The discovery thread!

[Vonbuddy]

Want to pose a question. If you were known as the "lazy audiophile" and didn't want to utilize EQ or buy any additional cables/wires etc. al., what would be your out-of-the-box iem/headphone choices (no filter changes, no switches)? What source (dac/amp) choice would you use with these items if at all? To apply it to this thread of "discovery" include newly discovered items for you (not necessarily new to this particular time and space, September 20, 2023 lol).

 

[cobrabucket]

Want to pose a question. If you were known as the "lazy audiophile" and didn't want to utilize EQ or buy any additional cables/wires etc. al., what would be your out-of-the-box iem/headphone choices (no filter changes, no switches)? What source (dac/amp) choice would you use with these items if at all? To apply it to this thread of "discovery" include newly discovered items for you (not necessarily new to this particular time and space, September 20, 2023 lol).

Hiby R6 Pro II > Penon 10th AE. Both are amongst my top discoveries of 2023.

 

[darmanastartes]

The Hidizs MP145 is a very good IEM and belongs on the short list of recommendations between $100 and $200, particularly if you are looking for a warmer IEM than many of the more neutral or reference-tuned options in this price bracket.

My full review is up on my blog and in my Head-Fi thread.

 

[theintention]

Want to pose a question. If you were known as the "lazy audiophile" and didn't want to utilize EQ or buy any additional cables/wires etc. al., what would be your out-of-the-box iem/headphone choices (no filter changes, no switches)? What source (dac/amp) choice would you use with these items if at all? To apply it to this thread of "discovery" include newly discovered items for you (not necessarily new to this particular time and space, September 20, 2023 lol).

Is it uncommon to not use EQ? I have found that I end up tinkering with things too much looking for imperfections, so I just run out of the box, no EQ.

 

[W0lrince]

Want to pose a question. If you were known as the "lazy audiophile" and didn't want to utilize EQ or buy any additional cables/wires etc. al., what would be your out-of-the-box iem/headphone choices (no filter changes, no switches)? What source (dac/amp) choice would you use with these items if at all? To apply it to this thread of "discovery" include newly discovered items for you (not necessarily new to this particular time and space, September 20, 2023 lol).

If phone is your source (me basically), probally any truthear/moondrop product. With dac/amp i would buy simgot product (i mean i only tried EA500 but i'm impress)

 

[Vonbuddy]

Is it uncommon to not use EQ? I have found that I end up tinkering with things too much looking for imperfections, so I just run out of the box, no EQ.

Personally, I don't eq, but I could find myself doing it (too much) if I started. Even when I use sources, I may tinker to find a setting that works for me, but then I just keep it there. I would differ with folks who say sources don't make a difference. "Just use an Apple dongle" is a frequent comment I hear. I have found distinct preferences in some of my sources that sound better than an Apple dongle. (The key word there is "my", as I can only speak to my listening preferences.)

 

[saldsald]

What BA does Variation have?

They are a custom BA pair with 2 small BAs stacked up. Not sure what they are but I think they are actually mid-treble BAs not just midrange BA as claimed by Moondrop.

 

[saldsald]

THE KZ CASTOR

So my Castor is arrived, I bought the Bass version as they have more unique tuning for me to mod them.
I bought the Castor with my own money, $13 shipped, an IEM that anyone can buy if they are willing to. I have no affiliate with KZ nor any connection with them
and this isn't a review post, more just honest impressions from someone that already happy with his endgame things. Just because the budget segment is very interesting to me, and to fulfill my Mod hobby as how far the budgets can be better.

The usual KZ small box and accessories, just like any other KZ standars, so I didn't take photo of them as I assume all of you ever unboxing a KZ, at least once.
I just took off the L and R driver and store the box, but the unit shell are stunning, made the lazy me grabbed my camera and did little simple set up and took few photos of the Castor. The shell design and the color is elegantly beautiful, they are quite a looker, and don't look like cheapo tranduscers at all. I do think this is the best KZ design I ever had.




