Oh, and on the AK120 comment before: I'm just being snarky. I actually really appreciate when people point out new releases in this thread, because I rarely venture outside of it and a few other subscriptions these days.
05/09/12
Dear Diary,
My UHA-6S (the original, not the MK.II) is having problems. Again. This time it's the DAC section, specifically the USB input that seems to be cutting out a lot. I'll be listening to music and suddenly the sound vanishes. Try to replay the track, and I get a choppy and unlistenable response, like it keeps breaking up and can't maintain a connection or maybe like there's a serious lag / slow down. When I unplug and replug it in the problem is fixed. For about three minutes before going out again.
Tried different cables and USB outputs, but I'm pretty sure the issue on the DAC's side. The amp section works just fine. So now I have to send it in for another check up... poo.
I love my UHA-6S to bits (
I wanna kiss it on the lips), but it seems to have a lot of minor issues that pop up from time to time. Wondering if I could upgrade to a UHA-6S.MKII if I ask nicely enough and offer a bit of cash.
Speaking of, I was told by Yama that they'd be getting a new batch of Stax SRS-002 sets in mid-April. Haven't heard back since, but I sent them another e-mail to see what's up with that. Hopefully I can *finally* get an SRM-002 that doesn't have a high-pitched whine whenever I switch it to eco mode. Come on Stax, I expect better than this from you.
A link was posted a few pages back to Rin's blog entry on the Widing ME-10EX, an earphone that James is quite fond of. AFAIK he's one of the only head-fiers who has
one two of these things. Sadly they seem to have quality control issues, as one of his sets developed a rather pronounced channel imbalance. They also seem to be out-of-production.
Truly an enigmatic earphone, this. Doing a quick search on the Googs reveals some head-fi posts, Rin's blog entry, and several other blogs that are mostly in Chinese. All dated from around 2010 to 2011. Photos seem to be fairly eclectic, some of them showing a dull clay or taupe colored housing while others show a more vibrant mallard color. This leads me to believe a fair number of these blog entries were for prototypes or early production models.
I did run into something rather interesting however. Something even more enigmatic:
The above model is the ME-10-P, while the bottom is the ME-10
DX. The former is a less expensive variant it seems, while the latter is an even more expensive "flagship" version. Not sure how it would compare to the ME-10EX, but the ME-10DX's output impedance is even higher at 150 ohm from 130 ohm. The finish is also decidedly more FAD-like. Cable looks different too.
I'd like to go ahead and pick one up, only it's on Tao Bao, and that site confuses the hell out of me. I have no idea what I'm doing. Also looking at the info, it says it's a pre-order. So this thing isn't even out yet...? Says it's due out early April, which came and went of course. Ideally I could contact the seller and ask what's up with it, but that prospect sounds even more confusion potentially LOL.
Thinking about the UM 3DD. Seems like a few diary regulars are picking one up, right? The prerelease hype seems pretty substantial. Not so sure I'm sold on the idea of three dynamic drivers. I imagine it's going to be incredibly colored, ie. bassy in a wub-wub way. Also UM seems to be promoting the universal option more openly with this thing, and I kind of like the idea of going that direction in this context, however UM is a bit notorious for having less-than-stellar demo units for their CIEMs. At least compared to Ultimate Ears and Rooth. Makes me a bit hesitant to go the universalized custom route with them.
WUB-WUB should be an official audiophile term, by the way.
I'm actually more intrigued by the
Rooth Elpis. Rather than three dynamic drivers, it's a less novel hybrid with one balanced armature and one dynamic. The pricing is quite low relatively speaking however. From the reports of others, it seems quite colored as opposed to Rooth's previous entry-level model. They also offer a bass port option to make it even bassier, I guess. You can get it in a universal version too.
Wow. Lots of "universalized customs" now. My prediction from last year seems to be coming true. Demo units for CIEMs have been around a while, sure, but companies specifically marketing them as a viable form factor unto themselves sort of entered into public awareness 'round here with the FitEar TO GO! 334 and F111. Then we had Aurisonic's ASG-1, Heir's universals, Tralucent's 1Plus2, stuff from Rhapsodio, etc. I suppose you can add the 3DD and Elpis to that list.
Not really feeling the AS-2 now having spoken to some owners of the production version (which has changed from the prototype quite substantially apparently), but the universalized ASG-2 remains a future prospect, especially if I could get it with gold faceplates just like the custom version. I'm also very curious about the InEar-Monitoring Stage Diver 2 or 3; the latter says "lotsa bass" in the product description, so I'm wondering if the former dual driver version wouldn't sound more even-keeled. What's up with these monitors and the
wub-wub?
I know I'm sort of all over the place. I'm a flighty individual, and while my attention span is actually quite good, I tend to focus on lots of possibilities and permutations at the same time. Really tho I have two primary projects at the moment. The first is my planar magnetic fixation---fueled in part by my lusting over the LAu---which has me exploring some really awesome vintage stuff again and looking into the more technical side of this hobby. Learning about driver design, magnets, damping materials... lots of fun. Also I'm getting swept up in the idea of sending newer orthos to Martin Custom Audio for their luxurious wood treatment. Curiously enough the zebrawood on the LCD-3 that I didn't care for is starting to grow on me, so now I'm leaning more toward sending in a HiFiMan, either the HE-500 or the HE-4. Haven't heard the latter, and there's also the unique single-sided factor, so thus far I'm liking that idea most.
The other main project of mine these days has been exploring CIEMs. My fixation has been on FitEar primarily, with my C435 on its way now that I have the MH335DW. Already thinking about getting the MH333. Now I find myself planning something similar with Canal Works, an entity that has been on my radar ever since Tom namedropped them a while back. Something about them really intrigued me from the moment I visited their website.