[rifi]

Yes, I have owned these before and have considered picking up another pair. They are a great sounding headphone and measure just as well. If you are looking for anything under 350$, they are a no-brainer. Their biggest drawback is the headband. They can create a pretty nasty hotspot during an even modest listening session. @acidbasement, did they have them in every colour?

 

[Armaegis]

Somewhere in my buy/sell/trade madness years ago, I used to own a pair of those too. I thought they were sonically a smidge better than the Sennheiser Momentums I also had at the time, but yeah the comfort was not great. If they've revised it since then it might be worth another look, but I've been sold on the newer version of the Momentums for a while now.

 

[q2klepto]

Hey guys - just wanted to say that if youre looking for JDS Labs stuff - im the official exclusive retailer for Canada

Trying to get in contact with headfi admin now to become a sponsor here.

 

[rifi]

Hey guys - just wanted to say that if youre looking for JDS Labs stuff - im the official exclusive retailer for Canada

Trying to get in contact with headfi admin now to become a sponsor here.

Great to hear!

On another note, I am starting to realize how bright my Axiom speakers are in my current listening room. I was wondering if anyone had a measurement microphone I could borrow for a weekend to run some room measurements to get a better idea of what I am dealing with and how best to address it. equipment or any leads to find one in town much appreciated! I know you can buy them but I am hoping it doesn't have to get to that. Cheers

 

[Armaegis]

The Apex220 is a cheap measurement mic: https://www.long-mcquade.com/1683/P...Omnidirectional_Test_Reference_Microphone.htm

Without a mic, you can find the problem frequencies by ear if you have an EQ that lets you sweep the hump back and forth. Turn the notch up, because it's easier to hear addition rather than subtraction, and keep it narrow. Sweep back and forth until the music sounds worse, then flip the notch downwards instead. Repeat for various peaks as necessary. Once you've identified the problem spots, you can adjust the width and relative levels.

The cheap yet surprisingly effective method to tame bright speakers is to tape a couple layers of toilet paper in front of the tweeter. Seriously. Although toilet paper is at a bit of a premium these days...

 

[rifi]

Thanks @Armaegis, I have tried some TP and am currently fairly satisfied with some dryer sheets in front of my tweeters. Ultimately, I think I should rephrase my concerns, while I think the tweeters are pretty aggressive I find I begin to miss detail if I dampen their volume much. I'm starting to think I might be actually looking for more mids so I don't have to listen at high volumes to get the level of mids I am looking for, which likely makes the small speakers sound bright in my large room. I have found that cupping my hands near my ears makes an imperfect but positive impact on the FR I am getting in my room. I probably need bigger speakers/drivers for my room but for now I am happy trying to maximize what I can get out of what I have.

Hope everyone is staying safe and this new reality has let you found a way to justify spending more time in a favourite listening chair.

 

[Armaegis]

Small speakers in a wide shallow room is not the best combination. Tweeter energy is much more directional and additionally bounces off your rear wall and back to your ears. All the mid/bass energy spreads out and loses itself in the room. Putting the speakers a little closer together and aiming not directly at your head might help bring up the midrange, but then you'll lose some spatialness.

 

[Rubin]

I have an IK Arc mic that came with some IK powered speakers. The only thing is the mic needs a powered 48v input, and it may only work with the Arc software (they don't seem to provide calibration for other software). You can message me if you think that could work for you.

 

[rifi]

I have an IK Arc mic that came with some IK powered speakers. The only thing is the mic needs a powered 48v input, and it may only work with the Arc software (they don't seem to provide calibration for other software). You can message me if you think that could work for you.

Thanks for the offer @Rubin. I am already in touch with another Winnipeg Head-fier to pick up his mic. On another note, any progress on your headphone baffle 3-D prints? Cheers

 

[Armaegis]

Can anyone here point me to a decent wireless router? I need to replace the one at my parent's house but it's probably been over a decade since I've bought one and don't know what's good these days. I'm ok to spend a couple hundred bucks for a good one; it's a fairly large house and they need the range/reliability. I'm not opposed to second-hand either if anyone here has one to sell, or we can trade gear for it.

 

[ecwl]

Can anyone here point me to a decent wireless router? I need to replace the one at my parent's house but it's probably been over a decade since I've bought one and don't know what's good these days. I'm ok to spend a couple hundred bucks for a good one; it's a fairly large house and they need the range/reliability. I'm not opposed to second-hand either if anyone here has one to sell, or we can trade gear for it.

