[Singaravelan]

Hows Hifiman He400SE, i have the 400i (2020) but the right side died after 2 year of uses.

Give it to our ragers @o0genesis0o and @bithalver . Their right side died long ago. They flourish on the wrong side. Once a week, at least.

 

[Argha]

Testing Penon 10th AE now, clicked few pictures

 

[gadgetgod]

You keep mentioning “no monies left for anything”, yet new gears keep coming.

haha this one is not mine man, got this from a friend for review only. have forwarded the units now

 

[JEHL]

Hows Hifiman He400SE, i have the 400i (2020) but the right side died after 2 year of uses.

Most neutral headphone I ever tried, but given that most headgear I've been able to try is among the lines of Sony or Beats, that may not be saying much.

Most bass leak resistant set I've ever used, can easily use with glasses with minimal disturbance to its frequency response.

Has a slight but audible channel mismatch starting from 2.5kHz and above... Which in contrast, Truthear Hola has no audible channel mismatch.

Left driver can sometimes experience rattle if there's too much signal below 30Hz.

Overall still my best headphone, but still a very flawed one.

I'm considering also the FiiO KA11 given that it would give me about 8dB more headroom than Apple USB Type-C dongle. Although I wonder if the KA11 is too portable for its intended use.

 

[Singaravelan]

Testing Penon 10th AE now, clicked few pictures

You want to share em?!

 

[lgcubana]

Speaking of budget-fi, I jumped into IEMs at the $200 level (Orchestra Lite) then promptly leapt straight to the $600 level (Symphonium Meteor). After spending the past week "window shopping" for another solid set in the $200 range, I came to a realization that most of you probably came to long ago: the winners are all under $100 or over $500, but not many are in-between. I'm now rethinking, well, everything. Maybe it's time to hop on the ultra-budget merry-go-round!

You must be hanging out in the "Water Cooler" thread, to come to that conclusion. And more power to you, if you have that kind of disposable income.

My interpretation of the ebb and flow at Head-Fi is the two most popular tiers are:
<$100
&
Mid-Fi, which would cover anywhere up to the $600ish range


Just from my personal experience, some examples of what you'll miss out on:
1. More single DDs than I can remember, such as the FiiO FD5, FD7, Dunu Zen series, . . .
2. Xenns Mangird series
3. MoonDrop Blessing2 Dusk
4. Aful Peformer series
5. Penon 10th Anniversary
6. Tansio Mirai Anniversary . . .


I think @baskingshark has his dissertation on the theory of "Diminishing Returns", somewhere online.

 

[gadgetgod]

You must be hanging out in the "Water Cooler" thread, to come to that conclusion. And more power to you, if you have that kind of disposable income.

My interpretation of the ebb and flow at Head-Fi is the two most popular tiers are:
<$100
&
Mid-Fi, which would cover anywhere up to the $600ish range


Just from my personal experience, some examples of what you'll miss out on:
1. More single DDs than I can remember, such as the FiiO FD5, FD7, Dunu Zen series, . . .
2. Xenns Mangird series
3. MoonDrop Blessing2 Dusk
4. Aful Peformer series
5. Penon 10th Anniversary
6. Tansio Mirai Anniversary . . .


I think @baskingshark has his dissertation on the theory of "Diminishing Returns", somewhere online.

the biggest miss for anyone limiting the budget would be the best single dd ever made, the Softears Twilight. I bought that IEM, had to sell her for some personal requirements, but i will grab her again whenever i could. my favourite single dd.

 

[Singaravelan]

the biggest miss for anyone limiting the budget would be the best single dd ever made, the Softears Twilight. I bought that IEM, had to sell her for some personal requirements, but i will grab her again whenever i could. my favourite single dd.

But at 800usd, it comes under Hypops theory of buying iems: <= 150$ & >= 500

 

[Hypops]

But at 800usd, it comes under Hypops theory of buying iems: <= 150$ & >= 500

And also, both of the only two IEMs I own fall squarely into that same No Man’s Land (paid full $250 for the Orchestra Lite and got the Meteor open box for $450). In other words, don’t believe a word I say.

 

[SemperMalum]

I'm considering also the FiiO KA11 given that it would give me about 8dB more headroom than Apple USB Type-C dongle. Although I wonder if the KA11 is too portable for its intended use.

I tried the Fiio KA11 and while it's really good, I had a lot of issues with mine cutting out completely (no audio) even while it was powered. Ended up returning mine. YMMV but just don't get rid of the box.

 

[SemperMalum]

Hows Hifiman He400SE, i have the 400i (2020) but the right side died after 2 year of uses.

The 400se is damn good for the price point. I think if you're looking into getting a planar set of cans, you'd be hard pressed. It would probably also depend on what your sound preference is too since there's a lot of amazing headphones in that price range.

 

[OceanOfLight]

Welcome to the family!

 

[thaslaya]

Hmmm... You do have these "aggressive" moods once a week I notice!

Hey you try surviving in Australia like @o0genesis0o! Everything there is trying to kill you so you gotta stay "aggressive".

Very nice review. It’s good to finally see the Conch getting the love it deserves. I use it quite often despite having many more expensive options because its sound is stupidly good for how much it costs. Also, as you said, it is one of the (if not THE) best accessorized IEMs under 50 dollars; it puts the competition to shame (and it can cost even less than 20 dollars when on sale). Also, very nice photos!

Personally, I would go as far as saying I prefer it to the EW200 in many more ways than not. The bass is simply better, the midrange is more lively, it's more versatile and the soundstage is less congested and way more open-sounding. Let’s add to that it comes with three tuning nozzles (Reference, Atmospheric Enhancement, Transparency), and it’s bundled with a great modular cable (3.5, 2.5, 4.4); all of that while costing considerably less.

Thanks for the kind words! The EW200 is also a great option under $50 but yes I would agree what the Conch offers is better overall and for me the tuning is more enjoyable.

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

the biggest miss for anyone limiting the budget would be the best single dd ever made, the Softears Twilight. I bought that IEM, had to sell her for some personal requirements, but i will grab her again whenever i could. my favourite single dd.

Hmm... not many of these popping in the classifieds. I want to try one for around $500, just incase I'm not enjoying the fit.

 

[Leonarfd]

AüR Audio Aehta arrived, what a beuty. I will share some more later when I have listened more.