The discovery thread!
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Rin1990
1000+ Head-Fier
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So I've decided I'm gonna write briefly about my love for the xDSD here.
See, I've been stuck with the Q1 for over 5 long years and it's really showing its bottleneck as I learn to appreciate more and more high end IEMs, so I've always wanted to one day get a nice deal where I can get a pristine-condition-looking xDSD from a former owner, and since the last few days I obtained it at long last.
And immediately the sound is night and day. With my Supra CIEM everything just seems to have opened up and became "bigger", and doing that with little to no coloration is pretty impressive a feat, I'd say.
First thing I noticed is the bigger and wider soundstage, there's just a very impressive amount on both sides and the separation gives that psuedo "sound out of the head" feeling, which is saying a lot considering I'm only using a rather "measly dual BA driver IEM".
Bass hits harder, slams and decay with better authority but also tightened up. If anything I'd say there's elevation of quantity with slightly lesser amount of quality for the low ends.
Midrange is thick, lush and crisp. Ed Sheeran and Abel Tesfaye sounded pretty amazing, and Agnes Obel is haunting as ever, Kenny G's legendary as always, except this time I can sort of "feel" the note that he's playing but can't really quite grasp it yet (again, bottleneck from the Supra)
Treble has a very fair extension and never once sounded piercing or sibilant, though there are still some notable roll offs in certain songs so the amount is still visibly lacking. There is however, some sparkles added and that's pretty impressive considering this doesn't happen when paired to Q1's PCM5102. Like. Ever.
Not with the Supra at least.
All in all, this is a long overdue upgrade and I couldn't be any happier with my luck in finally getting one for myself.
See, I've been stuck with the Q1 for over 5 long years and it's really showing its bottleneck as I learn to appreciate more and more high end IEMs, so I've always wanted to one day get a nice deal where I can get a pristine-condition-looking xDSD from a former owner, and since the last few days I obtained it at long last.
And immediately the sound is night and day. With my Supra CIEM everything just seems to have opened up and became "bigger", and doing that with little to no coloration is pretty impressive a feat, I'd say.
First thing I noticed is the bigger and wider soundstage, there's just a very impressive amount on both sides and the separation gives that psuedo "sound out of the head" feeling, which is saying a lot considering I'm only using a rather "measly dual BA driver IEM".
Bass hits harder, slams and decay with better authority but also tightened up. If anything I'd say there's elevation of quantity with slightly lesser amount of quality for the low ends.
Midrange is thick, lush and crisp. Ed Sheeran and Abel Tesfaye sounded pretty amazing, and Agnes Obel is haunting as ever, Kenny G's legendary as always, except this time I can sort of "feel" the note that he's playing but can't really quite grasp it yet (again, bottleneck from the Supra)
Treble has a very fair extension and never once sounded piercing or sibilant, though there are still some notable roll offs in certain songs so the amount is still visibly lacking. There is however, some sparkles added and that's pretty impressive considering this doesn't happen when paired to Q1's PCM5102. Like. Ever.
Not with the Supra at least.
All in all, this is a long overdue upgrade and I couldn't be any happier with my luck in finally getting one for myself.
jsmiller58
Headphoneus Supremus
I have two xDSDs sitting in a drawer, unused for a long time in favor of more portable dongle DACs and BT receivers…. I may just have to break mine out for a listen after all…!So I've decided I'm gonna write briefly about my love for the xDSD here.
See, I've been stuck with the Q1 for over 5 long years and it's really showing its bottleneck as I learn to appreciate more and more high end IEMs, so I've always wanted to one day get a nice deal where I can get a pristine-condition-looking xDSD from a former owner, and since the last few days I obtained it at long last.
And immediately the sound is night and day. With my Supra CIEM everything just seems to have opened up and became "bigger", and doing that with little to no coloration is pretty impressive a feat, I'd say.
First thing I noticed is the bigger and wider soundstage, there's just a very impressive amount on both sides and the separation gives that psuedo "sound out of the head" feeling, which is saying a lot considering I'm only using a rather "measly dual BA driver IEM".
