CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 10:02:35 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 92 93 94 95 96 [97] 98 99 100 101 102 ... 141

Author Topic: The All Purpose Advice Thread  (Read 139949 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

FlySweep

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Powder Monkey
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +9/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 96
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #960 on: April 03, 2015, 05:50:50 PM »

Can anyone recommend a decent Y-cable (lineout to RCA)? I tried a Monster branded cable and it basically smothered the life out of my music and I'm back to using my regular cable. Sub-$100 please.

Thx!

Blue Jeans MSA-1 Audio Cable.

I've been using one for the better part of two years and love it.  Excellent quality sound, durable, and inexpensive.  Also, you can select the length you'd like.
Logged

drfindley

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +17/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 198
    • http://thomyorkeandcats.tumblr.com
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #961 on: April 03, 2015, 08:16:22 PM »

I've got a couple of questions:

1) Does anyone make a decent optical -> coax or optical -> BNC box? I'd like to plug my TV-out and an airport express into the Yggy when it comes out, but those both use optical and there's only one on the Yggy.

2) Who makes a decent (and not too expensive) balanced headphone cable extender. I'm thinking like 10'. And is that just stupid because it will degrade the quality far too much?
Logged

x838nwy

  • Ultra Paranoid
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +10/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 118
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #962 on: April 03, 2015, 08:26:37 PM »

1.1 wyred4sound remedy
1.2 audio-gd (cannot remember model)
Logged

smitty1110

  • The Ghost of Audio Forums Past
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +5/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 124
  • Amps are my drug of choice
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #963 on: April 04, 2015, 01:19:07 AM »

I have a mental picture...

"Can you turn the volume down a bit?"

"Sure: give me a hand lugging that big resister over there and wiring it in..."

 :)p13

Lol, that would be rather funny, I was thinking about a cheap enclosure with some step-down transformers/autoformers. And then I thought to myself "This is a lot of work for almost no return. I'll just be really careful with the volume and wire up a speaker taps to 4-pin XLR adapter." Now I'm just waiting on the parts...
Logged

Azteca X

  • Audio Tlatoani
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +27/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 232
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #964 on: April 06, 2015, 02:04:36 PM »

I gave my grandpa my Geek Out 450 (I have a 1000). Just gave him my old iPhone too and he's excited about Spotify. He has an old pair of headphones, Audio Technica ATH-909. They seem pretty generic.
He has a birthday coming up and my grandma mentioned headphones as an idea. So what would be a good, affordable headphone to pair with his GO450 and the headphone jack on an iPhone 4? HD558 or 598? Used Fidelio of some sort?

I'm planning on taking over my Focal Pro and HD600 to see if he likes the fairly neutral sound or prefers open vs closed but I figure it would be best to have something that can be driven by the phone as well (which makes me wish the Focals, NAD & B&W were all half the price!)
Logged

Armaegis

  • Uphill, both ways
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +76/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 883
  • metallurgist, rocket scientist, swing dancer
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #965 on: April 06, 2015, 04:45:18 PM »

If your grandpa has any age-related hearing loss, the Sennheisers might be a bit too mellow. My dad likes the HD598 I gave him because they sound cleaner, but the closed superlux (with some rough treble peaks) do sometimes sound more "crispy" to him and make it easier for him to hear vocals.

On open vs closed... does grandma call for him often? My dad gets in trouble when he has his closed headphones on and doesn't hear mom calling, hence why he switched to open  ::)
Logged
Do you think there may be an acoustic leak from the jack hole? ~Tyll Hertsens

Not sure if I like stuffing one hole or both holes. Tending toward one hole since both holes seems kinda ghey ~Purrin

evanft

  • Powder Monkey
  • *
  • Brownie Points: +13/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 73
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #966 on: April 06, 2015, 09:31:18 PM »

I think I want a CIEM. Even though the HD800 is the most comfortable full-size headphone I've ever owned, the size and weight are starting to wear on me.

I also think the shape of my ear is different enough on each side that it is having an effect on how I perceive sound with large headphones. Things on the left side sound like they're closer to my ear, while the right sounds farther away and more forward. I notice this with full-sized headphones, not just the HD800. When I use IEMs, like my Pistons, the effect is greatly reduced. In fact, there have been many times where I think I have preferred the presentation of sound from my IEMs.

