[Takeda`1537]

My vow is more of a correction. I like to think I'm one of the most FOMO-proof mofos here. I vowed three years ago to keep only three over-ear cans at once, a vow that remains unbroken to this day. In fact, I only have two now!

Kudos

 

[Takeda`1537]

Was the Phoenixcall one of the first to use microplanars? I think it sounds fantastic, especially once you pull it off it’s matching but sadly bright-inclining cable.

nice promising tech innovation in an industry that seem just to re-jiggle the same tech over and over again...

 

[o0genesis0o]

Was the Phoenixcall one of the first to use microplanars? I think it sounds fantastic, especially once you pull it off it’s matching but sadly bright-inclining cable.

Phoenixcall’s planar driver received a lot of flacks when it was released. If I remember correctly, those drivers were first used in a collab with Zeos. HBB opens up the driver and call them fake. I can’t recall whether the treble of phoenixcall was special, but it’s a shame that kinera tunes something called “phoenix” so disco boom boom.

Edit: so no, Kinera’s driver is different from these “square planar” and also different from the 6mm drive used in the new Simgot (and likely CFA dual planar IEM)

---

Spoiler: My non audio discovery

Pretty nice used ThinkPad X1 Yoga with quad core intel, 16GB of ram, and 256GB (upgradable) SSD for less than a midfi IEM.

I use Arch, btw

Don’t buy new laptop unless it’s a MacBook Air M3 13 inch, folks. I checked all the models on display in retail store here in Australia, and there is nothing but low quality poorly made malware infected stuffs on the low price market (less than $1000). If you want a brand new laptop for yourself to actually use on the road and do serious work, get a MacBook Air M3 with 16GB of ram for right around $1000 (or less with student discount). If you can’t, go used and get a thinkpad. The ones from 2019-2020 are going to last for a long time.

 

[Syan25]

I am in an even smaller room, and I have Bowers & Wilkins 706 S2---> and I am not even British!

Cheers!

Nice speakers.

 

[fidgeraldo]

Nice speakers.

Not bad...and British, too!
Musical Fidelity and Audiolab...am I a Brit audio supporter???

Cheers!

 

[Syan25]

I'm still quite surprised you love the Explorer. Thought it would be too chill, too smooth, for you. Glad you dig! It's a special set.

I think the LEC codes only were for sale through Nov. 5. I went to linsoul.com yesterday to investigate buying one or both, and they were not for sale.

I sell gear or use my gig money. My 11.11 purchase of the $200-ish P5+2 may be the only purchase from the "general fund" I make this year as a small treat to me.

Sure as hell does. It all adds up.

Then why keep the other 30? Sell them to buy better IEMs that are worth the dough with other people's money! That's one of my favorite ways to buy -- "other people's money."

My vow is more of a correction. I like to think I'm one of the most FOMO-proof mofos here. I vowed three years ago to keep only three over-ear cans at once, a vow that remains unbroken to this day. In fact, I only have two now!

Vacations here consist of visiting our daughter and son-in-law in Seattle and son in Durango, Colorado, at least annually. We also have a small house on a lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, so we can "vacation" there on weekends in the summer.

This graphic gave me a hearty belly laugh. So effing true and shows what gullible sheep consumers can be. Funny!

You bet. I run all my IEMs off desktop gear about 97 percent of the time. The Piccolo is about the only one I run from a phone dongle, and it sounds better on desktop.

Call the EMTs -- holy f*ck, I had a stroke reading that. I probably don't spend $1,000 on any discretionary stuff in a year. Whisky and weed are not discretionary -- they are essential for life. But I don't even spend that much on those, either.


Yes, yes, yes. I have maxed my 401K since I was a newspaper reporter in the late 80s making $17K per year. I take advantage of every tax shelter I can find. We buy only used cars, pay them off early. Paid off mortgages early. Never carry a credit card balance ever. Sounds spartan, but I'm on track to enter semi-retirement at age 61.5 with a nice nest egg buttressed by zero family money. The furthest thing from a member of the Lucky Sperm Club here. I come from a stable, upper-middle class family, but both of my parents were raised during the Great Depression in America in working class families, so they drilled the importance of savings to me and my three siblings and made it VERY clear there would be no handouts to us as adults.

I love race cars and race motorcycles. But my eye also is drawn by attractive performance street cars, too. Mainly sports cars.

I just do a load of OT to save up. Or I focus funds on studio equipment. Or photography.

