[PhoenixClaw]

In other news... Nokia released a new budget phone to beef up their lower end.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/9/4314844/nokia-asha-501-new-platform-launch
 
After my experience with Android and being in a class of iPhone users, I have grown to despise current mobile OSes for being too clunky, too walled, etc. 
Suffice to say this new phone actually got me interested. If you have no real need for an app ecosystem and just need a phone for communication and daily organizer, I seriously can't think of anything better:

 
 
For a "dumbphone" it actually looks pretty cool.

 

[MuppetFace]

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-10DX. 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. 

 

[a_recording]

Okay I just came back from a little mini meet.
 
There was some cool gear on the night: HD650, HE-6, HE-500, Shure 840, and a buncha amps / DACS. We are all university students and its cool to just talk :3
 
I didn't get a chance to listen to everything but I got some good impressions. I was kind of surprised at the 840 sound, which had this kind of mid bass thickness and a sibilant peak and then ??? happening in between that felt a little hollow. It wasn't exactly V-shaped but it was definitely a fun listen, though not balanced.
 
The HE-6 was classic orthodynamic cleanness to my ears but I found the treble a little rough for me, though I wasn't really listening on stuff I was too familiar with.
 
The surprise of the night actually turned out to be the MA900! We all agreed that it actually sounded surprisingly similar to the HD650. Essentially they have the same basic character but the MA900 has more forward mids. On some tracks the HD650 had richer vocals and in other tracks it seemed congested, but all in all they were definitely more similar than they were different. This is great considering that the MA900 is both less expensive and more comfortable. (We checked and the current price of the MA900 is 167 AUD on Amazon Japan which is just nuts!) It's like the mystical HD650 with less of a veil, and now that I've done an A/B I can rest easy knowing that I don't need the HD650 anymore.
 
My AD1000X also got some ears on with someone who had some experience with the AD900X and AD2000. We both agreed that the AD1000X doesn't have thw grain / incoherence that the AD900X has, and also has a peculiar colouration in the lower treble (like a less extreme AD2000) that makes female vocals just awesome. I'm really struck how Audio Technica with its high end stuff really does aim for flavour as much as technical ability. It's odd considering that I don't really understand how you can even voice a headphone for an upper treble peak. I understand putting a filter on a headphone to roll off the treble broadly, but the high end AT gear just does something specific and awesome.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Someone must be really bored to make a sock account just to call drez out.
 
I'm assuming it's a sock account. The alternative (ie. proprietor of the site does searches for it everyday, sees it get mentioned, has to sign up) is just too pathetic.
 
Really tho, I love that whoever-it-is announces "I am replying to your post #11334" as if it wasn't obvious from quoting that post above in the first place. 

 
It's actually more likely that the proprietor of the site saw incoming traffic from the link I posted, and then began reading this thread and wrote a reply.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

 
I'm assuming it's a sock account. The alternative (ie. proprietor of the site does searches for it everyday, sees it get mentioned, has to sign up) is just too pathetic.

 
I wouldn't be surprised if that were in fact true...  Actually, one can set up Google search alert thingees, where Google will email you of any changes to it's index for whatever search term one chooses.
 
Quote:

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.

 
And yet, I can't imagine that interesting bits of info make their way to you with any degree of difficulty. 

 
Quote:

WUB-WUB should be an official audiophile term, by the way.

 
Curious, what should the official definition be?
 
Quote:

My AD1000X also got some ears on with someone who had some experience with the AD900X and AD2000. We both agreed that the AD1000X doesn't have thw grain / incoherence that the AD900X has, and also has a peculiar colouration in the lower treble (like a less extreme AD2000) that makes female vocals just awesome.

 
Was there any discussion of Permendur (or any other Middle-Earth metals), and the effect that it has on the cans?  Did others seem to think that a pad change would bring you significantly closer to the 2000?

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

 
It's actually more likely that the proprietor of the site saw incoming traffic from the link I posted, and then began reading this thread and wrote a reply.

 
Oh, right, I forgot you posted a link. I've actually seen the other thing happen quite a lot tho believe it or not.

 

[driver 8]

It could also be that a mutual member of Head-Fi and that site mentioned it. I actually think that's more likely than name googling*
 
* A guy on another forum I'm on who was banned used to do this constantly and amke alt accounts to come back and yell at people.  For awhile it became common to just include his name at the end of every post.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

The surprise of the night actually turned out to be the MA900! We all agreed that it actually sounded surprisingly similar to the HD650. Essentially they have the same basic character but the MA900 has more forward mids. On some tracks the HD650 had richer vocals and in other tracks it seemed congested, but all in all they were definitely more similar than they were different. This is great considering that the MA900 is both less expensive and more comfortable. (We checked and the current price of the MA900 is 167 AUD on Amazon Japan which is just nuts!) It's like the mystical HD650 with less of a veil, and now that I've done an A/B I can rest easy knowing that I don't need the HD650 anymore.