For sound, I'm an unabashed detail whore. I want to hear absolutely every miniscule detail in my music. I generally like the way the stock HD800s sound, but I wouldn't mind less treble energy, especially in that region that seems to sometimes cause female vocals to have an almost ringing effect. More "coherence" (is that the right word?) would also be preferable.

Bass is also important. Having at least as much quantity, detail, and extension down low as the HD800 would be ideal. I listen to a wide variety of music, so a CIEM that's peaky or has a limited genre performance envelope is not something I would be interested in. Soundstage isn't that vital to me.

Right now the two top contenders are the Ultimate Ear Reference Monitors and the Noble K10. I'm attracted to the UERM because of price and neutrality, but the K10 has so much universal acclaim as the "best" CIEM currently available that I can't ignore it. In fact, multiple people I've talked to about this online have told me directly that they preferred the K10 to the HD800.

My amp is a Schiit Mjolnir, so I would need a balanced cable, though I am open to selling the amp if something else would be a better choice for a CIEM. I really like it, though, and I paid less than $500 for it. I just don't know where to actually get a cable.

I ended up ordering the UERMs today. Impressions are already on their way to UE.
Logged

Golmang

  • Powder Monkey
  • *
  • Brownie Points: +5/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 29
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #967 on: April 07, 2015, 06:13:10 PM »

I've tried a few SABRE DACs (like the Matrix X-Sabre, DA8) and I found the Anedio D2 to be the least strident/harsh out of all but now over the years the lackluster treble kinda bothers me.

I'm amping the HD 800 via the Schiit Valhalla 2.

What do you guys suggest? "Sidegrade" money-wise and get a non-Sabre? Or go full force and save up for an Yggy? It'll probably be around 2,5k € once it hits the streets, I'm kinda hesitating to drain my wallet so much for this hobby but I have a gut feeling that there's not much else I can upgrade in the 1k-1,5k region anyway.
Logged

Sorrodje

  • excusez-moi, je suis français
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +68/-8
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 617
  • Olivier Le Vasseur - "La Buse" - French Pirate.
    • Tips & tricks for Ubuntu or Debian administration (French)
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #968 on: April 07, 2015, 07:15:10 PM »

I've tried a few SABRE DACs (like the Matrix X-Sabre, DA8) and I found the Anedio D2 to be the least strident/harsh out of all but now over the years the lackluster treble kinda bothers me.

I'm amping the HD 800 via the Schiit Valhalla 2.

What do you guys suggest? "Sidegrade" money-wise and get a non-Sabre? Or go full force and save up for an Yggy? It'll probably be around 2,5k € once it hits the streets, I'm kinda hesitating to drain my wallet so much for this hobby but I have a gut feeling that there's not much else I can upgrade in the 1k-1,5k region anyway.

The only dac I can advice ( except TOTL dacs like Yggy ) is a used Metrum Octave because it brings a very specific sound . Thick , textured with addictive mids.  unobnoxious , unresolving but not gooey ( aka TD1543 NOS crap) .  Not realy an upgrade . Just a very different interesting flavor that match really very well with the HD800 IMO.   Just don't forget  resolution is subpar.  :money:

aufmerksam

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +33/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 277
  • the very worst
Re: The All Purpose Advice Thread
« Reply #969 on: April 07, 2015, 07:58:40 PM »

I have never heard the Anedio D2, and the extent of my Sabre exposure is the ES9023 in the ODAC (boo, hiss), BUT given you are amping with Valhalla 2, and have legitimate price concerns, I suggest giving the Gungnir a try. Gungnir is not at all harsh in the way of Sabres, its actually cheaper than the Anedio, and has excellent detail retrieval. The most relevant criticism of Gungnir in your situation is that it doesn't negate any of the treble trouble with HD800. But, it seems you want a little more sparkle in the treble, and Valhalla 2 is very good at keeping the HD800 in line. After I got my HD800 I toyed around quite a bit with different amp/dac combos, and the Gungnir/Valhalla 2 has been the mainstay; I can listen for hours without fatigue.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 92 93 94 95 96 [97] 98 99 100 101 102 ... 141