[DimitrisZ]

Quote:

 
 
 
I'm with bock3n on this one.  Spending money on your transducers is the most important thing, DimitrisZ.  They hit the wall of diminishing returns a lot later than anything else in the signal chain so spending money on transducers will give you the most SQ for your money.  In most cases it doesn't make sense to go nuts upgrading the rest of your signal chain unless you've already got the best (to your tastes) transducers you can afford.  You usually shouldn't bother inching up the diminishing returns of DACs and amps until its cheaper than upgrading your transducers.
 
Its simple.  If you've already got a top tier transducers and have more money to spend then it makes sense to spend that money on a better source and amplification because you can't upgrade your transducers.  This is especially true with IEMs since they're so easy to drive.  An ipod, LOD, and cmoy plus a top teir custom is going to sound better than a universal which costs half the price but is fed from a world class source and amplifier.  That top tier custom may not be living up to its full potential from a humbler source, but its still the best way to spend your money.
 
That's about as politely as I can put it.

 
Maveric, I believe that the trend of our times is people to buy a really expensive pair of headphones, run it from cheap sources and just save money to buy a better pair, because they feel that they are satisfied from the sound of their sources and blame for everything else the headphones. I see less and less the trend of buying a pair of headphones and build then a system around it. i think many people here take as de facto running a ES5 from an ipod nano with a portable amp.

 

[DimitrisZ]

Quote:

I was going to wait until I had time to spend by the computer to flesh out my previous post, but the two posters above me did a fine job and I'm hoping we can leave it at that.That said I think alot of people, myself included, will be interested in hearing what you (DimitrisZ) have to say after you've actually heard the ES5.

I think you are right b0ck3n. Lets not continue that.. its a bit silly I cant wait to share my opinion about them with you!

 

[Anouk]

@dimitrisz If you really want an audiophile source that you can also take with you get the hifiman hm801 with the gamecard upgrade amplifier. You can use it on the go but also connect it to your computer where it will act as a dac+headphone amp, on the go you will feed it with flash cards. Or alternatively get the upcoming jh3a system which is of course an iem +all assorted stuff in one. I personally think audio should be about enjoying the music however youa chieve that goal. I am not sure but your posts sure sounds judgemental on how other people ge t their enjoyment and also seems rather condescending. @headphoneaddict thanks for your comments, do you have the hm801 with the game amp module? I have never heard of the dacport before. Any comments on the es3x versus es5? people mostly ask about jh13 vs es5 but I think some comparisons against the es3x would be interesting too. Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Jazzyfi]

X2 for the comparison with ES3X.
 
And the DACport just caught my interest.. my poor wallet.

 

[DimitrisZ]

Thanks for your suggestions Anouk, Sorry if my comments sounded condescending. I apologise for that. I completely agree that each one enjoys music with different ways. Money don't matter when we are talking about pure music enjoyment. The enjoyment I have got several years ago before I come into this hobby from a little fm radio and a pair of $5 philips headphones while I was in the army can not be described in words..

 

[Jazzyfi]

That is exactly the quality that you will get from a shure monitor transmitter to a receiver (maybe a little bit better), and you don't hear any musician complain about the quality of their monitors.
 
Quote:

Thanks for your suggestions Anouk, Sorry if my comments sounded condescending. I apologise for that. I completely agree that each one enjoys music with different ways. Money don't matter when we are talking about pure music enjoyment. The enjoyment I have got several years ago before I come into this hobby from a little fm radio and a pair of $5 philips headphones while I was in the army can not be described in words..

 
 

 

[SpudHarris]

Quote:

 
I'm with bock3n on this one.  Spending money on your transducers is the most important thing, DimitrisZ.  They hit the wall of diminishing returns a lot later than anything else in the signal chain so spending money on transducers will give you the most SQ for your money.  In most cases it doesn't make sense to go nuts upgrading the rest of your signal chain unless you've already got the best (to your tastes) transducers you can afford.  You usually shouldn't bother inching up the diminishing returns of DACs and amps until its cheaper than upgrading your transducers.
 
Its simple.  If you've already got a top tier transducers and have more money to spend then it makes sense to spend that money on a better source and amplification because you can't upgrade your transducers.  This is especially true with IEMs since they're so easy to drive.  An ipod, LOD, and cmoy plus a top teir custom is going to sound better than a universal which costs half the price but is fed from a world class source and amplifier.  That top tier custom may not be living up to its full potential from a humbler source, but its still the best way to spend your money.
 
That's about as politely as I can put it.

Nicely said...... and agreed 100%
 
 

 

[DimitrisZ]

 
Quote:

Nicely said...... and agreed 100%

 
 
Anyways I didn't want to keep on going with the same matter, but after some extended search in the forum I found that the whole philosophy in headfi has changed since the last time I was active. Threads like these
 http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539245/dj-audio-interfaces-vs-audiophile-dacs 
are all over the place. No wonder why krmathis left in the end..
 
