Headphones

I get that IEMs are a great option under a 150 bucks and also convenient for traveling, I own two pairs myself and they are decent. But I've tried two open back headphones now and they both eclipse the IEMs in a way that can definitely not be replicated by IEMs. The sound is really "outside your head" and airy, whereas IEMs sound exactly like you'd expect them to sound. Often they can't even get omnidirectional imaging right and have blobs, and soundstage is very constrained.

So, why are there people spending tons of money on (C)hifi IEMs when they only listen to them at home anyways?

After a bit of time on this pair of earphones, the soundstage really gives me a good impression and it doesn’t need much encouragement to get lot same troubles me a bit too. I put on some nice frozen planet soundtracks and soon realized I was almost sleeping in my chair today.😅 Sometimes it really gives me goosebumps though the way that how they emphasize the sound. I’d say it is way much better than shure sonic 50 despite it is just an iem.

Hi everyone!

I recently saw the new Topping DX9 pop up for sale and I'm wondering how it fares against the D70 Pro Sabre + A70 Pro stack. It would be great to get your opinions and insights to help get a good consensus on this. Both offerings have very similar price points (around $1,200) and overall specs, but they both have unique pros and cons.

Here's a quick rundown of what I've found:

Offering 1: Topping D70 Pro Sabre + A70 Pro

Pros:

1. Proven Quality: It's been produced for a while and has been heavily reviewed, so the QC is most likely better than a brand-new product, and there are many reviewers advocating for the quality of the system.
2. R2R: Most people seem to say that an R2R DAC sounds better than a delta-sigma one.
3. Compact: Takes up less desk space, which is great for smaller setups.

Cons:

1. Basic Design: It doesn't stand out much in terms of aesthetics, however, some may prefer this.

Offering 2: Topping DX9

Pros:

1. Cool Design: It has a very stylish look with a transparent top and cool LEDs.
2. Limited Edition: It being a limited edition run might be something some people are interested in, and seems to be pretty unique.
3. Brand New: Latest release with potentially the newest technology.
4. All-in-One: Convenient, though it being an all-in-one might be a downside for some.

Cons:

1. Limited Reviews: Not many reviews are available yet, so it's hard to gauge its performance and opinions on how it sounds.
2. Delta-Sigma DAC: According to some it might not match the R2R in terms of the sound quality, but I feel like there isn't much of a consensus on R2R vs Delta Sigma.
3. New Release QC Concerns: Being new, it might face initial QC challenges that are typical with new releases, as the production process hasn't had as much time to mature.
4. Larger Size: Requires more desk space.

Any insights, especially from those who have experience with either of these models, would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

unfortunately the tips that come with the zero red are all too large for me, they hurt in my ear canal. Tried them without tips as well but then they are loose and don't seal. Do you know some smaller tips that would fit them?

Thanks!

I've had these for a little over 2 years now, but they were already slowly coming apart after a year or so, but I never got around to meddling with warranties and such. Probably should have since they also had some sound problems, but the software updates seem to have fixed them.

Did Sennheiser decide to use the cheapest materials and workmanship known to man for the external parts of Sennheiser GSP 670 to really crank up the margins? I just never expected Sennheisers to be such poor quality.

I've always been a big fan of Sennheiser and I love my Momentum M2 which I've had for 7 years and they're still in great condition with only minor wear on the ears.

So anyway, now I'm struggling because I need to replace these ahead of schedule and my sense of justice doesn't allow me to purchase another pair of Sennheisers. I'm not very knowledgeful about headphones, but I've heard Beyerdynamics could be good and I'm thinking of going with a desk microphone this time, probably a Blue Yeti.

Would love to hear your impressions on whether Sennheiser's quality has been dropping or is it just this one product or do you completely disagree with my interpretation of my experience?

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New cable day!!! It definitely makes my IER M9 sound better and more opened and more sparkled and 10000 percent better. Just kidding. Got them because they feel premium, doesn’t kink, and generally high quality. Also got it on 11.11 sale for less than $60 new — a great price!

I have kingston's hyperx ii and this headphone's dongle provides better sound than apple's dongle, also motherboard sounds better than apple's dongle too.

In this situation does that mean hyperx ii's dongle has better dac than apple's ?

I was thinking buying fiio's K3 but im feeling like that wont provide any better dac too.

My ears are very sensitive and i play with equalizers often.

I looked at the Oratory list and the Peace "AutoEQ" list and there isn't an EQ for wired mode.

