[drftr]

I got my much-anticipated shipment, the HiBy RS2

Did you compare RU6 and RS2 on your RS5 by any chance? I wonder whether the RS2 is a big enough upgrade over the RU6, if at all.

drftr

 

[gLer]

Did you compare RU6 and RS2 on your RS5 by any chance? I wonder whether the RS2 is a big enough upgrade over the RU6, if at all.

drftr

​

Writing the review today. I'll have to go off my notes but yes, it sounds like a mini RS6, so >RU6 for me. That said it's less portable, but it does have a battery, so using it in USB DAC mode means you don't drain your phone battery, and have the option of using it as a standalone player when you don't feel like tethering your phone.

​

 

[fabio19]

Look at this thing that ran to earth at my home this evening!
Liquid Links Venom finally arrived here thanks to the great help provided by Andrew of @MusicTeck .

While I was in some anticipation to hear this cable myself at last but I have to say that I actually wasn’t expecting to experience some very true aha moments with this cable.
Boy I was wrong!

During initial listening session I’ve noticed two things first - liquidity to the sound and fully uncolored timbre. By liquidity I mean how continuous, natural and absolutely effortless music and vocals go. As for the timbre I feel that Venom literally add zero coloration which is very unusual and refreshing for me.
It actually reminded me of the reference frequency response graphs of Traillii with those elevated sub bass, somewhat laidback mids and mature treble tuning.
I usually prefer a bit warm cables especially for vocals perception as it makes them more engaging. I was afraid that Venom neutral linear mids would turn me down but that didn’t happen as it hooked me with its resolving ability where every breath and voice transients are heard.

As you can understand I was blown away by amount of micro details compared to Traillii stock PWA 1960 specially tuned cable, it’s really shocking. Starting from the small details here and there like those vocal details or percussion moving to much greater surprises.
I was listening to a very dense busy part of RATM song when I suddenly realised that I hear greatly muted but very emotional vocal part in the background of already overly detailed and distorted chorus. I was like ‘wow I never realised it was even there’.
Same happened to some instrumental lines that were unveiled or perceived with much better layers separation.
Soundstage wise Venom is the same with Traillii stock in terms of width and height while being deeper to my taste.
Instruments placement and positioning is great with both cables.
Bass is more tight on and again more detailed together with treble on Venom.

Let’s come down to the few words regarding downsides.
Venom is a bit heavy and I could easily live without splitter made from metal.
The cable feel, look and even smell rubbery upon initial opening
Don’t get me wrong - it’s visual presentation is still stunning, but in terms of ergonomics it is a half step below Traillii’s stock cable.
Venom is a bit stiff and surprisingly somewhat adhesive, trying to cling to clothes sometimes or bend sideways from your ear.
Bendable hooks could bend more easily.
Overall that’s it.

All those cons mentioned above are really insignificant for me personally and I actually almost do not pay any attention to them at all. Venom sounding unbelievably engaging with Traillii and my DAPs which gets me fully into the sound.

As for the conclusion I want to say that Venom is a great and absolutely transparent cable with unbelievably stunning technicalities to enjoy the music!

the name of track of RATM?

 

[drftr]

​

Writing the review today. I'll have to go off my notes but yes, it sounds like a mini RS6, so >RU6 for me. That said it's less portable, but it does have a battery, so using it in USB DAC mode means you don't drain your phone battery, and have the option of using it as a standalone player when you don't feel like tethering your phone.

​

Now that's a coincidence... So you consider the RU6 better, huh? Okay, then for sure I'm not going to change. I thought since it's cheap enough, small enough, is R2R, and has a no nonsense approach I might just throw out my phone and still get a DAP. But it would have to be a very clear upgrade in sound for that, like approaching an RS6 kind of quality. Which I thought could be a possibility given the total lack of functionality and being a much more recent development. Looking forward to your review nevertheless!