Perhaps you should have a look here on this really interesting article. There are different opinions concerning good sound and in which particular link in the system chain you have to pay more attention concerning quality..
 
http://audiophilereview.com/analog/linn-says-your-system-is-only-as-good-as-your-source-is-this-philosophy-still-relevant-to-todays-aud.html
 
 
Also have a look in these threads:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=347937
 
http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/88976/899546.aspx
 
I agree that it is important to start with the headphones or speakers because they are important in the chain (maybe for some the most important). I completely agree with what maverick wrote. My point is that judging from the posts I have read in this thread, it seems that the upgrade most people will do here to their ES5s will be a future ES8 or the new hybrid rather than a better source.. Its so common to see people that bought 2 or three extremely expensive customs to test and use them mainly with an iPod. It has become a standard! And I agree that it may have good sound quality, but for me it's like you bought a huge 100 inch 1080p plasma tv and then run it in 720p and then instead of changing your source you buy another one bigger size, that has lower resolution to run it in with the same source and have crisper image. As the thing goes it looks like in the future the manufacturers will know that their new 2000 dollars headphone is going to run from an iPod and then they will voice it to sound nice with it. And people that have never heard an analogue source will think that they listen to good sound.. 
 
I appreciate your passion about music, and Im sorry if I offended some people here, each one with his own philosophy…We are all doing the same trip and I hate if I sound judgemental. That's just my opinion. As we said it's all about the enjoyment in the end.
 

 

[Jazzyfi]

I agree with the article, I can vote for a good amp. I know how difficult my totem model one is to drive. I changed my amplifier three times just to make it sound like it suppose to.
But then again ES5 can be driven properly by a relatively good portable amp. And about the source, I can understand that some people (probably a lot of them) are not satisfied with the currently available DAP but everybody have to compromise with their mobile setup anyway (sound quality vs battery life vs form factor vs how many device are you willing to carry?). 
Personally I only use my Westone as a mobile setup and stage monitoring, in this case I'm already satisfied with what the current market can offer.  
 
Quote:

 
 
 
Anyways I didn't want to keep on going with the same matter, but after some extended search in the forum I found that the whole philosophy in headfi has changed since the last time I was active. Threads like these
 http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539245/dj-audio-interfaces-vs-audiophile-dacs 
are all over the place. No wonder why krmathis left in the end..
 
Perhaps you should have a look here on this really interesting article. There are different opinions concerning good sound and in which particular link in the system chain you have to pay more attention concerning quality..
 
http://audiophilereview.com/analog/linn-says-your-system-is-only-as-good-as-your-source-is-this-philosophy-still-relevant-to-todays-aud.html
 
 
Also have a look in these threads:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=347937
 
http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/88976/899546.aspx
 
I agree that it is important to start with the headphones or speakers because they are important in the chain (maybe for some the most important). Purdon the pun, but judging from the posts I have read in this thread, it seems that the upgrade most people will do here to their ES5s will be a future ES8 or the new hybrid rather than a better source..
 
I appreciate your passion about music, and Im sorry if I offended some people here, each one with his own philosophy… As we said is about the enjoyment in the end.
 

 

 

[DimitrisZ]

Quote:

, I can understand that some people (probably a lot of them) are not satisfied with the currently available DAP but everybody have to compromise with their mobile setup anyway (sound quality vs battery life vs form factor vs how many device are you willing to carry?). 
 

 
Of course I am not talking about these people. I am talking for the ones that are clearly satisfied with their DAP and think that they will find their ideal audio just by buyig one more pair of headphones.  I suspect that there are many people that they are building their headphone systems not focusing on their headphones, but on the low quality of the iPod DAC and try to find the best voiced headphone that goes well with that particular DAC.

 

[cooperpwc]

DimitrisZ, what was your previous user name on Head-Fi? Thanks.

 

[Jazzyfi]

I can assure you that you can stick with ES5 for a long time. I changed my DAP to something better quite often and only hear improvement from my ES3X.
Btw, have you ever heard the iPod/iPhone line out + a capable amp (iQube, Lisa, Stepdance, etc) + great IEM (ES, JH)? Probably you should really listen to it first before saying that iPod/iPhone is that bad.
 
Quote:

 
Of course I am not talking about these people. I am talking for the ones that are clearly satisfied with their DAP and think that they will find their ideal audio just by buyig one more pair of headphones.  I suspect that there are many people that they are building their headphone systems not focusing on their headphones, but on the low quality of the iPod DAC and try to find the best voiced headphone that goes well with that particular DAC.

 

 

[DimitrisZ]

Quote:

DimitrisZ, what was your previous user name on Head-Fi? Thanks.

Thats irrelevant cooperwc, I dont think anyone cares. You can say Im the madman from the Nietzsche's book "Gay Science" screaming "Audiophillia is dead!"
 
Just a philosophical joke..  

 

[cooperpwc]

-

 

[b0ck3n]

DimitrisZ you're passing judgement on sources that you've never heard. If you're only here to push old and tired audio myths, and not even base them on personal experience, I suggest heading into the Science forum (where you'll take a proper beating I might add).