromeda as well.

Cheers! I didn't have an Andromeda on hand for review so I didn't provide a comparison. I did get to hear one recently though. The Andro is immediately more balanced. It is more U-shaped with a more even midrange. It has less treble aggression but also more sparkle. Its soundstage is more holographic with better imaging. Basically, the Andro is the balanced offering, the Atlas, the engaging one. Both are very technical and share a spacious soundstage and resolving, sparkly sound with high clarity, the Andromeda is a little more resolving and discerning especially when it comes to midrange timbre and instrument placement where the Atlas is more dynamic and voluminous.

 

[ufospls2]

Ok. So.

I have been doing tons of experimenting with different tips trying to work on the driver flex/suffocation problem that I have been having with the Atlas. Along with this, I have some impressions of the various included tips.

Please note, I'm just a dude who likes headphones. I'm not super experienced. I've only had the Atlas for under a week, so these impressions of the tips might continue to evolve. I'll check back in, in a few weeks

Least Favourite: Marshmallow Foam
Second Favourite: Final Audio
Favourite: Single Flange Silicon

What I have found with the Final Audio tips is that the only thing which works for the driver flex/suffocation problem is an extremely light insertion so that a seal does not form. This also works with the single flange silicon tips. With the single flange silicon tips, half of the time, if I do a very deep insertion, there is no problem....but that is only half of the time. Weird isn't it? The worst in terms of driver flex/suffocation is doing a normal insertion with both the Final Audio tips, and the single flange silicons. I get complete suffocation of the driver on both ears, no sound at all. A real bummer, as this is the comfiest for my ears. In terms of driver flex and suffocation, the marshmallow foams are the best, exhibiting no problems at all. However, for my ears, they are the least comfortable. I am going to try to get my hands on a smaller size, as I think it might be more comfortable for my ears. YMMV.

In terms of sound

Marshmallow Foam: Sounds kinda closed in and...marshmallow like. No hard edges to the sound, it sounds rounder, especially the bass. Gives a warmer presentation, which some might really enjoy.

Final Audio: Seems to be like a combination of the marshmallow foams, and the single flange silicons. A bit more treble than the foams, but less than the single flange silicon tips. Similar closed in sound.

Single Flange Silicon: My favourite. Opens up the treble completely, a real sense of "airy-ness." You definitely loose a bit bass, but I have been bringing it back up a couple DB with EQ. For me and my ears (you might be completely different,) this is working the best. Best soundstage of the three tips. The treble is a bit sharper with these tips.

Hope that helps someone who is struggling with the tips that come with the Atlas.

It might be a bit of a pain finding the right tip, at the right insertion depth but holy cow, it is 100% worth the struggle. These sound fantastic!

 

[amader7]

Vegas are frustratingly still being sold for the same price here in Australia.

Yeah I am with you on that.
The other thing was Lyra 2 on massdrop, is sold for 399 USD. Only shipping in US.
What a Shame!!!
Iems and audio stuffs are not cheap in Australia.

I've got 1 pair of vegas (mint, unused, in sydney) if you are interested ?

Send me a PM if you'd like to talk further

 

[mashuto]

It's most definitely your music collection. Differences between DACs are never truly extreme, but it's way way harder to hear it when the source material is sub-optimal. Grab some lossless tracks, even 16/44, or go whole hog and find something you like in native DSD. I suspect you'll notice a more significant difference. If not, lol consider yourself lucky since you don't need to spend any more on DACs.

Im pretty happy with what I have, but I always see reviewers (especially like the recent one by ryanjsoo) talk about different sources making a large difference and how headphones and iems always scale well with better gear. For me though, I just dont hear a ton of difference going between say my phone and my mojo. Maybe I need something higher end. But for me it feels like the headphones themselves are 95% of the equation, and then dac/amp is maybe like the last 5%, minor, unless you are really paying attention and really going for critical listening. I know some require more power, but all else equal... i dunno. Again maybe its just me and maybe I just havent heard anything super high end. But I still consider myself extremely satisfied with the atlas.

