[GiullianSN]

Life has become a bit too complicated lately...passing of my father, a lot of backlogged review obligations, demands increasing in my professional life, personal improvement study...yeah, it's a lot more complicated now. I cannot find the mental stability to collect my thoughts and write them down. Not the best year of my life...but I'm getting by. Trying to catch up on this thread...I think I am about 400 pages away.

Fortunately, I still find some time for music, that's what keeping me sane nowadays. Discovered some new artists, loving them.

Hope you've been well, @drftr . May you drift along the best of the tides.

Sad to hear that mate. Hope you take care of yourself most importantly and cope up with the pressure. Be strong the storm will pass.

Cheers
Giullian

 

[metaljem77]

I usually use a Van Nuys or Dignis Arca with the divisions removed.
But as a rule, my last cable (DHC Symbiote Elite) fits too tightly. Birds must be removed and placed in bags to avoid compression and breakage of the connectors inside the case. Therefore, more often it is Van nuys. Or a custom round leather case from a local craftsman.

That’s a lovely face-plate, what colour is this? Thanks

 

[metaljem77]

Life has become a bit too complicated lately...passing of my father, a lot of backlogged review obligations, demands increasing in my professional life, personal improvement study...yeah, it's a lot more complicated now. I cannot find the mental stability to collect my thoughts and write them down. Not the best year of my life...but I'm getting by. Trying to catch up on this thread...I think I am about 400 pages away.

Fortunately, I still find some time for music, that's what keeping me sane nowadays. Discovered some new artists, loving them.

Hope you've been well, @drftr . May you drift along the best of the tides.

Hang in there, my friend! My dad passed on recently too and a lot of other things are happening that I think would unhinge me if I let it. Music is my catharsis and one of my sources of sanity..

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

That’s a lovely face-plate, what colour is this? Thanks

Oh, this is not Bird, this is Wraith. It's just that I didn't have a photo with this cover, cable and Bird at hand)
Looks like here (yep, some bad pic again).

 

[Andorn]

I am overjoyed: Today the first of my two new IEM combination arrived:
Traillii + Chiro 8W + M9
(+ RU6 + Venom + Isabellae).
In the next few weeks, the
XE6 as CIEM + n8ii will follow.

For this, my SE180 + Sem2 + Sem3 had to go to a new home.

Maybe the Trifecta ordered three months ago will also be delivered at some point...

First impression:
Bankruptcy but very happy - I'm totally excited - Life is beautiful!

 

[jwilliamhurst]

I am overjoyed: Today the first of my two new IEM combination arrived:
Traillii + Chiro 8W + M9
(+ RU6 + Venom + Isabellae).
In the next few weeks, the
XE6 as CIEM + n8ii will follow.

For this, my SE180 + Sem2 + Sem3 had to go to a new home.

Maybe the Trifecta ordered three months ago will also be delivered at some point...

First impression:
Bankruptcy but very happy - I'm totally excited - Life is beautiful!

Cant wait for your impressions of Traillii with Chiron 8W!!

Venom with Isabellae also!!

 

[klyzon]

If those cases had shoulder straps I might just buy one. My main issue right now is that it's a hot summer and putting an N8ii into trouser pockets is a proper challenge. Especially if something else is also in the same pocket. I'd be happy if I had a nice case that I could carry around and maybe also put one or the other non audio equipment into. Just needs to be way smaller and lighter than a laptop bag.

Yeah, N8ii can get quite warm. Right now I’m almost exclusively using the DX170 for that reason alone. Warm DAPs + hot summer is just not a fun combo.

Since it is permanently summer over here, my solution to this is to leave my n8ii home with aroma stack, use wm1zm2 on the go I guess. It is scary how hot the n8ii can become over here

 

[Natesdailies]

He is all over the place on Facebook (with his 2 buddies)
Their vision is one budget pair/cable and EQ
What's perfectly fine for me
But the part that people buy to much doesn't work for me, no one has to take that decision for anyone
Finally we are not spending their money and don't we live in a free world ?
Following them there's only need for 1 pair + 1 cable
That's not immediately what I'm looking for in this hobby
They are just a gang of 3 trolling all day long
Now do know I respect each vision and opinion, finally that's why we have this great thread and group of members here, but never seen anyone here saying what we need to do !
We can talk and ask about all what makes it here so different from the rest on Facebook and Internet ...

Don't spend time caring what anyone on the internet says. They have zero qualifications. And if 1 budget set, 1 budget cable, and EQ to fix all that mess is the end goal, they also have bad ears and likely worship at the alter of the almighty graph. Fine. They've learned to cope heroically in the face of their own deficiencies.

Enjoy folks, you are not missing anything here that wouldn't be wasted on you anyway.

I think with the given context highlighted in bold I agree with Blotmouse. Staying within our means on audio gear is great and should be encouraged. Dimminishing returns hit hard after a certain bracket. But repeatedly attempting to sap someones happiness is projecting a weak mentality.

