[o0genesis0o]

Hi folks,

So I saw this cool video (below) from the HEADPHONE show today and thought to myself: "wouldn't that be cool if us "commoners" can also share our experiences and highs this year with fellow audio geeks?" So, I opened this thread.



Similar to the Headphone show folks, let's share

1. Your top 3 audio gear picks
2. Your transformative head-fi related experience

---

I'll go first

Pick 1: Fiio JD7
If you have read my review, this pick would not be a surprise to you. I'm surprised that a Harman-inspired IEM jives that well with me, since I usually don't like these "well-tuned" IEMs. Of course, it's not all rosy. @drewbadour have reported that they are shouty and too loosy gooey bass for him. I'm very curious to see more impressions as other reviewers receive their unit (@Ichos)

Pick 2: TGXear Serratus (or high impedance flathead earbuds in general)
When I watched the Headphone show's video with Serratus, I was tempted to drop these buds from the list because the sibilance of Resolve was like drills in my head. And then I switched to a jazz album, and I remember why Serratus is so hyped. The timbre, staging, and resolution is incredible. If you have been away from flathead earbuds for a long time, I highly recommend you pick up a pair of high impedance flathead earbuds for your collection.

Pick 3: Topping G5
I have a new game lately: "how better do these transducers sound with G5". Imagine a desktop all-in-one, but with battery, and bluetooth, and you can put it in your pocket. That's G5. Of course, it's not all good. The EMI shielding of this unit is poor, so don't put your phone on top of it if you don't want to hear random noises and crackles.


Transformative head-fi related experience:

• Listening to Fiio FF3. This experience led me to the folks at the earbuds thread, install discord, and learn how to solder the first time. I also made two horrible earbuds myself (and some new friends) thanks to these FF3.
• A/B Fiio M11+ and A&K SP2000 with my dongles using Andromeda and E5000. This experience changed my perception about DAC/AMP. I blame @baskingshark for the curiosity.

---

That's all folks. Your turn!

I nominate @JAnonymous5150, @drewbadour, @Ronion, @samandhi, @baskingshark, @AmericanSpirit, @Scuba Devils (looking forward for your TOTL picks), @DynamicEars, @cqtek, @nymz, and @Redcarmoose (if you are not mad about the Totem adapter thing )

 

[baskingshark]

Hi folks,

So I saw this cool video (below) from the HEADPHONE show today and thought to myself: "wouldn't that be cool if us "commoners" can also share our experiences and highs this year with fellow audio geeks?" So, I opened this thread.



Similar to the Headphone show folks, let's share

1. Your top 3 audio gear picks
2. Your transformative head-fi related experience

---

I'll go first

Pick 1: Fiio JD7
If you have read my review, this pick would not be a surprise to you. I'm surprised that a Harman-inspired IEM jives that well with me, since I usually don't like these "well-tuned" IEMs. Of course, it's not all rosy. @drewbadour have reported that they are shouty and too loosy gooey bass for him. I'm very curious to see more impressions as other reviewers receive their unit (@Ichos)

Pick 2: TGXear Serratus (or high impedance flathead earbuds in general)
When I watched the Headphone show's video with Serratus, I was tempted to drop these buds from the list because the sibilance of Resolve was like drills in my head. And then I switched to a jazz album, and I remember why Serratus is so hyped. The timbre, staging, and resolution is incredible. If you have been away from flathead earbuds for a long time, I highly recommend you pick up a pair of high impedance flathead earbuds for your collection.

Pick 3: Topping G5
I have a new game lately: "how better do these transducers sound with G5". Imagine a desktop all-in-one, but with battery, and bluetooth, and you can put it in your pocket. That's G5. Of course, it's not all good. The EMI shielding of this unit is poor, so don't put your phone on top of it if you don't want to hear random noises and crackles.


Transformative head-fi related experience:

• Listening to Fiio FF3. This experience led me to the folks at the earbuds thread, install discord, and learn how to solder the first time. I also made two horrible earbuds myself (and some new friends) thanks to these FF3.
• A/B Fiio M11+ and A&K SP2000 with my dongles using Andromeda and E5000. This experience changed my perception about DAC/AMP. I blame @baskingshark for the curiosity.

---

That's all folks. Your turn!

