[vapman]

   
Seems the forum software prohibits me.
 
Inserting an image gives me this: "Your account does not have the required permissions to access this page."
 
Hosting it myself is only showing a link, atm. Maybe a moderator can fix it...

Hey bro, welcome to the thread. I somehow missed all your posts thus far and apologize for that. I fixed your pic for you
 
First things first, I 100% am a vintage audio fan too. Hopefully you were drawn in by my claims it's got that 80s hi fi sound to it. Second, a nice collection I see, SR60 were my first purchase ever after joining Head-Fi and I no longer have any grados but are nostalgic for. I bought them used from a guy at a Head-Fi meet  The PortaPro, though, I still have my first and it has been all over the world and withstood a lot of things that would kill most headphones one way or another. I love them to death. Maybe i will have to give the SHE9500 a try. Some people whose opinions i hold in high regard such as @Bob A (SD) are fans of the SHE9500. I know they won't have enough bass for my basshead tendencies, but once in a while it's nice to use an open headphone.
 
2nd thing use 17TRACK instead EBay built in tracking and you will get way more detail. The phone app is excellent too for 17TRACK.
 
and it's good to have fellow musicians in the thread. Yes I noticed that sax snuck in.  @drbluenewmexico and I have had many many talks about trying to be after a "truly natural" sound. I have been promising him I will lend him one of my portable amps but I think I need to let him try one of these for himself instead. I am dreaming that one day I will drive the microZOTL2 with a Walnut. That is pretty much my end game goal in Head Fi. If I could do that I'd give up looking for any other gear. 

 
 
 
As for your picture, you need a few more posts before you can upload images. I forget how many it is cause i've been here forever... maybe 10 or 15 or something?

 

[Ruben123]

Do you listen to music with extended sub bass dude? I would not give this player the slightest time of day if it lacked sub bass. I owned the X3 for a long time and even with the EQ on rockbox all the way up it's still got nothing on the Walnut.
I did see your measurements and even added them to my FAQ but to say this player doesn't have sub bass is not only 100% misleading but I put it on my pride as a true basshead that I rec this player in the first place.

Also people who I respect very much like @T.R.A.N.C.E.
 who got their walnut before I even got my first one are bass fanatics too and one of their initial impressions on this player was its bass power. Measurements and your ears do not always show exactly identical results.

Go to the first page and check the vid of the Walnut making the SZ2000 rattle paper with sub bass alone

so please do not give people like poor @macky112
 the impression they are gonna get a bass anemic player.... seriously I will not touch the X3 or most other DAPs because they can't compete in bass.

Where the Walnut -does- fall short is during subwoofer test tracks but you can tell there is a "built in" bass boost because frequencies under 60hz @ -2 to 0dB (a lot louder than you might imagine) will distort but if you aren't listening to subwoofer test tracks you won't experience this.

it could certainly be true you hear lots of bass because of impedance mismatches that would explain the different impressions and the measurements

 

[vapman]

it could certainly be true you hear lots of bass because of impedance mismatches

that would explain the different impressions and the measurements

I also hear lots of bass because I'm listening to bass heavy music and using power hungry cans with 55mm drivers for subwoofer and 30mm for mids + highs. the SZ lineup is a 16 ohm masterpiece. 
 
The point is, I can play this same album without EQ on any other DAP, my V10, anything, and nothing can beat it. Some DAPs even with an amp like iPod or double amping a clip don't come close in either performance or bass performance. And yes I am including sub bass... something the SZ series excels at and eats up power doing so.
 
The output resistance doesn't matter anyway. Take any amp and add a 75 ohm or higher resistor, unless there's a BA all you'll hear is a lower volume. it is like the old way of doing integrated amplifier headphone circuits in the "good old days".
 
 
 
 
@Ruben123  have you done the quiet plug fix posted a couple pages back or not. I have owned a half dozen clips in my life and two walnuts. i know yours needs the fix.

 

[bigbro]

I tested the Walnut with RMAA myself after seeing the linked post a few pages back. I get the exact opposite of what is described, i get slight rises at both ends, not dips.
 
I am not confident enough with the software or my current machines setup to post the results though, I found RMAA very picky and the Walnut's audio hard to adjust for it. I don't want to mislead anyone, but I think RMAA needs a bigger pool of data for the Walnut before we judge it.
 