EDIT: Okay, I see I misread what you said: Mini RS6 instead of mini RU6... Hmm...

drftr

 

[gLer]

Now that's a coincidence... So you consider the RU6 better, huh? Okay, then for sure I'm not going to change. I thought since it's cheap enough, small enough, is R2R, and has a no nonsense approach I might just throw out my phone and still get a DAP. But it would have to be a very clear upgrade in sound for that, like approaching an RS6 kind of quality. Which I thought could be a possibility given the total lack of functionality and being a much more recent development. Looking forward to your review nevertheless!

drftr

Um, no I said I prefer RS6 to RU6, so RS2 > RU6 in my opinion. RS2 is also more versatile than RU6. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

 

[drftr]

Um, no I said I prefer RS6 to RU6, so RS2 > RU6 in my opinion. RS2 is also more versatile than RU6. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I edited my post while you responded it seems. Tnx for taking the effort to point out my mistake.

And now I think you make a similar mistake with those bloody type numbers. I take it you mean "Um, no I said I prefer RS2 to RU6" but obviously also RS6>RU6.

drftr

 

[gLer]

I edited my post while you responded it seems. Tnx for taking the effort to point out my mistake.

And now I think you make a similar mistake with those bloody type numbers. I take it you mean "Um, no I said I prefer RS2 to RU6" but obviously also RS6>RU6.

drftr

Haha, two ships in the night Good luck with whatever you choose. I do think if you're travelling alot, the RS2 is a great little companion. It doesn't take up that much more space than a dongle, and also doesn't have to be used as a dongle. You can also charge it from your phone or laptop, but also enable battery mode so it doesn't drain the source battery. It's what I'd call a perfect little travel companion, assuming you don't need streaming direct from the DAP itself.

 

[gryphonos]

The release date should be mid October.

I also expect my SP3000 to arrive in mid Oct

 

[FooFighter]

Any RS8 CanJam impressions or pre-orders?

 

[Dynamo5561]

While our friends from over-seas have a lot of fun at Canjam Socal, we were also having a great time our own headphone party here in Germany. Yesterday there was the grand opening of the new Headphone Company store in Heidelberg, Germany (https://headphone.shop/category/pleasuredome/), so called "Pleasuredome". It was very well organized with the creme de la creme of headphones, iems and amps. Thanks to the owner, I believe it was a massive success and a great step forward for the headphone scene in Germany. Even met some fantastic head-fiers there. Looking already forward to the next event! I'll share some brief impressions that could be valuable for one or the other.

Disclaimer:
Please keep the impressions with a grain of salt. I don't think such an event is a good opportunity to do a deep analysis of a headphone. You change a lot of headphones in a short period of time. There is quite some noise around, you get to talk to people in between and there isn't plenty of time to properly evalute a headphone. Additionally your daily mood may vary and impact your hearing. Anyhow it was a very good opportunity to understand if you probably would like a headphone or not and if it makes sense to further demo it at another session in a non-crowded environment or ideally at home. Additionally we each have our different prefrences, music genres we listen to. I hope that makes sense when you read further. I'll not comment on fit as I have bigger ears and every IEM finds its place there Additionally often they pop out of my right ear, so I end up ordering custom tips for stuff, that I intend to keep for a longer period of time.

First I started with the CFA Trifecta:

These are without a doubt among the most beautiful iems available. Photos do not do them justice. I must admit that I went in with a negative attitude because I had read some negative reviews here. But they completely blew me away after the first song. The bass is very detailed, clean, textured and massive, with a very holographic soundstage! However, when listening to various tracks, the bass sounded sometimes boomy and the treble was extremely peaky. It was too much for me, so I quit demoing. I really didn't get the variance in the bass performance, never experienced that before.

Next was the EE Odyssey:

Went into listening them without having a clue how they would sound. I owned the Odin 2 times in the past. These sounded generally like the Odin. The bass was like on the Odin, very textured, nice DD decay, amont the best in business. Probably more quantity on the Odyssey. The upper mids were less peaking than on the Odin (but still there). That was a good move. Additionally the transparency of the whole tuning was taken to the next level. I see this splitting people about their perception of the Odyssey. For my personal preference, that was too much. It didn't sound musical anymore to me. And the bass got a bit decoupled from the rest. But I see a lot of people liking these technical monsters.

