[Roderick]

Let's talk about Reloop SHP-8.



Here are the measurements (smoothed 1/12th):


Looks pretty standard, but the bottom around 4Khz is deeper than expected.
Let's take a look at the non-smoothed one:



Left goes down to 33dB (51dB lower than 1Khz), and right goes down to 54dB (30 dB lower than 1kHz).
For comparison, I've added a non-smoothed re-measured Pro 82 v1:


Both channels go down only to 62dB on non-smoothed graph, 65dB on a 1/12th smoothed one.

Other than that 4kHz bottomless pit, SHP8's FR looks exactly like v1.
Since both SHP8 drivers exhibit the same issue, this is not a result of a random QC failure.
Either Reloop bought some cheaper drivers that weren't good enough to bear Takstar's name, or there is a change in dampening.

The good news are, this drop is narrow enough for most people not to hear it - I certainly didn't.
SHP8 sounds as good as Pro 82 v1, no audible issues.

Should you buy it?
Only if you really like the dark grey color and the large logo - it's much more expensive than Pro 82, and the only accessories are a 2.2m cable and a 3.5/6.5mm adapter.
Or maybe you want a headphone that was "designed in Germany"

Allthough I don't share @BenF enthuasim for pro82 I must say I have much respect for the work he does. It is awesome that people get actual measurements. Good work benf!

 

[elNan]

I use this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Upg...ack-Cable-Mic-For-Bose-Quiet/32810246600.html

any balanced one?

 

[BenF]

any balanced one?

Haven't seen any balanced 2.5/3.5mm cables - would have to be custom made.

 

[RenZixx]

Three weeks ago I compared Hifiman HE-400 and HE-400S:

The next day I decided to put He-400 against Pro 82.
Bad idea...
As much as I loved HE-400 the day before, I hated them even more now.
Compared to Pro 82, HE-400 was enormously colored and unnatural sounding, with a lot of distortion.
That distortion can be pleasurable on guitar tracks, but overall I couldn't take them off fast enough.

Just another example of how important the reference point is when you are evaluating a headphone.
Same headphone can sound like TOTL or like total crap, depending what you compare it with.

Planar and distortion? How is that possible?

 

[BenF]

Planar and distortion? How is that possible?

I didn't mean that He-400 distorts, I meant that music sounds distorted.
Like it's gone through a guitar amp with an effects unit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_unit

 

[BenF]

2 Headphone jacks have sound and the RCA has no power.
Either of the phone out port is connected to phone and the RCA has no output.

I ended up buying XDUOO XD-10 as my first entry into AK4490.

Now I find that Massdrop has even a better sale of X7 than Aliexpress did - 125$.
And they used the first post from the X7 thread, which mentions Pro 82!

Seems like it is really as great a match for Pro 82 as @Joong says.
I am a bit worried about output impedance though. It's not stated officially anywhere, and many people wrote that it's 10-13Ohm.
The description at https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/headp...-headphone-amplifier-preap-amp-dac-black.html does say "With high impedance and low impedance headphone jack" - do the two headphone jacks have different output impedance?

 

[FYLegend]

So which one do you prefer soundwise, MSR7 or Pro 82 (if you remember how MSR7 sounded)? I haven't seen many comparisons between these two.

Probably the Pro 82. I recall the MSR7 had more forward upper mids but the soundstage wasn't as wide and it can get somewhat fatiguing. The Pro 82 is still a bright headphone but to me it is a more pleasant sound than the MSR7.

 

[Joong]

I ended up buying XDUOO XD-10 as my first entry into AK4490.

Now I find that Massdrop has even a better sale of X7 than Aliexpress did - 125$.
And they used the first post from the X7 thread, which mentions Pro 82!


Seems like it is really as great a match for Pro 82 as @Joong says.
I am a bit worried about output impedance though. It's not stated officially anywhere, and many people wrote that it's 10-13Ohm.
The description at https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/headp...-headphone-amplifier-preap-amp-dac-black.html does say "With high impedance and low impedance headphone jack" - do the two headphone jacks have different output impedance?

I think the 2 output ports have different source impedances by attaching a series resistor to one of the two identical buffer to allow low impedance phone's noise isolation. However I did not check the difference among them.
Also I didn't notice the SQ of pro-82 difference among them. I should give right amount of attention to those difference due to impedance.
With Fx audio dac x7, pro 82 recovers the linearity back so that at high volume pro 82 does not have congested sound.
I think those amplifier sections are based on opamps which are well engineered to match majority of phones with modern tools of CMOS technologies in those giant company like TI who has huge shared resource for supporting modernday engineering that is not available in small scale engineering acoustic company.
I like opamp based amplifiers.

 

[RenZixx]

I didn't mean that He-400 distorts, I meant that music sounds distorted.
Like it's gone through a guitar amp with an effects unit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_unit

Oh okay, that makes sense.

 

[kunmaster]

Bought pro82 from xiao mi shop in aliexpress for $56 without retail box& hardcase.
http://s.aliexpress.com/UjAvI7zi

It arrived in jakarta 20 days later in brown envelope and 'sausages type' buble wrapper. Inside is only the headphone, cable, pouch and paperworks. No 6mm to 3mm jack converter included.

Tried the headphones with PC,handphone (xiaomi redmi note 4x) and Zishan Z1 DAP. Between the three,it sounds best with flac files from Z1. Z1 is versatile player,it can act as DAP,DAC,and headphone amp.
Next I tried to connect the PC with cheap usb dac from aliexpress
Lusya SA9023A ES9018K2M USB portable DAC http://s.aliexpress.com/3YFjMziQ?

