[hert]

Is there a wireless version of Taskstar Pro 82/GM200?

 

[Hal Rockwell]

That's wrong. When you see the "pure sinewave" advertisement, it tells you about the AC generated by the invertor 12VDC->220VAC (or whatever), opposed to more simple UPSes that generate modified sine (more like square wave). But it's not about converting the AC from your outlet, it's about battery output. The outlet output remains the same at best when it goes through UPS like this. At worst it increases your voltage when the input is too low, then you get much higher harmonics and distortion from your electrical grid, thus your amps sound worse.

You actually have two solutions for this, both have double voltage conversion:
1. On-line UPS - they're A LOT more expensive than this APC UPS, I think the cheapest bet is IPPON Innova G2 series, but I dunno about the output quality of the inverter;
2. In Russia we have devices called "inverter stabilizers", they are the same as On-line UPS, but do not have battery. If you buy it purely for audio, there's for example a model called Shtyl IS350 which is basically the best solution for the problem. It's very cheap, it does double voltage conversion and the output is very high quality sine wave. No matter where you plug it in, the output is always very clean, which is great for amplifiers, the sound quality is another level. Dunno if there's something like this made in another country, but that particular model is very very good.

Do you have a link for that Shtyl IS350?

 

[OscarPaz]

Do you have a link for that Shtyl IS350?

This one maybe?: https://shtylshop.ru/product/stabilizator-shtyl-instab-is350/
[Machine-translated to English here: https://translate.google.com/transl...p.ru/product/stabilizator-shtyl-instab-is350/ ]

Interesting device if it works as well as described by @klogg4 (I assume it does). They claim 2% stabilization accuracy.
Could you then connect more than one device (or power bricks) to its cured AC output without experimenting any cumulative degradation?
I guess correct operation will be limited by the total power consumption of the connected devices (up to those stated 300W?).

 

[klogg4]

This one maybe?: https://shtylshop.ru/product/stabilizator-shtyl-instab-is350/

Yeah, this one. The best thing about it is that you get 2% fluctuation only based on the output power, while input voltage doesn't affect output voltage in any way. Like, you may get some extreme fluctuations 120-250V on the input, but you'll always get rock steady 230V on the output. That's the power of double conversion for you, the input voltage quality doesn't matter at all.

About connecting multiple devices - yeah you can do this, you're limited by 300W and that's all. They actually have a lot more powerful models (I personally have IS7000 for the whole house), but since we talk about amps, IS350 is more than enough I guess.

 

[ARPortugal]

Wow. Thats a lot of information for me. I need to think about these solutions.

 

[BenF]

I've used pro80 for 4 years and was okay with everything except comfort - it was really bad, my ears ached every time after 2-3 hours.

Year ago I bought pro82 from Music HuHu Store ($55 with a case). It had 2.2m cable and "old", opaque drivers. This pair was much more comfortable and I immediately started to use it full-time. After some time I noticed that balance was a bit shifted, but the seller offered me only a small discount on the next order, so I just adjusted the balance in the PC (sadly it was needed after every reboot, but I managed).

These v0.9 are a real problem - too many people that are buying Pro 82 outside of TakstarAudio and TakstarOfficial stores end up with v0.9.
Depending on what is wrong with a specific pair, they may still sound pretty good, but there is little chance of experience the perfection of a proper Pro 82...
They end up with just another headphone that outperforms its price range, and not with the TOTL headphone that rivals $1000+ competition.

Month ago my cable broke near 2.5mm connector and in the search for the compatible cable I found this topic. As I understand now, I was using "0.9" version. I ordered a new pair from Takstar Audio Store, and it was delivered after 10 days. During the unboxing I was unpleasantly surprised with the white box. The cable is 1.6m long, but I haven't removed the pads yet, so I'm still not 100% sure it's v2. The sound is great, I can't really feel any problems with balance this time.

If it comes from TakstarAudio, you don't need to worry - Takstar factory probably had another run with a white box.
The important part is that it sounds great, as proper Pro 82 should.

Now I'm thinking about ELE EL-D01 and P10, but not quite ready to pull the trigger.

If you want Pro 82 to sound euphonic, then ELE EL-D01 and P10 is a perfect combo for that.
If you want Pro 82 to have a perfect timbre with vocals (especially female ones) - Sabaj DA2 and O2 are the only synergy combo that can deliver that.
If you want Pro 82 to sound just as musical as DA2+O2, but sacrifice the perfect timbre (which is still very good) for detail retrieval that can rival Stax 009 - Khadas Tone Board and O2 are the way to go.

 

[OscarPaz]

Yeah, this one. The best thing about it is that you get 2% fluctuation only based on the output power, while input voltage doesn't affect output voltage in any way. Like, you may get some extreme fluctuations 120-250V on the input, but you'll always get rock steady 230V on the output. That's the power of double conversion for you, the input voltage quality doesn't matter at all.

About connecting multiple devices - yeah you can do this, you're limited by 300W and that's all. They actually have a lot more powerful models (I personally have IS7000 for the whole house), but since we talk about amps, IS350 is more than enough I guess.

Interesting, thanks for the clarification. Just one more question: how good actually is that 2% for audio application?

I have no experience on this topic whatsoever, but PS Audio's PowerPlants seem to better this by an order of magnitude.
All their models list an output distortion of <0.9%, with typical values of just 0.2% or below...
(Prices aren't comparable, of course).

 

[klogg4]

how actually good is that 2% for audio application?