So my impressions out of the box, they have great timbre, sounded natural, though intense on upper mids and lower trebles, I'm using 1110 setting as reference with Faeall balanced cable, with Fiio BTR7 as the source:
(I won't use M17 as this is a budget set) and the Pentaconn Coureir Brass on the tip. I will talk about switches later, but I like the 1110 more than others (best balance to me)

Bass : sub bass can't go real deep even though they have 2 DDs with 10mm on the lower frequencies, I can hear the limitation but very capable and passable for something below $50.
Mid bass quite punchy but bleed at the same time with smear (I guess from bad airflow of the filters, as usual). The drivers are quite tactile, they are on fast type so upper bass and texture is quite good
even they are bleeding. They aren't bass head level, above neutral but don't think like Legato. Impact is good enough, better impact than Krila.

Mids : with 1110 tuning, mids are clear, decent details, intense on high mids and lower trebles that made them little bit shouty and little bit towards thinner side, but not as thin as KZ PR2 or Krila because of
big bass counter balance. What impressed me is the timbre, they sounded natural much more than Krila and PR2. Hand claps and finger snapping didn't sounded artificial.

Trebles : lower trebles are too much even for me (who listening to Mest and Z1R that have intense trebles), but I have to give score on the natural timbre presentation. They didn't sounded sibilant of high trebles,
not tizzy, just intense and shouty lower trebles on high volume. The extension on past 10khz are great, airy with great technicalities and still sounded natural.

Technicalities : like recent KZ, they have great technicalities, and I was surprised of how good the details and imaging coming from the DD. Krila and PR2 (of course) have better details and resolution, but this Castor have best balance between technicalities and naturalness, they never sounded over sharp. Soundstage is on medium size, little bit smaller than Krila and PR2. Overall technicalities isnt star of the show but very good score as budget IEMs here.

Overall on standard (non modded) maybe I like Castor than Krila and PR2 because Krila bass is more linear, and I feel castor have better tuning on the bass, and the timbre, where Castor is better than the two.
Details are best on PR2 but mids sounded thin, the Castor is ready out of the box. I mod my Krila and PR2 though, and mod my Castor also to have better sounding. Will talk about this later on post Mod section.

Another photo of beautiful Castor with another recent KZs PR2 and Krila :


Let's talk about 2023 trend now : IEM Switches, not Nintendo Switch 2.
KZ bringing back their 4 Switches, non gimmicky switches that alter the sound tuning? kinda agree, BUT actually they don't have 16 permutations. I observed the switch tuning and measured them and have my conclusion here:


The crossover between 1st DD and 2nd DD is roughly at 300hz, so I neutralize the graph on this frequency, easier to look at.

the number 1 and 2 are BASS tuning (or affecting the Bass DD only, the 10mm driver)
1 for adding sub bass level, and 2 for adding high sub bass level. When you turn on the no 2 switch, which is high sub bass level it will ignore the switch no 1, so ON the 1 or off the 2 will
results the same : High sub bass gain. Turn on the switch 1 and 2 together will result same as turning switch 2 only, they dont sum the bass quantity.
See the graph here :


1 = Sub bass gain
2 = sub bass High gain

00 = bass switch off
10 = adding sub bass level
12 = 02 = adding High sub bass level, see the graph show no differences at all between 0100 and 1100


the Next Switches are number 3 and 4, they are MIDS & TREBLES tuning (or affecting the 2nd DD, the 8mm driver, 300hz above)
3 for adding Mids (after 300hz) and trebles at the same time (can't boost mids only or trebles only)
4 for adding High level boost of Mids and Trebles
again, they behave like the first 2 switches so if switch 4 is on (Mids and trebles High boost) the switch 3 is ignored, wheter you on or off, doesn't make any differences.
See the graph here :

3 = Sub bass gain
4 = sub bass High gain

0000 = all switch off
0030 = adding mids and treble level
0004 = 0034 = adding mids and treble High level, see the graph show no differences at all between 0001 and 0011 (exactly overlapped but actually purple line is there)

