[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

During my NiceHCK DB2 review I stumbled upon using the SIMGOT AUDIO LC7 cable with the HiBy R3 II, and it was truly amazing. So amazing that I keep coming back to it (every day) and keep trying different songs, just to verify the truth. I mean sure I knew instantly that it was good, but not really this good. Most of the time I have ideas as to why synergy has taken place, but not here.............in no fashion should be this good. The question is, it’s an $23.00 to $27.99 IEM, and a $179.00 DAP plus an under $62.99 cable? No way should this rock the way it does, and almost never to these things ever sound quite this good apart?

I've been using the NiceHCK Black Cat with the Trio on the suggestion of @o0genesis0o and they are friends. They enjoy each other's company. Simpatico.

 

[nkanak]

I own all 3. My experience is that Hype4 is the best in terms of price to performance in the current Thieaudio IEM line.

 

[Leonarfd]

$3,000+?! I hope it gives you surprise reach arounds too? I guess if you are rich or like piling on your credit card bills, to each his own, but $3,000 for a DAP? for me....PASS.

Not that much, its priced at $1999 ( my guess is he talked about AUD).
I also have a discount for writing a review on it, still a good chunk of money. I have had a big clean-up, and sold stuff too thin out my collection.
Then for some reason had to use up the money to buy some new stuff like the R8 II and Kinera Verdandi.

Been using a few different HIBY DAPs the last years without any problems, not the same can be said for the Cayin N7 I had....

Been working on the review today, tested the line out together with my desktop amps. Also had much comparing with R6P2, must admit its a lot more time consuming and hard to write DAP reviews than for IEMs.

 

[Redcarmoose]

The Quintet hardly gets mentioned, and several have commented newer stuff surpass it, so I'm not sure one dude mentioning it in passing qualifies it for a sustained hype train,. but I get your sentiment. I do. You love it.

You do have a point there. Well, maybe it’s a Hype Bicycle at this point?

 

[o0genesis0o]

$3,000+?! I hope it gives you surprise reach arounds too? I guess if you are rich or like piling on your credit card bills, to each his own, but $3,000 for a DAP? for me....PASS.

I have a hunch that you can get the same if not better sound from a good desktop stack that is $1000 or less. After all, squeezing things into a small box and preventing it from exploding is kinda expensive.

As I sometimes mentioned, don’t buy DAP with expectation of improving the gear that you currently have. The expectations you build up due to the price tag and the flowery image that others (myself included) describes would never be met by the actual performance, no matter how good that performance is. Highend DAP also has the worst price/performance because they don’t have economy of scale, and they tend to have lots of R&D costs, which you bear. I guess what delights me is “really? My same IEM can sound even better than how it usually sounds?” That difference that is so rare to see at the level of gear I have (not the most TOTL, for sure) that it is kinda mindblowing.

I can’t understand some folks in the other thread who borrow money (credit card, mortgage, whatever) to buy audio gear. To me, save up and buy what I can without debt. But if I have a chunk of money, I want this giant brick of a DAP.

 

[Enther]

Please any opinions of Ziigaat Doscinco?

 

[Leonarfd]

I have a hunch that you can get the same if not better sound from a good desktop stack that is $1000 or less. After all, squeezing things into a small box and preventing it from exploding is kinda expensive.

I can’t understand some folks in the other thread who borrow money (credit card, mortgage, whatever) to buy audio gear. To me, save up and buy what I can without debt. But if I have a chunk of money, I want this giant brick of a DAP.

So true, my desktop rig (around 1000usd) been my goto for critical listening, and most DAPs dont have the same quality. Specially when you use harder to drive stuff like earbuds or headphones, but for me being able to get the same quality sound with R8 II make it worth it. Could have wished for a little more power for headphones, but I dont see any reason to use my 600ohm Beyerdynamic on the go. And when the R8 II can drive my 300ohm earbud without loosing its dynamics I'm more than happy.

What is worth something is also very different from person to person, very understandable people dont want to use a lot of money on a DAP when you can get seriously good sound from a cheap dongle.

I am also one who would never take up depth to buy, I usually save up or sell something beforehand.

 

[Redcarmoose]

$3,000+?! I hope it gives you surprise reach arounds too? I guess if you are rich or like piling on your credit card bills, to each his own, but $3,000 for a DAP? for me....PASS.

The trick here is to keep stuff long term. I purchased my WM1Z for $3200 on November 7th 2017, and it is still good? If anyone would have told me I would still like it almost 8 years later I would have not believed them. It comes out to $375 a year, roughly.

 

[Nimweth]

Layering on these things is SICK! Can peel like an onion.

That's right. Like you the Trio has become my daily driver. Even better with a balanced cable. Scales up well with Hi Res files too. A winner!

 

[Redcarmoose]

WARNING:
Let me just put this photo here. This is what can happen if the obsession takes over. And no this is not AI, this photo is from April of 2018. AI wouldn’t get the details or knobs correct.

 

[Old_Snake]

 

[wolfstar76]

The trick here is to keep stuff long term. I purchased my WM1Z for $3200 on November 7th 2017, and it is still good? If anyone would have told me I would still like it almost 8 years later I would have not believed them. It comes out to $375 a year, roughly.

And you can sell your 1Z for close to $1,000 to further reduce the cost. Of course, it's a rabbit hole, you need to find a newer DAP as a replacement, probably cost you another $3k . You can also wait for one year and buy your stuff second-hand so that your total ownership cost will be further reduced.

 

[darmanastartes]

My review of the Simgot EA1000 is up on my blog and in my Head-Fi thread.

 

[Redcarmoose]

And you can sell your 1Z for close to $1,000 to further reduce the cost. Of course, it's a rabbit hole, you need to find a newer DAP as a replacement, probably cost you another $3k . You can also wait for one year and buy your stuff second-hand so that your total ownership cost will be further reduced.

Well, a lot of this hobby is getting the new car smell, in a new toy. You can’t argue the fun factor there. And truly I can’t argue that is a pleasure to those that can (afford to) continue to get new DAPs......especially to investigate the curiosity at hand. But the other thing is I need a certain sound and have to be close to my gear to understand the DAP ramifications upon the new IEM test-subject. So in a way I don’t care how old my gear is, as long as it sounds good.

 

[Jmop]

Bought them a few years ago for about $25.00, and sold them. No bass and the stage is small. My RE00 smash them in pretty much all ways, so I kept those, and dumped the RE400

Yeah, can’t really argue with that. Maybe I’ll try balanced.