Next was the Aroma Audio Thunder from @SteffSergeant :

I must say from all of the IEMs at the table, I liked these the most. They have a nice neutral tuning (treble can get a bit hot at times), very good detail retrieval, nice DD bass. But they are lacking the very last bit of everything to play with the big boys. But they are also not in the same price range to be fair. So I think these are crazy value for the money! I am really really looking forward to my Jewel once it's finished by Aroma Audio (waiting over 5 weeks now).

The ZMF Atrium:

I showed the headphone pictures to my wife after the event. And she said that these were the most beautiful she has ever seen. I agree!
I owned the VC before and liked it, but they were displaced by my other headphones. I really didn't had much expectations of the Atrium, but I gave them a try anyway. And I was really surprised. These are one of the headphones that you can buy and just be happy. Really don't need anything else. Very neutral tuning leaning towards laid back with good bass impact. I wasn't missing any details. Well done ZMF!I really hope I can get a good deal on exactly this configuration in the future. But I know a LOT of others waiting for that opportunity as well

The RAAL CA-1A:

Sound-wise I liked them more than the SR1a. They have more substantial bass and contrary to other reports I didn't find the detail retrieval to be very noticably below the SR1a. But that could be also due to listening fatigue at that time, so I don't judge on that very strictly (I didn't change pads either). Generally they sounded a bit hollow, but I wasn't sure if it was due to the environment or not. But I really didn't like the DIY feel to the whole thing. It was comfortable though.

Spirit Torino Pulsar:

Sitting on the headphone stand while no one was paying attention to them I gave them a try. Mamma mia ! I think these were the biggest surprise to me on the whole event. They sounded like the Utopia on stereoids. Very hard hitting, neutral to bright tonality. And this detail retrieval from a DD driver??? The only downside next to the price was the comfort. The pads are quite stiff, but I guess there would be an easy fix for that. I'd love to hear these again. My main concern is only the big loss on re-sale as it is a very very exotic brand.

The DCA Expanse:

Just sold my Stealth last week. These sound like the Stealth but more open. I think there is really not much more to say. The openness do add to the sound quality perception for sure. But I considered the Stealth as very good because there was nothing a like as a closed back option. For open backs there are much more pleasing headphones for my preference. But if you are into neutral tuning, these are the way to go.

And the last one to mention: Stax SR-X9000:

Endgame. No doubt! Dynamics like a Focal, exceptional detail retrieval, very comfortable, neutral to bright tuning (as you are used by Stax). Bass is hard hitting, really nothing to critisize except for the price. Great headphones. I was really happy to hear them because it showed me again that the difference between the big players are not substantial. I would rate them on the same level like my Bravua but with a different flavour. Would be fun to do a in depth comparison, but I really don't feel the urge to.

I hope you guys enjoyed the impressions. As said, these are only initial impressions at an event. So there could be a lot of variance due to different factors. But all of the headphones mentioned are really TOTL and the critiques are accordingly on a very high level.

 

[Alexzander]

the name of track of RATM?

Wake Up - around 05:07

 

[fabio19]

Wake Up - around 05:07

Thank you

 

[kmmbd]

Received the Hifiman EF400. My first time using an R2R all-in-one as daily driver. Gobs of power, too much for most IEMs, so currently I am only sticking with my headphones on these.

 

[snowy8171]

Heard the noble viking Ragnar were kind of amazing at canjam. Hopefully we have more impressions soon

 

[dmphile]

Ordered the Noble Viking Ragnar! Excited to see how it'll turn out .

Thanks to @HiFiHawaii808 and @metaljem77 for the tips and @MusicTeck for the service as usual.

Looking forward to your thoughts! Now someone just needs to buy the UM Multiverse Mentor.

On a side note, I'm growing more attached to the Indigos. They give me so much detail and resolution with a nicely controlled subbass rumble on tracks that make it so grand. Reaching for them every night with great anticipation after a long day with the babies.