The All Purpose Advice Thread

MCTH is a decent amp, I owned it briefly with the HD650s. I found it more on the darker side and treble is more smoothed off. Valhalla 2 is more grainier in the highs. I found the Valhalla 2 gave more weight in the mids and overall sounded more livelier than the MCTH. But if you can find a good deal on it used it's worth getting.

 

The Sys is bidirectional, 2 outputs/1 input or 1 output/2 inputs.

 

Yes my error sorry. Jason confirmed Sys can work backwards but only with volume turned all the way up: just as a switch.

 

Yup.

The GoldPoint I mentioned can also be configured for 1 in 2 out with volume control via the very nice stepped attenuator, at a much higher price than the SYS though.

 

Using a smartphone as source, would you rather A) Use a smartphone via USB to Modi 3 to desktop amp; B) Use a iFi Nano Black Label as a portable DAC to a desktop amp or C) Another Option?

I hadn't seen the possibility of using the Modi 3 from a smartphone previous to last night. Has anyone tried this?

 

I occasionally use my iPhone as a source to a Modi 3 at work. I use the lightning to USB camera connection kit adapter. It works well enough, but the adapter gets very warm and I get occasional warnings about power draw (even though it keeps working). I have also used it via android and a micro-USB OTG adapter with UAPP. It seems to work fine there, and is less fiddly than iOS for me.

That said, I don’t find either use case particularly satisfying, and am much more likely to connect to my Raspberry Pi desktop music player over bluetooth, or use my FiiO X5 coax out. The RPI is connected to the Modi through a HifiBerry Digi+ Pro over optical. I prefer to use a dedicated player or computer over a smartphone, except with wireless headphones.

 

I'm about to spend a bunch of time on planes, and was considering picking up a pair of ANC headphones. I figure I might also get some decent use out of them in the office blocking out ambient sounds & other people's phone calls, or using them for telecons myself.

Sony WH-1000XM3 seems well recieved here but has been out for some time, so others might out-compete by now. What other headphones should I be looking at? Bose 700 & QC seem to be popular and it looks like Sennheiser makes a few noise cancelling models at a lower price point.

I absolutely need: totally kills airplane rumble, decent microphone, 20+ hour battery (flight to India is ~15 hours), works with android via bluetooth

Nice to haves: charge via usb c so i don't have to remember more chargers, wire to plug into airplane entertainment thing, works with windows pc, good bluetooth codec (aptx?), decent sound

 

The Sony checks all those boxes. I've had mine about a year and they are quite good.

 

Agree about the Sony's. Only thing I can't comment on is the microphone - haven't played with that. Cheers

 

Not a direct answer, but have you looked into silicone soft shell CIEMs? Sensaphonic and ACS products are usually rated at decibel reduction levels beyond most ANC cans, they're easier to carry around and can pull double duty as regular travel IEMs by cable swapping.

If you want bluetooth, check out the Fostex TM2 which can be adapted to MMCX/2 pin. A full system (ACS 2BA, TM2, adapter) will run you about $800-900, but will also last longer since you can ditch the TM2's when the battery gives out.

 

I have extensively used the XM3 and the QC35ii in short and long flights,and train, travels (the Bose 700 just once in a train trip) and i can say that, considering the firmwares i have, the Bose QC35ii is very balanced with a good price but some may say it lacks a little bit of bass (and the voices are not as reduced as the other 2 models) with decent microphone, the XM3 is the more bassy of the 3, which seems to please many people, with the worse call quality of the 3 but with ANC a few dusts better than the QC35ii (i feels it handles voices just a tad better) and slightly worse than the Bose 700 which, imo, is better in almost every aspect comparing all 3, specially regarding voice calls but it's the only non-foldable, in case that makes any difference to you. I also like to say that i absolutely dislike the fact that you had to register and consent your info in order to use the app (unlike the QC35ii) and that seems to be the case with many people. I've read somewhere that this has changed but it was like that when i first got them (and why many people gave it worse ratings on amazon, for example).

I use my QC35ii because its light, does its job, doesn't have a super big footprint and i like it's sound enough (i am traveling so i don't need a great setup). The XM3, is a little too blass focused for my taste and was nothing but trouble where i live because of low temperatures, which made the touch controls go berserk (it's a known problem, acknowledged by Sony).


Hope this helps.

 

Thanks all, I went ahead and ordered the sony since I need it for next week. I did seriously consider the 700, but in the end the folding + the 10 extra hours seemed to be a pretty huge convenience boost.

@Zhanming057 That's pretty cool, I didn't realize CIEMS were more isolating than ANC. Unfortunately, I think that kind of solution is outside my desired price point by a factor of 3...

 

Ok guys, I didn't know where to ask, so I'm asking it here.

I just had what was undoubtedly the most baffling moment throughout my entire time in this hobby. I know I'm gonna sound crazy, I would never believe it if someone else had said what I'm about to say, but here goes:

I just realized that my amp (Eddie Current Studio Junior, to be precise) plays music on its own without any headphones or speakers plugged into it. By playing music, I mean it literally makes music sound from within the chassis, as if it has its own transducers somewhere inside.

I never noticed until now because normally I would stop music playback from my computer and turn down the volume all the way before removing the headphones. But today, while I was trying to swap headphones in the middle of playback, I could hear some faint sound even after the headphone was fully disconnected. Strangely, although it was faint, it was unmistakably the same song that was playing on the computer.

At first I thought the sound was coming from the computer's built-in speakers, but it wasn't, and I made sure that the computer's speakers were disabled. The music, it seems, was coming somewhere from inside the amp. I was like "nah that can't be" and turned the amp's volume up and down. Surprisingly, the music's volume changed with the position of the amp knob. But the amp is not connected to any headphone or speaker! I tried playing a different song from the computer. The amp played that different song from inside the chassis. Lastly, I turned off the amp. The music was gone. I turned the amp on again. The song could be heard again.

Am I the only one who have had this crazy experience? Or, is this normal or relatively common with many amps and I was the only one who never knew this the whole time?

Was my whole life a lie?

 

It's 3x if you want a flagship CIEM with a really good bluetooth adapter.

ACS has a 1BA for $475 and a 2BA for $800, but you can regularly get about 20% off if not more with them. If you don't need TWS a good bluetooth cable is less than $100. So you can build a setup for $500-600 and it'll last you a lot longer (at least the IEM side) than a $300 pair of ANC cans.

 

Yes, it was. Is. Whatever.

This is common to most tube amps I've had, don't know the exact cause. Presumably an engineery brain around here can tell us.

 

Got chills from this the first time but it was when I turned the tube amp off but music was still playing on my headphones.

 

This can happen because it actually takes several seconds for the amp to be powered down completely after the switch is turned off. The amp making music on its own without transducers is another story.

 

Not talking about the headphones continuing to make sound for a few secs after the power is off: Talking about the powered on amp, by itself with no speakers or headphones attached, 'playing' tinny & faint but discernible music. I've just presumed that the input signal is vibrating something on the path to the output transformers.

 

I thought tube amps became unstable running without a load, seems like taking a chance with an expensive Studio Jr. Then again I don't know what protection is built in.