[bobeau]

Thanks everyone. You just saved me a few quid.

Also to add to what others said, I only use these for a desktop setup, left in the office at work. Beyond the lack of convenience in dealing with the amp unit, I'm not a huge fan of the tuning - adding some boost around 3k (they peak a bit too early at 2k), taking down the 10k/18k resonance spikes, and bringing things up a bit at 14k. I used posted graphs as a starting point and my ears to find where these peaks lie on my own setup w/ spinfit 240m tips. I can toggle the EQ on/off in Roon with the click of a button and my changes really take things from good to amazing.

 

[TYATYA]

To have good properties of both rubber tip and black foam tip of your kse,
Sound stage and fullness as that of foam tip.
Hard bass kick and brightness high of silicon tip. But it is much better than CP800 alone : fuller bass, rich treble, higher but smooth). CP800 will make you focus on low and hi but this tip is all improve, so it is close to foam tip, but more detail.
Maybe bigger space inside tip and deeper insertion (shape of CP155 is parabol) lead to those characstic.

1. Cut a CP800 (any size) to get tube that will be use as adapter.
2. Cut the tube to 4mm long
3. Insert tube into bore of a CP155
4. Glue a circle (blue arrow) (few month early may not need glue. But w/o glue it losen later)

 

[Simon T]

Hi everyone,

Received the KSE1200 yesterday, and had great fun going through some of my older source gears to come up with "transportable" stacked combos. Sharing some pictures below (apologies for the poor lighting, it was late at night):

Ak100 (optical) > Hugo > KSE1200:



AK70 (USB) > Hugo > KSE1200



Sony ZX1 (Digital) > Sony PHA-2 > KSE1200



Nonetheless, my current compact combo for the KSE1200; which is still more portable than the Sony WM1Z; and allows me to stream from Tidal:



Cheers

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Nonetheless, my current compact combo for the KSE1200; which is still more portable than the Sony WM1Z; and allows me to stream from Tidal:
Cheers

Yep! I do exactly the same after trading my Ultima Cu for Ultima M. It fits perfectly like a glove. Albeit I would sincerely recommend to upgrade the interconnect cable as it will scale up the sound pretty much. Also remember my friend that your KSE will burn in for several days, that's what I've found and I had two units. After that I urge you guys to try using a 50-60cm interconnect and just carry around Ultima in one pocket, KSE in another. That's especially easy if you are wearing a jacket or a sweatshirt with side pockets.

 

[Simon T]

Yep! I do exactly the same after trading my Ultima Cu for Ultima M. It fits perfectly like a glove. Albeit I would sincerely recommend to upgrade the interconnect cable as it will scale up the sound pretty much. Also remember my friend that your KSE will burn in for several days, that's what I've found and I had two units. After that I urge you guys to try using a 50-60cm interconnect and just carry around Ultima in one pocket, KSE in another. That's especially easy if you are wearing a jacket or a sweatshirt with side pockets.

Thanks for the recommendation Piotr Michalak. Will carry on doing more experimentation = Fun...

Agree, the KSE1200 is true to the source and the weakest link is less than optimal connection between the source and the amp.

Cheers

 

[nanaholic]

Hi everyone,

Received the KSE1200 yesterday, and had great fun going through some of my older source gears to come up with "transportable" stacked combos. Sharing some pictures below (apologies for the poor lighting, it was late at night):

Ak100 (optical) > Hugo > KSE1200:



AK70 (USB) > Hugo > KSE1200



Sony ZX1 (Digital) > Sony PHA-2 > KSE1200



Nonetheless, my current compact combo for the KSE1200; which is still more portable than the Sony WM1Z; and allows me to stream from Tidal:



Cheers

Another good thing you can do with the AK70 is use AK Connect to control playback from your phone, then you can put the stack in a pouch or bag and not even have to take it out.

I'm trying to find the thinnest and smallest DAP to stack with the KSE1200 which doesn't sacrifice too much in terms of usability and sound. The AK70 is pretty good but a bit on the thicker end, while the Hiby R3 was pretty good SQ and size wise, except the UI and the less than satisfactory playlist management is at a point that I can't tolerate it. Thus far I think the thinnest stack which can work for me is the Sony A55 Walkman but there's an obvious bass tilt to the sound signature in this stack. When the Fiio M6 comes out I want to give that one a go as well because the new Fiio Link app also allows playback control from the phone.

 

[Simon T]

Another good thing you can do with the AK70 is use AK Connect to control playback from your phone, then you can put the stack in a pouch or bag and not even have to take it out.

