Gwarmi
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Posts
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Just tested the T1 with an iPhone S - Hmm, it's better than I thought on full volume - still nowhere near as competent as a desktop setup though.
Everybody needs a...
- Audiophilleo!
Great! Your Audiophilleo gets its own isolation-vibration block treatment?
Just tested the T1 with an iPhone S - Hmm, it's better than I thought on full volume - still nowhere near as competent as a desktop setup though.
Then maybe you can understand my canundrum when you keep in mind I dont own an actual desktop setup, nor have I ever really heard the t1 from a good full size amp, just from a cheap SE amp and an amp that's not supposed to run SE.
I've owned two desktop amps in the past, before I got te t1 and neither of them really impressed me. As said I did hear a difference, just not enough to justify its size compared to balanced out of the ibasso PB2/DB2 I owned then...
Then there lies potential - build the best portable rig you can muster, you mentioned the Triad - add some decent
interconnects and you'll find a reasonable result.
The same dilemma however remains - you have not mentioned your source material, this is the most crucial
aspect.
Well, my source material preferably wave/alac which would usually be cd standard 44khz 16bit 1136kbps, some bands I only have as mp3 but then others like the explorations in time and space cd I have in 196khz, 32bit 8360kbps. But yea, primarily lossless files...
Exactly my point - you're assuming one great fallacy - all recordings are created equal - you're merely talking about the technical
extraction of 'said unknown' recordings.
Here's an example - let's assume for one second that we're both die hard live acoustic guitar blues heads.
I'll take Clapton's Unplugged in 256kbps MP3 - you can source any blues album you want in any format you wish eg, Wav, Flac,.
There is more than one way to look at this. Yes there are some fabulous recordings, Clapton Unplugged is an example I often use when showing off my headphones to friends. That isn't the problem, the disappointment comes from finding out that well over half of your music, be it lossless, CD, whatever, is poorly recorded. On my monitors and phones like the DT880 I can tell if a track is recorded well or not and a good DAC only highlights this. On phones like the T1, D7000 and other colored (yet fun) headphones it's much harder to tell and for that very reason music sounds better. The trouble however is that it's harder to discern a good source with a colored headphone and so we have what the OP experiences in thinking there is no gain to be had from an expensive source.
It's more attractive to get a nice colored headphone run from a soundcard or small hybrid than it is to get a neutral headphone with a good clean amp and clean analogue source.
I'm kinda split in my music listening; I want to hear the song as intended without coloration from a good source, but at the same time I want all my music to sound good and a colored phone gives me that. The more colored a headphone the less the source and music files actually matter, be that a good thing or not is for the individual to decide.
A few days ago I had the opportunity to hear a RSA Dark Star being fed by an M-DAC with a DT880, Q701 and HD800 at the other end - that was one hot
sizzly ride! Very sibilant across some material concerning tracks that previously had shown no such sharpness on more forgiving, less transparent setups.
As you pointed out, only the most warm and forgiving headphones seemed to make the most of that rig for sustainable, pleasant play back. HD650 and
LCD2/3.
Depends on the colored headphone though when it comes to source and material - my PS1000 is a big pot of rainbow coloration but anyone giving it
a go will quickly spot a warmish, sluggish low resolution source - or a harsh source, I find it's also quite responsive to amps and various interconnects.
Ok, it's not picky and as transparent as a HD800 but for a colored headphone, it continues to surprise me - yes there's some forgiving nature there
but if the recording is bad it will still holler in your ear.
All you're saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that some headphones (PS1000?) are more transparent and the sound of the source, be it warm etc will show through. Does a transparent headphone however relate better to the music being played through them; is a transparent headphone and good source better than an opaque headphone on a cheap source?
If I were to change these rather meaningless words into facts and figures I would say transparency is the result of an elevated (above neutral) treble. Therefor breaking down what you're saying it would read; DT880, PS1000 and HD800 were very sibilant due to their elevated treble.
Is there any point to an expensive rig that exposes all these flaws when the majority of music sounds bad over a colored headphone from a cheap source? And back to the topic, should there be a huge difference between an E11 and an iPod on a colored phone? I think not.