[Hanesu]

Sir/Ma'am,

Per the Final Audio Website

"Aging is a phenomenon by which sound changes by continued use over a certain period of time. A driver unit produces sound through the vibration of an extremely thin heat-formed film. The cause is not clear, but it is thought that the film might become accustomed to the stress applied from the forming of the film or stress from the adhesive through continued use over time so that minute signals can be transmitted easily. A long period of time is required before the aging effects on this product become unnoticeable. Generally, through 150 to 200 hours of ordinary use sensitivity increases to achieve the level of sound quality for which the product had been originally designed."

As I mentioned before, I'm new to the hobby. I'm also a little bit confused, because I know some(maybe most) do not believe in "aging". My experience with the Final Audio B3, they do sound warmer and the base is now deeper since I first buough them a little over a month ago, at least to my ears. The other side to that is that I bough the ZX507 and the Final Audio the same day and I don't know if is the "burn" period of the DAP that is making them sound warmer. It could be the combination of both for all I know.

I did test the Andromeda's and to my ears they do not sound as warm as the Final Audio B3. The thing is, if I read the graph right, the Andros are suppose to be warmer...correct? Link >>> https://crinacle.com/graphs/iems/graphtool/ What I do know, the pair the shop has in store, do not have a lot of miles on them. I'm planning on going to e-earphones in Akihabara to try theirs which I know have a lot of miles and maybe find the answer to the question of "aging"....prolly not

As you already know there is a lot of information out there and it can be confusing/contradicting. The worst part IMHO, a lot is subjective and as a photography enthusiast I can tell you there are a lot of Ken Rockwell's out there. To be honest, you sound like one of them.

As a 20 year U.S. Air Force aircraft mechanic (almost retired) I do have a mild case of tinnitus, no hearing loss per the doc. I can tell the difference between an MP3 file and a lossless compressed (FLAC) however, I can not tell the difference between Hi Res and regular CD 16/44 , as far as I can tell Hi Res is a gimmick or just not for my ears.


Thanks in advance.

Hi! Sorry, I did not understand the "Ken Rockwell" part (don`t know him but I googled he is a photographer?), but I can assure you my post was really not meant as an offense! When I said "if you believe in aging you will hear it" I 100% meant it like that because as a matter of fact there is a lot of controversy about this topic in the audio world and people have different opinions about it. Just as you can read in marketing material of some audio companies about it, you will find many postings concerning "burn in" in this forum.... but there is also scientific research that finds absolutely no evidence for its existence. Then there are "psychoacoustics" - which basically say the brain gets used to different sounds after a while....
Well, whatever opinion you develop about this topic - my personal approach is that even if it exists (I am trying to stay neutral here), for sure it cannot change the sound of an earphone in its essential character. So instead of thinking too much about "burn in" and hoping it will change the sound of something positively, I try to find gear that I like from the beginning! "Problem" solved.

 

[Queen6]

Thanks for the info. I do like the soundstage of the Andros, especially when I compare them to the Final B3. I was expecting the Andros to be warmer than the B3 after comparing both graphs; maybe I'm missing something. I'm going to try the Polaris again, but if I remember correctly they were too bassy for my taste. I tried them with the Direct Source on, may be if I EQ'd to my needs I will like them better. I have to say it again, that soundstage.....

Forgot to add tips make difference with Andromeda, I use the included narrower bore Final Audio E tips which bring out the bass a little more. Wide bore tips will tend to enhance the treble. Read good words of JVC's Spiral Dot tips with Andromeda, however no first hand experience. Currently listening to Massive Attack's Mezzanine with Sony WM1A & Andromeda's, bass isn't as pronounced as the hybrid Dunu 3001 Pro, equally not lacking by any means. As other members have said, I agree Andromeda's are picky regarding the source...

Q-6

 

[LMka]

Any way to make a sidegrade? I have accidentally updated to latest 20.02 via wi-fi and it installed Chinese version. Normal way does not work any longer, I can't update to Japanese 20.02 from internal memory. Any lifehacks? What do?

 

[Vitaly2017]

Any way to make a sidegrade? I have accidentally updated to latest 20.02 via wi-fi and it installed Chinese version. Normal way does not work any longer, I can't update to Japanese 20.02 from internal memory. Any lifehacks? What do?

Do you mean the language?
I went to google store wrote google keyboard language, you should see Japanese there to

 

[LMka]

I want to swap Chinese firmare to Japanese firmware to get Play Store and Google services. Any way to do it from 1.20.02 to 1.20.02 or waiting for next update is my only option?

 

[Focux]

I want to swap Chinese firmare to Japanese firmware to get Play Store and Google services. Any way to do it from 1.20.02 to 1.20.02 or waiting for next update is my only option?

ZX507 bought from CN has no play store?

 

[Pro-Jules]

Social media / Censorship issues.

 

[Iggnasty]

Hi! Sorry, I did not understand the "Ken Rockwell" part (don`t know him but I googled he is a photographer?), but I can assure you my post was really not meant as an offense! When I said "if you believe in aging you will hear it" I 100% meant it like that because as a matter of fact there is a lot of controversy about this topic in the audio world and people have different opinions about it. Just as you can read in marketing material of some audio companies about it, you will find many postings concerning "burn in" in this forum.... but there is also scientific research that finds absolutely no evidence for its existence. Then there are "psychoacoustics" - which basically say the brain gets used to different sounds after a while....
Well, whatever opinion you develop about this topic - my personal approach is that even if it exists (I am trying to stay neutral here), for sure it cannot change the sound of an earphone in its essential character. So instead of thinking too much about "burn in" and hoping it will change the sound of something positively, I try to find gear that I like from the beginning! "Problem" solved.