You will never notice it. In fact you only get 2% down at the moment when you START consuming max watts (when your consumption jumps from 0 to 300W, which is very rare, especially if amp is A/AB class), then output eventually gets back to the perfect spot of 230V. That's how good PSUs in PC work, except it happens with voltages like 12V, 5V and 3.3V. Also, if you talk about a headphone amp, you will more likely get 0% voltage fluctuation because consumption is very low.

Talking about PS Audio - yeah, these devices are on another level I think, but the price difference isn't worth it, especially considering a fact that amplifiers are powered by their own PSUs (linear or switching, doesn't matter) which finalize the job of this stabilizer just fine.

 

[BenF]

Is there a wireless version of Taskstar Pro 82/GM200?

Unfortunately, no.

However, there is a sub-100$ portable Bluetooth receiver that is widely available online worldwide and sounds fantastic with Pro 82, borderline "synergy" combo.
Also works as a DAC/Amp.
I will post a review soon.

 

[Sebasistan]

Good to know it works with Pro 82.
I'm wondering why it's so much more expensive than this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001069589563.html
It's 27$ vs 11$ for a 2.5mm black cables - yet both seem to be wired for Sennheiser....

Last year I made a mistake and bought this balanced cable - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32919156482.html
It's not wired for Sennheiser, so it didn't quite work

I just got the cheaper one delivered. It gets the job done, but it's so thin I'm scared it'll snap if I look at it askance. I'm pretty tempted to get the more expensive one as well. Yes, I admit, it's silly getting a cable mostly for aesthetics, but it's just $30... (Which could be another KZ IEM but how many of those does one REALLY need...)

The funny thing is, the 82Pro sound *amazing* even unbalanced. They outshine my balanced Meze 99Neo and easily stand beside the balanced Hifiman HE400i in terms of overall sound quality. On single-ended. Which, given their asking price, is pretty nuts.

 

[OscarPaz]

I just got the cheaper one delivered. It gets the job done, but it's so thin I'm scared it'll snap if I look at it askance. I'm pretty tempted to get the more expensive one as well. Yes, I admit, it's silly getting a cable mostly for aesthetics, but it's just $30... (Which could be another KZ IEM but how many of those does one REALLY need...)

The funny thing is, the 82Pro sound *amazing* even unbalanced. They outshine my balanced Meze 99Neo and easily stand beside the balanced Hifiman HE400i in terms of overall sound quality. On single-ended. Which, given their asking price, is pretty nuts.

Could you please check for us whether left & right signals actually correspond to L/R channels?
The pinout as stated by one of the sellers didn't seem to agree with previous findings from others on this thread...

You comment about Pro 82 being good on SE. Any noticeable jump in SQ, any benefit, from using them on balanced?

Thanks!

 

[Sebasistan]

Could you please check for us whether left & right signals actually correspond to L/R channels?
The pinout as stated by one of the sellers didn't seem to agree with previous findings from others on this thread...

You comment about Pro 82 being good on SE. Any noticeable jump in SQ, any benefit, from using them on balanced?

Thanks!

The cable does correspond to L/R correctly. Tested this with both my M6 and the Zen DAC.

Also I realized now that the Zen DAC has L/R crossed - tested L/R balance with the 82Pro and L was R and R was L. Then tested it with another pair of cans with the same result. Odd. It's not the cables / balanced plugs either, since they work correctly on the M6....

 

[MaxSong]

I'd like to show some differences in packaging between v0.9 and mine white-box-v2.
The headphones on the outside are absolutely identical, nothing to see here. The most noticeable difference is cable length - 2.2m for v0.9, 1.6m for v2.

On every photo v0.9 is on top.

Boxes are almost identical, but some small differences exist. Does anybody know what's T&S series?

3.5 mm connector is wildly different, v0.9 has metal connector (identical with Pro 80 connector), v2 has plastic with takstar logo.

Also v0.9 has 3.5-6.3 mm adapter from takstar (identical with the one that came with Pro 80), while v2 has an adapter from the seller.

v0.9 has QC card (ironic), and v2 has whatever this piece of paper is.


Booklets are almost identical except for 10-11 pages.

 

[BenF]

I just got the cheaper one delivered. It gets the job done, but it's so thin I'm scared it'll snap if I look at it askance. I'm pretty tempted to get the more expensive one as well. Yes, I admit, it's silly getting a cable mostly for aesthetics, but it's just $30... (Which could be another KZ IEM but how many of those does one REALLY need...)

The 2.5mm black expensive one is the same exact picture as the cheap one, and other colors look thin too....

...The funny thing is, the 82Pro sound *amazing* even unbalanced. They outshine my balanced Meze 99Neo and easily stand beside the balanced Hifiman HE400i in terms of overall sound quality. On single-ended. Which, given their asking price, is pretty nuts.

You think Pro 82 competing with HE-400i is nuts?
I use it over $3800 Stax-009 and $1700 Fostex TH-900MK2...

 

[BenF]

The cable does correspond to L/R correctly. Tested this with both my M6 and the Zen DAC.

Also I realized now that the Zen DAC has L/R crossed - tested L/R balance with the 82Pro and L was R and R was L. Then tested it with another pair of cans with the same result. Odd. It's not the cables / balanced plugs either, since they work correctly on the M6....

According to this PDF, iFi is using the Hifiman standard pinout, not the A&K pinout: https://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/iFi-audio-xCAN-S_BAL-Tech-Note.pdf
Could this explain the channel mix-up?
They also may be using some kind of fake "balanced" amplifier, at least in the older amps.

http://www.diyaudioblog.com/2016/02/headphone-connectors-pins-pinouts-for.html