 

[Syan25]

Not bad...and British, too!
Musical Fidelity and Audiolab...am I a Brit audio supporter???

Cheers!

Excellent! Can't go wrong with those brands. My amps are Cambridge Audio! British.

But I cheated. I bought the Adam Audio A7V monitors. German.

Can I be forgiven?

 

[Surf Monkey]

Excellent! Can't go wrong with those brands. My amps are Cambridge Audio! British.

But I cheated. I bought the Adam Audio A7V monitors. German.

Can I be forgiven?

Cambridge makes great gear. My phono amp is Cambridge.

 

[Syan25]

Cambridge makes great gear. My phono amp is Cambridge.

Mine too.

 

[fidgeraldo]

Can I be forgiven?

Cheers!

 

[Thieme]

Jeez IvipQ is really branching out and showing that Xinhs and Zisin are indeed part of them. They started selling ear tips on AliExpress now. L is only 13mm and they are pretty pricey so I won't try them but I really wonder if they work well and what they are even thinking. There are so many ear tips already and so many established names too. Seems difficult to get in between.

 

[pk4425]

My amps are Cambridge Audio! British.

I really liked the original Melomania TWS earbuds from Cambridge Audio back in 2020. Nice sound considering it's Bluetooth and only around $100.

 

[jotaerre]

Those of you who have the R3II have you updated it to v1.3?

 

[PhonoPhi]

Phoenixcall’s planar driver received a lot of flacks when it was released. If I remember correctly, those drivers were first used in a collab with Zeos. HBB opens up the driver and call them fake. I can’t recall whether the treble of phoenixcall was special, but it’s a shame that kinera tunes something called “phoenix” so disco boom boom.

Edit: so no, Kinera’s driver is different from these “square planar” and also different from the 6mm drive used in the new Simgot (and likely CFA dual planar IEM)

---

Spoiler: My non audio discovery

Pretty nice used ThinkPad X1 Yoga with quad core intel, 16GB of ram, and 256GB (upgradable) SSD for less than a midfi IEM.


I use Arch, btw

Don’t buy new laptop unless it’s a MacBook Air M3 13 inch, folks. I checked all the models on display in retail store here in Australia, and there is nothing but low quality poorly made malware infected stuffs on the low price market (less than $1000). If you want a brand new laptop for yourself to actually use on the road and do serious work, get a MacBook Air M3 with 16GB of ram for right around $1000 (or less with student discount). If you can’t, go used and get a thinkpad. The ones from 2019-2020 are going to last for a long time.

Kinera/Celest was one of the first to use microplanars in Gumiho - a pleasant simple BA-microplanar hybrid.

Phoenixcall has quite an unconventional tuning but with a great potential in my experience. One needs to spend at least 20 minutes to adapt to it to fully appreciate quite low pinna gain with the resolution and overall tuning feeling harmonious and enjoyable.

Another totally "unconventional" tuning with BA-like microplanars is 1 More Penta (4 microplanars + DLC DD).
It is amazing how having different 'reviewer exposure" makes a difference!
Virtually none of "HIFi reviewers", and "consumer-oriented reviewers" are quite ... ridiculous in their evaluation and sentiments....

To my ears 1 More Penta features one of the best treble (as in smooth and resolving) due to its microplanars. Yet a DLC DD prominence by tunung is quite a bit overwhelming for my preferences. I will try to work out EQ with my R4.

Plutus Beast is another microplanar hybrid that I enjoy as my bass-head IEM

P. S. Moondrop May is another microplanar hybrid with perhaps a bit rough tuning but with a great potential. IMO.. Moondrop needs to advertise/promote the cultural heritage better - @baskingshark helped me to really appreciate it.

I hope KZ will start to use mixroplanars one day

 

[Hypops]

Excellent! Can't go wrong with those brands. My amps are Cambridge Audio! British.

But I cheated. I bought the Adam Audio A7V monitors. German.

Can I be forgiven?

Not sure how "British" Cambridge Audio is at this point. I think most of their gear is manufactured in China, but similar to Apple, they use the label "designed in" the UK. But to be fair, most audio gear is never made in just one place. As another example, Schiit Audio can't legally say they are "made in the USA," so they use "assembled in" instead. I own a Peachtree amp, and those are "designed in" the US, but manufactured and assembled in Canada. And so on. The only things that seem to be actually "made in" one place (other than China) are either very expensive or are from small boutique manufacturers, but even they have to source parts (and sometimes assembly) from other places too.