I nominate @JAnonymous5150, @drewbadour, @Ronion, @samandhi, @baskingshark, @AmericanSpirit, @Scuba Devils (looking forward for your TOTL picks), @DynamicEars, @cqtek, @nymz, and @Redcarmoose (if you are not mad about the Totem adapter thing )

Haha well most IEMs do not require robust amplification, but I'm glad that you are going into the rabbithole of finding good sources for hard to drive transducers eg Final E5000. You can't unhear a well driven E5000 and go back to an apple dongle pairing with it right?


Anyways, my picks for this year would be:

1) Truthear HEXA
- Rare neutral tonality with sub-bass boost. Very unique compared to the hackneyed Harman fare that is dime-a-dozen in the budget arena.
- Good technicalities (except maybe soundstage is a bit on the smaller side), natural timbre despite packing BAs, and quite coherent despite having disparate drivers.
- Ergonomic fit and good isolation too, can make a good stage monitor too, for those looking for an inexpensive IEM for audio work.
- There is a mid-bass scoop, so it isn't the best option for bass forward stuff like EDM and hip-hop.
- Quite hard to drive for a hybrid IEM. Scales better when amplified.
- Most important deal clincher: comes with a standing Waifu called Shiroi hahaha.

2) Tangzu Audio Zetian Wu
- This year is truly the year of the planar craze, even manufacturers have a FOMO and are trying to enter the planar fray, with planar (and pseudoplanar SPD) IEMs coming out of the woodwork every week.
- The planars generally bring fast transients and excellent technicalities to the table, but they may suffer from an unnatural planar timbre due to the rapid transients and lack of decay. Planar bass also generally doesn't sound as natural as DD bass.
- So the Zetian Wu is a very different kettle of fish. Even though it does not have as fast transients as the other planar brethren, the Zetian Wu has a very balanced U shaped tonality with an organic timbre. Technicalities are not class-leading when compared against other planars, but against similarly priced competitors packing other transducer types, the Zetian Wu is still more than decent in this department. Other planars may also have treble spikes and the Zetian Wu is smooth as silk.
- Good fit and well accessorized.

3) Questyle M15
- Excellent dongle DAC/AMP that can rival some midFI DAPs in terms of sound.
- Dead neutral, musical yet superb technicalities. Very natural timbre.
- Low output impedance, so can pair well with low impedance fussy multi BA types. Also has gain switches and balanced/single-ended outputs and can drive high sensitivity IEMs all the way to 300 ohm cans.
- Doesn't get hot and doesn't drain much battery.
- May face EMI issues with some smartphones, and doesn't have independent volume controls.
- I actually use it as my main source on the go, or even at home sometimes (I don't miss my desktop setup sometimes!)


Transformative experience:

I received as a gift a very nice pair of LCP DIY earbuds from @FranQL (thanks once again friend!).


So this little DIY pair of buds looks no different from some $1 Vidos, but trust me, it packs a punch. The sound is amazing when amplified (I think the impedance is > 100 ohms and this little beast is hard to drive). The tonality is actually similar to the Sennheiser HD650, but these buds have better imaging and microdetails LOL. Timbre is really organic and note weight is on the thicker side, everything is quite smooth yet without sounding veiled. Great soundstage too.

In fact, I think these DIY buds kill some of my more expensive $100 earbuds from SMABAT and other CHIFI. Anyway, this opened my eyes to the fact that a skilled tuner can create audio nirvana with so called cheaper components. A lot of the higher end earbuds are quite overpriced. No doubt there are man-hours required to solder and tune the earbuds for DIY, but from speaking to DIYers, the components are actually quite cheap, especially if bought in bulk.

@FranQL is a master tuner, but sadly, he only does DIY for fun and doesn't sell his creations. Nevertheless, if one day he decides to sell earbuds, I'd be the first to patronize his shop!

 

[o0genesis0o]

Haha well most IEMs do not require robust amplification, but I'm glad that you are going into the rabbithole of finding good sources for hard to drive transducers eg Final E5000. You can't unhear a well driven E5000 and go back to an apple dongle pairing with it right?


Anyways, my picks for this year would be:

1) Truthear HEXA
- Rare neutral tonality with sub-bass boost. Very unique compared to the hackneyed Harman fare that is dime-a-dozen in the budget arena.
- Good technicalities (except maybe soundstage is a bit on the smaller side), natural timbre despite packing BAs, and quite coherent despite having disparate drivers.
- Ergonomic fit and good isolation too, can make a good stage monitor too, for those looking for an inexpensive IEM for audio work.
- There is a mid-bass scoop, so it isn't the best option for bass forward stuff like EDM and hip-hop.
- Quite hard to drive for a hybrid IEM. Scales better when amplified.
- Most important deal clincher: comes with a standing Waifu called Shiroi hahaha.

