[dweaver]

Great price!

Sure wish Sony would make a BT version of this headphone. Their 1000XM3 is so much darker sounding.

 

[PaganDL]

@MrBarbarroja,

The honest answer is it depends on how the headphone is wired as most headphones are actually balanced contrary to popular belief otherwise you wouldn't get separated left & right channel sound (stereo) & the whole thing will be mono in any case, not stereo from that single cable entry.
Generally, when a headphone has dual entry cables, all this usually means it the grounds in the wire as separated so technically one should get a cleaner signal though once again, this depends on how good the manufacturer is at wiring as there are a lot of single cable headphones which technically work better than dual entry.
Also if the headphone connector plug into the headphone is long enough & wired for balanced, eg 3.5 Balanced ending in a Balanced termination, eg XLR, 3.5 Balanced, etc, there should be no real issue why it can't work though as said it will depend on how both headphone & cable with said balanced plug is wired.

So in answer to your question, no, there should be no damage to either headphone or amp as if said cable &/or headphone isn't wired for balanced, only one side will work (usually the right side though sometimes it is left side) if it can be plugged into a socket, provided it can be plugged in the first place.
However, saying that, on the safe side, it is important to check what cables & what headphones can take balanced or not, just in case.

Also, always make sure to have the source volume at zero before unplugging & plugged in headphones to avoid feedback issues, some manufacturers will also state not to leave headphones plugged in to said amp when off as well to avoid electrical discharge when powering on said amp.

Hope this makes sense.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[monsieurfromag3]

Great price!

Sure wish Sony would make a BT version of this headphone. Their 1000XM3 is so much darker sounding.

Yes! And yet I read somewhere the XM3 uses the same drivers as the 1A. But there’s so much processing going on.

 

[xsqps]

Hi how you doing

I received my mdr-1am2 yesterday, Hehehe

I like it as a headphone, but I noticed something that I couldn't hear the difference between flac and mp3.

I try to test songs from different sources but I still cannot hear the difference between them.

I compare it with another headphone, a cheap gaming headphone and I think there is no difference in sound.

Do you think it's because it's my first experience with the hi res headphone

Or my 1am2 has some problem.

I’m using it with my iPhone 8+ and lightning adapter they recommend it more than high amplifiers

I try Spotify and VOX and youtube

Do you advise me to do anything like a test or doing anything

Thank you In advance

 

[monsieurfromag3]

Hi how you doing

I received my mdr-1am2 yesterday, Hehehe

I like it as a headphone, but I noticed something that I couldn't hear the difference between flac and mp3.

I try to test songs from different sources but I still cannot hear the difference between them.

I compare it with another headphone, a cheap gaming headphone and I think there is no difference in sound.

Do you think it's because it's my first experience with the hi res headphone

Or my 1am2 has some problem.

I’m using it with my iPhone 8+ and lightning adapter they recommend it more than high amplifiers

I try Spotify and VOX and youtube

Do you advise me to do anything like a test or doing anything

Thank you In advance

It’s a negligible difference at best. Many sources posit it’s impossible to differentiate between 256 or 320 kbps mp3 and FLAC, period. Blind A/B tests with quality equipment in controlled conditions proved inconclusive - or rather they showed people can't reliably tell the difference.

The drums, cymbals may sound more realistic in FLAC, also the stage may expand further around you, wrapping you inside a full circle instead of forming a semi-circle that ends on either side of your ears. Again, those are subtle effects at the best of times and could only be discerned on some recordings.

edit: actually congratulations on not yielding to preconceived notions and the stupid ambient pressure to pretend you’re hearing imaginary differences. There’s nothing wrong with either your ears, your brain or your headphones.

 

[superuser1]

Hi how you doing

I received my mdr-1am2 yesterday, Hehehe

I like it as a headphone, but I noticed something that I couldn't hear the difference between flac and mp3.

I try to test songs from different sources but I still cannot hear the difference between them.

I compare it with another headphone, a cheap gaming headphone and I think there is no difference in sound.

Do you think it's because it's my first experience with the hi res headphone

Or my 1am2 has some problem.

I’m using it with my iPhone 8+ and lightning adapter they recommend it more than high amplifiers

I try Spotify and VOX and youtube

Do you advise me to do anything like a test or doing anything

Thank you In advance

I would suggest giving another source a shot. Though i have never used the combination you mentioned, i reckon a better source would certainly make a difference.

 

[Ritu]

I think a lot depends on the player, EQ or other settings like DSEE HX.

My current settings are sony NW A25 ( DSEE HX - ON) and MDR 1AM2

In my humble opinion, FLAC (ripped on the windows media player ) and 320 kbps have little difference, but the same song ripped on WAV lossless sounds much better than 320kbps. It sounds more dynamic and clean, I can clearly make out the difference.

 

[nraymond]

In my humble opinion, FLAC (ripped on the windows media player ) and 320 kbps have little difference, but the same song ripped on WAV lossless sounds much better than 320kbps. It sounds more dynamic and clean, I can clearly make out the difference.

FLAC and WAV are both lossless. Assuming the same source and it depth/sample rate they will sound identical. Any perceived difference is in error unless the source recording or audio bit depth/sample rate is different between the files.

 

[Ritu]

I rip my CD's using media player ( Windows 10). When ripped to FLAC it has a variable bit rate varying from 700kbpas to 1000kbps (VBR), but with WAV ( lossless) bit rate is fixed at 1411kbps.

I do not have experience with any other ripping software, maybe different software gives different results.

 

[nraymond]

I rip my CD's using media player ( Windows 10). When ripped to FLAC it has a variable bit rate varying from 700kbpas to 1000kbps (VBR), but with WAV ( lossless) bit rate is fixed at 1411kbps.

Bit rate is just file size over time. It varies because FLAC is compressed (losslessly) and software can’t know in advance how big the file will be because it hasn’t compressed it yet. WAV is consistently the same bit rate because it is not compressed (and thus takes up more space). Otherwise the contents can be identical. You can convert WAV to FLAC and if you keep everything else the same, it will be the same audio, just taking up more space if you leave it as WAV. ALAC is another lossless audio file format, and you can convert from WAV to FLAC to ALAC with no loss or change in quality. MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc. are lossy. Any conversion from one to another will create some generational loss of quality and it is not recommended as each of those formats remove audio from the music that each of their psychoacoustic models estimates the brain can’t perceive well that they aren’t there anymore (lossy compression).

 

[nraymond]

In case I wasn’t clear - bit rate is a useless indicator of file quality. It is only useful for figuring out how much bandwidth you need or how much space something takes up (if you know the total time so you can calculate file size).

 

[Mhog55]

Are there any 2.5mm balanced cables floating around somewhere for these cans? Yes, I know I can use an adapter haha.

 

[superuser1]

Are there any 2.5mm balanced cables floating around somewhere for these cans? Yes, I know I can use an adapter haha.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32924091293.html

 

[Mhog55]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32924091293.html

Booyah

 

[SoundMuppet]

Have anyone used the MDR-1AM2 with the V-Moda BoomPro microphone? I'm afraid of it not reaching the mouth since the port is so far back.