THE WATERCOOLER HEADPHONE EDITION – Headphones, Amps, DACs, and desktop/home audio related – a freewheeling discussion of gear, impressions, music, and musings.

May 9, 2025 at 6:04 PM Post #10,966 of 11,641
Top 5 Head-Fi products in the last 30 years (subjectively speaking, of course, in terms of being influential):
Walkman/iPod
HD600
HD800
Fostex t50 (but those might be more than 30 years old, I'm not sure)
LCD2
Big revision now that I see the t50 is well over 30 years old (more than 50!) -
Replace that with the Squeezebox! I used it with speakers back in the day, but it brought streaming to the mainstream.
 
May 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM Post #10,967 of 11,641
Big revision now that I see the t50 is well over 30 years old (more than 50!) -
Replace that with the Squeezebox! I used it with speakers back in the day, but it brought streaming to the mainstream.
Ha! I put the t50rp on my list, too. I’ll justify it by saying that in the last 20 years it was used and modded by lots of companies. It was…reborn :)
 
May 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM Post #10,968 of 11,641
It’s been a while since I’ve been active here—CanJam NYC feels like ages ago. I’ve been sidelined for a bit, which kept me away from many of the hobbies I love. But now that I’m finally on the other side of a speed bump, I’m getting back into the fast lane.

I’ve realized I don’t spend nearly as much time with IEMs these days, so I’ve let go of many of the gems in my collection—though I’m still holding onto the Perpetua and Moses. They’re too good to part with.

On the 2-channel front, the system is dialed in and my ears are happy. As for headphones, it’s been a few months, but I’m finally able to get back in my listening chair. Lately, I’ve been spending the most time with the Atrium Open and Caldera Closed, paired with the Aegis tube amp. I keep staring at the others on my wall and I I’ll get to them in due to time but these two HPs have captured my heart recently. I purchased the Laiv HP2A for dual duty as a preamp and secondary amp—which good be a good fit.

That means I’ve listed my Bakoon 13R, which has been absolutely stellar with hard-to-drive cans like the Susvara.

Looking forward to reconnecting and sharing more again.

IMG_1530.jpeg
Absolutely love this amp. Been using it in my office setup for a little over a month now. So much power. Makes the Tungstens shine. I also have my desk speakers hooked up to them. Gives them a give little bump. All in all for the price/size/performance it's one of the better amps out there. It should be on more peoples radar!
 
May 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM Post #10,969 of 11,641
Great test track for speed and impact :)

IMG_3271.jpeg
 
May 9, 2025 at 8:02 PM Post #10,970 of 11,641
Absolutely love this amp. Been using it in my office setup for a little over a month now. So much power. Makes the Tungstens shine. I also have my desk speakers hooked up to them. Gives them a give little bump. All in all for the price/size/performance it's one of the better amps out there. It should be on more peoples radar!
Can't wait for it to arrive!
 
May 10, 2025 at 1:33 AM Post #10,971 of 11,641
there was some to and fro on the Raal 1995 Immanis thread recently..

I often see some people claim they can judge or evaluate a headphone just by reading the FR curve, without listening to it. if they're so confident of their ability to conclude what a headphone must sound like, and it's sound characteristics and other parameters ie staging, depth, timbre etc just by reading a graph, would the converse be true?

I'd think it'd be great to have these folks listen to a headphone (something new, one which they haven't seen the FR curve yet) and then get them to draw out the FR curve based on what they have heard. then compare their drawn curve to the actual measured FR.

I've been swayed the wrong way by ASR and FR curves quite often.. Benchmark dac/hpa4, topping, thx789 etc... most recently, I bought a set of Truthear Gate iems based on the ASR review. it turned out to be extremely underwhelming. they cost like 20 bucks so no big hit there, but man, what was I thinking LOL
 
May 10, 2025 at 1:41 AM Post #10,972 of 11,641
I'd think it'd be great to have these folks listen to a headphone (something new, one which they haven't seen the FR curve yet) and then get them to draw out the FR curve based on what they have heard. then compare their drawn curve to the actual measured FR.
This is actually a great idea!
 
May 10, 2025 at 2:51 AM Post #10,973 of 11,641
Guys,

Those of you using the Mola Mola Tambaqui to the Riviera AIC-10, do you prefer using the 2V or 6V output on the DAC?

I haven't had much time to experiment with this across a range of headphones. Have left it at 2V most of the time and it sounds incredible.

