[Gintaras]

Quote:

I've tried the ms-ak100 with MH335 during an audio show and the female vocals were crazily intoxicating it spoiled my enjoyment of the vocal rendition of some speakers ..............

 
do not you have a wife or a girlfriend to sing for you?

intoxicating, i love this word

 

[musicheaven]

How can you switch the cable on se535?  I have these and if there's an improvement by switching cables, I'd love to know more!

Initially I was talking about the interconnect cable but the stock cable from your iems will also make a difference. I used the same cable material than my favorite interconnect cable, Shure se535 cables are interchangeable, thanks to Justin a wonderful cable rewiring artist who does not take you to the cleaner and provide you with a simple beautiful well made cable, I gave him my cable specs and asked him to let go his artistic flair. The output connector decision is very important too for such a cable, for instance I would suggest you pick a balanced connector and have a custom connector to switch it from balanced to SE ending, this way if you ever buy a balanced amp, you'll be all set and won't have to get another cable made, basically cheaper at the end. In conclusion what I am saying is pick the cable material that you feel pleasing from the interconnect and get your iems rewired with the same material.

 

[spkrs01]

The AK100 is crazy good with FitEar (C)IEMs

 
Not sure if it has been mention, but the AK100 seriously lacks power, and hence the great synergy with FitEar which are super sensitive.

 

[Retrias]

I thought ak100 will wreck sensitive stuff due to its output impendance? or does this pertain to the modded ones

 

[Gintaras]

Retrias, i believe what Spkrs says is that picking right IEMs for AK100 will result in highly rewarding sounding combo. Problem is FitEar is not cheap, actually damn expensive.

 
i heard it and many told here so AK100 is very picky with IEMs and you must know before buying, perhaps asking owners for their experience, then your chances for picking the right IEMs will be high.

 

[Swimsonny]

Finally got round to getting up a full review of this and i just wish we had got on better. Sometimes it was truley magical but then some times i could not even wear my favourite earphones dues to damping or it messing with the FR oh well, bring on the AK120!

 

[customNuts]

Quote:

I always lean toward a pure, single metal wire too. I have had mixed experiences with hybrid combinations.

Me too, however the best wire I have ever heard hands down is a gold plated OCC copper.

 

[Jason36]

Anybody used the Heir Audio Tzar 90 or 350 directly out of the AK100?
 
If so can anybody comment on how well these pair as a combination? Quite well I assume seeing as they are looking to start selling the Tzar and AK100 as a package on their website.

 

[Radament]

Quote:

Finally got round to getting up a full review of this and i just wish we had got on better. Sometimes it was truley magical but then some times i could not even wear my favourite earphones dues to damping or it messing with the FR oh well, bring on the AK120!

Hi Swimsonny, have you tried how ak100 pairs with momentum?

 

[AmberOzL]

Quote:

Anybody used the Heir Audio Tzar 90 or 350 directly out of the AK100?
 
If so can anybody comment on how well these pair as a combination? Quite well I assume seeing as they are looking to start selling the Tzar and AK100 as a package on their website.

grumpyoldman has the combo with Tzar350. I think he can help you. I currently don't have the combo but it seems more and more tempting especially when I read about Tzar350.

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

AK100 + Momentum: Works well. I'm not a big fan of the Momentum, a bit too bass-heavy (but I realise a lot of people like that) & treble is very shelved (and that's coming from someone who is usually sensitive to treble) It's easy to drive, and since one of the good things about the AK100 is the rocksolid output up to max. level, no problem there. The AK100 is generally also quite neutral (some consider that cold or "un-musical"?), so it keeps the bass in check without altering the treble noticeably. In short, in my opinion, it makes the Momentum as "audiophile" as that headphone can be, in a decent portable package (that alas cost considerably more than the headphones themselves) If the bass is missed (really?), another good thing about the AK100 is a decent EQ which can be used to bring back some of it.
 