The output of DAC then connected to Z1. Here Z1 act as headphone amp only.The sound from PC (flacs&Spotify) is now sounds much much better&feels a lot cleaner. Previously with other headphones I can not really distinguish the difference between output of onboard soundcard vs usb DAC vs xiaomi phone. With pro82 &Z1, the difference is night& day.Conclusion: Pro82 needs an amp to show its true potential, without amp the bass is very lacking even with bass boost vent fully open

 

[BenF]

Bought pro82 from xiao mi shop in aliexpress for $56 without retail box& hardcase.
http://s.aliexpress.com/UjAvI7zi

It arrived in jakarta 20 days later in brown envelope and 'sausages type' buble wrapper. Inside is only the headphone, cable, pouch and paperworks. No 6mm to 3mm jack converter included.

Tried the headphones with PC,handphone (xiaomi redmi note 4x) and Zishan Z1 DAP. Between the three,it sounds best with flac files from Z1. Z1 is versatile player,it can act as DAP,DAC,and headphone amp.
Next I tried to connect the PC with cheap usb dac from aliexpress
Lusya SA9023A ES9018K2M USB portable DAC http://s.aliexpress.com/3YFjMziQ?

The output of DAC then connected to Z1. Here Z1 act as headphone amp only.The sound from PC (flacs&Spotify) is now sounds much much better&feels a lot cleaner. Previously with other headphones I can not really distinguish the difference between output of onboard soundcard vs usb DAC vs xiaomi phone. With pro82 &Z1, the difference is night& day.Conclusion: Pro82 needs an amp to show its true potential, without amp the bass is very lacking even with bass boost vent fully open

100% agree with the conclusion, but DACs are equally important.
Pro 82 scales up better than any other headphone I heard.

Once you'll get to the SMSL Idea/IQ level, you'll see further jump in SQ.
Comparison of DACs/Amps

 

[bsharp]

Thank you all for your reviews and tests. Really happy I chose to buy these.
I was wondering if anyone can recommend a cheap alternative for AMP/DAC aside from the FIIO E6 & ELE EL-01.
I couldn't find the E6 anywhere, new or used. (Maybe the Fiio A1 is also a good option?)
I'm looking for something basic at the budget of ~50$ that will give me some improvement over just plugging in the 82's to my laptop directly.

 

[heavyharmonies]

In preparation for receiving my Audeze Mobius headphones, I decided to upgrade my cellphone (at least with respect to audio) from a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to an LG V30. Based upon what BenF posted earlier in this thread I wasn't expecting the V30 to power the Pro 82 very effectively, at least out of the box.

I'm wondering if Android 8.0 Oreo does something differently than previous versions, because without any trickery, at default settings, the V30 powers my Pro 82 with absolute ease. In fact, simply toggling the quad-DAC on and off produces a MAJOR difference in volume, as if the quad-DAC on setting goes automatically into high-impedence mode. With the volume set at 38/100, it is plenty loud for these aging ears.

Quad-DAC enabled, filter set to slow, Pro 82 on middle port setting = sonic nirvana. The bass is deep and palpable without being overpowering. I had thought that my setup at work (Win 10 PC with APO -> Marantz HD-DAC1) was a good sounding setup, but this blows it away.

Mighty impressive cellphone that really makes the Pro 82 shine.

 

[BenF]

Thank you all for your reviews and tests. Really happy I chose to buy these.
I was wondering if anyone can recommend a cheap alternative for AMP/DAC aside from the FIIO E6 & ELE EL-01.
I couldn't find the E6 anywhere, new or used. (Maybe the Fiio A1 is also a good option?)
I'm looking for something basic at the budget of ~50$ that will give me some improvement over just plugging in the 82's to my laptop directly.

Welcome to the club!

FIIO A1 is too different sounding, it's not a replacement for E6.
Little Bear P10 is the best replacement for E6 - sounds great with EL-D01.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tak...scussion-thread.849965/page-141#post-14373423
It's a bit over budget at 64$, and EL-D01 is another 12-13$, so you may want to consider SMSL Idea instead in this price range.
It can be had for 78$ - just write "Head-fi" in the order message after placing the order and wait for the price to be adjusted.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMS...OS-SABRE9018Q2C-DSD512-32Bit/32809153098.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMS...OS-SABRE9018Q2C-DSD512-32Bit/32809153098.html
In the future, you'll be able to add the O2 amp to Idea, but in the meantime it will serve you just fine as a DAC/amp.

 

[BenF]

In preparation for receiving my Audeze Mobius headphones, I decided to upgrade my cellphone (at least with respect to audio) from a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to an LG V30. Based upon what BenF posted earlier in this thread I wasn't expecting the V30 to power the Pro 82 very effectively, at least out of the box.

I'm wondering if Android 8.0 Oreo does something differently than previous versions, because without any trickery, at default settings, the V30 powers my Pro 82 with absolute ease. In fact, simply toggling the quad-DAC on and off produces a MAJOR difference in volume, as if the quad-DAC on setting goes automatically into high-impedence mode. With the volume set at 38/100, it is plenty loud for these aging ears.

Quad-DAC enabled, filter set to slow, Pro 82 on middle port setting = sonic nirvana. The bass is deep and palpable without being overpowering. I had thought that my setup at work (Win 10 PC with APO -> Marantz HD-DAC1) was a good sounding setup, but this blows it away.

Mighty impressive cellphone that really makes the Pro 82 shine.

Try using V30 in High Gain mode, and you'll see the true meaning of "shining":
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/tak...scussion-thread.849965/page-103#post-14074838
EDIT: There is an even easier method - connect Pro 82's cable to V30 first, and only then plug it into Pro 82.