monduvo
100+ Head-Fier
Happy belated new year everyone,
It’s been a while since the last time I’ve read through some posts and posted some thoughts & impressions here, as life at work and spending some time with family have been busier than usual for the past few months.
Aside from the usual, not much has happened outside of work and family, as something work-related almost always comes around the corner and takes most of my time during the day until early evening hours.
On Thursday evening (1/27), I took some time after a long busy day at work to head out to Old Pasadena and got some tacos for a quick take-out from a restaurant right around the block, as the place seemed a bit hectic and busy with a lot of people dining inside and outside.
Maestro (contemporary Mexican cuisine, Pasadena, California, 1/26).
Tacos (carnitas taco & fish taco, from take-out @ Maestro, Pasadena, CA) and coffee (1/26).
Prior to this, about a little over a week ago, there’s an iem with a somewhat similar name I’ve been meaning to try from a rising known brand in Singapore. Its iems from a particular line-up & series have been fairly well discussed here, as well as in other similar threads and forums, and some of the more popular models from this line-up have been mostly well received by many in the portable audio community.
Starting in at $473 (in USD) from the entry of its popular line-up, the FatFreq Maestro Mini seemingly gives a small but fun taste of what the Maestro series has to offer. Knowing that the Maestro Mini is at a much lower price point compared to its higher end and flagship models, the price for what it seems to offer was just something I couldn’t pass up.
In the hopes of finding the Mini to bridge the gap between entry-level wired & tws earphones and high-end totl iems in a more musical and fun way from my iem collection, I asked Ben at FatFreq few more questions about the Mini before finalizing my purchase decision. Shortly after the helpful exchange, I went ahead and ordered the Maestro Mini (in universal-fit).
And, just when I thought things could settle down for a longer while from portable audio purchases, another thought occurred in getting a new dap to pair with the Maestro Mini (and to pair with other ‘mid-fi’ iems & headphones in my collection). Not long after I made the drive back home, there was a dap I had in mind for a while. There's something about the way its aesthetics, design and form factor worked together as a whole and stood out unlike other daps I’ve seen lately. Although there are no in-depth impressions nor reviews to read about this dap on most portable audio threads and forums, one small curiosity led to the next, until it got to a tipping point where I took out my phone to check the availability of this dap, and I ended up adding the dap to cart to complete checkout on Amazon.
The Sony NW-ZX707 has been on my buy list for some time, as I’ve always wanted to have a more usable and accessible dap with a more responsive and fluid user interface in a well-designed, compact & solid build and lighter weight form factor, with the main priority and focus being sound quality and practicality in functionality and usage.
I’m really looking forward to trying the ZX707 and hearing the Maestro Mini (and should arrive within several weeks or sooner), and brief impressions and comparisons of Maestro Mini will be done with Plus Sound cables (spc 2-wire, gph 8-wire, and pph 6-wire) and SP3000. =)
Going back to a brief recap of the past three months with some recent acquisitions in portable audio, I spent some time on and off after work listening to A12t and also Legend X custom-fit with SP3000, as well as IER-Z1R and VE8 (universal-fit) with SP3000, with IER-Z1R being my favorite pairing with SP3000 at the current moment.
A12t custom-fit (top, w/ purple heart wooden faceplates & translucent charcoal shells, paired with Plus Sound Verse 4-wire spc in 4.4) and Legend X custom-fit (bottom, black faceplates w/ silver EE wing logos & translucent mist shells, paired with Plus Sound palladium-plated hybrid 6-wire in 4.4), in 64 Audio Pelican G40 case.
Current favorite pairing: Sony IER-Z1R (w/ Plus Sound sleeved 4-wire spc in 4.4), Astell&Kern SP3000 and a cold bottle of ginseng. =)
From brief impressions, I found each pairing with SP3000 to be a fairly noticeable step up in most subtle aspects of performance and presentation of sound. While I won’t go in much detail for now, and to keep this post at brief length, I’ve found the SP3000 to have a slightly warm and subtly ‘neutral-like’ type of sound in presentation and feel in tonality. When it comes to detail retrieval, there is just enough information of detail rendered and presented with decent reach and depth from within and at the surface in a delicate, refined but pleasant way.