AK100 + Tzar 350: My favourite IEM combo, as good as some of my favourite fullsize cans (I'm not much of an IEM guy). Here's an excerpt from a PM I wrote about the same subject:
"If there is a consideration, it's the sound signature of the Tzar 350, not so much the AK100. And how well that works for you, I can't say. It is on the brighter side, and people have had issues with sibilance. Funnily enough, I'm quite sensitive to that too, and have had issues with that on a recent headphone-testing spree of sorts, but not with the Tzar 350s. My one niggle with the Tzars, incl. on the AK100, is more the somewhat weak bass (and I'm not a basshead by any means). So depending on the music, I may turn on the EQ and bring that up a bit (and another thing they got right with the AK100 is the EQ implementation) In comparison, my other "higher-end" IEMs, the Shure 535s, require adjusting the treble down and more... I personally much prefer the Tzar 350 (on any amp), and the Shures will go back on the market.
 
The AK100 is quite neutral to my ears (again, relative to my other amps), which IMHO explains why for some people it does not work so well combined with the notable treble and somewhat recessed bass of the Tzar 350s. But -I- personally find them overall well-balanced which I prefer over a headphone (or IEM) which excels in one particular area."

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Didn't Astell & Kern and Heir Audio announce a partnership of some sort a month or two ago?  I thought they were packaging those two together...

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

P.S., FYI: Haven't posted much in a while, work and life in general keeps me busy these day. But in earlier posts I had a heck of a time getting the AK100 database to work with even a fraction of the songs I have on my mSD cards. Upgrading to 1.33 fixed all that, in light of that turned out that all the other futzing around, clearing the settings, rebuilding the Db was pointless. Lesson learned. Still so many bugs & missing features in the firmware (some from all the way back), but now that the AK120 is out, I can only hope that maybe at least they roll some of these updates (gapless playback...) into an AK100 update instead of dropping it completely...

 

[CraftyClown]

Quote:

AK100 + Momentum: Works well. I'm not a big fan of the Momentum, a bit too bass-heavy (but I realise a lot of people like that) & treble is very shelved (and that's coming from someone who is usually sensitive to treble) It's easy to drive, and since one of the good things about the AK100 is the rocksolid output up to max. level, no problem there. The AK100 is generally also quite neutral (some consider that cold or "un-musical"?), so it keeps the bass in check without altering the treble noticeably. In short, in my opinion, it makes the Momentum as "audiophile" as that headphone can be, in a decent portable package (that alas cost considerably more than the headphones themselves) If the bass is missed (really?), another good thing about the AK100 is a decent EQ which can be used to bring back some of it.
 
AK100 + Tzar 350: My favourite IEM combo, as good as some of my favourite fullsize cans (I'm not much of an IEM guy). Here's an excerpt from a PM I wrote about the same subject:
"If there is a consideration, it's the sound signature of the Tzar 350, not so much the AK100. And how well that works for you, I can't say. It is on the brighter side, and people have had issues with sibilance. Funnily enough, I'm quite sensitive to that too, and have had issues with that on a recent headphone-testing spree of sorts, but not with the Tzar 350s. My one niggle with the Tzars, incl. on the AK100, is more the somewhat weak bass (and I'm not a basshead by any means). So depending on the music, I may turn on the EQ and bring that up a bit (and another thing they got right with the AK100 is the EQ implementation) In comparison, my other "higher-end" IEMs, the Shure 535s, require adjusting the treble down and more... I personally much prefer the Tzar 350 (on any amp), and the Shures will go back on the market.
 
The AK100 is quite neutral to my ears (again, relative to my other amps), which IMHO explains why for some people it does not work so well combined with the notable treble and somewhat recessed bass of the Tzar 350s. But -I- personally find them overall well-balanced which I prefer over a headphone (or IEM) which excels in one particular area."

 
I'd like to second Grumpys comments. AK100 and Tzar 350 are my go to combo. I do sometimes add the rendition 1 amp in to the mix, not out of necesity, but just to increase the soundstage. AK100 and Tzar  350s alone are still great though.
 
I also tweak the EQ a little on occasion. A little on to the bass side and a little off the treble side. It's a great shame they didn't go ahead with the ten band eq as they had originally planned for this unit, as the troublesome hot spot in the Tzars is at around 8khz. The eq options on the AK100 only allow for adjustment of the 4khz and 16khz bands on either side, so to tame it you have to effect the surrounding frequencies. I have also purchased a Scorpion copper cable from Toxic cables which to my ears has made a marked difference in extending the bass.
 
All in all I love this little combo 

 

[Swimsonny]

Momentum get one with them well enough but as he said, i am not a huge fan of them either!
 
I have heard them with Tzar 90, nice combo, really nice combo in fact!