 
Agreed! Though the HD650 has one thing going for it IMHO: it scales up higher than the MA900 in my experience. The gap between them starts to widen a little bit when you start running them on certain gear.
 
Also regarding the notorious veil on the HD650: apparently more recent models are closer to the HD600 and lack the more veiled character of the earlier units. Can't recall the designators off the top of my head, but you can tell which is which based on the color of the screen.
 
Edit: Oh, and the cable on the HD650 is better.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

 
* A guy on another forum I'm on who was banned used to do this constantly and amke alt accounts to come back and yell at people.  For awhile it became common to just include his name at the end of every post.

 
Is his name D**e T***n by any chance?

 

[driver 8]

Yeah, I got the silver-screen ones in 2008 and never thought they sounded veiled.  I agree with Jude in Head-Fi TV episode whatever that they sounded a bit more refined than the HD600's, but I use the later as my casual headphones now since my 650's have basically fallen apart :/
 
-Edit-
 
Quote:

 
Is his name D**e T***n by any chance?

 
No, this was on a video game forum.  I'd tell you who or link to his site, but I don't feel like dealing with his ****.

 

[Romy The Cat]

Quote:

Someone must be really bored to make a sock account just to call drez out.
 
I'm assuming it's a sock account. The alternative (ie. proprietor of the site does searches for it everyday, sees it get mentioned, has to sign up) is just too pathetic.
 
Really tho, I love that whoever-it-is announces "I am replying to your post #11334" as if it wasn't obvious from quoting that post above in the first place. 

 
[size=medium]MuppetFace,[/size]
 
[size=medium]You would be a bad Sherlock Holmes. [/size]
 
[size=medium]This is not impersonated account. I am Romy the Cat, the guy who runs the GoodSoundClub site and I do not feel that I am pathetic. My site references hit high volume traffic from head-fi.org and I was naturally wondering what it was all about.  I do like this site, even though I very seldom if ever visit it. [/size]
 
[size=medium]Anyhow I did come across drez’s criticism of my acoustic environment and I was wondering what it might be all about. For sure, his comments might be just another interment audio Moron™ running his empty mouth but it also might be that the guy has something useful critical to say. Why do not extend him an opportunity to share his view, that what I had proposed…[/size]

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Was there any discussion of Permendur (or any other Middle-Earth metals), and the effect that it has on the cans?  Did others seem to think that a pad change would bring you significantly closer to the 2000?

 
We were definitely interested to know if it would be possible to bring the AD1000X up to the AD2000X level with just a pad swap, but sadly we do not yet have an AD2000X yet on hand to try...
 
Quote:

Agreed! Though the HD650 has one thing going for it IMHO: it scales up higher than the MA900 in my experience. The gap between them starts to widen a little bit when you start running them on certain gear.
 
Also regarding the notorious veil on the HD650: apparently more recent models are closer to the HD600 and lack the more veiled character of the earlier units. Can't recall the designators off the top of my head, but you can tell which is which based on the color of the screen.
 
Edit: Oh, and the cable on the HD650 is better.

 
Interesting! Certainly I always have liked the HD650, but this just means I can save the money and put it towards something more awesome and premium heh.
 
If Sony made an all-magnesium MA900 I would be all over that in a heartbeat.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

Quote:

Is his name D**e T***n by any chance?

 
No, this was on a video game forum.  I'd tell you who or link to his site, but I don't feel like dealing with his ****.

 
Oh okay, nuff said.  Thanks! 

 
Quote:

Quote:

Was there any discussion of Permendur (or any other Middle-Earth metals), and the effect that it has on the cans?  Did others seem to think that a pad change would bring you significantly closer to the 2000?

 
We were definitely interested to know if it would be possible to bring the AD1000X up to the AD2000X level with just a pad swap, but sadly we do not yet have an AD2000X yet on hand to try...

 
If it were something as simple as a pad swap and doping the drivers, I imagine that would become an extremely popular mod due to it's cost-savings.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

 
[size=medium]MuppetFace,[/size]
 
[size=medium]You would be a bad Sherlock Holmes. [/size]
 
[size=medium]This is not impersonated account. I am Romy the Cat, the guy who runs the GoodSoundClub site and I do not feel that I am pathetic. My site references hit high volume traffic from head-fi.org and I was naturally wondering what it was all about.  I do like this site, even though I very seldom if ever visit it. [/size]
 
[size=medium]Anyhow I did come across drez’s criticism of my acoustic environment and I was wondering what it might be all about. For sure, his comments might be just another interment audio Moron™ running his empty mouth but it also might be that the guy has something useful critical to say. Why do not extend him an opportunity to share his view, that what I had proposed…[/size]

 
I would make a bad Sherlock Holmes for many reasons!
 
Though credit where credit is due, I did include the possibility that you weren't a sock account. As for drez, he may well be "another interment audio Moron," but you seemingly made an account here for the sole purpose of hashing it out with him about your audio gear.
 
By the way, Romy is my name too! Let's be pals.

 

[drez]

.