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

[Conan1974]

If its off topic sorry for that.
I just want to ask where i can get some recommendations for IEM's?
Mine old simple Sony is damaged, so i thought maybe is time, to get something better.
What would You guys advice - up to 100-150 euro max, comfortable with very good fit, something that will not fall out of mine ears ( i am around 183 cm tall), with a nice sound quality and great look. If i can get better look and sound, than there is no problem to pay a bit more. Pretty IEM's to fit the Great looking LCD2 Padauk.
I need them for pc, Youtube and for walking outside.

Thanks

 

[buenahora]

Incoming tomorrow, Laiv Harmony DDC to sit in between streamer and Laiv Dac. Experimenting with all facets of chain to see if I can improve quality of streaming. Will do an A/B comparison with and without DDC.

https://www.laiv.audio/post/introduction-laiv-harmony-uddc-reclocker

@tfenton02 do you already own both the Harmony DAC and HP2A Amp/Preamp?

 

[Death_Block]

There is an iem water cooler thread, should get some answers there

 

[betula]

If its off topic sorry for that.
I just want to ask where i can get some recommendations for IEM's?
Mine old simple Sony is damaged, so i thought maybe is time, to get something better.
What would You guys advice - up to 100-150 euro max, comfortable with very good fit, something that will not fall out of mine ears ( i am around 183 cm tall), with a nice sound quality and great look. If i can get better look and sound, than there is no problem to pay a bit more. Pretty IEM's to fit the Great looking LCD2 Padauk.
I need them for pc, Youtube and for walking outside.

Thanks

Meze Alba

 

[Conan1974]

@Death_Block thanks i will look for it.
@betula i have seen them already. Looking good, but i still need to make small research. There must be more than just Meze.

 

[GoldenSound]

@GoldenSound didn't you consult for the Laiv DAC?
What's your take on the DDC?

I did consulting for Laiv and had input on the DAC and Amplifier. I didn't have anything to do with the DDC.

It definitely looks interesting, but with DDCs it's basically impossible to make many accurate assumptions without testing it in person. Lots of products that may have had expensive components and crazy builds but performed mediocre and some that were fairly basic but exceptionally well implemented and sounded great/had demonstrably really low Jitter.

I'm a little less of a proponent for DDCs nowadays generally, as most DACs now no longer suffer from the USB quality issues that were present a few years ago, and actually in many cases DDCs nowadays may indeed be less optimal than connecting straight via USB.

But it's situational.
Honestly the main thing that still benefits DACs nowadays is proper noise isolation from the PC. Most good DDCs have full galvanic isolation internally so will do this, but then you have the question of whether you're sacrificing any jitter performance.

Also since there are some crazy good USB isolators like the JDS Synapse available for $49 those are a bit of a no brainer and what I'd recommend for most DACs now.

The particularly cool thing about the Laiv uDDC though is that it has SPDIF/AES and in fact I2S inputs. So if it does have good jitter performance then it could be basically the best option for actual reclocking or cleanup of less ideal SPDIF/AES/I2S sources. Not too many DDCs with synchronous inputs like that available.

Laiv said they're going to send one over so I'll share findings once I've got it!

 

[tfenton02]

@tfenton02 do you already own both the Harmony DAC and HP2A Amp/Preamp?

I don’t have the HP2A, as beautiful as it is. Current HP chain is Roon > Eversolo (used as a streamer only) > Laiv DAC > Pine Tree Switcher to feed into both ZMF Aegis Tube & Bakoon 13r amps. I’m pleased with my amplification, but will explore summit fi gear at CanJam to assess long term upgrade options.

 

[tfenton02]

I did consulting for Laiv and had input on the DAC and Amplifier. I didn't have anything to do with the DDC.

It definitely looks interesting, but with DDCs it's basically impossible to make many accurate assumptions without testing it in person. Lots of products that may have had expensive components and crazy builds but performed mediocre and some that were fairly basic but exceptionally well implemented and sounded great/had demonstrably really low Jitter.

I'm a little less of a proponent for DDCs nowadays generally, as most DACs now no longer suffer from the USB quality issues that were present a few years ago, and actually in many cases DDCs nowadays may indeed be less optimal than connecting straight via USB.

But it's situational.
Honestly the main thing that still benefits DACs nowadays is proper noise isolation from the PC. Most good DDCs have full galvanic isolation internally so will do this, but then you have the question of whether you're sacrificing any jitter performance.

Also since there are some crazy good USB isolators like the JDS Synapse available for $49 those are a bit of a no brainer and what I'd recommend for most DACs now.

