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The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    Btw is it just me or are there way too many amps in the world? How do you know something is gonna be quality and even 1% relevant in four years? There's so many products that just disappear into worthlessness after a few years.
     
    a44100Hz, Feb 29, 2016
    #961
  2. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Glad that thread was moved to the right place, and now I'll deign a reply, lol.

    • To answer your question (the one in bold and underlined above), it has nothing to do with amp/DACs
    • The HE400S is well praised, even back on Changstar
    • Hifiman build quality can suck, I've had 7 or 8 of their IEMs fail on me, but never the HE-500 or HE-6, so maybe their full size headphones are another story
    • Hifiman headphones, like many planars, can suck in comfort due to weight. It does improve over time though as their strange headband conforms to your skull
    • The Audez'e LCD series has stupid ergonomics. But when you buy one, you also get underwhelming sound for free. And their drivers die enthusiastically
    • Their lower end models look like they're headed in a better direction ergonomically. Barely get talked about here though, which says something
    • The HD600, 650, and 800 are the most ergonomically comfortable phones I've had. Some people find the HD6X0 clamp intense, but there's an easy fix for that
    • If you don't want your bass bleeding into your mids, I would steer clear of the HE-500
    • Just generally, I would recommend the HD650, do some of the mods as well, you won't regret it
    • If you go with the HD650, get a Valhalla 2, either new or used. I'd rather have a Valhalla 2 + HD650 and NO DAC than some piece of shit amp and DAC
    • In fact, if I was super desperate to say I have a DAC, I would get the $30 Fiio D3 to get a bit better extension into the Valhalla 2
     
    sphinxvc, Feb 29, 2016
    #962
  3. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    sphinxvc, Feb 29, 2016
    #963
  4. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    We're cool Marco - I was just busting your lady bits. Welcome to SBAF. I am glad you are enjoying your setup, certainly much better than listening to music out of the headphone jack on a laptop.

    As someone who has spend hard earned cash on items such as the dragonfly (Audioengine D1 in my case) and who was even happy with it until I tried out a couple of other setups - I can hope to try and convince the new guy looking to get into the hobby to skip the mediocre and go straight for the good value, high quality stuff that has been recommended to me. AKG and Beyerdynamics headphones sound pretty awesome, until you hear HD650's, TH-X00's or similiarly recommended headphones. We have the experience to recommend things other than o2's and X2's because we've been there - but had the curiosity to continue to explore and evolve.
     
    JoshMorr, Feb 29, 2016
    #964
  5. munch

    munch Friend

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    is this better?
     
    munch, Feb 29, 2016
    #965
  6. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    When the bass is accentuated and colors the lower mids. But this is a secondary symptom IME, the first and most noticeable symptom is 'one note bass.'

    On the HE-500, I'm not sure why there is 'one note bass', it could be because of the roll off? Or maybe there is actually a bump in the mid-bass (measurements don't seem to show it - can't access the Chang measurements right now).
     
    sphinxvc, Feb 29, 2016
    #966
  7. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Are 1 and 2 mutually exclusive? The bass notes and overtones (these are called 'partials' together, I think?) are too loud and mask the higher frequencies (in this case lower-mid) frequencies.

    The phrase 'one-note', to me, has always been a band of bass frequencies (usually in the mid-to-upper bass) being too loud and masking other (lower) bass frequencies.

    Thanks for putting this in far more precise language than I used. :)
     
    sphinxvc, Feb 29, 2016
    #967
  8. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    Well known headphones that exhibit these behaviors?
     
    a44100Hz, Feb 29, 2016
    #968
  9. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Well, going back to the HE-500...

    Even the HD650 in its stock form suffers from a very subtle form of this, and that's one of the reasons why I liked the mods so much, the bass notes were easier to tell apart.

    I can't think of anything else at the moment. Headphones that don't suffer this are the HE-6, LCD-2, and probably a lot of others...
     
    sphinxvc, Feb 29, 2016
    #969
  10. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    The HE-500 is amazing. Stop insulting my babies and steering others away from audio bliss! :p
     
    Skyline, Feb 29, 2016
    #970
  11. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    I'm not entirely sure what that is, but my gut says NO.
     