2) Tangzu Audio Zetian Wu
- This year is truly the year of the planar craze, even manufacturers have a FOMO and are trying to enter the planar fray, with planar (and pseudoplanar SPD) IEMs coming out of the woodwork every week.
- The planars generally bring fast transients and excellent technicalities to the table, but they may suffer from an unnatural planar timbre due to the rapid transients and lack of decay. Planar bass also generally doesn't sound as natural as DD bass.
- So the Zetian Wu is a very different kettle of fish. Even though it does not have as fast transients as the other planar brethren, the Zetian Wu has a very balanced U shaped tonality with an organic timbre. Technicalities are not class-leading when compared against other planars, but against similarly priced competitors packing other transducer types, the Zetian Wu is still more than decent in this department. Other planars may also have treble spikes and the Zetian Wu is smooth as silk.
- Good fit and well accessorized.

3) Questyle M15
- Excellent dongle DAC/AMP that can rival some midFI DAPs in terms of sound.
- Dead neutral, musical yet superb technicalities. Very natural timbre.
- Low output impedance, so can pair well with low impedance fussy multi BA types. Also has gain switches and balanced/single-ended outputs and can drive high sensitivity IEMs all the way to 300 ohm cans.
- Doesn't get hot and doesn't drain much battery.
- May face EMI issues with some smartphones, and doesn't have independent volume controls.
- I actually use it as my main source on the go, or even at home sometimes (I don't miss my desktop setup sometimes!)


Transformative experience:

I received as a gift a very nice pair of LCP DIY earbuds from @FranQL (thanks once again friend!).


So this little DIY pair of buds looks no different from some $1 Vidos, but trust me, it packs a punch. The sound is amazing when amplified (I think the impedance is > 100 ohms and this little beast is hard to drive). The tonality is actually similar to the Sennheiser HD650, but these buds have better imaging and microdetails LOL. Timbre is really organic and note weight is on the thicker side, everything is quite smooth yet without sounding veiled. Great soundstage too.

In fact, I think these DIY buds kill some of my more expensive $100 earbuds from SMABAT and other CHIFI. Anyway, this opened my eyes to the fact that a skilled tuner can create audio nirvana with so called cheaper components. A lot of the higher end earbuds are quite overpriced. No doubt there are man-hours required to solder and tune the earbuds for DIY, but from speaking to DIYers, the components are actually quite cheap, especially if bought in bulk.

@FranQL is a master tuner, but sadly, he only does DIY for fun and doesn't sell his creations. Nevertheless, if one day he decides to sell earbuds, I'd be the first to patronize his shop!

Nice list, mate!

Everywhere I go, I see the Wu and M15. Questyle offers me a discount if I want to try M15 so I’m quite tempted. Maybe next year. I burned all of my funds on Shanling M6 Ultra already

Speaking of @FranQL, it’s me, your pal *wink wink*

 

[Rockwell75]

Overall favorite: Elysian Acoustic Annihilator - Probably the closest thing to a single perfect IEM I've heard yet.

Sticking only to 2022 releases...

1) Campfire Audio Trifecta

Campfire hit it big this year after an uneven stretch of releases the last couple years with the Trifecta, Supermoon and their collab IEM Pathfinder which has received universal praise from people I know who have heard it. The Trifecta is the single most impressive IEM I heard this year at CanJam and elsewhere-- massive sound in general-- like a full size DD headphone. Huge and satisfying bass, clear mids. One of the most engaging and addictive transducers I've ever heard.

2) Campfire Supermoon

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have the Supermoon. We may very well be entering an age of planar IEMs and Campfire has set the bar rather high with the Supermoon. Insanely technical & coherent and some of the most impressive bass I've ever heard in an IEM. They're not perfect but they've shown clearly how far planar IEMs have come and these represent the current benchmark.

3) Effect Audio-Elysian Acoustic Gaea

This is an IEM that on paper I should hate but I absolutely love it-- an addictive take on a mid & treble centric IEM. Highs are lush, deep, detailed, vibrant, resolving and nonfatiguing. Bass is merely adequate and low mids leave something to be desired but everything else about this IEM is so good I'll forgive that.

