artheo
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2013
- Posts
- 52
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- 13
The main issue with the Fisual S-Flex cable is that it sounds thin and a bit laid back. Thicker cables such as the Kabeldirekt give fuller and more alive sound.
Given the chance, I will give my recommendations for matching Fidelio X1 after having tried many dac-amps,
Although X1 is a warm headphone, it doesn't pair well with solid state amps.The only SS source I 've enjoyed was Aune X1 MK2 which has a tube-like sound. I 've owned Matrix M-stage HPA2 dac-amp and Schiit Modi 2 + Magni 2 and both of them sounded digital / clinical. I ended up selling them except the Modi 2 which is awesome.
HOW WRONG I WAS! And thank god I still have Magni 2 as I was just putting it for sale.
Guys, believe it or not my X1 sounded thin from any SS amp because of a BAD 3.5mm to 6.35mm ADAPTER!!!
Note that I have replaced the original cable with a good quality 3.5mm to 3.5mm hand made cable which has attached a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter to one end, so as to fit most headphone amps.
I realised this last Friday when I unplugged the cable from my Magni 2 without the adapter and then plugged it to an ifi idsd micro which had its own adapter.
Oh boy, the bass became really FULL and the lower midrange got the right presence. Initially I thought the obvious: The ifi micro made all the difference. At the end of the ifi owner's visit I tried just for fun his adapter (from ifi) into my amp and the sound became full again. Then I became perfectly sure that my adapter was creating frequency distortion.
Yesterday I purchased a new adapter branded "techlink wires1st" which isn't gold plated but it is a good quality one.
The sound became noticeably fuller but not as full as it should be.
Today I was listening to songs while playing with the equalizer and found that (with the new adapter) the frequencies between 150hz and 600Hz suffer from heavy roll-off. I increased them by 8db to make them sound in proper volume but they sounded very distorted after the gain.
Finally I listened from my Fiio E18 which has a 3.5mm output (to avoid the need of an adapter) and the sound was full, no roll-off of any bass frequencies. When I 've connected the E18's DAC to my Magni 2, thin sound again. Don't think of the RCA cable because it's a high quality thick cable (Blue Jeans LC-1) which only increased the bass and made it fuller when it replaced the Audioquest Tower.
I suspect there is no way to get the full frequency range completely undistorted if using an adapter. Is that correct? I would like to hear an opinion from an expert one because my next move is to purchase a good 3.5mm to 6.35mm cable for the headphones.
And if there is an adapter that creates zero distortion, which is that?