    Skyline, Feb 29, 2016
    #971
  12. Kepin Cemit

    Kepin Cemit New

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    Hey all,

    A quick question about Grace Design M9XX for those who have tried them:

    I'm currently using a lowly Aune T1 dac/amp with after market Amperex Bugle Boy tube which sounded better (wider space, "airier", etc) compared to stock tube


    Using Hifiman HE400s - Beyer DT770/80 - Sony MDR MA900 at home/desktop, playing mostly streaming music and/or lossy files (oh, also for movies/gaming from PC).

    Also using the Aune T1 to feed my active/powered multimedia speakers (Corsair SP2500)




    Would there be a considerable leap in SQ if I upgraded from Aune T1 to M9XX for both headphones & line out to my powered speakers ?



    I dont have any chance to test / audition since I live in a small town in Indonesia, so even if I could get the M9XX here, it would be a blind buy.




    Thanks in advance :)


    PS:
    Not that many choices for usb dac/amp with both line out & headphone amp for under $500 here :(
     
    Kepin Cemit, Mar 1, 2016
    #972
  13. The Alchemist

    The Alchemist MOT: Schiit - Here to help!

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    The Alchemist, Mar 1, 2016
    #973
  14. Kon Peki

    Kon Peki Friend

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    Noob question: Is there a good reason to buy same brand amps and DACs?

    I now have a Schiit Bifrost Multibit to go with Schiit Asgard 2 and Lyr 2

    I also have and enjoy the Violectric V200 and just saw that the Violectric V800 v2 was just listed on Massdrop.

    Other than matching color and appearance, is there a synergy to matching V800 and V200, or should I just use the Bifrost Multibit for all amps?
     
    Kon Peki, Mar 1, 2016
    #974
  15. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    A good dac will be good no matter what amp you choose to pair it with. The rest is just color and form factor preferences. I admit many of the schiit stacks look really good together.
     
    Ice-man, Mar 1, 2016
    #975
  16. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

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    Other than making sure that there are no issues with DACs and amps working together (An Eddie Current amp had an issue with a Schiit Yggdrasil, which is the only issue that has ever brought up here at SBAF and has been dealt with by the amp's owner himself rather easily), I see absolutely no reason to buy both a DAC and amp from the same brand. In fact, I would advise against doing so since a good amp brand doesn't necessarily make good DACs as well. Schiit seems to be the exception, at least regarding performance/price. I'm sure having both a senior amp and a senior dac designer who actually like bringing great audio gear to people on a budget has nothing to do with it ;)
     
    Ash1412, Mar 1, 2016
    #976
  17. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    What's funny is that the vogue amp/DACs from 5 years ago are dirt cheap now.
     
    sphinxvc, Mar 1, 2016
    #977
  18. MarcoGV

    MarcoGV Acquaintance

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    Thank you for the welcome!
     
    MarcoGV, Mar 1, 2016
    #978
  19. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    The insane high learning curve and user unfriendliness of Foobar is getting to me, what are some good alternatives, I would like to start exploring them.

    Nice UI, easy to use, WASAPI/ASIO, able to rip CD's (maybe sync to DAPs)? would be some features, don't need a ton of stuff.

    Audivarna? JRiver? Would like to hear some opinions! I don't mind paying for something if I only have to pay once, but a free trial first would be ideal

    Using Windows 7 (soon 10) with a Gungnir Multibit via Wyrd/USB if it matters

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2016
    PoochZag, Mar 1, 2016
    #979
  20. The Alchemist

    The Alchemist MOT: Schiit - Here to help!

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    I have been using JRiver for a few years now and I love it, I won't go back to any other music software. It is kinda expensive, however when a new version comes out you get a really huge discount.

    https://www.jriver.com/overview.html

    You can download a free trial from the link above as well. Check it out and see if you like it.

    2016-03-01_194238.jpg 2016-03-01_194701.jpg 2016-03-01_194819.jpg
     
    The Alchemist, Mar 1, 2016
    #980
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