New Members - Introduce Yourself

Hello from London (UK)
I am no musician or engineer, but I like to think i do appreciate good sound when i hear it
I also do seem to prefer swapping cables and equipment to working!
Just bought an Audial S5 DAC, partly based on advice here, to feed from my Eversolo A6
Now itching to explore I2S maybe from a Mercury v3...

 

10,000 ... HUZZAH!

 

Hello SBAF,
Longtime lurker here I’ve not logged in for a while but I now want to do some research about my next purchase so… I’m back.
My musical taste runs from 60s/70s/80s rock and pop through punk, ska, reggae to EDM, DnB. Also old time blues.
At home I mainly listen via speakers when alone, otherwise I’m wearing an old pair of HiFiMan HE-400S’s. The only other headphones I have were/are Sony WH1000-XM4 and currently XM5 which I use when travelling or at work (open-plan office).
Also Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS and most recently my first pair of IEMs (Simgot EW300]. Not entirely sure that I’m on the IEM bandwagon yet…

Headphone amp: Schiit Asgard 2
DAC: SMSL SU1 (was Schiit Modi before it gave up the ghost)
Source PC streaming Tidal (I’m a recent convert from Spotify)

I’m a Brit living in Belgium for a while now (since 1996) and am 60 years old.

Hearing the difference between Tidal and Spotify has reawakened my audio interest and I’m currently looking at upgrades for different components of the three hifi systems dotted around the house. Main focus area right now: headphones!

 

Welcome to the SBAF family @Flemish Rabbit !

 

Welcome!

What's your budget and are you seeking something similar to the 400s or something different? If you post in the general advice thread, I'm sure you'll get plenty of replies.

 

Hi, I'm Sergey.

Long time reader of the forum I decided to finally introduce myself as it seems to be desired here.
I'm from Germany and have a pretty stable chain with Roon, Yggdrasil, Mjölnir, HD800S.
I love to listen to full albums and think CDs sound much better than streaming (even hi-quality via Qobuz), can't figure out why though, but ok - collecting is fun sometimes. Currently trying to get into vynil as well, guess it would be even weirder there.

 

Well Hello there

UK based audio Chap here, specifically, north of the wall in bonnie Braveheart country.

No stranger to Forumland, been cutting about these fine establishments since early 90's rec.audio Newsgroups, and later on to Forums with the old British HIfi Choice forum and later onto the sadly now pushing up the daisies HIFi Wigwam that splintered off from there.

Kinda moved on from good enough but budget gear nowadays, so finding the American forums like Audiogon and the like very useful.
Had lurked around here for a while, but finally decided to get myself a Union Card.

I'm a computer audio/AV guy but have a good vinyl front end too.
Still a physical media guy, as my aching Vinyl, CD and Bluray racks will attest to.
Streamings handy and can sound great, but I like holding the music in my hand and owning it.

My Gears in my Signature, most of it is modded.
I always find everythings built to a price no matter what the RRP is and can always be tweaked for the better.

Currently upgrading my digital setup?
Self built server/Roon via my Oppo 203/ Shanling ET3 gear, but Im looking to move to proper Digital Endpoint and upgrade my Dac.
Upgrade to Holo May KTE from my PSA Directstream MK1, and discover what HQ Player upsampling with dac in NOS mode can do for me.

So will be focussing on threads that cover those topics.
Feel theres a wealth of knowledge here so looking forward to getting stuck in.

Slàinte mhath!

 

@Gazjam , nicely written - welcome to SBAF.

 

Hi all,
Just joined up to be able post questions and possible might be of help to others.

For years been mainly a speaker guy but 3 years ago started to move to a iems. Had some health issues so was spending more time in bed. I find music helped get mind off the pain. Plus reading reviews and shopping for a new gear helped pass the time.

Some of you may know me from head fi (ufanco) anyways just wanted to say hi to everyone here.

 

Welcome!

 

Hi all, not exactly new here (3.5yr almost lurker...) nor new at this (sold midfi in the 80s and 90s) but definitely out of the loop. As it is I have some upgrade budget and a desire to improve my system's sound in a methodical way.
My current system is a Nuvo P300 'streamer' into a Grace m903 pre/dac, feeding a PS Audio S300 amp to either Klipsch Forte IIs (current) or B&W Matrix 802s3s (boxed atm).
The sound is predictably muscular and will play quite loud (a feature I do enjoy) but can be really shrill/harsh/glare-y at times. Most of my listening is streaming Spotify (convenience and suggestion algo) but I also have lots of CDs ripped to FLAC.
I'm going to start by replacing the Nuvo box, as it's old, cheap, and only has toslink digital out. Mercury V3, maybe? So many choices...

ETA: Just donated via PayPal.

 

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Drummer for 15 years, managed not to lose all my hearing. Currently revisiting Pharoah Sanders works after listening to his Promises album (with Floating Points).

