The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[yaps66]

I see the devialet mania here on the last picture and I would urge this Café to try out the Vifa Oslo in late night mode sounds much much better and costs less than half the price!

Btw the Oslo is the best sounding Vifa Box and best Bluetooth box I have tried so so far and I have tried many

Love the Oslo!

 

[SoundJedi]

Oh wow that's steep...a lot more than the storied Viento which I've heard a lot more about. If I was going to spend that kind of $$ on a BA IEM right now I'd drop the extra $1K and go for the Phonix LE. I hope I get to hear one some time though-- thanks for putting it on my radar.

Purple joy.

 

[Scubadevils]

Wanted to share something I think will interest you all because it combines two of the most popular things in this thread: high-end audio and good food & drink.

Last month a unique store opened up in Rotterdam called The Sound Kitchen, which is a high-end audio store with an equally high-end coffee bar.



The Sound Kitchen offers an excellent selection of brands and is one of the very few stores I know of in the Netherlands that has a proper head-fi line up. Among others, they offer Campfire, 64 Audio, FiR, Hifiman, Dan Clark, Meze, HEDD, Shanling, Lotoo, as well as (very) high-end desktop brands like Feliks, Violectric, Niimbus, Enleum and Viva.



I had a chat with the guys before they opened their doors and the concept of the Sound Kitchen has been six years in the making. The owner Michael even travelled to Singapore to meet up with Kristy from Zeppelin & Co and see how they did things over there. He then took the concept to a new level by selecting the very best quality coffee and treats he could find. I am talking about sweets made by a 2-star Michelin chef, coffee by champion roasters and tea by someone who couldn't find a good enough cuppa in the UK (I lived there, and know how mad the Brits are about their tea).



I think this is the sort of place many here in the Watercooler would love to visit and a real treat for those of us who live in the Netherlands where there are only a very few good head-fi stores to begin with and so I had to share. Maybe a good place for a European Watercooler meet?





ps. I started a dedicated thread for the store here. Thought that might be convenient.

That looks fantastic and I would definitely be up for a meet - a relatively short hop from Dublin.

 

[CodenameBK201]

New toy.

Tell me how it is. I have the hc1, and was eyeing either the 2 or 3 for my wife so she could use it with her iphone.

 

[Rockwell75]

Wanted to share something I think will interest you all because it combines two of the most popular things in this thread: high-end audio and good food & drink.

Last month a unique store opened up in Rotterdam called The Sound Kitchen, which is a high-end audio store with an equally high-end coffee bar.



The Sound Kitchen offers an excellent selection of brands and is one of the very few stores I know of in the Netherlands that has a proper head-fi line up. Among others, they offer Campfire, 64 Audio, FiR, Hifiman, Dan Clark, Meze, HEDD, Shanling, Lotoo, as well as (very) high-end desktop brands like Feliks, Violectric, Niimbus, Enleum and Viva.



I had a chat with the guys before they opened their doors and the concept of the Sound Kitchen has been six years in the making. The owner Michael even travelled to Singapore to meet up with Kristy from Zeppelin & Co and see how they did things over there. He then took the concept to a new level by selecting the very best quality coffee and treats he could find. I am talking about sweets made by a 2-star Michelin chef, coffee by champion roasters and tea by someone who couldn't find a good enough cuppa in the UK (I lived there, and know how mad the Brits are about their tea).



I think this is the sort of place many here in the Watercooler would love to visit and a real treat for those of us who live in the Netherlands where there are only a very few good head-fi stores to begin with and so I had to share. Maybe a good place for a European Watercooler meet?





ps. I started a dedicated thread for the store here. Thought that might be convenient.

Epic. It's crazy that there's not a single place like this in all of North America as far as I know. Where I live I'm about equidistant from this place and e-earphone in Osaka. Hoping to visit both (and SG also) in the next 10 years.

Purple joy.

Nice hearing this is now on my bucket list thanks to you

 

[CodenameBK201]

Epic. It's crazy that there's not a single place like this in all of North America as far as I know. Where I live I'm about equidistant from this place and e-earphone in Osaka. Hoping to visit both (and SG also) in the next 10 years.



Nice hearing this is now on my bucket list thanks to you

Musicteck offers demoing by appointment I believe, as does Bloom Audio. They're both right here in New Jersey.

 

[mashuto]

Wanted to share something I think will interest you all because it combines two of the most popular things in this thread: high-end audio and good food & drink.

Last month a unique store opened up in Rotterdam called The Sound Kitchen, which is a high-end audio store with an equally high-end coffee bar.



The Sound Kitchen offers an excellent selection of brands and is one of the very few stores I know of in the Netherlands that has a proper head-fi line up. Among others, they offer Campfire, 64 Audio, FiR, Hifiman, Dan Clark, Meze, HEDD, Shanling, Lotoo, as well as (very) high-end desktop brands like Feliks, Violectric, Niimbus, Enleum and Viva.



