Topic: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only) (Read 30464 times)

Kunlun · « **Reply #70 on:** November 23, 2014, 04:28:19 PM »

5 worst mostly iem edition:

1. JH Audio Roxanne
Jerry Harvey once again took pre-order $$$ to try and finalize a product that wasn't ready for sale. Of course it took months and months for him to figure out how to make a CF shell and every cable he sent out broke (and they smelled). He blamed the customers for that, putting out a video showing people how not to break their cables (they broke anyway). Hey, now it's all fixed so the cables only break after a while, not immediately (not kidding, all the cables on the JH Roxanne will fail if the bass is adjusted a certain number of times, around a 100).
They don't measure up, sound-wise, to his jh13fp. As another CIEM maker told me, "It's like people buy Jerry's products not for the sound, but just to be part of something."

2. The Tralucent Ref1
Gigantic, unwieldly shells with terrible ergonomics plus a bloated bass, mediocre mids and hype. Also, they were breaking left and right. Whee! They are terrible at $1600. Someone asked me if I'd buy them at $800. No, no I wouldn't.

3. The Tralucent Uber cable.
The shittiest cable ever made. Stiff stiff stiff, thick, and don't bend it too much (it breaks!). Completely unusable and totally overhyped by really dumb people. A clumsy, hyper overpriced piece of

4. The Astrotec AX-60
Mediocrity in the form of an iem.

5. The Askell & Kerns 120ii and 240
$1700 and $2400 daps that need an amp. WTF is wrong with stupid fanboys who are like "oh, yeah, spending an extra $500 for an aftermarket amp upgrade totally makes sense, yeah!" There is nothing in the sound that justifies the price and for these to need an amp is ridiculous. They sound okay and I like how the volume knob is like a game, will turning it in one direction turn the sound down? Up? Up, then down, then down, then way up? NOBODY KNOWS! Seriously, fuck you A&K.

Honorable Mention: Whatever Woo Audio did to that Abyss I heard at an audio meet last year. Amped by their monobloc, it sounded terrible, voices sounded artificial, it was awful sounding. I heard the Abyss again this year (Woo audio again, maybe same Abyss and they had it serviced?) and it was much better, although the set up only allowed you to hear 5 tracks of some jazz singer.

Eric_C · « **Reply #71 on:** November 24, 2014, 04:54:02 AM »

Quote from: Kunlun on November 23, 2014, 04:28:19 PM

5. The Askell & Kerns 120ii and 240
$1700 and $2400 daps that need an amp. WTF is wrong with stupid fanboys who are like "oh, yeah, spending an extra $500 for an aftermarket amp upgrade totally makes sense, yeah!" There is nothing in the sound that justifies the price and for these to need an amp is ridiculous. They sound okay and I like how the volume knob is like a game, will turning it in one direction turn the sound down? Up? Up, then down, then down, then way up? NOBODY KNOWS! Seriously, fuck you A&K.

Thank goodness. I thought I was the only person who didn't get the hype on these DAPs. Tried them in a shop and just...I dunno, I didn't think it sounded special at all.

OJneg · « **Reply #72 on:** November 24, 2014, 05:07:00 AM »

Quote from: Kunlun on November 23, 2014, 04:28:19 PM

Whatever Woo Audio did to that Abyss I heard at an audio meet last year. Amped by their monobloc, it sounded terrible, voices sounded artificial, it was awful sounding.

You're not the only one who has experienced this. There's some funny business going on with that rig. Either Marv's modded Abyss is that much better than stock, or it's just a shit match with that amp

Sforza · « **Reply #73 on:** November 24, 2014, 08:15:43 AM »

Headphones

1. Sony MDR1R-BT: Large bass hump and a treble spike with deep nulls results in a distinctly disjointed sound, as if three separate drivers with very poor crossovers were playing at the same time. Vocals are also pushed back a bit and generally hollow. It's wireless, comes with a mic and is very comfy though. Worth about half the price.

