[Precogvision]

Hey everyone, I thought this might be of interest here...

https://headphones.com/community/re...-dive-into-the-world-of-k-pop-in-ear-monitors

SoundCat is the predominant retailer for South Korean artists' CIEMs. Their Instagram page presents a prime data source for what would otherwise be (and still is to some extent) a nebulous analysis of South Korea's CIEM market. So I took a stab at it for fun, and these are some of the results

 

[Deezel177]

Hey everyone, I thought this might be of interest here...

https://headphones.com/community/re...-dive-into-the-world-of-k-pop-in-ear-monitors

SoundCat is the predominant retailer for South Korean artists' CIEMs. Their Instagram page presents a prime data source for what would otherwise be (and still is to some extent) a nebulous analysis of South Korea's CIEM market. So I took a stab at it for fun, and these are some of the results

Haha, awesome work. I’ve peeked at their page for design ideas every now and again, and also out of curiosity to what artists use what. I’m interested to see what percentage of those customs were chosen by the artist themselves vs. by their label or management.

 

[minty1]

Hey everyone, I thought this might be of interest here...

https://headphones.com/community/re...-dive-into-the-world-of-k-pop-in-ear-monitors

SoundCat is the predominant retailer for South Korean artists' CIEMs. Their Instagram page presents a prime data source for what would otherwise be (and still is to some extent) a nebulous analysis of South Korea's CIEM market. So I took a stab at it for fun, and these are some of the results

Hey everyone, I thought this might be of interest here...

https://headphones.com/community/re...-dive-into-the-world-of-k-pop-in-ear-monitors

SoundCat is the predominant retailer for South Korean artists' CIEMs. Their Instagram page presents a prime data source for what would otherwise be (and still is to some extent) a nebulous analysis of South Korea's CIEM market. So I took a stab at it for fun, and these are some of the results

I had a blast reading the article and digging through all of the data points. I also follow soundkat and enjoy viewing all of the different CIEMs from the varying artists.

 

[drftr]

I don't have a technical background but knowing that the U18t has some interesting resistence swoops (from memory between 5-30 Ohm) would it be fair to expect an outsized quality upgrade going from a dongle (Cayin RU6 in this case) to a DAP mainly because of its amp section? With outsized I mean a bigger change than you would normally have with an IEM with LID. Or would the change not necessarily be quality-wise but tonality-wise instead and depending on how the amp is able to keep the changing resistence per frequency perfectly in check? Perhaps @64Audio can chime in? Tnx much...

drftr

 

[64Audio]

I don't have a technical background but knowing that the U18t has some interesting resistence swoops (from memory between 5-30 Ohm) would it be fair to expect an outsized quality upgrade going from a dongle (Cayin RU6 in this case) to a DAP mainly because of its amp section? With outsized I mean a bigger change than you would normally have with an IEM with LID. Or would the change not necessarily be quality-wise but tonality-wise instead and depending on how the amp is able to keep the changing resistence per frequency perfectly in check? Perhaps @64Audio can chime in? Tnx much...

drftr

the main factor is the output impedance of the headphone amp. for example the .5ohm output impedance of the Cayin RU6 single ended output will serve your U18t better than the balanced output which is 1ohm. You'll hear a change in the frequency response. This can also be used to your advantage depending on the frequency response you prefer.

 

[drftr]

the main factor is the output impedance of the headphone amp. for example the .5ohm output impedance of the Cayin RU6 single ended output will serve your U18t better than the balanced output which is 1ohm. You'll hear a change in the frequency response. This can also be used to your advantage depending on the frequency response you prefer.

Tnx much... I assume your comment automatically implies that the lower the output impedance of the amp, the closer we get to the designer's ideas about how the U18t should sound. Meaning that I should look for a balanced output with as low a resistance as possible IF I don't want to change how it sounds. But I actually do...

Is it a given what an amp with a higher output resistance would do to the sound? Like, could I set up for a sound profile that takes away a bit of the brightness to create a slightly warmer sound by using an amp with a higher output resistance? And, if yes, in what order of magnitude should I think? Like 1 Ohm vs the 0.5 Ohm of the RU6? Or 10 Ohm? Higher?

Tnx again...

drftr

 

[Bret Halford]

the main factor is the output impedance of the headphone amp. for example the .5ohm output impedance of the Cayin RU6 single ended output will serve your U18t better than the balanced output which is 1ohm. You'll hear a change in the frequency response. This can also be used to your advantage depending on the frequency response you prefer.

Isn't LID supposed to largely eliminate source impedance dependency like this, or have I misunderstood the technology?

 

[drftr]

Isn't LID supposed to largely eliminate source impedance dependency like this, or have I misunderstood the technology?

No worries, you're spot on. It's just that the U18t doesn't have LID while many other models have.

drftr

 

[romekbono]

Deleted

 

[64Audio]

Tnx much... I assume your comment automatically implies that the lower the output impedance of the amp, the closer we get to the designer's ideas about how the U18t should sound. Meaning that I should look for a balanced output with as low a resistance as possible IF I don't want to change how it sounds. But I actually do...