I'm trying to find the thinnest and smallest DAP to stack with the KSE1200 which doesn't sacrifice too much in terms of usability and sound. The AK70 is pretty good but a bit on the thicker end, while the Hiby R3 was pretty good SQ and size wise, except the UI and the less than satisfactory playlist management is at a point that I can't tolerate it. Thus far I think the thinnest stack which can work for me is the Sony A55 Walkman but there's an obvious bass tilt to the sound signature in this stack. When the Fiio M6 comes out I want to give that one a go as well because the new Fiio Link app also allows playback control from the phone.

Thanks for sharing nanaholic.

I was thinking about the Hiby R3, but your feedback on it saved me some money .

The thinnest i can think of is the AK junor (although it is a little taller), but not sure how it pairs with the KSE1200.

Cheers.

 

[TYATYA]

I'm trying to find the thinnest and smallest DAP to stack with the KSE1200 which doesn't sacrifice too much in terms of usability and sound.

Activo CT10.
Tidal, spotify, ak connect...was there.
It doesnt clean sound as ak120ii/100ii (those are 100% size maching to kse1500 and 1200)...
But it has more musical.
Above 2 have clean but boring, drying sound.
CT10 is more musical with lower extend

 

[Music junky]

Thanks for sharing nanaholic. Great lil transport. MO!

I was thinking about the Hiby R3, but your feedback on it saved me some money .

The thinnest i can think of is the AK junor (although it is a little taller), but not sure how it pairs with the KSE1200.

Cheers.

 

[Music junky]

 

[nanaholic]

Activo CT10.
Tidal, spotify, ak connect...was there.
It doesnt clean sound as ak120ii/100ii (those are 100% size maching to kse1500 and 1200)...
But it has more musical.
Above 2 have clean but boring, drying sound.
CT10 is more musical with lower extend

The CT10 is more or less an AK70 but without balance output, since I already have an AK70 it's not something I would consider as the two obviously overlaps in too many ways.

I do have a bias towards Sony and AK players (I would consider the CT10 an AK player basically since AK makes it for Activo) because their software is generally more mature, and the more research I do the more I find this to be the case as it is surprisingly to me how many entry or mid-level players have issues with something as simply as m3u playlist support and many reviews don't seem to point them out.

 

[TYATYA]

I'd like to refer to who using kse1500 and sp1000/m dap how is your favourite sound level setting.
Which setting do you use ?

A. Volume 120 on Sp1000, EQ off. Input pad =0, volume 18 on Kse1500
It means no "line out" level using.

B. Line out level 1.25V on sp1000, EQ off.
Input pad -10dB on kse1500, volume 18

C. Line out level 0.7V on sp1000, EQ = FLAT. Input pad =0 volume 18

What is best of A,B,C?
I want to use 0.7V line out + EQ OFF + input pad =0.
But it will mostly overly drive line in of kse amp. So FLAT eq is turned on (it reduce gain somehow)
I confuse whether input pad will decrease detail of sound. That

 

[piskov]

I'd like to refer to who using kse1500 and sp1000/m dap how is your favourite sound level setting.
Which setting do you use ?

A. Volume 120 on Sp1000, EQ off. Input pad =0, volume 18 on Kse1500
It means no "line out" level using.

B. Line out level 1.25V on sp1000, EQ off.
Input pad -10dB on kse1500, volume 18

C. Line out level 0.7V on sp1000, EQ = FLAT. Input pad =0 volume 18

What is best of A,B,C?
I want to use 0.7V line out + EQ OFF + input pad =0.
But it will mostly overly drive line in of kse amp. So FLAT eq is turned on (it reduce gain somehow)
I confuse whether input pad will decrease detail of sound. That

Use line out with input pad on -10 or even -20 to prevent clipping. Disable eq, volume control, etc. on thr player.

 

[TYATYA]

Use line out with input pad on -10 or even -20 to prevent clipping. Disable eq, volume control, etc. on thr player.

I confuse input pad may reduce sq. Idk how it work, is it digital...
If it is digital process, I prefer to do that kind of process on sp1000 than do it on kse1500 where digital section is not as good as

 

[piskov]

I confuse input pad may reduce sq. Idk how it work, is it digital...
If it is digital process, I prefer to do that kind of process on sp1000 than do it on kse1500 where digital section is not as good as

It’s analogue. If eq on kse is also in flat (bypass) mode, entire kse unit becomes 100% analogue.