e.schell

I always thought the Clears sounded excellent but got bored and gave Sonarworks a try. Now when i turn SW off it sounds like I'm listening under water. Haha. The Focal Clear Wired Average preset does wonders as far as I am concerned. Highly recommend giving Sonarworks free trial a whirl with any headphone they have a preset for.

OK, you've prompted me to try Sonarworks again, and you're absolutely right. These presets completely transform the HD800S.

Back in the day, when audiophiles often wore white shirts and ties, a fully loaded audiophile component system comprised of a turntable, tuner, tapedeck, preamp, amplifier and speakers. The 9500 was one of the better tuners in such a system.

I just assumed it would have at least a few pairs of rca analog inputs! Kinda of a bummer...

That would have been called a Receiver in that era.

Just saw it was released and haven't listened to The Slow Rush yet, but I really like Innerspeaker, Lonerism, and Currents... I'm sure it's going to be good.

Thanks for the heads up. Going to give it a listen on Spotify and buy the digital album if I enjoy it (I’ve liked their last two albums).

Agreed. Now I have to go explore the back catalog, as it is the first i have heard. Always enjoy it when that happens

Mine are comfy to walk around, but it's still a bit snug around my foot. Liked boosts so much, I got a pair of pureboosts for $46. Not as snug.

@insidious meme The cushioning as comfortable as the UB's? Thought about grabbing a pair of the pureboosts as well because i have seen them cheaper...

i think they are. It didn't take me as long to break them in as I did the UB's. A steal for the price I paid.

When I had the FDX1 Loaner it needed more volume on the ZX2, like most of the time I was running them at 70% power on the ZX2.

@brencho Done a quick search: 15mW vs 200mw at 16ohms for ZX2 and ZX300 respectively.

I find myself using blue filters with ZX300 most often. ZX300 has this tendency to make everything sound a bit leaner, faster, cleaner, and sharper. ZX2 has much more slam, a warmer character, rounder transients, longer decays, but less power output. Since it is a fairly efficient single DD, it should be less of a diva on amplification so it’s more about choosing the sound profile you prefer between these two DAPs.

@YMO Is streaming (LDAC) from a phone to the ZX300A reliable in your experience (given the phone is not shit) ?

@FlySweep it works great for me on the WM1A.

The ZX300A is an amazing pairing with the JVCs. Best DAP I’ve ever owned!

We don't eat babies, you monster

At that price, why not consider a used pair from the golden age of JBL manufacturing (1970s) http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/reference/price-lists/1970-1999-prices.htm

Ideally that will be plan once I get serious about putting together a 2 channel system. Hard part will be patience while tracking down the right pair! But was just curious about 580's... see them pop up from time to time in this price range.

That's a huge discount.

Sorry about the snow!

It's melting off... at least a few hundred miles south of chicago... forecast is telling me at least there won't be anymore falling while i'm there... so WIN!

I am flying into Chicago this January for a concert. My California body is probably not ready for a Chicago winter!

The trouble with turntables (not their fault!) is that people buy them to tinker with, rather than just to listen to.

Based upon certain threads here, apparently that's also true of headphones, IEMs, amps, DACs, and CD players.

So…tinkerers will tinker?

Lol. Well, yes, but for physical twiddling, as single components go, I still suspect that turntables have the most capacity.

Get impressions done by an audiologist, perfect sounding attenuators. -10 & -25dB inserts.

I got some custom earplugs with filters from UE. https://pro.ultimateears.com/microsonic-earplugs.html

I use it all the time for movies and concerts, generally the -15db filter. IIRC, UE used my previous ear impressions and gets the filters from a third party.

Funny story. In July went to a concert with a few friends. I had my ear plugs and brought an extra set. I asked my friends if they wanted the extra and they declined. First set goes on and one friend asked to use them.

After the concert the unprotected friend said his ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

I know I’m a biased fanboy, but I do like Martin Axenrot as well. His drumming is less overtly showy or complex than some, nor does Opeths stuff usually call for anything absurd, but he has a lot of subtle depth to his playing.

Saw Animals As Leaders live. That drummer has a small drum kit but when he stops jazzing it up it is hard to believe. When a drummer can make a small drum kit sound like a thunder storm like that, I listen.

Danny Carey is a god, but I’d put Tomas Haake in the same breath

I had the previous gen X5 3rd Gen. Warmer sound, does a lot of things but master of none. Buggy software, which is nothing new with Chi-Fi. I would bet a Chinese region ZX300 will blow the M11 out of the water.

It's like this, do you want more features like streaming, youtube, video games which you can play on the M11? Or you just want a pure DAP?

I would like the ability to cache albums from Tidal as I've gotten accustomed to that on my phone, but the sound quality of a zx2/zx300 is probably quite a bit better. Have some time to think on it between now and when the JVC HA-FDX1 is dropped and shipped. Plan on that being my mobile/work system. Thanks for the info!

@k4rstar Of those newer models you listed, will the marantz or cambridge significantly outperform the Onkyo as transports only? Asking since the price difference is significant.

Never compared them directly so couldn’t really say. They all use the same Sanyo mechanism found in most modern CD players. However the Cambridge is designed with a singular function in mind which is to act as a transport and has their own servo tech found in their top of the line player. It’s probably the best on transport duty.

FWIW famish99 has it hooked up to Gungnir Multibit A1/Aficionado and I thought it sounded great, but I have no frame of reference, since I have not heard Af hooked up to any other transport.

These days 90% of my listening is done with Clears, that will be my main focus when comparing these amps.

My Gungnir Multibit/LP/HD650 setup has kept me smiling for months now. No desire to alter anything. At all.

If you're trying to inject a little speed and athleticism into the setup, look elsewhere; the LP is even more laid-back than the Lyr 3. That being said, I think the LP has superior timbre and stage.