Bass hits harder, slams and decay with better authority but also tightened up. If anything I'd say there's elevation of quantity with slightly lesser amount of quality for the low ends.
Midrange is thick, lush and crisp. Ed Sheeran and Abel Tesfaye sounded pretty amazing, and Agnes Obel is haunting as ever, Kenny G's legendary as always, except this time I can sort of "feel" the note that he's playing but can't really quite grasp it yet (again, bottleneck from the Supra)
Treble has a very fair extension and never once sounded piercing or sibilant, though there are still some notable roll offs in certain songs so the amount is still visibly lacking. There is however, some sparkles added and that's pretty impressive considering this doesn't happen when paired to Q1's PCM5102. Like. Ever.
Not with the Supra at least.
All in all, this is a long overdue upgrade and I couldn't be any happier with my luck in finally getting one for myself.
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Rin1990
1000+ Head-Fier
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That's awesome.
It's quite a powerful thing.
I will say this though, my scale of improvement might be more radical than others since I upgraded from what's possibly the most basic of basic entry DAC amp.
So you might not feel the similar sound improvement like I did.
Just saying that to avoid sounding like a hype beast.
r31ya
Headphoneus Supremus
Ah the technically "portable" bluetooth DAC/AMP.
---
When your dongle is bigger that the thing it "dangling" from...
jsmiller58
Headphoneus Supremus
I do remember them fondly - used to listen from my xDSDs years ago when I was on business trips. Finally getting back on a plane in a week and it will be a good excuse to try the xDSD again!That's awesome.
It's quite a powerful thing.
I will say this though, my scale of improvement might be more radical than others since I upgraded from what's possibly the most basic of basic entry DAC amp.
So you might not feel the similar sound improvement like I did.
Just saying that to avoid sounding like a hype beast.
jsmiller58
Headphoneus Supremus
That is hilarious! And also cool! How is the Xduoo?Ah the technically "portable" bluetooth DAC/AMP.
---
When your dongle is bigger that the thing it "dangling" from...
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Very nice! I have the XD05 Basic but with the Burson Opamp. Loving it!
r31ya
Headphoneus Supremus
The xduoo is not mine,
But it is super awesome. If you don't mind the form factor, it simply one of, if not the best in the price point.
jsmiller58
Headphoneus Supremus
I have been considering the various Xduoo options for a “transportable” option. I want small enough to take with me but large enough to come with great features and power…
r31ya
Headphoneus Supremus
The Bricky brick XD-05, have XD-05 Basic (500mW), XD-05 PLus (1000mW)
Below it is the relatively smaller IFI XDSD (the bluetooth one) and HIP DAC 2 (wired one) who have 400mW~500mW power or so.
Below that again is the smol bluetooth dongle family of BTR5, UP5, Q5K, GoBlu which all have power max out at 240mW
-
To note i run Hifiman HE400i (2020), Planar Headphone from a BTR5 2.5mm balanced out 240mW and generate decent volume out of it.
That being said HE400i (2020) is noted to have lower power req compared to HE4xx or HE400SE, which the former barely make a sound on 3.5mm single ended out 80mW.
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bryaudioreviews
100+ Head-Fier
KB Ear Aurora / TKZK Wave / BGVP DH5 - Unboxing & First Look
Hey guys, just received a few new IEMs not long ago. Here are my first impressions:
KB Ear Aurora - $169usd, 1DD. Warm Harman, amazing bass quantity and quality, smooth. Reminds me of the BLON BL-03, but much better in terms of technicalities. If you are looking for a huge BL03 upgrade, maybe this might be it?
Aurora review done! Review link here - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kbear-aurora.25392/review/27119/
TKZK Wave - $39usd, 1DD+1BA. neutral to neutral bright tuning, pretty lean bass and mids, treble can be a bit bright. Reminds me of the HM, but with metallic BA timbre and the usual BA/hybrid characteristics.
TKZK Wave review done! Review link here - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/tkzk-wave.25480/review/27146/
BGVP DH5 - $85usd, 1DD+4BA. A pretty analogue U-shaped sounding IEM, albeit haunted with its 5kHz treble peak... which might be an issue to some. To my ears, I do not find it much of an issue as I find it to add a bit of excitement to an otherwise smooth sounding treble.