I had a chat with the guys before they opened their doors and the concept of the Sound Kitchen has been six years in the making. The owner Michael even travelled to Singapore to meet up with Kristy from Zeppelin & Co and see how they did things over there. He then took the concept to a new level by selecting the very best quality coffee and treats he could find. I am talking about sweets made by a 2-star Michelin chef, coffee by champion roasters and tea by someone who couldn't find a good enough cuppa in the UK (I lived there, and know how mad the Brits are about their tea).



I think this is the sort of place many here in the Watercooler would love to visit and a real treat for those of us who live in the Netherlands where there are only a very few good head-fi stores to begin with and so I had to share. Maybe a good place for a European Watercooler meet?





ps. I started a dedicated thread for the store here. Thought that might be convenient.

That place looks really cool. Except here I come with probably another pretty unpopular opinion...

I think coffee is gross.

 

[CodenameBK201]

That place looks really cool. Except here I come with probably another pretty unpopular opinion...

I think coffee is gross.

 

[Wyville]

That place looks really cool. Except here I come with probably another pretty unpopular opinion...

I think coffee is gross.

No worries, they have you covered...

 

[CharlyBrown]

Lol, I’ve zero time or interest in whatever the measurebators obsess about. None of it seems to have anything to do with actually enjoying the music you’re listening to. I’m convinced sites like ASR exist to make the denizens feel better about not spending money on audio.

Too right. I feel lucky, privileged and humbled to be part of such a warm welcoming community here at the Cooler.

These two sentences are in stark contrast.

 

[kadinh]

Nobody buys a $50,000 Rolex and feels the need to justify how it quantitatively tells time better than the $20 Casio you can purchase at Wal-Mart. They didn't buy the Rolex because it's a "better" watch; they bought the Rolex because it's a nicer watch.

you make a good point. the quartz in the Casio would keep more accurate time than a mechanical Rolex, but the Rolex parts inside are better machined and can be replaced, making it last virtually forever. with the Casio, replacing the battery is probably the only servicing it could have; otherwise they would probably just throw out the watch and buy a new one.

when it comes down to it, they both tell time...their initial function. I guess you could say the same thing about a lot of things...cars, clothes, chairs, alcohol, computers....you can get better quality by getting something made with higher quality materials, but essentially they can perform the same function (ie. Hennessy VS vs Louis XIII).

 

[audio123]

Filled up 11/12 of the IEM compartment of my Van Nuys Case. Last slot may go to my FitEar MH334SR or Private 333 Custom.

First Row: Aroma Jewel, Plussound Allegro, UM Multiverse Mentor, Noble Viking Ragnar
Second Row: Aroma Ace, FitEar Titan, Custom Art FIBAE 7U, Campfire Andromeda MW10
Third Row: Dunu Luna, Acoustune HS1695 TI, Oriolus Traillii

 

[Frankie D]

Yup. I don't really share a lot of the opinions a lot of you guys have on here. I don't think any of you guys are wrong or anything, I just havent heard much that has convinced me of some of these things. I think the headphones themselves (transducer) is likely something like 90% of the sound, and everything else can just tweak it. And most of what is discussed is probably hyperbole and a lot of the differences that are discussed are a lot smaller than it would seem. I think part of that is by design, since it would be really difficult to put things into words without describing them as larger than they actually are.

As I said though, I mostly keep quiet about it because I am not anyone else and I have no idea what anyone else may hear. I don't think anyone is wrong for hearing things I may not. I am just cautious about having to spend huge sums to hear them. Nor would I want anyone else trying to tell me that I am wrong for not hearing what they say they hear.

I do not believe you are incorrect in absolute terms. In my experience the transducers have the most influence on sound in a system ( let’s eliminate rooms and fit, just keeping to the electrical components so to speak). This has always been the belief and I will go so far to say as accepted fact in the 2-channel world many years ago. Then a long time ago Linn started saying the source was more important or just as important. Linn made turntables, so we are speaking about an analogue source. Then many people said it was the source. And then of course folks took sides.

What I have always found is that the speaker, the HP, the IEM have the largest effect on the sound you will hear. Now when things are out of balance, another area can make a very large impact. For example, if you have a totl IEM and your source is an early dap playing 128k or less media and moved to a current totl dap using cd quality and well recorded material, the difference in sound will probably be larger than any transducer. Changing an amp that cannot properly drive a speaker would be another good example.

When everything is of high quality I have always found the transducer to have the largest effect on the sound I hear. Cables can tweak it IMHO.

 

[Frankie D]

Filled up 11/12 of the IEM compartment of my Van Nuys Case. Last slot may go to my FitEar MH334SR or Private 333 Custom.

First Row: Aroma Jewel, Plussound Allegro, UM Multiverse Mentor, Noble Viking Ragnar
Second Row: Aroma Ace, FitEar Titan, Custom Art FIBAE 7U, Campfire Andromeda MW10
Third Row: Dunu Luna, Acoustune HS1695 TI, Oriolus Traillii

I never realized you were a Dunu Luna fan. I like it as well, though I rarely use it now.

 

[CodenameBK201]

Sharing music. Test your treble rolloff and bass response at the same time, or just, y'know, enjoy music. It's all good y'all.