[xeizo]

May I ask why you sold the small BT receivers, and how happy you are with the Q5S relative to them? If this is too off-topic let's use the 1AM2 as the headphones for comparison
I have an ES100 that I find way inferior to my LG V30, and consider going the DAP route when I change phone but I am also looking hard at the Q5S or the iFi equivalents (xCan, xDSD).

Look at audiosciencereview:s test of the LG G7, it beats even high end desktop dacs in pure dac performance. In worst case it needs a amp, I use the Topping NX1 for difficult cans.

Most if not all DAP:s are a side/downgrade from any of LG:s phones with a ESS dac.

 

[BlaqueFoEva]

would recommend either the UP4 or ES100.

What would make you choose one over the other of these two?
Simply price?

 

[Maxx134]

I have both, 1A & 1AM2.

Does anyone know if the pads are interchangeable??

I wondering which has thicker pads
My soft 1am2 pads tend to sink/compress in a bit too much..

 

[hifi80sman]

What would make you choose one over the other of these two?
Simply price?

The UP4 runs in Dual DAC mode both balanced AND unbalanced, so you get more power and each sharing the processing load (L/R, etc.). There's been some feedback from others that they hear some type of distortion in the upper registers with the UP4 using sensitive IEMs, but I can't hear any of that using the 1AM2 or any similar tier headphone.

That being said, the SQ with the ES100 is very good and both on par with each other, especially when it comes to low impedance headphones. The ES100 has a big advantage with it's App (UP4 does not have an App right now) which has so many features that it's almost worth it just for that purpose.

Either way, you're good. If you like to EQ, get the ES100.

 

[hifi80sman]

Does anyone know if the pads are interchangeable??

I wondering which has thicker pads
My soft 1am2 pads tend to sink/compress in a bit too much..

They are. You can use aftermarket pads that are thicker.

 

[Maxx134]

They are. You can use aftermarket pads that are thicker.

Ooo video shows I can pull leather over plastic so I can actually add material to original pad.

 

[BlaqueFoEva]

Anyone ever have headband "hotspot" issues on the comfort?

Really frustrated. These sounds amazing and the earpads are fairly comfy, but not as deep as I would like...

But the headband just "bothers me" after anymore than about 20 mins. It's making me seriously consider sending them back.
Really bummed..

Would I prefer the older MDR-1A model perhaps?

Sound aside (I'm not super picky on that as I tend to love all Sony sound), it sounds like the m2 was a step back on comfort affordances?

 

[CoryGillmore]

Anyone ever have headband "hotspot" issues on the comfort?

Really frustrated. These sounds amazing and the earpads are fairly comfy, but not as deep as I would like...

But the headband just "bothers me" after anymore than about 20 mins. It's making me seriously consider sending them back.
Really bummed..

Would I prefer the older MDR-1A model perhaps?

Sound aside (I'm not super picky on that as I tend to love all Sony sound), it sounds like the m2 was a step back on comfort affordances?

Oh damn that's crazy. I don't think many will have that issue. The 1AM2 seems to be almost universally loved as far as comfort goes. I know it's my personal most comfortable can. It could be you need to get used to having it touch you in those spots for long periods and it could get better after you've used them a while, I'd say a few days. But yeah if it's not better after a week at most I'd send them back. No need to live with headphones that hurt when there's so many to choose from.

 

[BlaqueFoEva]

Oh damn that's crazy. I don't think many will have that issue. The 1AM2 seems to be almost universally loved as far as comfort goes. I know it's my personal most comfortable can. It could be you need to get used to having it touch you in those spots for long periods and it could get better after you've used them a while, I'd say a few days. But yeah if it's not better after a week at most I'd send them back. No need to live with headphones that hurt when there's so many to choose from.

I think I’m going to send them back.

I’m really against keeping things like headphones that don’t feel immediately and consistently comfortable in the first few hours.

It’s possible these are just a really bad match for my head for some reason I guess?

I thought of adding headband padding and so forth but again… It just seems like putting a Band-Aid on something that I should just not be doing

 

[xeizo]

Oh damn that's crazy. I don't think many will have that issue. The 1AM2 seems to be almost universally loved as far as comfort goes. I know it's my personal most comfortable can. It could be you need to get used to having it touch you in those spots for long periods and it could get better after you've used them a while, I'd say a few days. But yeah if it's not better after a week at most I'd send them back. No need to live with headphones that hurt when there's so many to choose from.

Agree, comfort is very individual, for myself I can't stand IEM:s which many seems to love

 

[BlaqueFoEva]

Agree, comfort is very individual, for myself I can't stand IEM:s which many seems to love

I agree about the comfort part.

To me it’s like clothing… It either fits amazingly right away or you shouldn’t buy it.
Some of the stuff is super subjective to each individual.

It honestly makes it really really difficult to navigate headphone reviews and gather anything meaningful

 

[Seazer]

If you're looking to save money, then AliExpress is the way to go, although you will have to wait a bit longer. There are some sellers that ship from the US (vs China) so it'll be faster (5 days or so).

Here's a 4ft cable that's 3.5mm to 2.5mm on AliExpress. I have a couple of Earmax cables and they work well.

If you want shorter, you may have to look at a custom cable, but that's probably going to be more expensive.

I bought this cable for my original mdr1a and it doesn't with for some reason. Really really quiet messed up audio, as if it's not plugged in all the way

 

[Seed0]

I'm using these with my Walkman A105, does anyone think I should add a ~$100 headphone amp to the setup or would that not make much difference in terms of sound quality?

 

[rob86]

Anyone experiencing very bad call quality with the standard 3.5mm in line mic cable as well? A constant background noise is noticeable. Is this normal with this standard cable? Any recommendations for another cable with inline mic? For the rest I am very happy with the quality of the headphone sound but I need a mic for my work and this makes is unusable.

 

[hifi80sman]

Anyone experiencing very bad call quality with the standard 3.5mm in line mic cable as well? A constant background noise is noticeable. Is this normal with this standard cable? Any recommendations for another cable with inline mic? For the rest I am very happy with the quality of the headphone sound but I need a mic for my work and this makes is unusable.

Nope, my cable is fine. That being said, I did have an earlier MDR-1A cable button crap out on me (pretty much the same cable), so it's possible there's some type of design issue that lends itself to fragility. It's pretty much the only cable that's button failed on me (I baby my stuff).