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

[yaps66]

So, if I understand correctly, you assume the imaging in the MM is due to the BCD? You may be right, but with a sample of one, I don’t know what to say.
The only way to shed some light, would be an IEM with a switch, like UM had at some point.
UM does the best implementation of BCD if you ask me. MM, Mest 3 and MJB are all amongst my favourites. But so is Maven 2, which doesn’t even have a BCD. So maybe they're just very good at tuning and it isn't only the BCD responsible for what we hear.

Try Penon Fan 3. It has a switch to turn on and off the BCD. If you want to take the experiment one step further, there is also the Penon Conductor, an earbud with a dial to increase or decrease the intensity of the bone conduction.

 

[warrenpchi]

Try Penon Fan 3. It has a switch to turn on and off the BCD. If you want to take the experiment one step further, there is also the Penon Conductor, an earbud with a dial to increase or decrease the intensity of the bone conduction.

Hmm, curious... if you turn the Conductor's BCD intensity all the way down, is that equivalent to off, or just minimal intensity?

 

[yaps66]

Been wondering to myself why there isn't a bone conduction headphone on the market, and this just makes me wonder even more. Guess it's only a matter of time!

There this: Inductivv Headphones

 

[Mcleenx]

Have you tried the Copper Nickel SP3000M? If not I highly suggest giving it a go if you can! I don’t know if A&K uses a built in DSP rather than their chassis to make their models sound different but its a noticeable change compared to the black 3000M. The Copper Nickel is comparison sounds richer and slightly warmer than my perceived neutral but it still manages to achieve a great tonal balance with huge stage and pinpoint imaging abilities.

I love the way the storm sounds from it! It won’t push it the Storm to ear bleeding volumes but in terms of still sounding really spacious and dynamic I think it does a a great job… and the combo is so portable! I really enjoyed using it on my flight yesterday.




It also sounds quite a bit different with Fugaku compared to the black 3000M. The treble is smoother whereas I felt on the black version it could be a little bright and sharp.

I have the SP3KM CN, and I absolutely love it, so I've decided to sell my other daps

I had the chance to try the Fugaku at CanJan NY. It is an amazing set. However, the price is a bit too steep for me at the moment.

One suggestion I have for Brise is to consider making smaller connectors and terminations, similar to Effect Audio, maybe?

 

[yaps66]

@warrenpchi, sorry but I could not reply to your post. Got this message:

To answer your question about the intensity dial for bcd for the Penon Conductor, my answer is I do not know!
This is from the marketing blurb: "The energy of the bone conduction driver is adjustable, designed a switch knob to adjust its energy output. Five scales are provided as reference points for adjustment, and fine-tuning can be easily done using the included screwdriver tool."

I am one of those "numbskulls" that can't really feel bone conduction and so I could not really tell if it was off "all the way down". I can say that I felt there was more immersiveness when I turned the intensity all the way up!

Hmm, curious... if you turn the Conductor's BCD intensity all the way down, is that equivalent to off, or just minimal intensity?

 

[warrenpchi]

@warrenpchi, sorry but I could not reply to your post. Got this message:

Hmm, that shouldn't have happened as you weren't the last poster if you were responding to me... we'll have to look into that.

To answer your question about the intensity dial for bcd for the Penon Conductor, my answer is I do not know!
This is from the marketing blurb: "The energy of the bone conduction driver is adjustable, designed a switch knob to adjust its energy output. Five scales are provided as reference points for adjustment, and fine-tuning can be easily done using the included screwdriver tool."

I am one of those "numbskulls" that can't really feel bone conduction and so I could not really tell if it was off "all the way down". I can say that I felt there was more immersiveness when I turned the intensity all the way up!

Okay I gotcha, thanks! I figured that would be the case, but thought I'd ask anyway just in case you knew. @emdeevee, do you happen to know, or is this something I'd have to bug Penon about?

 

[yaps66]

Hmm, that shouldn't have happened as you weren't the last poster if you were responding to me... we'll have to look into that.

I could only post the message after @Mcleenx sent his post. But until then, I could not even reply to your post.

 

[warrenpchi]

Oh wait, then yes it's working as intended, because you were technically the last poster! Nvm, all good!

 

[Rockwell75]

I might be in the minority here with this very subjective opinion, but I personally think the average $1k-$2k IEM is leaps and bounds better than the average headphone in the same price range.
And this is using the same desktop chain to drive the IEM and the headphone.