2. FA003/HM5: I really don't like this headphone. The sound is sterile and cold, with an upper mid emphasis. It might have been tuned to sound like a studio monitor, but it's an absolute failure at sounding musical. A lot of people seem to like it so many I got an oddity. Switching pads didn't help either.

3. Beyer T5P: How does this cost more than 1k? Very uneven sounding especially in the treble.
4. Grado 325i: Stop stabbing my ears with your treble spikes. This is the only headphone I'd deem unlistenable.
5. Oppo PM1: Muddy, dull and overly warm. Overpriced. Good build quality though.

IEM

1. ATH-CKM99: 325i in IEM form but with boomy bass. I felt bad for the person I sold it to.
2. JVC FXT90: Same as above but with more forward vocals and less stabby treble. Still peaky though.
3. ASG 1.2: Have you ever heard music being performed in a cave?
4. UE900 rev. 2: Sounds worse than previous version in all aspects, better build quality. Clarity and detail beaten by IEMs half its price.
5. FAD Piano Forte IX: It sounds very weird and totally not my type, others might appreciate it though. I also found it to be extremely uncomfortable.

(will be editing this post to add reasoning)

takato14 · « **Reply #74 on:** November 24, 2014, 08:27:05 AM »

Quote from: OJneg on November 24, 2014, 05:07:00 AM

You're not the only one who has experienced this. There's some funny business going on with that rig. Either Marv's modded Abyss is that much better than stock, or it's just a shit match with that amp

say what now? modded?

MuppetFace · « **Reply #75 on:** November 24, 2014, 11:56:10 AM »

It's the Woo amp.

I use the Abyss (stock) with the Liquid Gold, and I think it's on level with (if not better than in some areas) the SR-009. One of the best headphones ever made.

SoupRKnowva · « **Reply #76 on:** November 24, 2014, 12:00:38 PM »

I can only think of two off the top of my head, I know there must be others, but these two really stick out

the DarkStar from RSA, what a giant piece of

that was...it made basically every headphone i plugged into it sound like garbage, made me hate the HE-6s quite a bit the first time I ever heard them, which certainly isn't how I feel now that I have heard them on decent amps.

Any headphone from Grado(newer ones), the RS1s especially though considering their cost. I felt like half the music was missing due to the absurd FR

postjack · « **Reply #77 on:** November 24, 2014, 07:52:45 PM »

Interesting all the distaste for Grado in this thread. Trust me, I understand, but the RS-1 was the first "high end" can I heard, the first time I've experienced midrange like that. Brought me to the real understanding that the midrange is where music lives. Having said that, I have bought and subsequently sold the RS1 in various iterations five times, so its never managed to stick around in my rig.

Off topic but anyone reading this actually like any Grado?

LFF · « **Reply #78 on:** November 24, 2014, 07:57:39 PM »

I loved the Grado HP1000 and my modded PS-1 with HP-1000 drivers.

Skyline · « **Reply #79 on:** November 24, 2014, 08:00:34 PM »

Quote from: postjack on November 24, 2014, 07:52:45 PM

Interesting all the distaste for Grado in this thread. Trust me, I understand, but the RS-1 was the first "high end" can I heard, the first time I've experienced midrange like that. Brought me to the real understanding that the midrange is where music lives. Having said that, I have bought and subsequently sold the RS1 in various iterations five times, so its never managed to stick around in my rig.

Off topic but anyone reading this actually like any Grado?

I've heard Grado headphones that I can appreciate, but none that I would ever want as a daily, go-to headphone.

That said, the SR80i was my entry into this hobby, so kudos to them for having something respectable at a low price.

Author Topic: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only) (Read 30464 times)

Kunlun

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

Eric_C

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

OJneg

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

Sforza

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

takato14

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

MuppetFace

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

SoupRKnowva

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

postjack

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

LFF

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

Skyline

Re: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only)

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Author Topic: Five Worst Pieces of Audio Gear You've Heard (Members Only) (Read 30464 times)