Honorable mentions: Vision Ears EXT, Fir Kr5, Sony WM1ZM2, UM Mentor, Elysian Diva

Transformative Experience - On the social front attending my first CanJam was an epic experience, made so by all the wonderful people I interacted with. In terms of gear I would say discovering and bonding with Elysian Acoustic's tuning. I'd never dreamed a treble-centric tuning could be so immersive, engaging and satisfying. Very excited for future releases by this brand.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Overall favorite: Elysian Acoustic Annihilator - Probably the closest thing to a single perfect IEM I've heard yet.

Sticking only to 2022 releases...

1) Campfire Audio Trifecta

Campfire hit it big this year after an uneven stretch of releases the last couple years with the Trifecta, Supermoon and their collab IEM Pathfinder which has received universal praise from people I know who have heard it. The Trifecta is the single most impressive IEM I heard this year at CanJam and elsewhere-- massive sound in general-- like a full size DD headphone. Huge and satisfying bass, clear mids. One of the most engaging and addictive transducers I've ever heard.

2) Campfire Supermoon

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have the Supermoon. We may very well be entering an age of planar IEMs and Campfire has set the bar rather high with the Supermoon. Insanely technical & coherent and some of the most impressive bass I've ever heard in an IEM. They're not perfect but they've shown clearly how far planar IEMs have come and these represent the current benchmark.

3) Effect Audio-Elysian Acoustic Gaea

This is an IEM that on paper I should hate but I absolutely love it-- an addictive take on a mid & treble centric IEM. Highs are lush, deep, detailed, vibrant, resolving and nonfatiguing. Bass is merely adequate and low mids leave something to be desired but everything else about this IEM is so good I'll forgive that.

Honorable mentions: Vision Ears EXT, Fir Kr5, Sony WM1ZM2, UM Mentor, Elysian Diva

Transformative Experience - On the social front attending my first CanJam was an epic experience, made so by all the wonderful people I interacted with. In terms of gear I would say discovering and bonding with Elysian Acoustic's tuning. I'd never dreamed a treble-centric tuning could be so immersive, engaging and satisfying. Very excited for future releases by this brand.

Oh, it’s Mr Rockwell from the watercooler thread himself! Thanks for sharing, mate.

CanJam seems like a very special experience for audio geek. I hope they have one somewhere near Australia one day

 

[Ronion]

This has been a strange year for me audio-wise and it most starts with discovering Blur Audio and thus DIY earbuds last year. It was obvious that they were tuned better than the run-of-the-mill buds you can buy off of AliExpress and more technical than the Apple Earbuds of any form or vintage. Mr. @FranQL pushed me to start doing it myself and to start and I had previously done (over a decade ago) a lot of work on target curves and a headphone measurement rig. So I set out to do it myself and I came to a few conclusions. So here we go:

1). The FiiO FF3. Not because the FF3 is the best audio experience I've had though it is the best purchased bud I've bought, but because it was the only earbud I know of outside of my house that was measured with a sophisticated rig and I was able to know how it was going to sound in my ear from a tonal perspective and how roughly it would measure in my rig. It validated what I had done and what I knew to be correct.

2). High impedance earbud drivers. In particular the 600 Ohm Beryllium driver. The separation, composure, depth of soundstage and atmospheric auditory envelopment has left me bewildered about what's possible with $50 and a few hours of my time. There's a 500 Ohm and several 300 Ohm drivers that are also very good, but none can top the 600 in these particular metrics though they all have their own distinct attributes and detriments. The 600's biggest detriment is its limited frequency range. The unfortunate part is that it's not at its best until you provide it ample power which brings me to my next sheep and cheerful pick:

3). The Venture Electronics Megatron. The Megatron isn't the cure for the common cacophony of mediocre gear that manages to get over-hyped. This is a $50 DAC/amp than manages to accomplish its design goals: to have a unique sound and an ability to drive high impedance earbuds to their max, doesn't require a battery or a power supply, and does it admirably. It's soundstage is sort of narrow in SE mode, but seems to open up in balanced. It has a line out if you need to connect a more powerful amp, and you can use it to make phone calls. Pretty cool for a little $50 device and it ends up being part of my Transformative Experience!