 

[Slashn77]

Im pretty happy with what I have, but I always see reviewers (especially like the recent one by ryanjsoo) talk about different sources making a large difference and how headphones and iems always scale well with better gear. For me though, I just dont hear a ton of difference going between say my phone and my mojo. Maybe I need something higher end. But for me it feels like the headphones themselves are 95% of the equation, and then dac/amp is maybe like the last 5%, minor, unless you are really paying attention and really going for critical listening. I know some require more power, but all else equal... i dunno. Again maybe its just me and maybe I just havent heard anything super high end. But I still consider myself extremely satisfied with the atlas.

I agree with you and I am using the ifi xdsd with Cascades and Lyra II.
I can see matching hd 800’s or hard to drive planars with a certain amp and tubes to get the sound you like for synergy but for me as long as I don’t get any hiss from IEMs or a Schiit Magni 3 stack for my 650s for enough power I don’t hear a huge difference others say in the DAC.

I think a lot of people on here with high end gear are critically listening to notes vs enjoying the music or they have been “spoiled” to hear some of the best gear and then are always chasing that high again. (Different strokes)
I am actually happy I am not that picky because this hobby gets very expensive

 

[MyPants]

Im pretty happy with what I have, but I always see reviewers (especially like the recent one by ryanjsoo) talk about different sources making a large difference and how headphones and iems always scale well with better gear. For me though, I just dont hear a ton of difference going between say my phone and my mojo. Maybe I need something higher end. But for me it feels like the headphones themselves are 95% of the equation, and then dac/amp is maybe like the last 5%, minor, unless you are really paying attention and really going for critical listening. I know some require more power, but all else equal... i dunno. Again maybe its just me and maybe I just havent heard anything super high end. But I still consider myself extremely satisfied with the atlas.

I don't think you need to go any higher end to hear a difference. Atlas + Chord Mojo is a pretty excellent setup for just about anybody. I agree that if you're not one to do really critical listening, you won't get too much out of better sources assuming your devices have the power to drive your cans (because power scaling, dac/implementation scaling, and source file scaling are all technically separate). As far as the proportional breakdown, you're not far off. If I'd it's more like 70% headphones, 20% amping, and 10% dac, but you're right that the differences aren't major between dacs. You have to remember how many similar products reviewers probably hear, so for them it's ALL at the edges (aaaand there's also the whole matter of free review samples, grain of salt and whatnot). For me, other than buying better cans, I've experienced the most scaling from building out my lossless collection and running more amp than I probably need (plus a serious bias towards class A amps).

 

[subguy812]

In my opinion, and in rank order, if you want better sound choose a better headphone or IEM first, read reviews to see what signature might have the characteristics you are looking for. IEMs/headphones will always offer you the most reward. Atlas is a bad ass option. Honestly, when I am pleasure listening and not critical listening for a review the Atlas are receiving most of my ear time these days.

Second, would be your source. I have quite a few DAPs and my reference DAP has been the Opus #2 for the longest time but once I do my next DAP review there will be a new reference, QP2R balanced.

Third would be cables. I don't like reviewing cables and hate spending as much as the price of the IEM on a cable. It is just personal preference. Many people swear by cables on Head Fi, but again many here receive their cables to review and haven't had to pay 1k for cables.

Also, very important to realize some source/IEMs pairings are bliss, and sometimes sources don't pair well with your IEMs. The Opus #2 worked well for me and became my reference DAP because it consistently paired well with so many of my headphones and IEMs.

 

[mrhizzo]

Anyone have the RE800 and the Atlas to take a picture and compare the size of both?

 

[emptymt]

Cheers! I didn't have an Andromeda on hand for review so I didn't provide a comparison. I did get to hear one recently though. The Andro is immediately more balanced. It is more U-shaped with a more even midrange. It has less treble aggression but also more sparkle. Its soundstage is more holographic with better imaging. Basically, the Andro is the balanced offering, the Atlas, the engaging one. Both are very technical and share a spacious soundstage and resolving, sparkly sound with high clarity, the Andromeda is a little more resolving and discerning especially when it comes to midrange timbre and instrument placement where the Atlas is more dynamic and voluminous.

Voluminous is The Word!!

I actually auditioned both, like both a lot, can't decide which to pick even now.

Both has annoyance in it,
Andro with impedance problem and its difficult to get a good seal.
Atlas with driver flex and insertion getting loose after a while.

Soundwise I like the Andros tonality a bit more, but that big sounding presentation of the atlas is pretty engaging.