 

[drftr]

Life has become a bit too complicated lately...passing of my father, a lot of backlogged review obligations, demands increasing in my professional life, personal improvement study...yeah, it's a lot more complicated now. I cannot find the mental stability to collect my thoughts and write them down. Not the best year of my life...but I'm getting by. Trying to catch up on this thread...I think I am about 400 pages away.

Fortunately, I still find some time for music, that's what keeping me sane nowadays. Discovered some new artists, loving them.

Hope you've been well, @drftr . May you drift along the best of the tides.

You have to realize that the subject of your favourite hobby, music, dies each time it is played or reproduced. And yet you hang on to those moments just before the tones pass away, bringing you tremendous joy while you listen but also after you turn it off. This, my friend, is exactly what you did when your dad was still around: Making most of the time you had together and then after he left the building thinking back about the great times you had together, look back at how he enriched your life, and appreciate your own self enriching him all the same. And like with music he will be holding your hand each and every time you call upon him during both difficult and cheerful stages in life. Although it may be tough seeing his physical body go, just like the spirit of music he will never ever leave your mind, heart, and soul. There is nothing I can teach an Indian friend about this! You teach us, remember?

Let's meet up when I finally hit Indian soil in a few months. Should you find the time in your ever more challenging agenda that is...

Just happy to see you hear again

If that is a slip of the keyboard then it's a very nice one. If it's on purpose, how did you know?

drftr

 

[yaps66]

My cable is too big for this case. Also, are the iems in such a tight position? They need a little more space, I think. Or I spoil my Bird too much)

Haha! This is on the go so I will not likely carry my bird (when it arrives anytime now) in there. It will probably go in the stock VN case if a bring it on the go! You are right! bird plus FT Shielding is a think boy!

 

[yaps66]

If those cases had shoulder straps I might just buy one. My main issue right now is that it's a hot summer and putting an N8ii into trouser pockets is a proper challenge. Especially if something else is also in the same pocket. I'd be happy if I had a nice case that I could carry around and maybe also put one or the other non audio equipment into. Just needs to be way smaller and lighter than a laptop bag.

Try this.

 

[MatW]

It should be OK as WM1ZM2 is more or less the same size than SP2K but I would prefer something that closes.

It is only 17 cm or so long, and you needed more than that I think? It comes with a strap to keep it closed.

Maybe I'll just take the big Miter one, remove all separators and that's it

That thought occurred to me as well and is a possible solution indeed. It is a very nice case, and the magnetic closing system works well.

 

[drftr]

After too much reading and taking out a few of members' favourites for my cable quest I will try to demo the following cables for the U18t:

Effect Audio Ares S (~$180)
PlusSound EXO TriCopper (=sliiightly bright) (~$550)
Eletech Socrates (=sliiightly bright) (~$700)
Han Sound Audio 8-wire Aegis (~$1,000)
PW Audio 1950s 4-wire (certainly need a used one! or simply a huuuuuuge discount of course)

Tnx again for the help. Wish lists like these simplify my life.

drftr

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Haha I’m sure everyone knew it!!

I’m pretty happy to get it back. You’re using first times shielding correct?

Yes. Actually, since First Times Shielding is paired with Red Halo FE, I picked up a Meet Again which is the stock cable that comes with the Le Jardin. This IEM is just a reshelled Red Halo. To my ear, the Meet Again and First Times Shielding are so similar to be indistinguishable from each other. Since Meet Again does more to improve the sound of Traillii than Jewel, I have Meet Again paired with Traillii in spite of the fact that it looks terrible together. The Jewel sounds about the same with the Meet Again or First Times non-shielding, so I have that IEM paired with the original First Times non-shielding.

I did a pretty extensive A/B test of cables with all 3 of the IEMs. I have now moved solidly into the cable believer camp. I am also in the DAC believer camp as well as I can definitely hear distinct differences between certain DACs and Cables.

What this exercise did was move Traillii up from number 7 in my collection to number 3. That's because the First Times Shielding/Meet Again cables really increase its excitement factor. I want to reach for the Bird a lot more than ever before now with this pairing. It deepens the bass and really highlights the great lower mids of the Traillii.

Red Halo FE is still my favorite. The First Times Shielding cable is a perfect match for it. It deepens the bass and makes the treble more transparent which enhances the experience since the Red Halo FE is so dominant in the mids.

Jewel is still great and my reference monitor. It has dropped to number 4 mostly because it did not improve as much with either the Meet Again or First Times Shielding cable. This may change if I find an even better cable to pair it with than the First Times non-shielding cable.

 

[gLer]

After too much reading and taking out a few of members' favourites for my cable quest I will try to demo the following cables for the U18t:

Effect Audio Ares S (~$180)
PlusSound EXO TriCopper (=sliiightly bright) (~$550)
Eletech Socrates (=sliiightly bright) (~$700)
Han Sound Audio 8-wire Aegis (~$1,000)
PW Audio 1950s 4-wire (certainly need a used one! or simply a huuuuuuge discount of course)

Tnx again for the help. Wish lists like these simplify my life.

drftr

Get @doctorjuggles to make you a clone of this. Identical cable at half the price with your choice of hardware.