1000045786.jpg


The Utopia sounding pretty awesome on the AIC and better off the 2V, but I'll likely need to EQ the subbass a bit (which I don't with the Clear).

@Aetherhole
@Leto Dal

Would appreciate your input.
 
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May 10, 2025 at 6:07 AM Post #10,975 of 11,641
Been listening to a lot of music (and gear) this weekend.

The last few hours it has been the Immanis off the Audma Maestro HPA1.

11fcdde1-6f8d-4730-90e4-2729a86f6c4b.jpeg


Don't know what to say that I haven't said before. It's a remarkable amp!

A couple of people messaged me and asked me how the Audma compares to the Nimbus by Lake People. In my view, the Audma is in a different league from the Nimbus or any Vioelectric amp, all due to respect to different opinions formed under different contexts, chains, preferences, etc.

I have an AIC for a direct comparison, and a chain and transducers some of you are familiar with, for context. I have also done a lot of painstaking comparison between the Audma, the AIC, the Mass Kobo, and the VIVA Egoista over several long sessions.

Not sure if @simorag has posted this here (or did I?), but his full review of the Audma is worth a read: https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/audma-maestro-hpa1/

As for the Nimbus, I have a post somewhere comparing it to the Cayin Soul, and I think that:

(a) the Cayin Soul is a considerably better amp in tone and technical peformance in particular, more natural and better resolution and slam than the Nimbus and
(b) I have never been drawn to Vioelectric amps like a lot of my close friends. I honestly haven't met a single Vio or Lake People amp that can play a super hard-to-drive planar or a ribbon headphone (namely, the Susvara, the Immanis, etc) to its fullest potential.
(c) I prefer the Audma to the Soul for tone and technicalities and in the latter, it is quite a clear step up from the Soul, and the Soul is from the Nimbus.

As I keep learning and re-learned with the AIC-10, these high-end amps take a bit of time and a lot of close A/B-ing with peers to familiarize oneself with.

And I do agree with @simorag's views and I thought the comparisons he makes with the AIC, Primavera and Headonia are the appropriate ones.

Of course, YMMV.
 
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May 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM Post #10,976 of 11,641
Been listening to this album right now on Airpod Pros 2. Sometimes the best is just what you have on you at the time and the right mood. Enjoying music is why I strive to find the best equipment/headphones for me vs just listening to the gear. Helps that APP2 are a phenominally sounding device that I like more than a lot of HP and iems in the first place
https://album.link/t/244786233
1000022962.png
 
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May 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM Post #10,977 of 11,641
Helps that APP2 are a phenominally sounding device that I like more than a lot of HP and iems in the first place
Especially Dolby Atmos albums on APP2 are amazing 👍🏼
 
May 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM Post #10,978 of 11,641
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May 10, 2025 at 9:19 AM Post #10,979 of 11,641
Top 5 Head-Fi products in the last 30 years (subjectively speaking, of course, in terms of being influential):
Walkman/iPod
HD600
HD800
Fostex t50 (but those might be more than 30 years old, I'm not sure)
LCD2

Top 5 transformational Head-Fi products? I’ll cheat a bit here, because for me, the biggest impact came from a broader technological arc rather than a single piece of gear.

Nothing has fundamentally changed how I listen to music more than the progression from the Walkman (tape) to the Discman (CD), then to the iPod, and ultimately the iPhone. That lineage reshaped music as a daily companion, portable, personal, and ever-present.

In parallel, the rise of Napster, LimeWire, and other early peer-to-peer platforms completely disrupted music distribution. That chaos eventually gave way to iTunes and, later, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. These shifts democratized access, expanded discovery, and altered not just how we consume music, but what we consume.

Gear matters, no doubt. But nothing has come close to the seismic influence of these digital and mobile revolutions on my personal audio journey.
 
May 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM Post #10,980 of 11,641
Guys,

Those of you using the Mola Mola Tambaqui to the Riviera AIC-10, do you prefer using the 2V or 6V output on the DAC?

I haven't had much time to experiment with this across a range of headphones. Have left it at 2V most of the time and it sounds incredible.

1000045786.jpg

The Utopia sounding pretty awesome on the AIC and better off the 2V, but I'll likely need to EQ the subbass a bit (which I don't with the Clear).

@Aetherhole
@Leto Dal

Would appreciate your input.
I listen at 2V, line out, -8 dbl. Volume level between 10 and 11 o'clock. Using speaker taps with Immanis, Susvara, and 1266, and XLR HP out with Caldera.
 

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