Is it a given what an amp with a higher output resistance would do to the sound? Like, could I set up for a sound profile that takes away a bit of the brightness to create a slightly warmer sound by using an amp with a higher output resistance? And, if yes, in what order of magnitude should I think? Like 1 Ohm vs the 0.5 Ohm of the RU6? Or 10 Ohm? Higher?

Tnx again...

drftr

with the 18t you'll generally hear a tilt towards the top end as you increase the resistance in the signal chain.

 

[drftr]

with the 18t you'll generally hear a tilt towards the top end as you increase the resistance in the signal chain.

I first thought I understood what you wrote but I now think I may have to back-pedal a bit - that's what I get for not having a technical background. And although I don't have to completely understand how it works I see no way to use your information to my benefit without a little bit more understanding. I'm trying to formulate these questions so that other U18t users can take full advantage of your answer as well and not just me:

1. Isn't the resistance of the output of the amp that you are (partly) referring to depending on the voltage it delivers, and isn't that voltage depending on the resistance of the U18t, and that by itself depending on the frequency?

2. Small chance that is the case, but if it is then at what "number" should I look when comparing the output of amps and DAPs so that I can exclude mismatches from my selection? They mostly seem to mention the max voltage they can deliver at for instance 32 Ohm. But I fail to see how that information would help me.

3. Also, it is my understanding that you were specifically saying the U18t will most likely sound slightly warmer than intended when NOT using the 4.4 balanced connection; mostly (or perhaps solely) because that stage delivers a higher output impedance. Was this remark specific for the Cayin RU6 or is this a general observation?

Tnx so much...

drftr

 

[TheRH]

Has anyone compared the 64 Audio lines to the Fir Audio V x Vs?

 

[Dynamo5561]

I first thought I understood what you wrote but I now think I may have to back-pedal a bit - that's what I get for not having a technical background. And although I don't have to completely understand how it works I see no way to use your information to my benefit without a little bit more understanding. I'm trying to formulate these questions so that other U18t users can take full advantage of your answer as well and not just me:

1. Isn't the resistance of the output of the amp that you are (partly) referring to depending on the voltage it delivers, and isn't that voltage depending on the resistance of the U18t, and that by itself depending on the frequency?

2. Small chance that is the case, but if it is then at what "number" should I look when comparing the output of amps and DAPs so that I can exclude mismatches from my selection? They mostly seem to mention the max voltage they can deliver at for instance 32 Ohm. But I fail to see how that information would help me.

3. Also, it is my understanding that you were specifically saying the U18t will most likely sound slightly warmer than intended when NOT using the 4.4 balanced connection; mostly (or perhaps solely) because that stage delivers a higher output impedance. Was this remark specific for the Cayin RU6 or is this a general observation?

Tnx so much...

drftr

That's the impedance curve of the u18t:

Don't expect a noticable change in sound by adding 1-2 ohm.

 

[drftr]

That's the impedance curve of the u18t:



Don't expect a noticable change in sound by adding 1-2 ohm.

But an amplifier doesn't have a straight line for resistance either, which would make for 2 variables. So how do you look for good candidates to make sure you don't choose an amp or DAP that for certain parts of the FR sounds off? Simply by trial and error? I hoped there would be a way to narrow the selection down somehow and then move on to demoing.

drftr

 

[64Audio]

I first thought I understood what you wrote but I now think I may have to back-pedal a bit - that's what I get for not having a technical background. And although I don't have to completely understand how it works I see no way to use your information to my benefit without a little bit more understanding. I'm trying to formulate these questions so that other U18t users can take full advantage of your answer as well and not just me:

1. Isn't the resistance of the output of the amp that you are (partly) referring to depending on the voltage it delivers, and isn't that voltage depending on the resistance of the U18t, and that by itself depending on the frequency?

2. Small chance that is the case, but if it is then at what "number" should I look when comparing the output of amps and DAPs so that I can exclude mismatches from my selection? They mostly seem to mention the max voltage they can deliver at for instance 32 Ohm. But I fail to see how that information would help me.

3. Also, it is my understanding that you were specifically saying the U18t will most likely sound slightly warmer than intended when NOT using the 4.4 balanced connection; mostly (or perhaps solely) because that stage delivers a higher output impedance. Was this remark specific for the Cayin RU6 or is this a general observation?

Tnx so much...

drftr

as a rule of thumb the greater the output impedance the greater the voltage drop with lower impedance loads. IEMs (without LID) have an impedance that isn't linear across the frequency spectrum. If the output impedance is much above zero this means the voltage delivered to the IEMs will also change with frequency. If you use the 1/8th rule then the U18t/A18t would be best matched with an amp that has less than .5ohms impedance. So if you use the balanced output of your current amp you will hear less low frequencies by about 1db, it's not extremely dramatic but still noticeable since it is across such a wide band of frequencies. This is why impedance is probably the most important factor when cable rolling, both for general sensitivity and because of IEM impedance.

to answer your second question, most manufacturers don't publish output impedance measurements unfortunately so be on the lookout for ones that do. You could also test for it yourself if you're interested in getting to the bottom of it.