[a_recording]

Quote:

What exactly are you asking? Your statement leaves a rather wide point of topic to be discussed. Those peaks and breakups you're talking about can usually be controlled, at least to a certain extent, by proper dampening. At least that's how I've always understood it when splashy treble is a problem. Take away the extra energy cause by the resonance and the upper sig sounds cleaner.

 
Well I didn't want to make a blanket statement like "the higher the break up point the better!" The thing is, as I understand it, the break up point doesn't just mean excess treble energy that can be dealt with by dampening etc. It means that at certain frequencies the driver will begin producing other unwanted frequencies as parts of the driver begin moving out of sync with other parts. ie: this is a kind of distortion, and why electrostatics were designed in the first place.
 
Since you can't selectively damp different frequencies at different times (you cannot deal with distortion by damping) it points at how material selection for the driver is a design choice.
 
Only saying this because I'll be interested to see again if Sony can do something interesting with their LCP driver which didn't seem all that great in the Z1000.

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

Speaking of Japanese amps, I recently discovered this company: http://izo.co.jp/zbxe/
 
The portable DAC/amp M1 looks pretty; seems like manufacturers are using TI's chip amps to good effect these days...

Quote:

  How much is it? 

 
project86 has the scoop on it: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/izmo-m1-ddc-dac-and-headphone-amp

 

[a_recording]

What exactly are you asking? Your statement leaves a rather wide point of topic to be discussed. Those peaks and breakups you're talking about can usually be controlled, at least to a certain extent, by proper dampening. At least that's how I've always understood it when splashy treble is a problem. Take away the extra energy cause by the resonance and the upper sig sounds cleaner.

 
Well I didn't want to make a blanket statement like "the higher the break up point the better!" The thing is, as I understand it, the break up point doesn't just mean excess treble energy that can be dealt with by dampening etc. It means that at certain frequencies the driver will begin producing other unwanted frequencies as parts of the driver begin moving out of sync with other parts. ie: this is a kind of distortion, and why electrostatics were designed in the first place.
 
Since you can't selectively damp different frequencies at different times (you cannot deal with distortion by damping) it points at how material selection for the driver is a design choice.
 
Only saying this because I'll be interested to see again if Sony can do something interesting with their LCP driver which didn't seem all that great in the Z1000.
 
Also, I got my XB400's. It's boomtown for sure!
 
Edit 2: I have to say though, even for this $30 piece of plastic, Sony knows how to make something really really nice and comfortable.

 

[tomscy2000]

I've been listening to 'Music is Better Than Words" --- Seth MacFarlane has quite the pleasant voice and the album is a good listen; it's just a little distracting to automatically conjure up images of Brian Griffin crooning away in your head...

 

[kiteki]

Thanks for the video link A_rec.
 
Another company using diamond tweeters is "Usher audio" in Taiwan, you can in theory buy the tweeter and woofer driver parts from them seperately - http://www.usheraudio.com/Drivers.html to make your own high-end bookshelf speakers.
 
I don't really want Romy to look at these since she might buy them and never return to headphones hehe.  http://www.usheraudio.com/Loudspeaker_Dancer%20Mini-X%20diamond.html.
 
 
As for the break-up frequency (does this work with girls too?) then I think the CC coupler B&K whatevers used by Tyll, Sonove, GE, Rin, purrin etc. have some difficulty in finding it right, when you look at the raw data they seem to suck a little above 10kHz.
 
I'm not sure what the issue is there.  I'm not familiar with what equipment they're using to measure speaker driver performance but it doesn't appear to have the same issues.
 
Tannoy seem to promote ultra-high-frequency linearity as well.
 
Your information from your book with references to Young modulus, Q, research by KEF etc., around the time when we were discussing the FXD80, introduced me to KEF speakers, I've only demoed one so far (the KEF C1) in a high-end audio store here, it was nothing special so I didn't try the C3, they have the Q300 and the LS50 as well, I think they have all of them including the Blade, Muon, etc.  I feel like going back to try the Q300 and LS50, except with my own CD and not soft instrumental jazz and some random Chinese music which is all they had there, really annoying for me to demo speakers with jazz music, and a salesman which is probably narrow-minded as to what "audiophile music" is, sigh.
 
Anyway I took home a pair of Acoustic Energy's and haven't listened to my Yamahas once since.
 
 
Speaking of the JVC's and break-up frequencies etc. did you see my post on 'sine-wave tightness'?  Link.

 

[MuppetFace]

Decided to get the Sony F806 Walkman, which should be in by the time the Ocharaku Flat-4 Maple and FitEar F111 arrive. I've also got a Sennheiser HE60 coming my way at some point.
 
Heard back from Leckerton, and they can't seem to hear the [extremely noticeable] crackling on the UHA-6S...
 
: \
 
They said "hey it could be due to a really humid environment," which seems to me to be the catch-all for explaining inexplicable phenomena. Electrostats buzzing? Humidity. Volume pot crackling? Humidity. You'd think I lived in a Turkish bathhouse. Thing is, I live in the same state as Leckerton HQ, not very far from them in a relative sense. Also I keep my dwelling extremely cold and dry. In fact, the lack of humidity is what seems to make my HeAUDIO Jades so testy.
 
I've spoken to another UHA-6S owner who had the same problem, and he said it turned out to be an issue with the volume pot itself and only went away when it was replaced with the one they use on the MKII UHA-6S. I think I'll ask Leckerton to swap it out anyway even if they can't hear it themselves. I'm just a bit perturbed they can't hear a thing when it was loud enough to make me worry about damaging my IEMs.
 
