[thatoneheadphonedood]

Hello everyone! Have been visiting these forums quite regularly to make a buying decision so just thought it would be a good idea to make an account here and be a part of this amazing community.

Very basic gear here consisting of Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee and Fiio K5 Pro.

I have basic stuff here too! A FiiO m5 and grado sr60e’s, and akg k52 modded headphones. Then wireless is galaxy buds+!

 

[Euphorics]

Hey everyone! Long time lurker on these forum (don't know why ). Looking to get into this space and discussing with you guys. cheers

 

[LauTov]

Good morning everyone !
My name is Laurent and I live in France.
Passionate about music (jazz, classical, folk, rock ...), I have just installed a second system for listening with headphones, often at night ...
The description is in my signature.
I have scoured the forum many times for information and user testimonials and today I am joining head-fi.org as a member.
I wish you all immense joys with Music.
We look forward to hearing from you and participating in your discussions.
Best regards from France.

 

[Bombsquadreject]

Followed a Pinterest link here, seems interesting so I joined. Might seem like a dumb question, but: Why would I buy a DAP when I have my music on my IPhone?

 

[gmdb]

Followed a Pinterest link here, seems interesting so I joined. Might seem like a dumb question, but: Why would I buy a DAP when I have my music on my IPhone?

Hi I'm new here as well. It's about general capability and sound quality. The Iphone doesn't support all music formats, doesn't have great digital to analogue conversion, and doesn't have a strong enough amplifier to get the best out of many IEMs and headphones. That's off the top of my head. There's likely many others.

 

[captainsubtext]

Perennial lurker. Gear in signature.

 

[jamiejmuk]

Followed a Pinterest link here, seems interesting so I joined. Might seem like a dumb question, but: Why would I buy a DAP when I have my music on my IPhone?

There is absolutely no NEED to buy a DAP. If you buy your music on iTunes then it can be a pain to even move that music to a DAP. An iPone and airpods pro deliver a very convenient listening experience.

But what if you want to step up?

Bluetooth is bandwidth limited, the Apple lightning to 3.5mm adapter also limited although to a slightly lesser extent and not all high-res services and formats are easily accessible on iPhone.

The question then is what direction do you want to go?
If keeping the convenience of the iPhone is a requirement then look at a headphone DAC, a fiio BTR5 (or any of its competitors) might be a good start. Now you can get the music out of the phone at the quality of the source. You get the convenience of bluetooth for the situations you need it and connected via a lightning to USB-C cable it will drive most IEMS and the easier to drive headphones.

Keeping with the iPhone but with harder to drive headphones then there are larger portable DAC/Amps's like the ifi hip-dac, fiio Q5, xduoo xd-05 (my choice). DACs at this level are useful beyond the phone and are stepping into the desktop/hi-fi headphone amp area while still being portable/luggable.

If you don't need to keep your music on the phone then DAP's become relevant. Even entry level DAP's will maintain the source file resolution, many offer balanced output, are capable of driving all but the most demanding headphones.
DAP's tend to offer more storage space out of the box than you can spare on your iPhone with many DAP's accepting micro-SD cards.

More and more DAP's are adding wireless features letting you access streaming services when you have wi-fi, and can go on to offer more advanced music management features to the point of becoming a digital music hub for your home.

So like so much in life "you pays your money and makes your choice". You will keep paying more and more money though. Everytime you think you have the perfect setup you will realise that you are not one step closer to the answer, just one step further from the question.

 

[mrsmith3676]

