[Scubadevils]

Thanks to Jaben Singapore, I’ve been taking this new dongle, the RIO by Phatlab, for a test ride. Thus far, I am pleasantly surprised by how well it has been doing with the FitEar DC Ti and DC. Drives them with authority. There is a nice rich tonality. There is a nice solidness to it as well.

http://www.phatlabaudio.com/mobile/product_content.php?id=14

Reminds me of Rio from back in the early 00s, I still have a mug in the press! The 'Karma' and 'Carbon' were two excellent DAPs, such a shame that brand didn't surive the onslaught on the iPod.

 

[ttt123]

I am not exactly 100% sure of the detail, but I think there is a Pentaconn Spec and a Pentaconn branded product.

https://pentaconnglobal.com/index.asp?p=/static/about.html#:~:text=“Penta” represents 5, while,soundscape, and depth in sound.

“Pentaconn” was created back in May 2015 “Balanced Connector for headphones”.

It is a connector set with 5 poles and jack that conformable to JEITA Standard RC8141C.

Pentaconn performs fully resolution, soundscape, and depth in sound.

edited to note: When I say I am willing to pay an upgrade fee to get the better Pentaconn jack. I specifically mean this one:

https://pentaconnglobal.com/products/NBP1-14-001/9

It is $77 USD just for the jack. So, it costs about $100 to get a cable reterminated with this jack and it is totally worth it.

Just some general info I picked up, from the early days when the 4.4mm was first introduced.
- Material: cheaper plugs use brass. This is a softer material, so a steel pin is often built into the middle. Can test for the steel pin by testing with a magnet.
- Better plugs: Pentaconn, Furutech, Oyaide, use copper alloy. The higher grade/most expensive models use OFC (Oxygen Free Copper), which is a harder material, more difficult to work with, and accounts for the higer cost.
- Plating: gold plating, rhodium, Nickel, etc. Each of these has their own "flavor" of sound
- Case: Different materials, some with RF/anti-magnetic shielding properties

All of the above can affect the sound, and the cheap plugs affect the sound negatively.

Very expensive cables, I would expect to use a plug with copper/alloy as a minimum, but may not be using the more expensive OFC.

The plug is a critical part of the signal chain, so can be a bottle neck. i.e. Doesn't matter how good the cable is, if the plug is restricting the performance, or coloring the sound.

The plug has it's own complexities, which needs attention, and the user should be aware that "all plugs are not created equal".
There can be significant differences due to material/design/construction.

The plug is another component, which can affect the sound. It is another tuning element, just like the cable is a tuning element.

So yes, a good cable will benefit from a high grade plug, like a Pentaconn, or Furutech

 

[MaggotBrain]

I just recently went shopping for a 2 channel system since I am building a new home and I wanted to have a dedicated listening room. For 2 reasons, I ruled it out. First, you can easily spend $500k on a 2 channel system and it will only be mid tier. It's closer to $1M for a TOTL 2 channel system. Second, nearly all of my music sucked on a $400k system. It sounded way too compressed. I would have to invest in all new music and not listen to the majority of the music I listen to today.

That said, my taste in music is quite eclectic. I listen to a wide variety of music from classic rock from the 70s, to 80s synthesizer based music to bebop and combo jazz to concert piano and full scale symphonic, opera and broadway, R&B, modern pop and more. Given that experience and the wide variety of IEMs and headphones I have had the chance to own or demo, I have concluded that one system, no matter the technical quality, cannot render all of the music in my library to the quality level that I desire. It's not a matter of picking the best system that renders the music as the artist originally intended because there is no such single thing especially since the artist isn't making the final mix and they mix it to sound the best on a plethora of playback systems of varying quality. My quest is to find the sound that I desire for each genre of music and it turns out that I like lots of flavors of the same music. This is why I own so darn many products.

If you have eclectic tastes and worry about how your system will handle it, you might want to check out studio monitors. While not exactly cheap, they do have a distinctive way of not messing with the music and just getting out of the way without coloration. Some are powered with amps, and some have dacs inside too.

I love my monitors so much I have one of each type:

These are my ATCs - the 100 SCM variety. This is a crazy setup - nearfield so
I actually look forward to my time on the elliptical. The DAC feeding it is a Bartok which is just awesome.
There’s a Trafomatic Primavera for some good time tube action when I am in the mood but mostly two channel.
Have a Xbox and computer hookup too to round out the fun times.