Transformative Experience: I took balanced cable off of an earbud I never use anymore and have no desire to use. My tuning ability had taken my buds to a different level than anything I had purchased and had truly become balanced, endlessly enjoyable HiFi devices. So I took the most detailed, composed, and enveloping earbud driver I had ever heard, but required a powerful amp to sound its best and tuned it to my target curve with a 2.5mm balanced cable attached and plugged it into the Megatron. Suddenly every characteristic attribute of that driver were in full bloom at my unrestricted disposal and more apparent than ever before. Here I was listening to $100 worth of audio gear, hearing the most impressive timbre, composure and envelopment I've ever experienced coming from my computer and Amazon music. Totally nuts. 30 years of audio fascination and tens of thousands of dollars spent, countless hours reading, stamps on my passport for audio shows, years of speaker building, amp building, headphone building and even driver building, and this $100 sitting on my lap was boggling my brain.

 

[o0genesis0o]

This has been a strange year for me audio-wise and it most starts with discovering Blur Audio and thus DIY earbuds last year. It was obvious that they were tuned better than the run-of-the-mill buds you can buy off of AliExpress and more technical than the Apple Earbuds of any form or vintage. Mr. @FranQL pushed me to start doing it myself and to start and I had previously done (over a decade ago) a lot of work on target curves and a headphone measurement rig. So I set out to do it myself and I came to a few conclusions. So here we go:

1). The FiiO FF3. Not because the FF3 is the best audio experience I've had though it is the best purchased bud I've bought, but because it was the only earbud I know of outside of my house that was measured with a sophisticated rig and I was able to know how it was going to sound in my ear from a tonal perspective and how roughly it would measure in my rig. It validated what I had done and what I knew to be correct.

2). High impedance earbud drivers. In particular the 600 Ohm Beryllium driver. The separation, composure, depth of soundstage and atmospheric auditory envelopment has left me bewildered about what's possible with $50 and a few hours of my time. There's a 500 Ohm and several 300 Ohm drivers that are also very good, but none can top the 600 in these particular metrics though they all have their own distinct attributes and detriments. The 600's biggest detriment is its limited frequency range. The unfortunate part is that it's not at its best until you provide it ample power which brings me to my next sheep and cheerful pick:

3). The Venture Electronics Megatron. The Megatron isn't the cure for the common cacophony of mediocre gear that manages to get over-hyped. This is a $50 DAC/amp than manages to accomplish its design goals: to have a unique sound and an ability to drive high impedance earbuds to their max, doesn't require a battery or a power supply, and does it admirably. It's soundstage is sort of narrow in SE mode, but seems to open up in balanced. It has a line out if you need to connect a more powerful amp, and you can use it to make phone calls. Pretty cool for a little $50 device and it ends up being part of my Transformative Experience!

Transformative Experience: I took balanced cable off of an earbud I never use anymore and have no desire to use. My tuning ability had taken my buds to a different level than anything I had purchased and had truly become balanced, endlessly enjoyable HiFi devices. So I took the most detailed, composed, and enveloping earbud driver I had ever heard, but required a powerful amp to sound its best and tuned it to my target curve with a 2.5mm balanced cable attached and plugged it into the Megatron. Suddenly every characteristic attribute of that driver were in full bloom at my unrestricted disposal and more apparent than ever before. Here I was listening to $100 worth of audio gear, hearing the most impressive timbre, composure and envelopment I've ever experienced coming from my computer and Amazon music. Totally nuts. 30 years of audio fascination and tens of thousands of dollars spent, countless hours reading, stamps on my passport for audio shows, years of speaker building, amp building, headphone building and even driver building, and this $100 sitting on my lap was boggling my brain.

Thanks for sharing, mate! It was fun geeking with you and others, despite some hiccups here and there.

Did you drive your 600ohm with Megatron? That thing must have insane amount of voltage gain, since it’s loud with anything in balanced. The 300ohm serratus was no match for its loudness either. The megatron is a bit “lo-fi” to me, but I guess it’s my placebo or unnecessary nitpicking. Solid piece of equipment for sure.

Edit: portable audio gear gets insanely good quickly this year. Around this time last year there was Dunu Titan S. In just one year, I am hearing something cheaper and better. It’s crazy.

 

[Ronion]

Thanks for sharing, mate! It was fun geeking with you and others, despite some hiccups here and there.

