[CharlyBrown]

This got me curious, so I decided to check one of my many, many streaming apps…


What a year for music. This playlist is over 70 hours long and only features music released in 2023.

Here is hoping 2024 is just as bountiful with amazing tunes

Nice! That's why I think everybody should use streaming, at least for discovery. You can still buy later if you want to.

In other news, hotel break with my wife in beautiful Carlingford - a very old hotel and stunning nearby town, castle and harbour.

Lovely location. Ireland is great!

 

[Tristy]

Silver+ is one of my all time favorite cables!

There's definitely something to be said for these thicker gauged, shielded, coaxial type cables.... They just sound so dynamic and spacious with pitch black backgrounds. It's hard to go back to more traditional configurations.

 

[gLer]

Have you tried it on the Z1R?

No, I don't take the Sony EP-EX11 off the Z1R.

 

[audionewbi]

So recently, during my chance meetup with the venerable Tokpakorlo, I finally, finally got to audition the LP6 TI 7AE, which I have considered blind buying.



For the sake of reference I own the WM1ZM2 and the DMPZ1 and have owned or extensively auditioned the Cayin N8ii, Hiby RS8, SP3K, P6 Pro, the LPGT, the LPGT TI and the Lotoo Mjolnir.

I have also owned the Holo May and a few Denafrips DACs and have extensively listened to MSB DACs across price ranges so I have experience with R2R flavors.

Although my time with the LP6 TI 7AE was brief, but I tried with it IEMs I am well acquainted with, playing tracks I also know well. What follows are some quick thoughts:

- The DAP is surprisingly diminutive. I felt the same way about the P6 Pro. Surprisingly small in the hands, which is a plus.

- The output power is enormous. With one or two clicks, the volume can become quite loud on many IEMs. I can’t imagine owning this as an only DAP if I was an IEM enthusiast. However, it’s clearly powerful enough to drive many dynamic driver headphones and I imagine it would synergize well with a Utopia or an HD800S.

- The UI is, well, just bad. I am sure many won’t care but there are certain features on the menu that don’t yield the expected results, which to me, is worse than a situation in which the UI is just limited.

- The sound stage is more deep than wide. The WM1ZM2 spoils me for soundstage width, which is something I didn’t even care about so much with IEMs, until I got used to the WM1ZM2 and then the DMPZ1 dialed it up to an 11.



- It is very resolving. I would say its more resolving than the WM1ZM2 and at the same level of resolution as the DMPZ1.

- Imaging is superb but doesn’t have the image height and grandiosity of the DMPZ1.

- There is some midbass going on with the LP6 TI 7AE, and in a way, that colors the sound, makes it warmer, punchier and thicker, which is nice. But there is also an overall “fuzz” to the sound, which, I understand, is a part of its analog charm, but I don’t quite get this flavor with the Holo May or other R2R flavors I am acquainted with. I wouldn’t say I connect with this as much as I hoped I would. In fact, the P6 Pro didn’t have this fuzz and to me, the P6 Pro might have sounded more analog. Of course, this is eternally and unequivocally subjective. And yes, the LP6 TI 7AE outresolves the P6 Pro easily.

- The bass on the 7AE is incredible. Powerful, deep, sonorous. Albeit differently presented from the DMPZ1 which sounds “larger”, the 7AE holds its own for bass. It made the Supermoon’s bass thunderous.



- For midrange and treble, I would give it to the DMPZ1. Resolution is a tie like I said, but soundstage and imaging, to my ears, would go to the DMPZ1. Of course, the 7AE is tiny compared to the DMPZ1 so there’s that.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the LP6 TI 7AE and consider it to be one of the best DAPs out there. I could see many picking it over the Sony WM1ZM2, my favorite DAP in a comparable size. I will probably stick it out with the WM1ZM2 because I still prefer its timbre and soundstage width.

And I do still consider the DMPZ1 to be slightly ahead in terms of overall performance, given my subjective preferences.

But oh what fun it was to A/B the 7AE with the DMPZ1 and the WM1ZM2.

I love my LP6 Gold but it is the kind of sound that for short term, it is amazing but long term, it gets fatiguing due to its tendency to sound dry.

To my ears, LP6 is amazing for wanting to hear critically, it is the closet thing to R2R (reel to rell) experience in digital format.
For those interested, it reminds me alot of Bricassti M1 dac.

 

[jchandler3]

Just want to say hi for the first time to the Watercooler. I’ve been reading for a while now but never chimed in.

My name is (not THE, but another) Jeff. Been in this hobby since before there were many options and I was into IEMs when I first started (very few options). Reading through this thread has reignited my interest in IEMs and the hobby as a whole.

Congrats on 5000+ pages!

 

[CodenameBK201]

Curiosity here: what are members' thoughts on discontinued products, ie special limited editions of players, cables, even IEMs? Do you find yourself holding onto them out of sentimentality, or even actively seeking to purchase them, even when there's something more current and technically "better" on the market?

