High End Audiophile thread

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by ROBSCIX, Jan 2, 2013.

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  1. mikeysg

    mikeysg Ancient Guru

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    I'm done with high end purchases for now, perhaps for Christmas, I might treat myself to something nice. For the now, I've decided it'd be a great time to mess around with cheap China made IEM's that have garnered some praise and fans here in my neck of the woods. I will be getting two pairs of IEM's, a Knowledge Zenith ZS3 and the ED12.....they look great and seem to punch higher their their weight class. Will be testing 'em on my HiFiMan HM901s, so like Arnie'd say, "Ah'll be buck!"

    Edit - Ah'm buck! Just a shot of the IEM's, gonna spend some time with them over the coming weekend, sure do look good, don't they? BTW, the one on the right (ZS3) costs me ~18USD while the one on the right costs ~20USD (you can definitely get 'em cheaper on eBay, I'd gotten mine locally since......well, I do NOT like waiting)
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2016
  2. signex

    signex Ancient Guru

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    Picked up a pair of Jamo S622's and my god a whole new world just opened up when i listened to BF1 gameplay.

    Now i know why ppl raise the speakers, now it sounds like i have a headset on!
    Or the speakers are just that good. :p

    They sound really flat, i like it! my Eltax speakers sounded much brighter wich i thought sounded incredible.
     
  3. mikeysg

    mikeysg Ancient Guru

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    Since this is a 'High End' thread, I couldn't possibly soil it by posting a cheap IEM, so I upgraded it with my old Effect Audio Thor Silver 8 Conductor cable that I had lying around. I'd used it with a Noble Audio Savant, sold the Savant and just forgot about the cable, saw it just now and now have it on the ED12, making it 'high end'....:banana:
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Tom F

    Tom F Ancient Guru

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    I bet the detail, bass, treble, midrange, channel separation, clarity and transient response are massively improved, right? ;)
     

  5. mikeysg

    mikeysg Ancient Guru

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    Like my ALO SXC cables for my Fitear Parterre and Campfire Audio Jupiter, there are subtle improvement...slightly better detailing, clarity and airiness.....nothing 'earth shaking', nothing 'day and night difference' about these improvements though.

    For Christmas, I've promised myself a Focal Elear, the review by Tyll is simply too good to ignore. I've been toying with the idea of getting a Chord Hugo TT, but the cash output involved is quite......daunting.
     
  6. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    Looks like gustard is planning on making an dac amp combo called the H20A real soon. To me it looks like an gustard X12 and an Gustard H10 fused together but this time with true balance and not pseudo balance like the H10. While having an balanced headphone jack and an single end.

    https://translate.google.com/transl...mod=viewthread&tid=1944190&edit-text=&act=url
    MAX POWER (rms) balance
    32ohm 2400mW
    150ohm 530mW
    300ohm 266mW
    600ohm 133mW

    MAX POWER (rms) Single-Ended
    16ohm 1200mW
    32ohm 600mW
    150ohm 133mW
    300ohm 67mW
    600ohm 33mW

    But I more interested in the matrix Mini-i pro 2 then any thing. Now that I had to sell my audio stuff for money. Since I gonna just go to an All in one unit next week and call it an day. Some reason I have an feeling the new gustard H20A will cost an arm and an leg and maybe an kidney.

    Til then this Asus strix soar will hold up with my HD700's with 2xOPA627AU's installed.Well I still have the Nuforce U-dac 5 which handles my HEM 2 and JBL 305 dulty.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2016
  7. LNCPapa

    LNCPapa Master Guru

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    Just got a new cable for my LCD's
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  8. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    Nice cable looks like its very durable. Unlike my stock HD700 cable that loves to make loops.


    I didn't think an pair of OPA627AU's would work so well inside the strix soar, had to take the EMI shield off just to use an dual op-amp to single op-amp socket adapter. Now they need to just stop putting those shells on their sound cards, So it can make my job easier.
     
  9. mikeysg

    mikeysg Ancient Guru

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    I was thinking of getting the Elear immediately upon launch here in my neck of the woods, but kinda got distracted, blew the money for the Elear on this distraction...
    [​IMG]
     
  10. gridiron whirlw

    gridiron whirlw Ancient Guru

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    Nice.

    What cable is this ?

    I may be looking for an after market cable for my ZMF Omni, once I receive it.
     