Hi last year my entire music library was erased and my front channel speakers damaged and my preferred headphones discontinued and lost the pair I had. I tried 29 headphones until someone reccomened the 58x jubilee. I ended up with a free pair of AirPods Pro and the momentum true wireless 2 as a mobile solution because every wired headphone I tried were too harsh. I even purchased a cobalt dragonfly to be improve the sound of the iPhone but it was to precise for my liking. I started with the Walkman in 1985 tapes then cds. In 1999 I learned to spin progressive house on technics 1200 with entry level pioneers headphones. I loved music even played the violin but learning to mix trained my ears. But listening to music with dj ears i has difficulty relaxing so I used Sony earphones 50 bucks. Fast forward 20 year I didn’t know anything about sound profiles dac’s really anything as my friend upgraded his equipment I got his old stuff. So during Covid with no where to sample anything but Bluetooth by myself I built a new music setup. I eventually got the 6xx the ear studio ES100, BTR5 zen dac went from windows to Mac and a Denon 3700. But I always listened on earbuds on my iPod then iPhone and once Apple Music was lossless I decided to get some IEM’s. Knowing I liked a balanced profile and I have 7 decibel hearing loss below 60hz and perfect hearing otherwise i looked for iems emphasis on bass. Started with the Westone w40 gen 2 on sale and constantly frustrated sometimes amazed and often it felt like I was studying music not listening. So I’m returning them tomorrow. A week ago I got the sennheisser ie 300. Almost perfect a little to much treble nothing the es100 eq didn’t fix. But the cable didn’t have enough slack. If I turned my head the ear piece fell out and yesterday I turned my head pulled the cable out and the right earpiece broke. Friday the etymolic er2xr arrived and amazing. Good bass and not too bright. Also the IKKO OH10 from drop arrived and I really enjoyed them. I’m still learning how to describe the sound the brighter the headphone the less I enjoy my old electronic mixes because the recordings are sometimes poor. Until this week the klipsch t5 wired was the only way I could listen to them. I also had a new car stereo installed so for the first time in my life I have great sound in the car on my headphones and in my room. Sorry for the long post. My next goal is figuring out how to configure minidsp with pure direct mode but this is for headphones and I was a lurker but thanks for all the information. Because I’m stubborn and an engineer I refused to give up on driving the 6xx from an iPhone. It wasn’t elegant

 

[Powersquat]

Hi

Another first time poster here, I've been lurking around the Chord Electronics sections for some time. I feel like a bit of a fraud as I predominately listen to music through speakers, but I intend investing in some decent headphones at some point.

This is the second time I've fallen down the audio equipment rabbit hole, 25 years ago I put my first system together, mostly Tag Mclaren gear, over the last couple of years I've experienced some reliability issues with the TM equipment, so when the Pandemic struck I decided it was time to update my system.

I mostly listen to middle of the road rock, modern jazz and folk, any well recorded acoustic genre will generally be worth a listen. My current system is cd based, Roksan Black CD player, feeding Chord Electronics Mscaler, Chord Hugo TT2 dac and Roksan Black integrated amp, my speakers are the only original part of my old system that I retained, Proac Response 2.5's, my speaker cable and interconnects are mostly from Nordost, Red Dawn, but I do have a pair of dual BNc cables from Wave linking the Mscaler and TT2 dac.
I'm currently on the look out for a dedicated cd transport, at the moment the Project cd Box RS2 t is top of my shopping list.

First post.
Various audio parts currently on order.
Looking to get back into headphones/iems for desktop use at the home office.

 

[jaggythistle]

Hi all, forum newb, just started down the IEM rabbit hole - need to consider next jump carefully (Starfields > Teas > tri-brid but still researching).

 

[Benny030]

Hi, i am a newbie from Germany who lives usually in Madrid. Travelling a lot and so i need good Headphones and IEM. I own an Ananda and Campfire Solaris. My Main Interest's are the Jazz of the fifties and sixties.

 

[jaygrubby]

Hello! I'm new here and hoping to find some answers to my audiophile questions! I'm an iem guy through and through, but I've begun to branch out into home audio and headphones recently as well!

If anyone has suggestions for my ES100 that no longer powers on (after 2 months of use) please let me know!

 

[Drywall Deluxe]

Hi all!
New to both forum posting and the audiophile space in general, figured this seemed like the place to be. I graduated from PC motherboard audio with my recent purchase of a Qudelix 5K, so far really enjoying it! I own Koss's KPH30i and Porta Pros, Audiotechnica's M40x and ATH-AD500X headphones, and one pair of KBEAR KS1 IEMs with a balanced cable.

I mostly listen to EDM and electronic rock, though there are some outliers such as Rush and Vulfpeck that find their way into my playlists.

(note: I do not own a drywall company, nor do I install drywall for a living. On the plus side, I never need to worry about my username being taken.)

 

[yoshi15]

Hi folks new to the forums, really great resources here. Hope everyone has a great day

 

[2GReY]

Welp, I can't get into my original account anymore so I guess it's time I finally make my lurker account no longer a lurker. I listen to a lot-a-bit of everything in terms of music, and have a particular fondness for anything max bang-for-the-buck in terms of hardware. I've been enamored with the audiophile world for years and years now with my fascination starting with a pair of vintage HD540s I found a flea market and spiraling out of control from there shortly after. A few years back I seriously slimmed down my collection in preparation for a move, keeping basically only my Modi 2u, Little Dot MKII, and AKG K550 MKIIs. I still have all of those, but have also added a pair of Monolith M1060s to this permanent collection. Otherwise, I'm finding enjoyment in cheaper pairs at the moment with the HiFiMan HE400SE's being particularly surprising.