[captblaze]

Well I have spent enough time with the KSE1200 to get a pretty good understanding of where it fits in my collection. After initially trying to to pick every little detail out of the music I began to realize how much more listening for enjoyment I was doing and not always trying to find a needle in a hay stack.
I remember one of my first impressions being that poorly mastered tracks don't have a place in the chain. I find that to be less and less a factor and that most if not all tracks can be presented adequately. As stated above, I am now enjoying what the KSE1200 puts in my ears and less of what I might find hidden in the track. Might not be for all, but it is for me.
Now to the arduous task of whittling down my collection to a more sane level

 

[siruspan]

I own them almost 3 years now and they are literally my daily driver. Many other headphones come and went during that time and I do own over a dozen others but KSE gets like 70-80% of my listening time. I can't get enough of them.

Shure (pun intended) they are not for everyone and they are not that portable for an iem but they make up for it with sound quality and pure enjoyment that they offer me. The most amazing thing is that I never, not even for a second considered selling them. They are truly remarkable.

 

[cukis350]

so do we have a consensus of what's the best DAP to go with the KSE1200 while on the go? I usually paired it with the Sony 1A or the Shanlin M0 (i like this combo since it's light to carry around). I have the Chord Hugo2 w/2Go and Mojo, but have not used it with the KSE1200 yet. I dont mind buying another DAP to pair with it if there is one out there better than what I have.

 

[118900]

so do we have a consensus of what's the best DAP to go with the KSE1200 while on the go? I usually paired it with the Sony 1A or the Shanlin M0 (i like this combo since it's light to carry around). I have the Chord Hugo2 w/2Go and Mojo, but have not used it with the KSE1200 yet. I dont mind buying another DAP to pair with it if there is one out there better than what I have.

I don’t think there is a consensus on which is the “best” DAP/DAC to match with them, you have to go with your personal preference.

But what I do personally believe is that being extremely transparent and having such high resolution, whatever you match them with will be completely “revealed” and as such they partner extraordinarily well with high end sources that allows them to shine in all their glory, including , but not limited to, the mojo and hugo2.

 

[siruspan]

I think it depends on what you are after. If you want absolute detail and clarity than Hugo2 is the way to go. If you want something warmer, thicker and musical than Mojo but its clearly a couple of levels lower than Hugo in terms of sound quality. I personally use Sony WM1A which is better than Mojo (espacially in terms of soundstage) but still on the warmish side. Not very warm but kinda warm I would say. Cayin N8 is still warmish but has even bigger soundstage, higher resolution and is more liquid than WM1A but didn't blow me out of the water to justify the price differance. I like KSE with warmer sources but unfortunately the DAP selection which sound this way is rather limited. Most of them are neutral to technical sounding. Fortunately KSE sound good even from basic sources like smartphones and dongles. They just scale up much more with higher end stuff.

 

[joshnor713]

+1 for the Hugo 2 and Mojo.

I'm curious whether it's worthwhile using a DAP made with balanced output. In my experience, the balanced output is better than the unbalanced port on such DAPs that I've tried.

 

[118900]

+1 for the Hugo 2 and Mojo.

I'm curious whether it's worthwhile using a DAP made with balanced output. In my experience, the balanced output is better than the unbalanced port on such DAPs that I've tried.

Have you volume matched the two outputs? Personally I couldn’t hear a difference on volume matched A/B testing between balanced and single ended at my dealership. Don’t forget balanced was initially developed to counter interference picked up over long cable runs in professional applications so over the short runs used for domestic equipment the jury is still out as to whether or not it makes any difference.

if you feel it is better then go for it, although it has been specifically stated that adding a balanced output to single ended topology adds extra components to the signal path and hence a loss of (in theory) transparency.

chord DACs are all single ended, even those that have balanced outputs like the HTT2 and Dave, and Rob Watts has stated that single ended is more transparent.

for other sources I guess it’s a question of testing and seeing for yourself.