The particularly cool thing about the Laiv uDDC though is that it has SPDIF/AES and in fact I2S inputs. So if it does have good jitter performance then it could be basically the best option for actual reclocking or cleanup of less ideal SPDIF/AES/I2S sources. Not too many DDCs with synchronous inputs like that available.

Laiv said they're going to send one over so I'll share findings once I've got it!

I agree, I’m doing this as more of an experiment, perhaps an expensive experiment. I’ll report back what my ears hear in an A/B comparison. @GoldenSound thanks for your contributions to the Harmony DAC, it’s a remarkable device that’s transformed my set up.

 

[Death_Block]

I did consulting for Laiv and had input on the DAC and Amplifier. I didn't have anything to do with the DDC.

It definitely looks interesting, but with DDCs it's basically impossible to make many accurate assumptions without testing it in person. Lots of products that may have had expensive components and crazy builds but performed mediocre and some that were fairly basic but exceptionally well implemented and sounded great/had demonstrably really low Jitter.

I'm a little less of a proponent for DDCs nowadays generally, as most DACs now no longer suffer from the USB quality issues that were present a few years ago, and actually in many cases DDCs nowadays may indeed be less optimal than connecting straight via USB.

But it's situational.
Honestly the main thing that still benefits DACs nowadays is proper noise isolation from the PC. Most good DDCs have full galvanic isolation internally so will do this, but then you have the question of whether you're sacrificing any jitter performance.

Also since there are some crazy good USB isolators like the JDS Synapse available for $49 those are a bit of a no brainer and what I'd recommend for most DACs now.

The particularly cool thing about the Laiv uDDC though is that it has SPDIF/AES and in fact I2S inputs. So if it does have good jitter performance then it could be basically the best option for actual reclocking or cleanup of less ideal SPDIF/AES/I2S sources. Not too many DDCs with synchronous inputs like that available.

Laiv said they're going to send one over so I'll share findings once I've got it!

£36 shipping for that isolator to UK. Oof. Anyone know anything local that would do the job?

 

[GoldenSound]

£36 shipping for that isolator to UK. Oof. Anyone know anything local that would do the job?

Until this the cheapest known good option was an intona which are a couple hundred unfortunately.

There are various other USB filters or devices that claim to be isolators but it's unknown whether they actually fully isolate all lines or not and whether their own output is actually very low noise.

Intona and the synapse are both demonstrably WAY lower noise than pcs, phones, or most streamers like the DMP-A6 or Red. So whilst £34 shipping is annoying. Getting a product that basically completely solves USB for you for under £100 is still pretty awesome

 

[Death_Block]

Until this the cheapest known good option was an intona which are a couple hundred unfortunately.

There are various other USB filters or devices that claim to be isolators but it's unknown whether they actually fully isolate all lines or not and whether their own output is actually very low noise.

Intona and the synapse are both demonstrably WAY lower noise than pcs, phones, or most streamers like the DMP-A6 or Red. So whilst £34 shipping is annoying. Getting a product that basically completely solves USB for you for under £100 is still pretty awesome

Ah ok, yeah I didn't trust a random Google search would bring up a decent product, but from what you've explained, still cheaper than a proven alternative.
Only other one that comes to mind is the if isilencer

 

[Whazzzup]

Well I’ll thumbs up for innous Phoenix usb regenerator reclocker, it does have its own thread, and provided benefits to my antipodes dx3 oladra. However it’s quite expensive so if the pursuit for better usb musicality is desired, will be rewarded. There are folks that have k50 and oladra that use Phoenix to good reviews. That’s further up the flagship chain, It’s certainly fondant type icing to the audio cake.

 

[Death_Block]

Only a little bit more, probably worth it in the long run.

 

[GoldenSound]

Ah ok, yeah I didn't trust a random Google search would bring up a decent product, but from what you've explained, still cheaper than a proven alternative.
Only other one that comes to mind is the if isilencer

Isilencer isn't a proper galvanic isolator so it wouldn't fill the same function as the synapse. (ifi did have a product called the iGalvanic but it was discontinued and it cost about £350)

As mentioned there's a number of products like the Isilencer or ipurifier which do a variety of things from just providing some noise filtering to disconnecting ground to no filtering but just acting as a repeater.

But for actual proper galvanic isolators there aren't many. Intona was expensive because they were one of the first to develop full USB isolators and do so using FPGAs which cost a fair bit.

Recently TI released a new isolator IC which is much more affordable and this is what the synapse is based on

 

[wagninger]

£36 shipping for that isolator to UK. Oof. Anyone know anything local that would do the job?

I`ll get a few aluminum enclosure versions in in a couple of days... if you pm me at least your postal code I'll see what I can do for shipping