Then comes the latest toys (and excuse the holiday decorations obscuring things, but hey it’s that time of year

The Kii Threes with BXT extensions. Just sublime. Now being fed by a Taiko extreme - if there’s one thing to take away from this post please please please look into a top notch server when testing out your system. This Dutch master is a beast - 105 lbs of metal with no fans to muck up the music. Even non audiophiles like my wife’s relatives noticed how good stuff sounds with the Taiko. It is truly the tide that rises all boats - playing roon everything sounds better - on the Bartok, on the headphone rig - truly astounding. Most of the time I make upgrades and they’re subtle - the Taiko is on another level. And the customer service cannot be beat. Last Saturday a roon update sent the Taiko off the beaten path and I sent a text to the European customer service (11 pm their time) on the off chance he was up and lo and behold within 5 minutes he had the the fixed up and running. Plus they have a proprietary XDMS in alpha testing which is like roon but with better audio quality. Cannot say enough about the company or their support. Hope that helps!

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Why don’t you just set up your home theatre to play 2-channel as well? Many people do this with no issues. You may also be shocked at how well a 2-channel system will make your video sound.

I had that idea and went shopping for it. It doesn't work. I walked through designs. The positioning and angle of the speakers really impacts the sound. I am going to be fine just doing home theatre. I don't want to invest in new music along with the expense of the gear. That's the biggest issue. Once I heard the perfect 2 channel system, I am not interested in anything that doesn't produce that experience. I know it sounds crazy. That is what I thought when 2 people told me that $300k wouldn't do it. They were right. I am open to listening to other systems and I might change my mind if I hear a great system for under $100k. I doubt it though.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I did not expect this to happen today, but it did. After working it for the better part of the entire year, I have a new number 1 in my collection. It is now perfect for my entire library according to my preferences in almost every category. Bass, mids, highs, imaging, staging, resolution, layering and detail, tonality, liveliness and timbre. It is my XE6 CIEM. Out of the box and with the RS8, I had bassy music covered, but it was terrible for classical and jazz music. It was too dark. But, what I did was cable and atom module roll until I landed on the perfect synergy for my preferences. XE6 CIEM, Gold atom module, Eletech Iliad cable and RS8. The Iliad balanced out the signature in the treble while enabling the glorious bass of the XE6 and improving the 3D imaging. This is my GOAT. I could live with only this portable set up. Well. This is for today anyway. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

It's amazing that Jeremy came to the same conclusion I did on the same day. First time I heard XE6 was at CanJam NYC. I hated it. I came back the next day and I hated it a little bit less. in March, I got a tour kit for the entire Frontier Series. I finally fell in love with the XE6. I heard the custom was better, so I needed to find an opportunity to get it. An opportunity materialized where I could test how good the customs were at FIR. I got a NE4. I loved it right away, but it wasn't great until I got the RS8 which has perfect synergy with the NE4. Then, the opportunity for the Custom XE6 materialized for Black Friday. I got a deal and since I already had my .STL files at FIR, it took only 16 days for them to get me the Custom XE6. After 3 days of listening and fine tuning with cable and atom module rolling, I finally hit the perfect combination for my preferences. It nails it. Custom XE6 with Gold Atom module, RS8 DAP and Iliad cable. Amazing.

edited to note: After several days of listening, I prefer the Silver Atom Modules.

 

[Deezel177]

Hi,

Is anyone familiar with HUM? https://www.hum.hk

All the info I am able to find is that they've been around for 10+ years and have a bit of a cult following in Japan and Hong Kong.

They're a bit like Hidition and their Viento in the sense that they're still getting orders for their IEM, the Pristine that's been around for just as long.

Frankly, outside of Warbler, I'm not familiar with many brands that follow a less is more approach with their products.

It's a niche that needs to be filled in the ROW market outside of where they are based.

Thanks for your insight and impressions!

HUM used to have quite the following in Singapore. Their Reference CIEM was a constant source of intrigue for the brand's unique philosophy. Huge capacitors and bespoke solder blends weren't common yet back then. But, they were also notorious for being unforgiving and capable of sounding like absolute trash with the wrong material. I have their portable amp, which I found one of the cleanest-sounding portable amps at the time. It looks like their MA-1B amp now, but silver in color. 'Can't remember what it was called. And, as you said, they then launched the new flagship Dolores, as well as the more affordable TT at CanJam SG. I covered both briefly on THL. I don't know if they've launched anything since, but they're a very polarizing brand to say the least. Again, their IEMs are kinda like the Supermoon in that they're extremely chain-sensitive, and both their flagships have been very love-them-or-hate-them.