  11. sverek

    sverek Guest

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    Stock pads got really dirty after 8 years of usage and I decided to make some for my HD595. Didn't feel like paying $30 for replacement.
    I prefer this ones, feels more solid to ears and less "fluffy".

    album : https://imgur.com/a/oYN5j

    please don't mind my "custom" headphone stand... Don't ban me from this thread :p
     
  12. mikeysg

    mikeysg Ancient Guru

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    Finally got around to setting up my new monitor, it's BIG! Makes my table look kinda small, I may have to get a new table for this badboy, it has absolutely vibrant and brilliant colors...I'd to move my headphones, leaving only two on the table, these two are amongst my fave.
    [​IMG]

    Watching this movie (no prize if you guess right) w/o the black bars on top and below (cropping the image to fit 2.35:1) makes for one damn enjoyable movie watching experience. Using my Oppo HA-1 + AKG K812, also having a hot cup of cereal really adds to the experience!:)
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    So what's a good setup to get me started? Currently using phoebus + hd598(maybe I'll get something like hd700 in the future) and I'll pull out my PC360s if I'm playing and need to talk in-game.
    None of those headphones are high impedance so high power is not necessary.

    Want a dac/amp combo, rather not have two separate devices.


    Not looking to spend big bucks or anything. Maybe 250ish or less.

    Looking for a good upgrade. I don't want to spend a lot more for only very minor differences(or ones that require $1500 headphones to tell a difference).

    Any suggestions within that price range would be appreciated, i saw in the last page the best bang for buck was Douk-Audio-Mini-DSD179.

    Anything that costs more that will bring a noticeable improvement?
     
  14. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    I seen an matrix HPA-3U on ebay but it over your budget not including the shipping, which is an all in one dac and a amp. You may be able to find the older Matrix M-stage HPA-2 cheaper if you look around.

    I also seen cheap Maverick Audio D1's on ebay which would also work which is affordable.

    Sadly I have not tried either with my HD 700, As I only had separate dac and headphone amps. I currently using an Nuforce Udac 5 with my HD700's and speaker setup due to having to selling most of my audio gear. It works very well but it isn't perfect.

    The only all in one Dac/amp's that I ever owned was the Audio-GD NFB 12.0/1 and the NFB15.32, I just have not used them with the HD700's and their EOL so the only way to get either of these is to hope some one is selling theirs.

    I sure there are plenty of other options out there that are not separated units, I just can't think of any more atm.
     
  15. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Well the sound card has a pretty good headphone AMP already so it may not be necessary.
     

  16. mezball

    mezball Master Guru

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    Here are a couple more options you should research, an Objective 2/Dac combo from Mayflower: https://www.mayflowerelectronics.com/product-category/digital-to-analog-converters/

    or

    Fiio K5 combine with one of these: X3, or X5 player. Only reason I did not mentioned the X1, because you can not use as an external DAC if I recall.

    All of the above mentioned have gotten good reviews.
     
  17. gridiron whirlw

    gridiron whirlw Ancient Guru

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    My ZMF Omni arrived today.

    Impeccable build quality.....more thoughts later on the sound.

    Heavy, but comfy.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. signex

    signex Ancient Guru

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    What monitor is that? don't tell me it's the X34, it's too expensive for me.

    I switched back to 16:9 for 144hz and 1ms response, but after seeing so many people moving to ultrawide and seeing so many youtubers showing off ultrawide i just can't resist going back lol.

    Can't afford the 100hz 1440p ultrawides, and i can't run that anyway with a single 980 Ti.
     
  19. mezball

    mezball Master Guru

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    For all you bass heads out there, SVS just unveiled two new home subwoofers! The PB16-Ultra @ $2500.00 and the SB16-Ultra @ $2000.00.

    https://www.svsound.com/pages/subwoofers

    I am so wanting that SB16. Been looking for a sealed sub, that has plenty of horse power to drive it, and this seems to be the one, can't wait for tax return.

    They both have an massive 16” Ultra driver with astonishing 8” edge wound voice coil, a stunningly powerful 1,500 watts continuous, 5,000+ watts peak power Sledge amplifier with fully discrete MOSFET output and an innovative subwoofer control and DSP smartphone app with custom presets for precision tuning. The ported sub weighs in at 175 Lbs, while the sealed 122 Lbs. These babies will destroy foundations.
     
  20. signex

    signex Ancient Guru

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    Damn that price tag though.

    On the budget side, i heard the Klipsch R-112SW is better then the SVS for the same price, can't remember the model but it's 499,99 and the Klipsch is a little bit cheaper.

    I really can't wait to get my hands on it and pump some music through them.

    My friend will be jelly, his a real bass head.

    These Jamo bookshelfs i got, i can't believe how clear they sound for the price at very high volumes and their only 85W speakers.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2016
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