I have tested the Walnut myself on 250ohm DT 990s and Senn Mom 18ohm.. I haven't noticed anything strange, no lack of bass or treble etc

 

[vapman]

  I tested the Walnut with RMAA myself after seeing the linked post a few pages back. I get the exact opposite of what is described, i get slight rises at both ends, not dips.
 
I am not confident enough with the software or my current machines setup to post the results though, I found RMAA very picky and the Walnut's audio hard to adjust for it. I don't want to mislead anyone, but I think RMAA needs a bigger pool of data for the Walnut before we judge it.

100% agreed we need more measurements, at least by ear anyone who owns a unit can tell you that to say this unit - and doesn't have a headphone plug in need of repair - lacks either treble or bass extension needs their ears or brain checked out. Many many people so far have commented on its excellent bass power, overall cohesive sound, and insane volume. 

 

[Ruben123]

I also hear lots of bass because I'm listening to bass heavy music and using power hungry cans with 55mm drivers for subwoofer and 30mm for mids + highs. the SZ lineup is a 16 ohm masterpiece. 

The point is, I can play this same album without EQ on any other DAP, my V10, anything, and nothing can beat it. Some DAPs even with an amp like iPod or double amping a clip don't come close in either performance or bass performance. And yes I am including sub bass... something the SZ series excels at and eats up power doing so.

The output resistance doesn't matter anyway. Take any amp and add a 75 ohm or higher resistor, unless there's a BA all you'll hear is a lower volume. it is like the old way of doing integrated amplifier headphone circuits in the "good old days".




@Ruben123
  have you done the quiet plug fix posted a couple pages back or not. I have owned a half dozen clips in my life and two walnuts. i know yours needs the fix.

Did it this morning and with the 600 ohm Sennheiser I now seem to have more volume than the sansa, the havi does have more highs the sansa though which causes the sansa to sound louder than the walnut. Impedance mismatch isn't only a problem of BA drivers though, here a simple graphic of a simple Sennheiser https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/show_picture.pl?l=nederlands&rais=1&oiu=http%3A%2F%2Fen.goldenears.net%2Fen%2Ffiles%2Fattach%2Fimages%2F254%2F143%2F011%2F470e4445c56e239ab8e11a127f38a0b5.png&sp=09dcbcef873e8be63cea9869e259e16b

 

[vapman]

Did it this morning and with the 600 ohm Sennheiser I now seem to have more volume than the sansa, the havi does have more highs the sansa though which causes the sansa to sound louder than the walnut. Impedance mismatch isn't only a problem of BA drivers though, here a simple graphic of a simple Sennheiser https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/show_picture.pl?l=nederlands&rais=1&oiu=http%3A%2F%2Fen.goldenears.net%2Fen%2Ffiles%2Fattach%2Fimages%2F254%2F143%2F011%2F470e4445c56e239ab8e11a127f38a0b5.png&sp=09dcbcef873e8be63cea9869e259e16b

You are correct, I  shouldn't have said all of them. I know some DD headphones show changes in frequency responses when output resistance is changed, but for probably 95% of  DD designs, it will only affect volume and not frequency response. But you are correct this is one (although rare) example of a DD design which shows FR change with output impedance. But it will affect any BA set. Etymotic users are lucky; the walnut has a built in ER4 converter for you to turn your ER4P into a ER4S 

 

[hakuzen]

  I tested the Walnut with RMAA myself after seeing the linked post a few pages back. I get the exact opposite of what is described, i get slight rises at both ends, not dips.
 
I am not confident enough with the software or my current machines setup to post the results though, I found RMAA very picky and the Walnut's audio hard to adjust for it. I don't want to mislead anyone, but I think RMAA needs a bigger pool of data for the Walnut before we judge it.
 
I have tested the Walnut myself on 250ohm DT 990s and Senn Mom 18ohm.. I haven't noticed anything strange, no lack of bass or treble etc

 
 

  100% agreed we need more measurements, at least by ear anyone who owns a unit can tell you that to say this unit - and doesn't have a headphone plug in need of repair - lacks either treble or bass extension needs their ears or brain checked out. Many many people so far have commented on its excellent bass power, overall cohesive sound, and insane volume. 

 
yes, we need more measurements, please. i haven't still broken in apart, my unit could be somehow defective. unloaded measurement would be enough to confirm this; flat or roll-off.
 
in my unit, bass is not anemic at all. but sub-bass at 30Hz (few songs would have so low sub-bass sounds) is -3.5dB with vsonic gr07 of hifiman he400i. this shouldn't worry you about bass, though (you won't notice any sub-bass roll-off in most songs, using most phones). overall sound could be perceived as bassy and dark, compared to other sources, because highs roll-off is bigger than lows roll-off.