Sony IER-Z1R (w/ Plus Sound sleeved 4-wire spc in 4.4) and Astell&Kern SP3000.
However, in high notes of vocals and instruments, I get the feeling that there is a slight bit of forward emphasis in the mid to upper treble region where the transition from upper mid to treble feels a bit pushed outward in a kind of unnatural way. Dynamics and staging are more than adequate, giving some convincing sense that there’s enough nuances of sounds within their own space and position from instruments, vocals, as well as sounds coming from subjects and objects with clean separation and layering, rendering fine to rich details in a more subtly defined way, and with more spacious & controlled panning and soundstage. This gives a very clean & silent contrast of textured images and nuances of sounds along a pitch dark background.
Also, this effect was fairly similar and noticeable on headphones, such as the HD800S, when paired with a desktop headphone amplifier (Violectric V280, w/ Plus Sound 4-wire spc in XLR 4-pin balanced) and SP3000 in unbalanced line-out. However, the noticeable downside to this setup (in 3.5 single-ended line-out) was a bit of restraint I felt in staging and headroom, where sounds and movement of subjects & objects felt closed in more with a 'fixed-in' resolution, and not feeling as expansive and airy when set up in balanced on both ends with a balanced headphone desktop amplifier and a balanced headphone dac.
Sennheiser HD800S (w/ Plus Sound 4-wire spc in XLR 4-pin balanced), Violectric V280 headphone amp (XLR balanced), w/ Plus Sound 6-wire spc dual XLR balanced to 3.5 single-ended interconnect, paired with Astell&Kern SP3000 (in unbalanced line-out).
Astell&Kern SP3000, in unbalanced line-out & DAC mode.
I’ll get back to following up on the rest of my thoughts and impressions of my ciems and SP3000, as well as replying to other members’ posts in another post for another time, as work is keeping a busy schedule for the rest of this week.
As always, enjoy the journey, and let the music guide in healthy spirit. =)
-Daniel.
It’s been a while since the last time I’ve read through some posts and posted some thoughts & impressions here, as life at work and spending some time with family have been busier than usual for the past few months.
Aside from the usual, not much has happened outside of work and family, as something work-related almost always comes around the corner and takes most of my time during the day until early evening hours.
On Thursday evening (1/27), I took some time after a long busy day at work to head out to Old Pasadena and got some tacos for a quick take-out from a restaurant right around the block, as the place seemed a bit hectic and busy with a lot of people dining inside and outside.
Maestro (contemporary Mexican cuisine, Pasadena, California, 1/26).
Tacos (carnitas taco & fish taco, from take-out @ Maestro, Pasadena, CA) and coffee (1/26).
Prior to this, about a little over a week ago, there’s an iem with a somewhat similar name I’ve been meaning to try from a rising known brand in Singapore. Its iems from a particular line-up & series have been fairly well discussed here, as well as in other similar threads and forums, and some of the more popular models from this line-up have been mostly well received by many in the portable audio community.
Starting in at $473 (in USD) from the entry of its popular line-up, the FatFreq Maestro Mini seemingly gives a small but fun taste of what the Maestro series has to offer. Knowing that the Maestro Mini is at a much lower price point compared to its higher end and flagship models, the price for what it seems to offer was just something I couldn’t pass up.
In the hopes of finding the Mini to bridge the gap between entry-level wired & tws earphones and high-end totl iems in a more musical and fun way from my iem collection, I asked Ben at FatFreq few more questions about the Mini before finalizing my purchase decision. Shortly after the helpful exchange, I went ahead and ordered the Maestro Mini (in universal-fit).
And, just when I thought things could settle down for a longer while from portable audio purchases, another thought occurred in getting a new dap to pair with the Maestro Mini (and to pair with other ‘mid-fi’ iems & headphones in my collection). Not long after I made the drive back home, there was a dap I had in mind for a while. There's something about the way its aesthetics, design and form factor worked together as a whole and stood out unlike other daps I’ve seen lately. Although there are no in-depth impressions nor reviews to read about this dap on most portable audio threads and forums, one small curiosity led to the next, until it got to a tipping point where I took out my phone to check the availability of this dap, and I ended up adding the dap to cart to complete checkout on Amazon.