BGVP DH5 review done! Review link here - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/bgvp-dh5.25524/review/27175/
Frequency Response graphs for all 3 IEMs are shown below. If you have any questions regarding any of these IEMs, feel free to let me know and I'll get back to you asap.
Full reviews for all 3 IEMs will be out soon. Stay tuned.
BGVP DH5 review done. A "decent" hybrid IMO, but YMMW (thanks to the 5kHz peak).
Do check it out if you guys are interested - https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/bgvp-dh5.25524/review/27175/
Animagus
Reviewer at Twister6
Hey guys! Thought I'll post about it here for guys who don't follow the Softears thread. Here's my dual review of Softears RS10 (10BA) and Cerberus (1DD+4BA+2EST) flagship IEMs. I had a great time testing them and writing the article. It's longer than usual and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you have any questions for me. Cheers!
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If anyone has been fighting the losing battle of trying and failing to update their Hiby R3 Pro or Hiby R3 Pro Saber, check out my post on their thread for the links to the internal cloner utility, recovery image, and instructions to follow to fix your R3 Pro (Saber) so you can run the firmware update properly.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r3-pro-portable-bluetooth-dap.916299/post-16640387
The support rep from Hiby was extremely prompt and provided me with the download links which came with written instructions as well as a video attachment to the email. I just decided to write out the instructions myself to try to clarify some steps that were a bit vague in their instructions.
Best of luck for all the R3 Pro owners out there!
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hiby-r3-pro-portable-bluetooth-dap.916299/post-16640387
The support rep from Hiby was extremely prompt and provided me with the download links which came with written instructions as well as a video attachment to the email. I just decided to write out the instructions myself to try to clarify some steps that were a bit vague in their instructions.
Best of luck for all the R3 Pro owners out there!
Also, to any of the poor souls out there struggling to figure out what the heck is going wrong with their HiBy R3 Pro (Saber) in USB DAC mode on windows after the upgrade to 1.6:
If you've previously installed the HiBy USB DAC software+driver for a previous update, you may need to uninstall it, reboot your system, unplug and replug your R3 Pro, then rerun the latest installer. Once it completes and recognizes that you've got the device plugged in, it should tell you to restart your PC. Do so and you should be rewarded with your DAP now connecting and outputting properly as a USB DAC again. If you want to force your PC to output higher bitrate and depth than the default, you'll want to open the HiBy software, move over to the relevant tab, and set the output to the desired channel number and bit depth. Then, open control panel, open the sound settings, open the HiBy R3 Pro USB device properties, open the advanced tab, then set your bitrate with the same bit depth that you selected before in the HiBy software. This should force your PC to output at a higher bitrate to the DAC chip in the R3 Pro. Be aware that forcing a higher bitrate and bit depth than the content was encoded for often doesn't benefit you in any meaningful way, so use this function at your own discretion. The ESS DAC is very capable, so it shouldn't necessarily sound worse for the interpolation and processing, but if things start to sound off, check the bitrate and depth of your content and adjust accordingly.
If you've previously installed the HiBy USB DAC software+driver for a previous update, you may need to uninstall it, reboot your system, unplug and replug your R3 Pro, then rerun the latest installer. Once it completes and recognizes that you've got the device plugged in, it should tell you to restart your PC. Do so and you should be rewarded with your DAP now connecting and outputting properly as a USB DAC again. If you want to force your PC to output higher bitrate and depth than the default, you'll want to open the HiBy software, move over to the relevant tab, and set the output to the desired channel number and bit depth. Then, open control panel, open the sound settings, open the HiBy R3 Pro USB device properties, open the advanced tab, then set your bitrate with the same bit depth that you selected before in the HiBy software. This should force your PC to output at a higher bitrate to the DAC chip in the R3 Pro. Be aware that forcing a higher bitrate and bit depth than the content was encoded for often doesn't benefit you in any meaningful way, so use this function at your own discretion. The ESS DAC is very capable, so it shouldn't necessarily sound worse for the interpolation and processing, but if things start to sound off, check the bitrate and depth of your content and adjust accordingly.
