Rip.. I will get a pair as soon as I'm done with university.. Maybe even while still at it, I don't know. Pretty rough to save up for something that costs as much as a pretty good vacation trip.
The Auteur classic costs about 1700-1800€ here and the Atrium goes for 2500€ minimum. ZMF November is probably always the best option, but eh, my gf would probably kill me if I'd blow my tax return from when I was still working full-time on a pair of high end headphones lol.
In the price range I move in, having a FiiO K5 pro and a Xduoo TA-26, I would say that tubes are more of a placebo and comfort thing than a drastic change in sound that's actually there. Maybe there are implementations that measure much worse but sound interesting in return, but I haven't heard those yet.
There could be better stuff out there, but I haven't heard anything that does this "magic" everyone is talking about. You just hear that high impedance + tubes is great, but no one can explain why, except for telling you that you will have a tad more bass.
But I'll stick to high impedance headphones in the future, if possible. That way I can try anything new on both solid stats and OTL amps.
If your pair is older than a few weeks then cherish every bit of chipped paint, it's your headphone now!
I can just say from my own experience that the Galaxy Buds pro (and probably the pro 2) will last for quite a while. Next to no connectivity issues, long battery life, solid sound with some EQ profiles, allthough limited in what you can configure.
Mine survived a ton of gym workouts and fell down so many times. ANC is pretty solid.
Uh.. unsubbing and maybe updating your music library.
Is a myth and just about readjusting for a few days, yes. Been there, it's only there after getting used to brighter pairs.
Very relatable. I don't trust reviews anymore. Got the Aful P5 and called it a day. Some say it's as good as the B2 Dusk, others say it isn't. Some say it's close to 500$ IEM performance. Man, I don't care anymore, all I know is that I have fun with them, especially in the evening, when I'm tired and on my sofa, while zoning out to nice music.
Only drawback is that they're much more expensive it you live in Europe :(
Customs fees, man. These import laws are nothing more than theft.
Might get a ZMF pair once I'm done with uni.
uh...
Sennheiser HD6XX (+ customs fees): 250ish €
ZMF suede pads ( + customs fees again, do you see a pattern here? I hate Europe) 80ish €
FiiO K5 pro ESS: 200€
Xduoo TA-26: 250€
Tons of 6SN7 tubes and 6080 power tubes: ??? probably 200€ or more (it is not worth it)
FiiO KA1: 50€
Truthear Hexa: 80€
Aful Performer 5: 220€
Uh... 1330€.. so about 1440$. I hate myself rn. To be fair, I'll stop with IEMs for now or at least sell my old stuff before getting something else. The market is developing so quickly that not buying things is the best choice atm.
Man.. I love wired audio because this won't happen.. But everyone's carrying a phone which comes with similar risks.
But that's the issue with damaged batteries. It can always happen.
150 bucks lmao. They gave up quickly.
I feel like everyone on here blindly recommends tubes without ever having tried them. I have a tube amp it's maybe 5% different from my FiiO K5 pro.