Playing around with Switches, I feel that the 1110 setting (1 on, 2 on, 3 on, 4 off) is more suitable to me, because 1 and 2 are on, they have more sub bass, so not only mid and upper bass focused and on the 3 switch will perceived as more balanced tuning, the bass will perceived as reduced (but actually they are having more mids and trebles) with note the crossover are wont be affected so they are like stay on the same level (around 300hz)
See the graph here :


neutralized:


MODS

So here I'm buying the Castor for mods purpose, as I did with Krila, Hola, Pr2 and other budget sets, like I did with Blon BL-03 in the past.
I skipped all the trial and error here :



Basically I want to tame down the high mids and lower trebles, with good airflow for the bass, and still having great technicalities. I tried so many methods and after some experiences,
I found this mod is the best working method with the sounds : double the Mesh500 / Tanchjim filter with tiny needle hole in the center. Adding foam or not depends on how intense the trebles and high trebles.
For Castor, I didn't put foam (I tried with foam, but I didn't like as the foam tamed the upper trebles too much for my liking and Castor already have great timbre and non edgy, therefor absorbing edgy notes with foam aren't necessary)


Step by Step tutorial (ignore the foam photos, I took off the foam in the end):

1. uplift the original filter on the nozzle with small needle or safety pin
2. double (stack) your Mesh500 / Tanchjim Filter
3. put the stacked Mesh500 on some papers (don't pull them from the plastic base) and pinch tiny hole on center with small needle / safety pin (Very important for bass airflow)
4. put on the stacked Mesh500 with hole onto the nozzle gently (the biggest 5mm mesh500 actually is slightly smaller than Castor original filter 5.5mm) but they can be sit on the lid without problem, just patiently put them on the center.
5. do the same on other unit.


And here the result with the same 1110 setting, but I switch to 1111 for reduced bass perceival :


Grey is the default Castor with 1110 tuning
Purple is modded 1110 tuning
Orange is modded 1111 tuning, neutralize to same level with 1110 tuning for easier comparison of bass response perceiving.

More balance tuning, smooth mids, better bass because of better airflow, minimum bass bleed. Definitely better to me. I wish I could lower the pinna gain area but triple stacking Mesh500 made them overdampened even with hole, and killing the trebles too much.
Currently, this is the best mod I can think of unless you want to go deeper Mod with resistors and resolder that required some serious skills which I don't have.
I like Castor after mods, and I do feel they aren't just another beater set. The bass shelf is different, not so linear, while punchy. The timbre is so good, with decent technicalities too. I like them better than Krila (compared modded to modded sets). The PR2 though after modded still have advantage of planar driver, the details, resolution and speed, but PR2 required some serious power to wake them up.

Sorry for looooong post, thanks for reading

Cheers,


DynamicEars

Very nice photos!

 

[firesign]

Not saying as good or anything like that. But if someone had a $200 budget but wanted something like Aurora, I’d tell them to get 41T all day. I haven’t gotten ears to Aurora yet but an opinion I trust signed off on that upgrade path so I’m willing to share it

How can you say something is like the Aurora if you haven’t heard the Aurora???

 

[nikbr]

Not saying as good or anything like that. But if someone had a $200 budget but wanted something like Aurora, I’d tell them to get 41T all day. I haven’t gotten ears to Aurora yet but an opinion I trust signed off on that upgrade path so I’m willing to share it

Oh my, I really thought your suggestion was based on an extensive A/B comparison of the 41T and Aurora, not just hearsay and I was really getting excited cause I could have saved 400€..

 

[Leonarfd]

HIBY R6 Pro 2

Just some short impressions after my first week with R6P2.

Love the design and how slim it is, nice coming from the brick N7. I have had no problems at all with my R6P2, only been musical fun.
As for sound, N7 is slightly warmer in the bass and also has added treble brightness. R6P2 actually have fuller mids than N7, in general R6P2 is more neutral sounding with just hint of warmth.
The sound profile of R6P2 just make all my IEMs work, and it also drives almost all my earbuds to a decent level.