Did you drive your 600ohm with Megatron? That thing must have insane amount of voltage gain, since it’s loud with anything in balanced. The 300ohm serratus was no match for its loudness either. The megatron is a bit “lo-fi” to me, but I guess it’s my placebo or unnecessary nitpicking. Solid piece of equipment for sure.

Edit: portable audio gear gets insanely good quickly this year. Around this time last year there was Dunu Titan S. In just one year, I am hearing something cheaper and better. It’s crazy.

Agreed brother!

Yep. The 600 and the Megatron just really work well together. The Megatron can be thought of as a low fi device as in it's not built for maximum fidelity: but neither is any tube amp or ear bud, most headphones, record players, tape decks, etc... I do love my tape deck and my turntable though and it's not for their measurable fidelity. Still, they manage to sound good. I'm betting that if the Serratus wasn't so treble heavy, you'd find it a better match on an amp that gets loud quick. How much more treble does it have over the ff3 on your rig? It's quite a lot and the ff3 is just a little dark compared to my target with the darkest measuring foams on it. Combine that with the lower impedance and I'm betting you have your answer right there. When I try to rationalize these things, I always go to Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is the most likely.

I can't listen to treble heavy anything at any sort of volume. The monk Plus sounds considerably to bright to my ear and the Serratus is considerably bright than it.

The Megatron is not as warm or as LoFi as my Little Bear B4X, but I love it too. When you look at the difference between drivers, amps are actually quite small. Smaller now that measurement rigs are often used in the design. The definition of HiFi for amps is a lot more straight forward. Discovering the definition of HiFi for head-worn transducers is nigh on impossible. That's the one good thing that Harman did for us all: they really got manufacturers paying attention to tuning. Back when I was really in to IEMs, Etymotic was the only company paying attention to such things and had a target, but their IEMs were tuned to a mono source and thus overly thin and bright for stereo recordings. Everyone intuitively knew this as their ears literally scraped the proverbial chalk board and howled, but Etymotic came up with excuses that the problem was with digital media and they started reducing the treble. Later they started bumping the bass and their IEMs improved dramatically with the pinnacle being the ER2XR (depending on your definition LOL or maybe they have something newer). They are still hesitant to go all in for whatever reason. The one beautiful thing about old-school Etymotic tuning is how it works with monitoring mono feeds like a vocal or guitar mic. It's ideal, but they way recordings are mixed and mastered--in a stereo triangle--brings in the whole headshadow problem and room response into the equation. Harman is nerfed up a bit because they started with a premise that neglected their own previous research, but it has still managed to help the industry as a whole on a dramatic level. I think Etymotics initial thin tuning is partly to blame for why audiophiles still want a brighter sound--we believe it's actually neutral as it was sold and our 'superior hearing' knows it and the tuning's 'exposure of detail' is our evidence. Audiophilia Nervosa tells us that we are juvenile in our understanding of music if we enjoy bass, but graphic bass boost is actually just approximating flat speakers with narrowing directivity in a listening room and is not something we should be ashamed of. Enjoying music is not a crime. A consumer friendly tuning is a good tuning. If your wife thinks it's bright, it's bright. "Consumer tunings" are getting far more accepted d/t the popularity of them in IEMs. Bass is fun and everyone knows it. Okay, my labyrinthian diatribe has overstayed its welcome! Cheers gents! Let's hope for a better year and celebrate the successes of this past year in audio. This latest Jade Audio JD7 may be just the thing while others are extolling the virtues of the Hexa. These are good times in audio I think.

 

[KPzypher]

It's been a busy year for me in terms of my headfi experience. Purchased a crap ton of gear this year, plus all the gear I was able to try at NYC/SoCal CANJAMs was a blast.

Open back HP
Focal Clear MG - I was all about neutral sounding gear this year and this was a breath of fresh air. Such a dynamic and impactful can to listen to. So much fun! Good technicality and aesthetically pleasing design is a huge bonus. There are too many DIY looking hps out there, even among flagships.

Closedback
Denon AH-d9200 - one of the few HPs I can just throw on my head and just be enveloped in music for 12 straight hours without fatigue. Has such a pleasing treble tone. One thing I stopped doing is making too many sacrifices in the name of chasing performance. So much fun! I finally realized if I can't comfortably wear a HP or doesn't have a pleasing tone regardless of how well they perform, then it's not a good HP for me. I admire people that can throw a 700g hp on their head and power through the day all in the name of that last ounce of performance.

