Amps & Dacs aren’t as important as headphones
this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Headphones
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How true is this? I wanted to order a Sonata HD Pro for my Timeless, but I don't know if they're really necessary. One of my devices doesn't have a headphone jack, though.
for iem most of the time you need a dac is just to remove noise floor, in case if iphone if you want to do system wide eq you will need dacs like btr or qudelix
I see, I was really interested in the Qudelix but I didn't want to spend much, considering the Timeless was already rather expensive for me. I have an Android, so for EQ I assume Wavelet/Poweramp is enough?
I have the Timeless AE and the Qudelix/BTR5 and I think the Qudelix was worth it. It’s also very freeing not having to be connected to the phone.
yeah, for pc get apo and peace user interface
Used Apple Dongle with Blessing 2. Bought Fiio KA1, used for two weeks, returned Fiio KA1, back to Apple Dongle. No difference :D
I think I might grab one to check as well, it's so well recommended here xD Cheap too.
That Grado was sub bass anemic back in 2005 when all I listened to was rap.
I mixed rap beats on them for my car that had a 2 18" wall. Boy it was loud.
- Use EQ. Just do it. It's free and can make a headphone that is tuned bad out of the box, but has great technical abilities and other qualities going for it, into a real powerhouse (e. g. DT 770 80 Ohm). I've been looking for a good tuned closed-back that does not need EQ to sound good (I like Harman with a few tweaks), but I have failed to find one for me in the price ranges I was looking and I doubt there is a good one even now (disregarding the DCA Stealth) and with EQ my DT 770, that was way too bright for me in the beginning, is now my go-to closed-back since it's comfortable, has very good technical ablities and soundstage, and with EQ I could fix the one thing that was bothering me: it's tuning. without spending a dime.
- Also, don't listen too loud even if it's fun and "sounds better"! You don't want to be deaf when reaching 30 years of age.
- AMPs and DACs don't have to be expensive to be good. Even some USB-Dongles can drive kilobuck headphones just fine. Maybe you don't even need and AMP / DAC if your motherboard has good onboard sound.
- Cables are snake oil
Wdym cables are snake oil?
Snake oil is a business term for something that is a fraud. So basically, don't waste your money on expensive cables expecting better sound (yes, this is actually a thing in the audio community)
Thank you, sorry I’m a pretty casual audiophile, was using Shure SE215s for a while but lost them when on Holiday so just picked up the Sony XM5s.
Can’t see myself every having a full desk set up as the convenience of wireless is a big deal for me.
Thanks again!
Don’t spend a lot of money on a hobby that may not be your thing in the end
Trust your own ears!
What if your own ears are garbage? o.O
It's a blessing, saves you money
Hmm nothing really. I had a really good audio journey. Though if I had to tell myself back then something, then ATH-M50X is ass. Go straight for planar headphones. 😂
Comfort is king - don't be afraid to pad roll or headband mod.
I've tried too many times to make good sounding headphones fit well even though they're just a bad match for my head. Always end up returning or selling them. I also learned that I like velour pads on everything. Timbre be damned I'll fix what I can with EQ.
If I'm not comfortable I'm not enjoying my music.
If headphones aren't comfortable, no matter how good they sound, you won't use them.
Don’t worry too much about DACs and AMPs.
Don't listen to Zeos. If you do, don't exclusively liaten to him.
There is a point where you can spend vastly more money for very few tangible benefits.
If you have a sufficiently high fidelity speaker set up and you can listen to music at whatever volume you like at any time you like, you do not need a high end headphone setup.
whatever volume
this is definitely not true
What I mean is if disturbing roommates, spouses, neighbors with high volume is not an issue AND your speaker system is good enough, a home headphone rig is not necessary. On the go, I use AirPods. No one can hear the difference between high end and low end while commuting or grocery shopping. I am glad to have owned some of the best headphones and headphone amps ever made and I’ve listened to just about every good headphone you can get up to about 2010 (when I quit serious headphone listening). If I put the headphone money into my 2 channel system it would have been better spent. That’s the advice I would have given myself back in the day. I still own HD800S, HD600 with the marble finish, and a Dennis Had IHA1.
