hey, guys. there was a huge event in our local headphones store. huge for me
me and 2 of my mates came there, i brought my tube amp. we ve listened to tons of stuff (all mrspeakers/danclarck, sr009, sr007a jp, sh-la jr, perun ls, abyss 1266 tc, diana v2, snorry nm-1, etc), but its not the topic of this text. if some1 is interested in details of thing listed above - welcome to ask.
besides the stuff listed above, ive listened to a combination of ifi idsd signature + cayin c9 + magicsound bionic mk3 (ukranian diy planars). and this is SOMETHING.
ifi is the best portable dac for metal. imo. it doesnt have a single major drawback, its a rather high-level dac overall and it fits metal perfectly. dense punch, solid sound. not sharp and not over-detailed at all, but with good textures and amazing dynamics, transparent. full-weighted body. no any muddyness, or rounded bass. very dynamic and clean sound with a dense and solid signature. the stage is slightly better than on average, with a fine positioning. the mids arent warm/emotional nor insipid/emotionless.
cayin c9 brings in a bith of warmth and emotions, makes guitars a bit fat and groovy (with idsd signature they were just dense, solid, full-weighted and fast), makes the stage pleasantly deep and the positioning/localisation a lot more precise. the sound overall remains the same dense, soild and dynamic.
the headphones match the combo perfectly. 1 of all: these are the best closed-back headphones. u can see dca aeon 2 c on the back. and they are way worse overall. i did own ether c flow for 2 years aswell, they are slightly better (with the mods i applied), then aeon 2 c, but still a lot worse, than bionic mk3. bionic mk3 are transparent and clean same as ether c flow, but have way more texture in mid, more emotional vocals and more precise bass. localisation is a lot better and more precise than in ether c flow aswell. but overall i cant say they are good to metal, cuze they dont have a fat, groovy and bassy sound signature.
and the combo of ifi idsd singature + cayin c9 gives all the needed. the sound of whole combo is very dynamic, solid, dense, emotional, grovvy, detailed, precise, deep, with amazingly precise localisation. not sharp at all, not over-detailed. not muddy in any mean, its clean and transparent. not rounded and slowed; its very dynamic. its fits metal amazingly, but aswell can easily play jass and other genres. the thing that it fits metal doesnt mean that its tough, rough and etc. not at all.
generally, the source combo is easily at a level the full-size desktop dac/amp combo worth of 3k+, and the headphones are kennerton thror/hm he1000/ether 2/diana 2 level of sound in closed-back form-factor. so its a portable setup based on closed-back planar headphones of a very high level of full-size desktop open-back headphones setup. worthy of 650 (ifi) + 2000 (cayin) + 2300 (bionic), $6k for the setup, but its literally the best u can get in the portable scenario, imo. as an owner of bionic mk3, i can say, that this is the best-matching source in terms of synergy for these headphones. and they are the best closed-back headphones (imo) (they can be either closed back and open back: there are removable magnetic closed cups, and headphones soung good either way without major drawbacks).
can cordially recommend it to any1 looking for such kind of setup.
and im going to get signature and c9 for myself aswell.