 

[aaf evo]

Curiosity here: what are members' thoughts on discontinued products, ie special limited editions of players, cables, even IEMs? Do you find yourself holding onto them out of sentimentality, or even actively seeking to purchase them, even when there's something more current and technically "better" on the market?

Makes no difference to me how limited an item can be, I don't see any extra appeal. If there's "better" choices that's where I am going.

 

[audionewbi]

Curiosity here: what are members' thoughts on discontinued products, ie special limited editions of players, cables, even IEMs? Do you find yourself holding onto them out of sentimentality, or even actively seeking to purchase them, even when there's something more current and technically "better" on the market?

The things I buy, I do with the intention of keeping. I do my homework alot before buying and I stopper chasing after trends of the month.

I only sold two iem I bought in my life. I can't see myself sell any of my iem as I use them all. DAP wise, I've been thinking to start letting go as those are the items which are harder to maintain. I don't dap roll as much as I roll my IEM.

 

[maegnificant]

Curiosity here: what are members' thoughts on discontinued products, ie special limited editions of players, cables, even IEMs? Do you find yourself holding onto them out of sentimentality, or even actively seeking to purchase them, even when there's something more current and technically "better" on the market?

I interpret these limited releases mostly as FOMO generator marketing tools now. So while I do not actively avoid them, it feels kinda slimy and unnessecary. Especially because, when the item sells well, you know the company is gonna release more units anyway, just in a different color scheme, rowing back on their previously established deal of an exclusive and limited product with their trusted customers.

 

[OneEyedHito]

I interpret these limited releases mostly as FOMO generator marketing tools now. So while I do not actively avoid them, it feels kinda slimy and unnessecary. Especially because, when the item sells well, you know the company is gonna release more units anyway, just in a different color scheme, rowing back on their previously established deal of an exclusive and limited product with their trusted customers.

I’d be interested in examples of a company we talk about here doing this, specifically advertising an item as a limited release and then releasing more units with a cosmetic change. I’d want to avoid them also but don’t recall this for items we discuss here.

 

[MatW]

I’d be interested in examples of a company we talk about here doing this, specifically advertising an item as a limited release and then releasing more units with a cosmetic change. I’d want to avoid them also but don’t recall this for items we discuss here.

I can think of two examples. EE re-releasing LXSE, 'strictly limited to 50 units'. They ended up selling more than 100 IIRC, producing more than 50 units 'to not disappoint customers'. Hurting the resale value in the process. And UM releasing a limited number of Mest Indigo (200 units I think) and then using the exact same design for the Mest MK3...

 

[SweetCans928]

Tried the Pentaconn Brass tips with Isabellae. It's actually quite a solid match, but skews Isabellae a bit too bright. Or maybe it's just that Isa is one of those IEMs where any deviation from its stock tuning is a downgrade.

 

[BlueA]

Curiosity here: what are members' thoughts on discontinued products, ie special limited editions of players, cables, even IEMs? Do you find yourself holding onto them out of sentimentality, or even actively seeking to purchase them, even when there's something more current and technically "better" on the market?

In audio true artefacts exists (halgorythme) , in IEM it's mostly limited to 333 products (read in small: of this color before the next batch).

 

[Andricop]

Check 64 Audio they have a new mic cable. Not sure if it USB-C

Thanks, I checked it but it's 3.5 mm
https://www.64audio.com/collections/cables-and-adaptors/products/cable-with-mic-1

 

[Andricop]

Just to be clear--and I'll defer to local experts to correct me if I'm wrong--as I understand it, there is no real usb-c "termination", in the sense that, traditionally when we refer to termination ends on cabling, the end goal is analog transmission via the termination to the earphones, with the conversion happening on the local player's end (hence, DAC, as in digital-analog-conversion). All of which is to say, any time any cable ends in usb-c, what you're really listening to is a dac converter built into the cable, usually meant to look as discrete as possible. But it's not, strictly speaking, a termination end the same way, say, 2.5mm balanced vs 4.4mm balanced is. The moment you add a DAC to the cable, you're adding a lot more variability besides just the cable quality. No usb-c dac cable out on the market right now is going to sound nearly as good as a dedicated player with an analog output, convenience aside. I personally wouldn't go out of my way to get a nice cable, or high-end IEMs, just to use them with a subpar usb-c dac. And unless you want to cable swap constantly between phone calls and your music player, you'd sooner be better off getting a cheap, separate Bluetooth headset just for calls. YMMV and all that, but that's my honest take.

You are right, there is a DAC in the USB-C termination but some sound really good.
I enjoy very much the Rhapsodio Hybrid USB-C DAC with the Z1R listening to Qobuz on my iPhone
https://www.rhapsodiostore.com/products/dac-usbc
It has an ESS ES9280Pro DAC