Transformative experience
Adding a good sub (SVS SB1000 pro) to my speaker setup = SO MUCH FUN!! Forget balanced sound. Got a chance to overhaul the room acoustics too as a result.

And as with last year, and the year before, and the year before that...... i couldn't have lived without Roon.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Agreed brother!

Yep. The 600 and the Megatron just really work well together. The Megatron can be thought of as a low fi device as in it's not built for maximum fidelity: but neither is any tube amp or ear bud, most headphones, record players, tape decks, etc... I do love my tape deck and my turntable though and it's not for their measurable fidelity. Still, they manage to sound good. I'm betting that if the Serratus wasn't so treble heavy, you'd find it a better match on an amp that gets loud quick. How much more treble does it have over the ff3 on your rig? It's quite a lot and the ff3 is just a little dark compared to my target with the darkest measuring foams on it. Combine that with the lower impedance and I'm betting you have your answer right there. When I try to rationalize these things, I always go to Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is the most likely.

I can't listen to treble heavy anything at any sort of volume. The monk Plus sounds considerably to bright to my ear and the Serratus is considerably bright than it.

The Megatron is not as warm or as LoFi as my Little Bear B4X, but I love it too. When you look at the difference between drivers, amps are actually quite small. Smaller now that measurement rigs are often used in the design. The definition of HiFi for amps is a lot more straight forward. Discovering the definition of HiFi for head-worn transducers is nigh on impossible. That's the one good thing that Harman did for us all: they really got manufacturers paying attention to tuning. Back when I was really in to IEMs, Etymotic was the only company paying attention to such things and had a target, but their IEMs were tuned to a mono source and thus overly thin and bright for stereo recordings. Everyone intuitively knew this as their ears literally scraped the proverbial chalk board and howled, but Etymotic came up with excuses that the problem was with digital media and they started reducing the treble. Later they started bumping the bass and their IEMs improved dramatically with the pinnacle being the ER2XR (depending on your definition LOL or maybe they have something newer). They are still hesitant to go all in for whatever reason. The one beautiful thing about old-school Etymotic tuning is how it works with monitoring mono feeds like a vocal or guitar mic. It's ideal, but they way recordings are mixed and mastered--in a stereo triangle--brings in the whole headshadow problem and room response into the equation. Harman is nerfed up a bit because they started with a premise that neglected their own previous research, but it has still managed to help the industry as a whole on a dramatic level. I think Etymotics initial thin tuning is partly to blame for why audiophiles still want a brighter sound--we believe it's actually neutral as it was sold and our 'superior hearing' knows it and the tuning's 'exposure of detail' is our evidence. Audiophilia Nervosa tells us that we are juvenile in our understanding of music if we enjoy bass, but graphic bass boost is actually just approximating flat speakers with narrowing directivity in a listening room and is not something we should be ashamed of. Enjoying music is not a crime. A consumer friendly tuning is a good tuning. If your wife thinks it's bright, it's bright. "Consumer tunings" are getting far more accepted d/t the popularity of them in IEMs. Bass is fun and everyone knows it. Okay, my labyrinthian diatribe has overstayed its welcome! Cheers gents! Let's hope for a better year and celebrate the successes of this past year in audio. This latest Jade Audio JD7 may be just the thing while others are extolling the virtues of the Hexa. These are good times in audio I think.

I always think that Etymotic has all mid, no high, no low. But they are competent. There tuning is smooth, so even if the ear gain is high with ER2SE, there was no glare of harshness to me. I should have bought the ER2XR instead.

But yeah, budget IEMs are getting really good this year. They learn to tune nicely, and now they are mastering the technical performance game, thanks to hand-me-down technology from expensive ones. I mean, Hexa has 3D printed resin shells with 4 driver, hybrid, for like $100 or something. JD7 has composite DD. I'm curious to see how the top-end push the boundary, though I would probably audition at my local hifi store only. These little ear jewellery is so expensive.

And as with last year, and the year before, and the year before that...... i couldn't have lived without Roon.

Thanks for sharing, mate!

What exactly does Roon do again? I see people asking for Roon support in the portable source threads all the time.

 

[KPzypher]

Thanks for sharing, mate!

What exactly does Roon do again? I see people asking for Roon support in the portable source threads all the time.

It's a music player software/curator/organizer/server (aggregates your digital content, both local files and streaming services) under very intuitive UI. It also has good search engine, DSP, web-based metadata, etc....