I'd like to be able to use my XM4 in wired mode, but I don't prefer their sound as is. They need EQ'ing.

I heard this in another sub, that only tuning matters for IEMs but I'm not seeing it.

Aside from tuning what parts are giving advantages? The housing, the drivers, the materials used?

Example, the truthear nova ($150) is tuned nearly the same as the moondrop variations ($520). Does that mean they would have the same sound quality?

I mainly use oratory1990’s presets or the 2019 Harman target for IEMs on autoeq. I find that for some songs, the common reduction in the 8-16khz range causes a certain bloated and muffled feeling. However, for other songs, it makes the song so much less fatiguing to listen to. This leads me to wonder if using different presets for different songs or genres is common.

Hey everyone! So I decided to purchase my first pair of IEMs and ordered the Truthear x Crinacle Zero. I’m not sure if this is a quality control thing or something I have done, but my sound is the opposite direction. So left is right and right is left. This is only true on the IEMs. My Sennheiser HD599’s are correct, so unsure what the issue is.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

my current headset mic is starting to get a little fiddly (sometimes stops working, and i have to play with the wire to get it working, and there's no gaurantee its going to stay working when it goofs up...), so i thought i'd try an introductory nice sort of pair of headphones that i can use with the v-moda boom pros
ppl seem to think that the fidelio x2hrs work well with them, so i went and got em. i have heard that there can be a lot of strange little peaks, though?
im much less interested in following some preset harman curve or some other curve than i am in reducing the peaks. is there some software that can help me with smoothing them out? i really dont want to completely mess with my headphones, i just want to smooth out the jagged bits

also, i ordered my headphones used off amazon, "acceptable" condition. hoping they'll be okay, but kinda anxious

Hi! In the official page of FiiO in Aliexpress there is a sale going on, the K3 (new and updated version) is at 87€, and with if it is a first purchase it goes down to 71€. Is this a good deal?

Haven't saw any reports online, so here it is

Guess my luck finally ran out, even though I had a few IEMs with widespread QC issues (Chu, Salnotes Zero, Final E500), this is my first "win"

Other than the faceplate issue, I like the sound (can't justify spending this much since I own an EM6L), hopefully the Chopin lasts long

In the early mornings while my spouse is still asleep, I've been using my HE6 in my listening room while sitting in the same chair I usually sit in when I listen on my floor speakers. Normally I have the music playing through the headphone before I put them on my head, like a responsible old should do to protect their hearing. But today I was already seated in my chair with the headphones on when I turned on the music. I'd turned the volume down to low.

When the music started I went "shit, the speakers are sill on. Gotta turn it down real quick before I wake the spouse," so I turned down the volume super low using the remote and jumped up quick to go over to the amp to figure out why the "speakers on" wasn't lit up, took off the headphones and heard silence.

Silence? Oh! The HE6 were so spacious-sounding at half volume that I thought it was my floor speakers. It's amazing how often I'm blown away by what my setups sometimes can make me experience.

One other weird thing. I've been using a Roon EQ recommendation for these that was posted on audiosciencereview, but this morning I was still on my floor speaker EQ settings. When I switched to my custom settings for theses or switched all EQ off, they lost that spacious sound. The main EQ adjustment for my floor speakers is adding a peak at 258 Hz.

They're $609 right now at the Hifiman store, if you're looking for something to treat yourself this holiday season. My only criticisms are they feel a little big on my little girl head and they required all the power my amp can muster.

My Blessing 3 finally arrived yesterday, starting to test them with my ZX707.

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I thought I have bought a fake one. The boxes from the unboxing videos from Youtube don’t have the read line at the lower part of the box. It also doesn’t include Carrying Bag. How can I legit my porta KTC. Please

I used to run my Sundaras with Tempotec Sonata HD Pro as DAC + Topping L30 amp + Sundaras.

But I've recently purchased an interface, the Presonus 24c. It replaces the Sonatas as the DAC instead but I was thinking it could fill the amp spot too?

Should I just sell my Topping L30?

So my whole life I have been against buying beats, mainly down to the awful build quality, price and meh sound. However the Studio 3’s came on offer for £95 at Argos, and considering I never owned a pair, thought why not give them a go for that low price and might just be my new gym headphones.

Build quality is shocking…like I thought people were overreacting but no these things are built like £50 headphones. The ear cups are the cheapest “leather” you’ve ever felt, and the whole body is just creaky plastic.

