High End Audiophile thread

Ahhh, OK, I'm the product of a quasi-British education system, so I saw nothing wrong with Copper Colour, and yes, them Americans spell it as 'Color' without the 'u'. Just like how center is spelt/spelled as 'centre' and program is spelled as 'programme' by us, amongst others. Funny how auto-correct sees 'spelt' as an error....

I've been playing around with the Fiio X3 2nd Generation (also known as X3K here in my neck of the woods) and I must say I'm impressed with its DSD playback capability. Handles change between DSD64 and DSD128 tracks smoothly, my iDSD Nano would have a soft crackling when switching between them. The sound is impressive for such a small device, when paired with my PSB M4U 2, with amp enabled, it sounds pretty clean with pretty decent soundstage, bass isn't overly emphasized......will have to listen more in order to get a better impression of the unit. Enjoying what I'm hearing thus far, can't wait to get the IE800.

 

Yah, MK2 model. $165
http://www.amazon.com/Aune-T1-Generation-Amplifier-Decoder/dp/B00A2QJMRY

FiiO e10. $76
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Hea...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1433219288&sr=1-43

It's not huge jump, but with headphones will bring the price up a bit and I was looking for "not horrible" solution. FiiO seems to be a solid buy at at that price ?

 

I've traded my HD800 off as I've grown a little weary of how analytical it was, or rather, how it made me be analytical whenever I have it on. I find myself focusing on sound rather than simply enjoying music. Anyway, since I like the GS1000I, I figured I'd like the PS1000, and when the opportunity presented itself, I took the plunge.

Fast becoming a Grado fanboy I am!

 

Beautiful looking cans....I hear you....I love the Grado sound also....some day I will revisit the RS1i.

Congrats on those PS1000

 

Awesome looking cans.

 

Thanks guys, been listening to it and the bass on the PS1k is surprisingly punchy....different from the bass on the GS1k. Will have to listen some more to be able to describe the difference. Liking it thus far, one more item to go to complement my Fiio X3 2nd Gen.......the IE800 (my first ever high-end IEM!)

 

FiiO E10K ordered. I was going to order Alessandro Grado MS-1 nyt they wont ship to Finland (was ordering from Amazon.co.uk). Same problem with SR80e. Meh, perhaps buying that K-702 then or something else.

 

K-702 ordered...

 

Congrats.

 

nice. share your impressions after testing

 

Nice! With the Fioo E10K, even nicer!:thumbup:

Meanwhile, I've been listening to my newer cans, the PS1k and W5k, since late morning, it's now about 1:30pm and I'm still going at it. Nothing beats chillaxing with a nice cuppa (just out of the frame), some 3.5TB of DSD tracks, the Lyr + iFi iDSDS Nano stack with the W5k and PS1k (swapping them around from time to time).

 

Thanks guys.

I'm not good at writing reviews but I'll post few words about it when it arrives and I get to listen to something.

 

I've ordered directly from Alessandro a few times and not had a problem, never been hit with customs either. I live in the UK, but I can't see why they'd refuse to deliver to Finland. The delivery was surprisingly quick also, generally less than a week.

Grats on the K-702 though, fantastic cans.

 

I dont know why they did not ship to Finland, but perhaps prices are a bit higher here and they do not want to piss off the retail stores...

Anyways, K-702 should be here tomorrow (I hope). Good thing that I bought the FiiO first, noticed that ATH-R70X was about 100€ more than K-702 and perhaps would have bought that and would have been forced to buy more expensive DAC/Amp. Kinda saved few hundred € by buying FiiO.

 

All good so far. Liking the sound, feels confortable as there are no torture-bumps. I would prefer if headband was more like it's in 240MK2 but it's not bad.

Bass is balanced, not too much of it. Spacious/airy and neutral sound. Quite detaily (if that is a word).

...I'm not good at writing reviews or have other headphones near to test.

 

The K702 Annies and the Q701's are a bit punchier bass wise, while delivering a similar sound. You'd probably end up paying a fair bit more for the Annies, not sure about the Q701's.

 

I wasnt complaining about the lack of bass, I like it as it is. Just saying that it's good that not all headphones have bass boosted by like 20dB...

 

So finally got around to buying a pair of these, loving them so far so much of a warmer smoother sound compared to my DT990's and to a smaller extent my ATH-A700.

Overall a very relaxing sound signature.

 

Congrats....great looking cans.

 

Is not especially high-end but here is my DIY Headphone amp, is based in the Cmoy desing but with a lineal PSU and a OPA 2132. Sound really good

Spoiler