Pictures of Your Portable Rig (part XVI)

[Vamp898]

I just noticed that I never posted my new IEM, I guess there is no better place but here

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I spent £630 to have it tuned up . The WM-D6C costs as much as some mid-tier DAPs .

Was tempted to buy the FiiO as a comparison!

Don't! It's garbage. My lovely wife bought it for me for my Christmas/birthday present, as I like to use my older but still in good condition Panasonic, but the Panasonic has some issues with movement flutter, which the FiiO doesn't really have much of, BUT, the Panasonic sounds cleaner, clearer, and just better than the supposedly analog but "highly resolving" FiiO. Not true at all. Plus my Panasonic has N/Chome/Metal settings, and bass boost, and the FiiO has NO FEATURES. I've been thinking of selling it, but who would buy my FiiO cassette player?

 

[JamoBroGuy]

I just noticed that I never posted my new IEM, I guess there is no better place but here

Beautiful!

 

[MD Rohit]

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

My post work shift evening has been spent getting entertained by a couple rigs. The first one is my newly acquired Sony NW-ZX100, which is WORTH. EVERY. PENNY I spent on it, which wasn't much, considering. Tethered to the ZX100 is the Softears Volume S, this IEM had slid down the rotation, and out of the first rota due to it sounding best thru the now sold FiiO JM21. That was it's synergy sister. Well, tonight, it found it's new synergy sister in the Sony, and it's such a fantastic pairing, that I'm moving the Volume S back into the first rotation, and moving the Simgot EW300 down to the 2nd rota. The synergy is THAT GUD, and the colorway matching is PERFECT! It's like this IEM was made for and came with the DAP!

Next was the ISN H60. One of my top BOSSES, the H60 has always done well with my FiiO daps, but I'd been contemplating re-purchasing the JM21, since it has a sound signature I'm very fond of, and I was able to get a close facsimile with my JM21 EQ setting on the M21, but then I remembered the iFi Go Link Max! This tiny dongle DAC has a signature that's oh so close to the FiiO JM21, without having to use EQ, so I hooked it up to the M21, dropped the H60 thru this, and musically, I'm transported to a special place. Switched out the cable as well, and I'm using the ivipQ Stardust, which isn't quite the color match of the XINHS K15, but it's a superior cable, and the silver and palladium really bring out the best qualities of the H60. This is an awesome rig.

 

[Vamp898]

Beautiful!

Thanks. I thought the combination of red shell and black faceplate is probably rather rare but today i found that one of the Electric Callboy guys has the same Color

https://hoerluchs.com/en/hoerluchs-x-electric-callboy/

 

[darmanastartes]

 

[MD Rohit]

 

[RONJA MESCO]

Alas, as ever, synergy is king, not necessarily the newest rig idea we put together. My Sock Rig concept, with my Neumann NDH20 and iFi Finale, just sounded too neutral (or to my ears analytical). The Finale is a lot less euphonic than the Black Label, the original Go Bar, or the Gold Bar. And the Ranko USB filtering gadget didn't make enough audible difference to justify the loss of physical structural integrity, so I've abandoned it. Also, even though I enjoy the NDH20 on the rather neutral Go Bar Kensei, somehow it sounds distinctly different on the Finale, in a bad way. I've decided the NDH20 sounds best on the Gold Bar, or at least it's most useful for me to have a warm smooth rig to compliment my other more neutral setups.

Me and my friend determined that the Finale is a much better match with her HD600. She did enjoy the HD600 on the warm and smooth Black Label also, but she was getting too fed up with the Black Label's glitches and defects (hilariously, all of its weird problems were things other than what is griped about endlessly in the relevant headfi threads). The Finale works flawlessly, even the volume knob has no channel imbalance BS, and we all know the 600 needs that iFi bass boost, big improvement, we never turned off the Xbass. My heart was filled with terror at the thought of her abandoning proper audiophile headphone gear and resorting to some wireless Bluetooth crap, so I gave her the Finale as a hand me down. I will probably end up with a Valkyrie sooner or later anyway.

We found the benefit of better USB was far less obvious on the Finale than it is with the Go Bars, though it is audible if you listen to how far the treble extends. The bigger thing is the portability, when you use my slanted sock configuration. My friend said this will make her use it more often than she used her Black Label.

Glad you said this about the Finale...I had this and the Black Label, and the BL seemed to have more impact over the Finale, which I thought would be an upgrade but was dry and a bit 'meh'....not crescent fresh...

 

[Gavin C4]

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

 

[SilverAlc]

First closed back in my collection. Have a nice day.

 

[MD Rohit]

 

[Redcarmoose]

Really getting a lot of use unexpectedly with this set-up. Here the Totem Ultra adapter cable is right after the Sony WM1A DAP to the GranVia cable to the Kiwi ears Atheia full-size. The adapter just adds that slight realism. And the crazy part is these headphones are totally colored. There is a heavy mid-bass hump that is the biggest of warm ideas that make this headphone the farthest from even or correct in playback. The issues of midrange show a 2kHz to 3kHz peak, then a fall-off into a style of smooth treble. They say you have to know the rules first to break them correctly, and I think that is what is going on here. More musicality than reference and there is a lack of balance too. It is such a vacation from the norm, and I'm happy to report the GranVia adds warmth from the included cable, but the Totem adapter adds clarity. Truly I love this signature, but at times I relish in how it is so very messed-up, but in a good way! Sure I could get pace from using a desk-top, but somehow I'm on a vacation here, and I like the mobile aspects of it being handheld. Plus there is very little worry about the DAP not being enough for full dampening, due to the stage and bass available being epic for a closed-back! Vocals are even really well done here?

 

[MD Rohit]