The Sony NW-ZX707 has been on my buy list for some time, as I’ve always wanted to have a more usable and accessible dap with a more responsive and fluid user interface in a well-designed, compact & solid build and lighter weight form factor, with the main priority and focus being sound quality and practicality in functionality and usage.
I’m really looking forward to trying the ZX707 and hearing the Maestro Mini (and should arrive within several weeks or sooner), and brief impressions and comparisons of Maestro Mini will be done with Plus Sound cables (spc 2-wire, gph 8-wire, and pph 6-wire) and SP3000. =)
Going back to a brief recap of the past three months with some recent acquisitions in portable audio, I spent some time on and off after work listening to A12t and also Legend X custom-fit with SP3000, as well as IER-Z1R and VE8 (universal-fit) with SP3000, with IER-Z1R being my favorite pairing with SP3000 at the current moment.
A12t custom-fit (top, w/ purple heart wooden faceplates & translucent charcoal shells, paired with Plus Sound Verse 4-wire spc in 4.4) and Legend X custom-fit (bottom, black faceplates w/ silver EE wing logos & translucent mist shells, paired with Plus Sound palladium-plated hybrid 6-wire in 4.4), in 64 Audio Pelican G40 case.
Current favorite pairing: Sony IER-Z1R (w/ Plus Sound sleeved 4-wire spc in 4.4), Astell&Kern SP3000 and a cold bottle of ginseng. =)
From brief impressions, I found each pairing with SP3000 to be a fairly noticeable step up in most subtle aspects of performance and presentation of sound. While I won’t go in much detail for now, and to keep this post at brief length, I’ve found the SP3000 to have a slightly warm and subtly ‘neutral-like’ type of sound in presentation and feel in tonality. When it comes to detail retrieval, there is just enough information of detail rendered and presented with decent reach and depth from within and at the surface in a delicate, refined but pleasant way.
Sony IER-Z1R (w/ Plus Sound sleeved 4-wire spc in 4.4) and Astell&Kern SP3000.
However, in high notes of vocals and instruments, I get the feeling that there is a slight bit of forward emphasis in the mid to upper treble region where the transition from upper mid to treble feels a bit pushed outward in a kind of unnatural way. Dynamics and staging are more than adequate, giving some convincing sense that there’s enough nuances of sounds within their own space and position from instruments, vocals, as well as sounds coming from subjects and objects with clean separation and layering, rendering fine to rich details in a more subtly defined way, and with more spacious & controlled panning and soundstage. This gives a very clean & silent contrast of textured images and nuances of sounds along a pitch dark background.
Also, this effect was fairly similar and noticeable on headphones, such as the HD800S, when paired with a desktop headphone amplifier (Violectric V280, w/ Plus Sound 4-wire spc in XLR 4-pin balanced) and SP3000 in unbalanced line-out. However, the noticeable downside to this setup (in 3.5 single-ended line-out) was a bit of restraint I felt in staging and headroom, where sounds and movement of subjects & objects felt closed in more with a 'fixed-in' resolution, and not feeling as expansive and airy when set up in balanced on both ends with a balanced headphone desktop amplifier and a balanced headphone dac.
Sennheiser HD800S (w/ Plus Sound 4-wire spc in XLR 4-pin balanced), Violectric V280 headphone amp (XLR balanced), w/ Plus Sound 6-wire spc dual XLR balanced to 3.5 single-ended interconnect, paired with Astell&Kern SP3000 (in unbalanced line-out).
Astell&Kern SP3000, in unbalanced line-out & DAC mode.
I’ll get back to following up on the rest of my thoughts and impressions of my ciems and SP3000, as well as replying to other members’ posts in another post for another time, as work is keeping a busy schedule for the rest of this week.
As always, enjoy the journey, and let the music guide in healthy spirit. =)
-Daniel.
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