Comfort wise they’re actually somewhat comfy because of the weight and the clamp force. The ear cups are very shallow though so my ears basically sit against the drivers. The ear cups are also quite small for an “over ear” headphone.

Sound…this is where I had no actual expectations because I’ve heard such mixed things. They sound absolutely great! If they retailed at £90. These do not sound like 200-300 headphones at all. My dad’s Soundcores sound better at half the price of these on sale. Obviously they are 6 years old, but my Sony mdr100abn’s I had years ago sounded far better than these at a much lower price.

End of the day, they are great for the price I paid, but go back 6 years and buy them for the retail price? I’d be fuming with the result

So I received my pair of Hexa’s today (on sale for $67.99 on Amazon) and gotta say, I am quite blown away by the liveliness, detail, sub-bass texture and extension, treble extension, soundstage, imaging/instrument separation, build/fit/comfort, and more.

For reference, I own quite a few other IEMs (Final E5000, Honeydew, Fiio FD3, QKZ x Hbb Khan, Blon Bl-03, Truthear Hola, KBear Rosefinch, Dumpling and Little Q [extremely underrated btw, I own three pairs since they’re $10 and are truly amazing for the price, but that’s for another post]). As you may notice, those are all warm and/or V-shaped, and single dynamic driver IEMs (with the exception being double DD Khan). I wanted a hybrid IEM that would provide with more detail/airiness than what I have already, thinking that I would be sacrificing bass in exchange. And as someone who owns Honeydew’s and loves them for certain music, then you know I love my bass.

I listen to everything from post-punk/art punk, synth pop/dream pop, new wave, neo-psychedelia/classic psychedelic music, ambient, folk (including free folk, avant-folk), experimental rock and other experimental music like Musique Concrete, all kinds of electronic (excluding EDM), jazz, classic rock/prog, trip hop, new age, minimalism, classical, etc. The Hexas can DO IT ALL. In particular, I have been extremely in love with Asia Menor’s new album Enola Gay which I listened to twice with the Hexas and noticed a lot of new details I hadn’t before.

To my great surprise, the bass is still there on the Hexa’s, but they do basically everything else better than the rest of my IEMs. Note I am using the included foam tips because I found the others uncomfortable and difficult to get a good seal, but with the foam tips they seal perfectly and I have been wearing them for 8 hours without fatigue or discomfort, most of the time forgetting they’re on my head. I don’t feel that the foam tips sacrifice much detail since they have a large hole. Isolation is also comparable to ANC.

Take note I am using a +3db low frequency shelf at 220hz for some added midbass/thump through my Qudelix 5k, although the bass boost is really not necessary for everything, mostly just electronic and some rock, and I can pretty confidently say these are my new favorite IEMs and daily drivers. It usually takes me some time to get used to/appreciate IEMs, so I can only deduce that these will continue to sound better and better for me. It is really incredible what you can get in low price ranges these days (Little Q and Rosefinch and Hola for $10, $13, and $16 respectively, the QKZ Khans for around $35 as a sort of modern upgrade on the Bl03 which i still enjoy for it’s timbre, and for less than $80 the FD3 and now, HEXA’s, as well as stuff like the Aria which I owned once but returned even though they were decent).

I may write up a full review once I have spent some more time with them, but I thought I’d contribute another post praising the Hexas. As someone who has stayed away from bright/neutral tuning, I was afraid they would be shouty/fatiguing and/or have anemic bass, but instead they are extremely smooth, musical, with great sound all across the frequency spectrum and finally, more detail that I was looking for, to hear the finer intricacies of a lot of the music I listen to.

Can’t recommend the enough, especially at the discounted price right now. They actually remind me a lot of my HD6xx’s, my all time favorite headphone, even more so than my LCD-2c. The only IEMs really left on my bucket list are the Sony XBA-N3 and Letshouer s12 pro, but I’ll wann sell my E5000 before that because they keep sounding worse and worse to me (extremely dull and way too dark) even though I really liked them at first.

So… I just bought my HD 820 and this week I'm buying the HDV820 and I'm struggling to figure out whether to buy two XLR cables to connect the headphones to the preamp and then from the preamp to my Rodecaster Pro II or whether to simply connect them with balanced or unbalanced. I still need to EQ the headphones and for music I use Tidal mostly if it helps

something for everyone to share what they got or are planning to get this black friday!

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