 

[audionewbi]

Same here. Around the start of COVID lockdowns in March/April.

It was probably this:

https://www.headfonia.com/review-hum-dolores/

https://headfonics.com/hum-dolores-review/

https://porta.fi/hum-dolores-anti-mainstream-in-action/

I reviewed their reference line way back and I have the HUM MA-1, pristine as well as References.

A solid company with a core philosophy of simplicity is best and they stay true to it.

Here is my review of their reference IEM:
https://earphonia.com/earphones-iems-ciems/hum-reference-simplicity-at-its-best/

Their balance amp is said to be great but haven't tried it .

 

[Deezel177]

I reviewed their reference line way back and I have the HUM MA-1, pristine as well as References.

A solid company with a core philosophy of simplicity is best and they stay true to it.

Here is my review of their reference IEM:
https://earphonia.com/earphones-iems-ciems/hum-reference-simplicity-at-its-best/

Their balance amp is said to be great but haven't tried it .

Yeah, regardless of what you think of their products, they’re a great bunch of folks and they couldn’t have been nicer when I met them at CanJam SG.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Reminds me of Rio from back in the early 00s, I still have a mug in the press! The 'Karma' and 'Carbon' were two excellent DAPs, such a shame that brand didn't surive the onslaught on the iPod.

Omg, this is classic)

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

HUM used to have quite the following in Singapore. Their Reference CIEM was a constant source of intrigue for the brand's unique philosophy. Huge capacitors and bespoke solder blends weren't common yet back then. But, they were also notorious for being unforgiving and capable of sounding like absolute trash with the wrong material. I have their portable amp, which I found one of the cleanest-sounding portable amps at the time. It looks like their MA-1B amp now, but silver in color. 'Can't remember what it was called. And, as you said, they then launched the new flagship Dolores, as well as the more affordable TT at CanJam SG. I covered both briefly on THL. I don't know if they've launched anything since, but they're a very polarizing brand to say the least. Again, their IEMs are kinda like the Supermoon in that they're extremely chain-sensitive, and both their flagships have been very love-them-or-hate-them.

Well, their approach is definitely atypical. They used internal soldering with good quality silver and copper cables at a time when no one else was doing it. As you rightly noted, large capacitors and resistors could be observed inside the cases. In Dolores, the largest internal element is the inductor (if I understand correctly). And with all this - the minimum possible number of drivers. However, the tuning makes it sound great.

As for Japan and the HK, there is an opinion that they like high frequencies there. So "Japanese" tuning can be bright for the rest of the world. Although practice shows that this is nothing more than prejudice.

And it is the honest, unsmoothed high frequencies that allow good records to sound luxurious and like trash - when it is mixed poorly, compressed, etc. I encountered their criticality on some of the records I listen to.

I also thought of their similarity to SM, but with some cable or tips tuning of the latter. Usually, from reviews, I understand that SM is a slightly V-shaped sound, (I tuned it more flat) while Dolores is more flat. But this is from memory. Damn, now I regret not comparing them A-B when I had SM handy)

 

[Scubadevils]

Omg, this is classic)

Yours still working? My Karma isn’t, but the Carbon does - I was surprised recently when I charged it to find it booted up, it must be in a drawer over 10 years now.

 

[Scubadevils]

Eclipse landed and in spite of my fantastic plan to hold till Christmas Day, I lasted about 2 minutes, there’s a surprise!

Both the shells and LL cable are beautiful which is a good start… listening impressions to follow.

 

[GiullianSN]

Eclipse landed and in spite of my fantastic plan to hold till Christmas Day, I lasted about 2 minutes, there’s a surprise!

Both the shells and LL cable are beautiful which is a good start… listening impressions to follow.

These looks much nicer in real pictures than in the marketing ones. Enjoy them scubi!

 

[claud W]

I love my M6 U. It’s a very high performing “mid priced” DAP.

+ 1

 

[aaf evo]

Has anyone ever has to file an insurance claim through USPS? I dropped my package off Friday and it hasn’t had any movement since. It hasn’t even been scanned in yet although the place confirmed USPS picked up these packages Saturday morning. It’s too early to assume it’s lost but I’m getting prepared to have to file a claim for it, thankfully the package was fully insured.