Positives:
Sound is really good, you wont miss anything when using IEMs or easy to drive headphones.
Soundstage is very good and almost at N7 level.
Construction and design
Stable software, I actually had more problems with N7. Weird since HIBY develop the software for Cayin also.
Very clean and silent outputs on both lineout and phone side.
Screen, its gorgeous and big. Puts N7 to shame...
Price is excellent , totally worth the cost.

Negatives:
Buttons are positioned bad, way to easy to skip a song when adjusting volume on right side as you then squeeze.
Case while nice looking don't help the button issue, and make it worse. I know I can mod it.
Battery is okay, but drain relatively fast even on low gain and AB.
Could have wished for more power, but this would have added on the price and bulk of the DAP.

Not saying its better than N7, but the positives with price make it better for my use case. And with that my N7 is sold and I don't regret at all, or for now.

 

[Vonbuddy]

MQA hi-res audio has been saved by one of hi-fi's big hitters​

By Joe Svetlik
published 1 day ago
And it's hard to think of a better outcome for SCL6

(Image credit: MQA)

MQA has been saved. The hi-res firm went into administration earlier this year, but now it's been bought by Canadian firm Lenbrook, which also owns Bluesound, NAD and PSB.

UK-based MQA created two audio codecs: MQA and SCL6. Both provide better quality sound over wireless Bluetooth.
What's next for MQA remains unclear, but Lenbrook hints that it will be business as usual.


"Lenbrook's vision is of a thriving hi-fi industry where technologies that promote both consumer choice and the pursuit of the highest sound quality are deserving of investment and nurture," Gordon Simmonds, Lenbrook's chief executive officer, said in a press release.
RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU...



PLAY SOUND

"We view this acquisition as an opportunity to ensure the technologies developed by the scientists and engineers at MQA continue to serve the industry's interests rather than be confined to any single brand or company."

MQA has over 120 licensees (including Tidal courtesy of its Tidal Masters selection) and several content partnerships. Lenbrook claims its primary objective was "to provide certainty for business and technical developments that were underway prior to MQA's administration".
The company is retaining "a core group" of MQA staff including engineers, developers and those in sales and marketing.
Previously we had theorised Apple could be a good home for MQA. However, as owner of the hi-res BluOS platform – one of the best Sonos alternatives – Lenbrook looks well-placed to help MQA thrive. Let's hope it does just that.

 

[Surf Monkey]

MQA hi-res audio has been saved by one of hi-fi's big hitters​

By Joe Svetlik
published 1 day ago
And it's hard to think of a better outcome for SCL6

(Image credit: MQA)

MQA has been saved. The hi-res firm went into administration earlier this year, but now it's been bought by Canadian firm Lenbrook, which also owns Bluesound, NAD and PSB.

UK-based MQA created two audio codecs: MQA and SCL6. Both provide better quality sound over wireless Bluetooth.
What's next for MQA remains unclear, but Lenbrook hints that it will be business as usual.


"Lenbrook's vision is of a thriving hi-fi industry where technologies that promote both consumer choice and the pursuit of the highest sound quality are deserving of investment and nurture," Gordon Simmonds, Lenbrook's chief executive officer, said in a press release.
RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU...



PLAY SOUND

"We view this acquisition as an opportunity to ensure the technologies developed by the scientists and engineers at MQA continue to serve the industry's interests rather than be confined to any single brand or company."

MQA has over 120 licensees (including Tidal courtesy of its Tidal Masters selection) and several content partnerships. Lenbrook claims its primary objective was "to provide certainty for business and technical developments that were underway prior to MQA's administration".
The company is retaining "a core group" of MQA staff including engineers, developers and those in sales and marketing.
Previously we had theorised Apple could be a good home for MQA. However, as owner of the hi-res BluOS platform – one of the best Sonos alternatives – Lenbrook looks well-placed to help MQA thrive. Let's hope it does just that.

BOOOOOO!!!

 

[Vonbuddy]

BOOOOOO!!!

Not advocating it. Just sharing news.

 

[helloh3adfi]

Some new Truthear waifu art