I personally use Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 for myself and for my parents. Having burnt through a few other routers from various brands in the past, I find longevity of the router is basically a crapshoot. If you get a good unit, you can get 10 years, whereas a bum unit might die after 3 years and you can’t control that.
The bigger issue is that if the house is really big, and if you don’t want to manually program wifi extenders, you really need a mesh network which is more expensive, e.g. Linksys Velop or Eero. But if I recall, head-fi meets has been at your parents‘ house before. Did they move? That home should be able to be powered by a single router.
The bigger issue is that you need 2.4GHz to cover the whole home (assuming the router is centrally located) but neighbor interference on the same band would affect the performance. My solution for my parents whose home probably is similar to yours is to have the router placed where they mostly spend their time and have their devices logged onto the 5GHz band but leave the 2.4GHz running so that they can switch to the 2.4GHz band when they’re further away and if they notice a performance drop, they can switch back to the 5GHz band. For one particularly tricky room, we did add a wi-fi extender in the end to boost performance a few years later. I did want to buy them a mesh network as an upgrade but Asian parents so they didn’t want me to spend extra money.

 

[bearFNF]

Can anyone here point me to a decent wireless router? I need to replace the one at my parent's house but it's probably been over a decade since I've bought one and don't know what's good these days. I'm ok to spend a couple hundred bucks for a good one; it's a fairly large house and they need the range/reliability. I'm not opposed to second-hand either if anyone here has one to sell, or we can trade gear for it.

I went with the eero pro system. It gives you three units, one functions as the 'base' and the other two are access points. Each one has ethernet so you can add wired components without having to run cables from the base. Real easy to set up and good coverage.

 

[Armaegis]

I personally use Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 for myself and for my parents. Having burnt through a few other routers from various brands in the past, I find longevity of the router is basically a crapshoot. If you get a good unit, you can get 10 years, whereas a bum unit might die after 3 years and you can’t control that.
The bigger issue is that if the house is really big, and if you don’t want to manually program wifi extenders, you really need a mesh network which is more expensive, e.g. Linksys Velop or Eero.
But if I recall, head-fi meets has been at your parents‘ house before. Did they move? That home should be able to be powered by a single router.
The bigger issue is that you need 2.4GHz to cover the whole home (assuming the router is centrally located) but neighbor interference on the same band would affect the performance. My solution for my parents whose home probably is similar to yours is to have the router placed where they mostly spend their time and have their devices logged onto the 5GHz band but leave the 2.4GHz running so that they can switch to the 2.4GHz band when they’re further away and if they notice a performance drop, they can switch back to the 5GHz band. For one particularly tricky room, we did add a wi-fi extender in the end to boost performance a few years later. I did want to buy them a mesh network as an upgrade but Asian parents so they didn’t want me to spend extra money.

I actually have a Netgear AC1900 at my own house. I find the range is good but it has a lot of trouble reaching downstairs.

My parents are in the same house as before. There's no central location to put a router. The main router comes up to a bedroom on the far side of the house (roughly the 2 o'clock position). It's an old little D-link that has weak signal at the opposite corners of the house, and virtually none in the basement (though to be fair, there's almost no cell service down there either so it might be something in the flooring).

@bearFNF
Hmm I've never looked into mesh before. Does each unit need to be hardwired in? They do have a couple cat5 cables around the house. Not in the best spots, but some is better than none.

 

[ecwl]

@bearFNF
Hmm I've never looked into mesh before. Does each unit need to be hardwired in? They do have a couple cat5 cables around the house. Not in the best spots, but some is better than none.

with a mesh network, the first unit can be placed where your parents current router is. But from the sounds of it, you’ll want the two additional units and you’ll need to figure out where to place them for optimal signal performance. Those units connect to the first unit via wifi so they don’t have to be hardwired. Probably the second unit in the middle of the house and the third unit in the centre of the basement for best coverage.
some mesh network uses one 2.4GHz band and one 5GHz band for each unit. Others can do one 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands. Obviously tri-band is more robust than dual-band but usually costs more. Regardless, your description of your parents house potential router positioning and current wifi signal strength sounds like they’ll benefit from a mesh network setups even with the cheaper models. when you buy them, they usually come in 3 units but some companies try to sell at a lower price and sell you 2 to start off with. You probably want 3 units.

 

[Armaegis]

Hmm, this is the current setup:
1) MTS box in the basement at roughly 4:30 o'clock. The range on this router sucks, so we don't use it. Instead we ran wire up to...
2) The main switch in a bedroom upstairs, at roughly 2 o'clock. There is also a wireless router coming off the switch which is our primary wireless. There are additional wired connections leading from this switch to...
3) Bedroom at 12 o'clock
4) Office at 10 o'clock

I'm still leaning towards a single stronger wireless unit at the 2 o'clock, but I'll have to do more reading on the mesh stuff. If I get a wireless mesh, then put the main one in the basement and bounce the others around as needed. If it's a wired mesh, does the 'base' unit have to come before the switch, or does it not matter? I suppose if the base unit has enough ports on it, it could replace the switch entirely. I just had the switch installed as a sort of "futureproof" for the house, although realistically that's never going to happen.