 

[macky112]

  100% agreed we need more measurements, at least by ear anyone who owns a unit can tell you that to say this unit - and doesn't have a headphone plug in need of repair - lacks either treble or bass extension needs their ears or brain checked out. Many many people so far have commented on its excellent bass power, overall cohesive sound, and insane volume. 

is there a tutorial on how to do the RMAA measurements?  I am willing to give it a shot if it's not too complicated and does not require special hardware.
 
nevermind, I just found a tutorial on headfi via google search... heh heh =P

 

[Hutnicks]

   
 
 
yes, we need more measurements, please. i haven't still broken in apart, my unit could be somehow defective. unloaded measurement would be enough to confirm this; flat or roll-off.
 
in my unit, bass is not anemic at all. but sub-bass at 30Hz (few songs would have so low sub-bass sounds) is -3.5dB with vsonic gr07 of hifiman he400i. this shouldn't worry you about bass, though (you won't notice any sub-bass roll-off in most songs, using most phones). overall sound could be perceived as bassy and dark, compared to other sources, because highs roll-off is bigger than lows roll-off.

You could just record the output and then compare the result to the source with a wav diff utility.

 

[hakuzen]

  is there a tutorial on how to do the RMAA measurements?  I am willing to give it a shot if it's not too complicated and does not require special hardware.
 
nevermind, I just found a tutorial on headfi via google search... heh heh =P

it's not complicated. the thread OP of the RMAA thread where i posted the measurements, @HiFiChris, posted a detailed tutorial there. i learned from it.
 

 
You could just record the output and then compare the result to the source with a wav diff utility.

thanks. i use to record all outputs. used same method exactly for a bunch of daps/dacs/amps. you can watch the results at the RMAA thread. that's why i ask for measurements of other walnut units, instead of trying to measure mine using another software.

 

[macky112]

  it's not complicated. the thread OP of the RMAA thread where i posted the measurements, @HiFiChris, posted a detailed tutorial there. i learned from it.
 
thanks. i use to record all outputs. used same method exactly for a bunch of daps/dacs/amps. you can watch the results at the RMAA thread. that's why i ask for measurements of other walnut units, instead of trying to measure mine using another software.

I just read through the tutorial post, #2 post in the following thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/800208/the-rmaa-rightmark-audio-analyzer-source-and-audio-device-measurement-thread-measurements-in-post-3-tutorial-in-post-2
 
looks not complicated, I will give it a try, but I dont have a 3.5mm Y-splitter, but I will just measure the unloaded curve to share when my 'nut arrives (where is that postman!)
 
i encourage other 'nut owners give it a try, should not take more than 5 minutes of your time!

 

[mgunin]

Thanks to all the participants, glad to have stumbled upon this thread a couple of days ago and now close to placing an order.
 
My main source is Hidizs AP100 MM2 (a modded version with slightly dark tonality). I like the idea of something more lightweight, with the longer battery life and maybe a bit different sound signature.
 
I see that earbuds were mostly discussed here, but I never used them for isolation reasons (maybe that's wrong since we don't have subway in our city). But, I started a small collection of dynamic IEMs which are 16-32 ohm. Not high-impedance, but I hope that will be enough for the sound not to be altered too much.
 
Mainly listening to jazz, soul, funk, some 80s music like disco, new wave and early hip-hop; tonally I prefer something not too harsh or sibilant, and like some solid bass for outdoor use.
 
So, hope this will be a good experience And it's curious if I will find a synergy with the gear at my disposal.

 

[bzfrank]

Got the Walnut today, nice - could not resist to compare the
effects of different op amps, so I just started the
 
Walnut amp rolling madness  

 
 

 

[bzfrank]

Quick verdict: AD825 stays in the player.
 
Very nice sound stage (IMHO better than 5532), musical, lots of impact,  neutral, very nice.
 
Currently out of OPA2107/627s, but I guess the won't work so nicely as the AD825. After all its a cmoy...