Buy a wireless headset instead cause wired won't work for your setup
Yeah I'm not an audiophile, just a gamer and the cord offended me a lot and I ended up breaking my headset because of it.
I got into the hobby before the internet was a thing and we only had recommendations from friends and colleagues. For me this was fellow musicians and audio engineers. My regret is not breaking out of my lane and moving to more colored headphones earlier on. I was stuck in neutrality for close to a decade and only using headphones that I could also justify using in the studio.
The irony is, even as someone that’s tracked, and mixed a lot of music over the years, I prefer a much more colored, V-shaped tuning for music enjoyment/personal listening. So while I love the LCD-X, MM-500, Sennheiser HD600 and DT1990s, I rarely listen to them when I’m not working in a daw. For that, I prefer stuff like the FatFreq IEMs, or the Focal Radiance, Apos Caspian, HarmonicDyne Zeus Elites, etc.
"Try before you buy"
Be extremely vigilant about counterfeits and knock offs. I was had by a pair of Audio Technica MSR-7s purchased on Amazon.
Took me three years to realize that my first “real” headphones weren’t real at all.
Lesson? Always verify the seller before hitting that “add to cart” button.
How did you eventually figure it out?
After buying a pair of Neumann NDH30s, I started to become suspicious of the build quality of the 7s.
The plastic felt a little flimsy, there were creaks and squeaks when I adjusted them, they just felt off.
So I looked up counterfeit ATs online and found a page which had photographs of the counterfeit drivers. So I opened up my set and sure enough, they had the same cheap knockoff Chinese drivers that I saw in the photos.
So I emailed Audio Technica just to make them aware of the issue and to their credit, they offered me a nice discount on a new pair even though this situation was not their fault at all and I had purchased them three years prior.
The funny thing is that I was so new to the hobby when I got them that I was completely blown away by how the sounded when I used them. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re conditioned to the quality of a super-compressed stream being played through garbage bluetooth and laptop speakers.
Since then I’ve become very aware of audio fidelity and made an effort to acquire quality speakers, sources, headphones, etc.
Once I had the right gear, it was like listening to all of my favorite songs for the first time all over again.
don't waste money on bluetooth overears.
if only I knew the APP2 would be better than all of the ones I wasted my money on. I avoided them at first because I thought iems could never sound good. I was wrong, id just never tried good ones.
Amps don’t change the sound quality. People saying you need an amp are liars.
Depends what headphones you're trying to drive. Planars for example benefit greatly from an amp.
I mean when people think you need an amp to run HD 6X0 series when I reality the whole lineup is easy to drive to deafening levels.
People make recommendations for headphones based off there own musical preference. Audiophiles listen to weird shit. Believe your own ears. Also people speak on products they never tried.
"just buy the ie600 and plug it straight into your computer's headphone jack. move on and enjoy the music. don't waste another second reading about audio gear"
Get a DAC. As they say in the coffee world, the grinder is more important that the machine. The DAC here is more important than the IEM's / Headphones. Obviously don't buy a DAC more expensive than the headset, but get a good one.
If I had a way to know up front that my taste was biased toward warmer-sounding headphones (ZMF biocellulose driver dynamics in particular) and OTL tube amps, that would have been wonderful. The journey was fun, but could have been oh so much shorter (and less expensive).
Also: Suck it up and buy the expensive input tubes once instead of trying to find “the best tube pair under $150”. Also a shortcut and money-saver.
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measurements are king - the only "review" you need are those backed up with objective data like Audio Science Review or Erin's Audio Corner
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EQ is your friend, especially with planar headphones
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as long as a DAC measures well, it is a good DAC, there is 0 reason to drop 5k on some bullshit
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same applies to the amp
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don't waste your time in mid-fi hell, just do your research and buy just 1 or 2 great headphones and enjoy them
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speakers are better
After 1000$ it's just personal preferance
Buying IEMs now instead of 5-10 years ago. Everyone is so spoiled with chi-fi and the ease of ordering.
Last time I ordered the earsonics purples, I had to get them from France.
Also the Thieaudio Monarch mk3 destroys my $1500 purples and other $2k IEMS.