2-channel, and to a lesser extent headphones, have the luxury of something in actuality-- air and space-- that IEMs have to simulate through various forms of acoustic trickery. In this sense 2-channel is inexorably and objectively the superior medium of reproducing sound.

But in terms of use case-- the most important factor-- it's fundamentally an apples-oranges situation. I can't take a 2-channel system out and about with me-- nor the best full size cans really. Saying that IEMs are inferior to headphones is a lot like criticizing the proverbial fish for its inability to climb a tree.

All of that said there are I think some things that IEMs can do intrinsically well. For example, I love the imminent in-your-face-sound-injected-right-into-your-brain immersive experience IEMs provide-- and this is something I miss when demoing full size headphones.

I could only post the message after @Mcleenx sent his post. But until then, I could not even reply to your post.

Nice to see more of you in here lately

 

[KuroKitsu]

2025 seems to be the year for pain in the audio acquisitions for me.

First Ari, now I'm dealing with Kronos AV in the UK for the Violectric V222, who took my order even though they didn't have any stock.

Now it you ask me why I didn't buy it in Canada: new distributor decided to jack the price up to $2300 Maple Bucks, and even being taxed on the amp incoming I still save $500 Maple Bucks.

Placed the order Mar 30th, gave them a few days for processing etc.

Having no updates beyond "we received your order", I emailed in Apr 3rd requesting a update.Response attributed the lack of response in waiting for an update from Violectric. Apparently they had a run of orders that caught them unprepared, they were counting on the distributor to have backup stock (How this acceptable is beyond me), but a shipment got delayed in customs and should be the following week (this week)

I asked for an approximate date that stock would arrive, and got the standard "distributor will let us know when they get stock. At that point I indicate my displeasure that my order was taking with no indication they didn't have stock and requesting a refund. All this April 4th.

Despite being open on Saturdays, I didn't get a response until April 7th indicating that they could do the refund but the item would likely be shipped before the refund was processed, and that they were certain stock would arrive this week and they would check with the distributor and get back to me. No further response since then.

 

[Ike1985]

Nail polish, hm, never even considered that.
What is your favorite nail polish color?

I tried Fugaku for two sessions 4 hours each, and for me that is not at all portable. If the amp had a DAP in it than I could fit it in my top pocket. I actually tried, it fit, the need for an interconnect and a source is the biggest issue besides the cords and their ergonomics are not that great for moving around for me anyway. Another note is the Fugaku is very source sensitive so it is important to choose a source that synergies with it well. Long story short I enjoyed the sound I did not enjoy the use case.

I guess you are trying to be funny, what you describe is not how or where I live. I live rural go for walks on the country roads and hills, with spotty to no internet, that is my most used portable case. There is no real danger of theft here it is just not that kind of area.

I like alternating pink/purple nail polish personally.

Starlink brotha, you mount a starlink on top of your mobile cart.

 

[bigbeans]

Guys, Esoteric classical music SACD’s are fricking amazing! Listening to one right now, oh my goodness, the sheer quality is stunning. I’m not sure what the Esoteric team is doing but I am loving it.

 

[warrenpchi]

2025 seems to be the year for pain in the audio acquisitions for me.

First Ari, now I'm dealing with Kronos AV in the UK for the Violectric V222, who took my order even though they didn't have a any stock.

Did you get your money back on the Loaz, or are you stuck with that?

 

[yaps66]

Nice to see more of you in here lately

I had unsubscribed to regain some sanity and then when I posted CanJam impressions, I got sucked back in! Haha! I had forgotten what drama this hobby can illicit!

 

[Frankie D]

I might be in the minority here with this very subjective opinion, but I personally think the average $1k-$2k IEM is leaps and bounds better than the average headphone in the same price range.
And this is using the same desktop chain to drive the IEM and the headphone.

When you're in Immanis territory though, yeah, I would concede that it's hard for IEMs to compete.

Well, there is the Sennheiser HD-600 which is phenomenal at roughly $280.00. It will sound good on many amps, and when attached to a ZMF Decware Amp ( maybe $3K used ) look out. It will crush many more expensive HPs ( as in the thousands). However, you do need the amp, so more like $3280 vs $2000 + DAP.