Lot of information, exactly what I was looking for. You do have a great point, "I try to find gear that I like from the beginning" Pretty much what John Darko suggest on his video

Yes, Ken Rockwell is a photographer.

 

[johnston21]

Maybe hating is too strong of a word. I should have said, dislike

You just earned my respect...

 

[Iggnasty]

Forgot to add tips make difference with Andromeda, I use the included narrower bore Final Audio E tips which bring out the bass a little more. Wide bore tips will tend to enhance the treble. Read good words of JVC's Spiral Dot tips with Andromeda, however no first hand experience. Currently listening to Massive Attack's Mezzanine with Sony WM1A & Andromeda's, bass isn't as pronounced as the hybrid Dunu 3001 Pro, equally not lacking by any means. As other members have said, I agree Andromeda's are picky regarding the source...

Q-6

Just got back from Akihabara. I tried the Andromedas but this time with the LL Final Audio tips which got me a better seal. They are warmer than the Final Audio B3, really like the sound. They also had a pair of used Andromeda's Gold edition....really liked those but they were asking 1500 US. The reason I like the Gold better was because of the nozzle. The nozzle on the Gold edition is longer than the regular Andros. I found myself pushing the Andros really deep into my ear to get a good seal, even with the LL tips (I use L on the B3), something I didn't have to do with the Gold edition. I didn't get a chance to compare the Gold to the Green Andros because the store got crowded. I read your post while I was in the store, however they didn't have the Dunu 3001 Pro. Thanks again for all the info.

 

[Iggnasty]

Forgot to add tips make difference with Andromeda, I use the included narrower bore Final Audio E tips which bring out the bass a little more. Wide bore tips will tend to enhance the treble. Read good words of JVC's Spiral Dot tips with Andromeda, however no first hand experience. Currently listening to Massive Attack's Mezzanine with Sony WM1A & Andromeda's, bass isn't as pronounced as the hybrid Dunu 3001 Pro, equally not lacking by any means. As other members have said, I agree Andromeda's are picky regarding the source...

Q-6

I would like your advice... one last time (maybe). I was wondering if you use any open back headsets that you would recommend to use with the ZX300 (guessing is closer to the ZX507 than the WM1A). I tried the HD 660 S using the 3.5mm high impedance setting and they sounded pretty good. They do come with a balanced 4.4 cable. However, it seems that the HD 660 S are not as wide as other contenders.

 

[doctorjuggles]

I’ve read most of the info on this player regarding Tidal and MQA
I’m using UAPP and I was messing about with it because it kept showing 44.1khz every time I played a Tidal MQA track via UAPP (which is what most people have reported)

Anyway, I played around with all sorts of settings and I seem to have found a way to enable MQA in UAPP, it’s now showing 96kHz on the current track I’m playing for example.

So have I misunderstood what I’ve managed to enable? Have I missed the post that shows this is actually how to enable it? Or is this just a pseudo-enabling? It says it was using the HiRes Direct driver but I don’t know for sure. Any way to test it?

 

[Vitaly2017]

I’ve read most of the info on this player regarding Tidal and MQA
I’m using UAPP and I was messing about with it because it kept showing 44.1khz every time I played a Tidal MQA track via UAPP (which is what most people have reported)

Anyway, I played around with all sorts of settings and I seem to have found a way to enable MQA in UAPP, it’s now showing 96kHz on the current track I’m playing for example.

So have I misunderstood what I’ve managed to enable? Have I missed the post that shows this is actually how to enable it? Or is this just a pseudo-enabling? It says it was using the HiRes Direct driver but I don’t know for sure. Any way to test it?

When i streamed spotify which an mp3 ...
It output via usb to my 1z at 96 kbps coincidence?

I think sony locked it at 96 kbps some reasons

 

[Pro-Jules]

I’ve read most of the info on this player regarding Tidal and MQA
I’m using UAPP and I was messing about with it because it kept showing 44.1khz every time I played a Tidal MQA track via UAPP (which is what most people have reported)

Anyway, I played around with all sorts of settings and I seem to have found a way to enable MQA in UAPP, it’s now showing 96kHz on the current track I’m playing for example.

So have I misunderstood what I’ve managed to enable? Have I missed the post that shows this is actually how to enable it? Or is this just a pseudo-enabling? It says it was using the HiRes Direct driver but I don’t know for sure. Any way to test it?

What did you do exactly?

And are you able to toggle that setting on and off to test there is an audible difference?

 

[doctorjuggles]

What did you do exactly?

And are you able to toggle that setting on and off to test there is an audible difference?

In the settings on UAPP I selected “Internal HiRes audio” then clicked on “HiRes driver flags”. Within that I selected the bottom option of MQA “it warns it’s only available on selected LG models).

After that I restarted the app and then in settings again at the top the “Internal audio driver” option appears and allows you to select the original Android driver or the HiRes Direct driver. Once I selected the HiRes direct one, it now shows that it’s playing MQA at whatever bitrate and sample rate is present on the file (it works on local MQA files too).

I think I may be best off asking in the UAPP thread or in the eXtream boards