I think I'm going to pick up the ORB Jade To Go soon. I'm also rather curious about the Sony PHA-1, which I've heard next-to-nothing about thus far:
 
 

 
I really don't need to start a portable amp collection. Sigh.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_recording /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
...
 
It makes sense why I like the Momentum's then, considering that the 7550's are also my favourite all round IEMs...

 
This is the first thing I've read that genuinely makes me want to try the Momentum.

 
 

Quote:

 
I don't really want Romy to look at these since she might buy them and never return to headphones hehe.  http://www.usheraudio.com/Loudspeaker_Dancer%20Mini-X%20diamond.html.
 

 
Those are pretty. Makes me want to try a pair of smaller desktop-type speakers again.
 
*sees their horn speakers*
 
http://www.usheraudio.com/Loudspeaker_D2II.html
 
Oooo... nice. I'm seriously thinking about saying "screw this" to headphones for a while and buying a pair of Wilson or Tidal speakers when I move....

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiteki /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
...really annoying for me to demo speakers with jazz music, and a salesman which is probably narrow-minded as to what "audiophile music" is, sigh.
 
Anyway I took home a pair of Acoustic Energy's and haven't listened to my Yamahas once since.
 
Speaking of the JVC's and break-up frequencies etc. did you see my post on 'sine-wave tightness'?  Link.

 
I really do hate that, as if I should be buying high end audio gear I should be listening to 'high end' music. But its the sort of high art / low art distinction that will probably get eroded in time.
 
I think I saw that graph before, it's terrifically interesting. I wish Tyll would measure all his headphones with square / sine waves for a broader spectrum of results.
 
KEF sure makes some weird stuff.
Quote:

Decided to get the Sony F806 Walkman, which should be in by the time the Ocharaku Flat-4 Maple and FitEar F111 arrive. I've also got a Sennheiser HE60 coming my way at some point.
 
Heard back from Leckerton, and they can't seem to hear the [extremely noticeable] crackling on the UHA-6S...
 
: \
 
I'm also rather curious about the Sony PHA-1, which I've heard next-to-nothing about thus far:
 
 

 

 
My favourite aspect of the PHA-1 is that the metal handles protect the volume control. :3

 

[MuppetFace]

USHER has a distributor in Dallas. Hmm...
 
Road trip?

 

[kiteki]

 
I really don't need to start a portable amp collection. Sigh.

 
No, you don't =].  Just the Jade and your tea-sound-mountain.
 
 
Sorry to hear your Leckerton customer-service issues.  I'd vote for sending it to him and asking for a refund.

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

I've spoken to another UHA-6S owner who had the same problem, and he said it turned out to be an issue with the volume pot itself and only went away when it was replaced with the one they use on the MKII UHA-6S. I think I'll ask Leckerton to swap it out anyway even if they can't hear it themselves. I'm just a bit perturbed they can't hear a thing when it was loud enough to make me worry about damaging my IEMs.
 
I think I'm going to pick up the ORB Jade To Go soon. I'm also rather curious about the Sony PHA-1, which I've heard next-to-nothing about thus far:
 
I really don't need to start a portable amp collection. Sigh.

 
I keep wondering what else is out there, and then reminding myself that I haven't even tried the op-amp rolling I'd been wanting to do since September. Bah.
 
It's probably not an entirely pointless enterprise for you, considering the range of headphones you have. I've discovered the synergies between amps and IEMs to be pleasingly unpredictable. Also portable amps take up a lot less space than desktop and rack amps.
 
I would like to try both the ORB and the Sony. Still on the fence about the design of both, but I'm willing to give them a try.
 
Quote:

I really do hate that, as if I should be buying high end audio gear I should be listening to 'high end' music. But its the sort of high art / low art distinction that will probably get eroded in time.

 
Impulse discussions remind me of some of the conversations I've had with a friend who's a Tannoy fan. When you start talking about crossed-over transducers, then coherency heaves into consideration, and for that the second best thing to a full-spectrum driver is coaxial speakers and a low-order crossover.
 
The problem with "high-end" music that its purpose is not to showcase the music performance, but the recording engineers' performance. It's axiomatic that the most interesting music is not the best recorded music.
 
Allmusic's review of The Blue Nile's first album is a good summary of why hi-fi demo recordings often have a particular sound in a particular way and tend to not be interesting...
 
 

Scotland's Linn Electronics wanted a demo track to demonstrate the fidelity and versatility of their new recording console and tapped a struggling local trio, The Blue Nile, to provide it. Their effort was a deliberately disjunctive song called "A Walk Across the Rooftops." To demonstrate the recording equipment's dynamic range and clarity, the song was arranged most peculiarly, with vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and full string and horn sections all appearing, but never at the same time. Linn liked the song so much that they formed a record label and bankrolled the recording of this full album.

 
...the album accidentally turned out interesting.
 
(I put it on now and again; it's kind of plodding for my tastes but is acceptable background music aside from the occasional synthesizer sting. And the singer really is good. It's my partner's copy: Her fondness for The Blue Nile is why she has more audiophile-approved albums than I do.)

 

[MuppetFace]

I really dig the new avatar, kiteki.
 
I also really dig the look of the Vivid G1 Giya:
 
 

 
Reminds me of I-No's hat.

 

[ardgedee]

Or elf shoes.

 

[veyrongatti]

or a Portable Vacuum cleaner 

 

[mosshorn]

Hazelnut syrup in dark roast black coffee all the way, ideally with vanilla-flavoured cigarettes, on a cold night, with friends.

This sounds superb. What vanilla cigarettes do you use?