 

[joshnor713]

Have you volume matched the two outputs? Personally I couldn’t hear a difference on volume matched A/B testing between balanced and single ended at my dealership. Don’t forget balanced was initially developed to counter interference picked up over long cable runs in professional applications so over the short runs used for domestic equipment the jury is still out as to whether or not it makes any difference.

if you feel it is better then go for it, although it has been specifically stated that adding a balanced output to single ended topology adds extra components to the signal path and hence a loss of (in theory) transparency.

chord DACs are all single ended, even those that have balanced outputs like the HTT2 and Dave, and Rob Watts has stated that single ended is more transparent.

for other sources I guess it’s a question of testing and seeing for yourself.

Yup, did volume match. But haven't used a barrage of DAPs. Used ones from Fiio, Onkyo, and the WM1A. The balanced output sounded better to me, from other headphones than the KSE of course. This is why I've strayed away from investing in DAPs with balanced circuitry since I've gotten the KSE, and have invested more in Chord. Everyone seems to be going balanced these days, so options are limited if you have a KSE.

 

[118900]

Yup, did volume match. But haven't used a barrage of DAPs. Used ones from Fiio, Onkyo, and the WM1A. The balanced output sounded better to me, from other headphones than the KSE of course. This is why I've strayed away from investing in DAPs with balanced circuitry since I've gotten the KSE, and have invested more in Chord. Everyone seems to be going balanced these days, so options are limited if you have a KSE.

Well you may or may not agree with audio science review site but the following may be of interest to you:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-if-any-benefit-to-balanced-headphones.11118/

 

[joshnor713]

Well you may or may not agree with audio science review site but the following may be of interest to you:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-if-any-benefit-to-balanced-headphones.11118/

No, I'm not saying balanced output is better. On the contrary, I don't believe it's needed for most use cases. I'm saying that DAP manufacturers are tuning their balanced DAPs for the balanced port first (where the full potential of the internals comes thru) and the unbalanced port second. I remember Onkyo did something like their for their DP-X1, where the balanced port used both of the dual DACs and the unbalanced used only one DAC. I don't know if this is widely done, but I'm saying from the DAPs I've heard, using the balanced port sounded a step better than the unbalanced. Therefore, I'd personally rather buy a device that solely focuses on and built around an unbalanced port, for the KSE.

 

[118900]

No, I'm not saying balanced output is better. On the contrary, I don't believe it's needed for most use cases. I'm saying that DAP manufacturers are tuning their balanced DAPs for the balanced port first (where the full potential of the internals comes thru) and the unbalanced port second. I remember Onkyo did something like their for their DP-X1, where the balanced port used both of the dual DACs and the unbalanced used only one DAC. I don't know if this is widely done, but I'm saying from the DAPs I've heard, using the balanced port sounded a step better than the unbalanced. Therefore, I'd personally rather buy a device that solely focuses on and built around an unbalanced port, for the KSE.

Ok it’s clear now, I had misunderstood your initial posts.

If thats what these companies are doing it’s a shame as they could spend the money on a better quality unbalanced output or a worthwhile improvement elsewhere in the component, however it wouldn’t surprise me if they are following or trying to promote a new fad that gives them some sort of perceived advantage in the market.

 

[siruspan]

If you want power than balanced is definately way to go as in portable sources it can quadruple the output power compared to single ended. When it comes to the sound quality it's not that obvious. Usually you get a little wider soundstage and little bit cleaner sound but less focused espacially at the center of the soundstage and you loose some of the warmth so it depends on the pairings.

 

[Lokiiami]

It's been more than a month and my new replacement earphone has not been ship out yet. Authorised dealer said nothing they can do as Shure has not shipped it out... Maybe it will be my first and the last for Shure.

 

[118900]

It's been more than a month and my new replacement earphone has not been ship out yet. Authorised dealer said nothing they can do as Shure has not shipped it out... Maybe it will be my first and the last for Shure.

Write to their customer service dept via email telling them about the situation, I recommend that you be polite but clear in expressing your dissatisfaction with the delay and asking them to please intervene on your behalf. Remember to give them all the details (like serial number etc) to help them track your order).

it shouldn’t be necessary to have to do this but it might help. Consider that they might not even have any in stock due to covid’s impact on supply chains and chipsets etc, but worth trying.

 

[OspreyAndy]

I stumbled on this picture in the web and as you can see here, KSE1500 IEMs connected to a Kingsound Portable amplifier/driver using what appeared to be a STAX connector. Anybody have any info on this setup?