Too much gear. Not good at selling stuff. Love my Vali 3.

 

Hi. I am a Uruguayan musician who is slowly getting into the world of headphones. For the moment I have only tried the ATH m40x and the Robin Sivga but I want to go up a level, and that's exactly why I come to this forum.

(Everything I write will always be translated from Spanish to English with AI since I am not fluent in the language).

 

Welcome to SBAF.

 

Hello from Boston, MA!

Classical music lover -- especially into French composers, artists, and labels. Also a 15-year audiophile on a journey from noobie -> ASRer -> "hmm, this 120-SINAD DAC doesn’t sound quite right" -> "I'd rather trust my ears with DBT."

I came here because of a couple of Yggdrasil threads. Now that I’ve had an A2/OG in my system for three days and am really enjoying it, I’m planning a serious three-week audition and will share my impressions in one of the threads.

 

Hello everyone.

I've been lurking here on and off for almost ten years at this point and finally made an account. I got into headphones in high school; had a pair of Koss KSC75's, which did not make me cooler but did sound much better than apple earbuds in the mid aughts out of my iPod. I started lurking when I was looking to get into the hobby more seriously and I've picked up a lot knowledge and recommendations over the years from this community.

My tastes in music lean towards rock and metal, with some modern pop. I tend to really prioritize dynamics and contrast in my sound. I like headphones and IEMs pretty equally and haven't dove into two channel speaker setups that much.

The current setup looks a bit like a SBAF special:

Main listening setup:
PC -> Bifrost 2 OG (unison USB) -> THX 789 (BAL) / Lyr 3 (SE) -> JBL 305 monitors
-> Pietus Maximus (onboard ESS)

My favorite headphones from this system:

• Elex - A very satisfying and crunchy sound that works with a lot of music I love, I tend to like it out of one of the Schiit amps as the Lyr or Pietus round the rough edges enough
• HE6seV2 - super punchy, detailed, and very power hungry, needs to be cut down a few db in the 2.5k-5k region and the headband need to be swapped, but it is excellent and my favorite for metal
• Arya Stealth - Probably the most spacious and detailed headphone I've heard, absolutely stunning with good live recordings
• THIEAUDIO Monarch MKIII - Currently my favorite IEM, has the best bass performance of any transducers I currently own, images really well, and excels with any material I've played through it. The only downside is the shells are larger and I can't have them in my small ears for more than about three hours at a time

Lounge listening setup (trying for relaxed vibes):
pi -> Etir -> MMB 1 -> Magni Piety -> Verum 1

I put this together out of some of my older equipment and the Piety. This is just a very warm and pleasant setup that isn't the most resolving but I really enjoy for relaxing and reading. There are a few different headphones I have that I might swap for the Verum at some point but I'm pretty happy with it for now.

A few other notable mentions:

• Moondrop x Crinacle Dusk - Another great IEM, fantastic tuning with the included DSP cable, which also makes it super easy to play out of my phone
• Powerbeats Pro 2 - I would use AirPods Pro 2, but they just don't sit in my ears well. These have the same chips, a more v-shaped sound signature, and will stay in my ears with the more conventional tips and the over-ear hooks. Also, Apple's features and computational audio is second to none IMO: their ANC, transparency mode, and spatial audio features are really compelling.

 

Hello everyone. Long time lurker first time poster.

My first memory of Hi-Fi was my father shopping for speakers back in the early 80s when warm British speakers were all the rage. I loved B&W but we ended buying a pair of Celestion Ditton 300.

 

I am a long time lurker here and a long time poster over at Head-Fi (and various other audio forums). I've often lurked these forums to cross reference recommendations from other forums and to deepen my research of certain gear. I've come to like the overall vibe and collaboration here so I have decided to create an account and join in. Just recently I made my first few posts.

My audio journey started as a kids with various cassette and cd players which got me hooked on headphones. I have a vintage Thorens turntabe, vintage speakers as well as high-end audio gear for my home theater. My first passion is headphones and second passion is TVs (which I calibrate myself).

I took a hiatus from listening to headphones due to the pandemic, kids and a remodel (all of which happened during the pandemic). I recently pulled out my gear and have been fine tuning my tastes which has led me to new gear (ZMF) and selling some of my old gear (Grado).

 

The M40x is pretty good. I had one and it sounded better than many headphones costing more.

For portable use the M40x is good. The bigger M50x survives a bit more abuse and isolates a little more.

 

I just realized I never posted here, I thought I had. Oops.

I got into audio through headphones, and got into headphones during the golden age of the mid-00s.
Had a bit of a Head-fi posting outburst for a few seconds there but otherwise a confirmed lurker.

I did make it out to an old-school meet in MA in 06 - got to meet a bunch of people and among other things check out a PS-1, R10, and HE90 in person. That experience has always stuck with me.

Haven't had a functioning setup in forever, trying to figure out where to take things now