It's a 4.4mm TRRRS connector. I'll post pix when I get around to unloading my camera.
Any informed guesses on Yggy release? I think Jason hinted "before year-end"...
Of course it's a crap shoot saying anything about it from listening for 3 minutes at a show...but I liked what I heard, for sure.
Any informed guesses on Yggy release? I think Jason hinted "before year-end"...Talked with Mike (Moffat) at RMAF and he said Q1 2015.
Any informed guesses on Yggy release? I think Jason hinted "before year-end"...Talked with Mike (Moffat) at RMAF and he said Q1 2015.
Anything new from Sennheiser or Stax? New e-stat or dynamic?
I'm not holding my breath for anything from STAX.
I can see the STAX engineers wanting to create an alternate version of the SR-009 with moar bass. And then the Chinese investors going WTF? Why don't you design something we can mass-produce in China and sell millions of instead of concentrating on your autistic line of products which require strange ancient Japanese ceremonies that take six months to complete.
And then basically another war in the Pacific Rim break out.
I had heard a rumor that a few STAX guys actually walked out after a visit from the Chinese delegation.
"Micro-rasp" on HE560's treble. That's the first time I've heard the description, and it actually is the best way of describing what's nagged me too about my HE560's treble too!
At least it doesn't sound like mud ala PM-1 or LCD2.
I've made land at Canjam every year for the last four years...
I've made land at Canjam every year for the last four years. I use my compass and astrolabe to freehand a map of the strange movements and shifting coastline of this mysterious island. I am haunted by the suspicion that this island itself may be no more than a mirage, as the conflict between viewing it flat-on (anechoic first-arrival response) and viewing it peripherally (room power response) create an un-resolvable interference when attempting to view it with binoculars (headphones with no processing).
(At risk of a stint in the brig.) How a swabbie sees some of the strange creatures on this island (apologies to Darwin):
Schiit Rag/Yggy:
I've heard the Mjolnir/Gungnir stack several times previously. Each time my eyes glazed over and I felt boredom as an immediate emotion. It did not let up after time. Pasteurized/Homogenized/Flat/Lifeless; beyond 'no-character of itself', it was aggressively drab (the embodiment of the glassy/muted sheen of clichéd solid state, with an extra helping of drab.) Now I state this because, for the first 30 seconds of listening to the Rag/Yggy stack I experienced a grave fear that I was in for a repeat. But unlike the Mo/Gun stack, with the Rag/Yggy it quickly became possible to listen-in to the inner life of the individual sounds. I *think* I began to see what the recent R2R DAC talk has been about: texture. Hammer struck strings, air and spit in brass, rosin: the full character of wet reeds, metal, polymer, varnished wood, and flesh: I felt like I was experiencing my tracks in the time-domain, a rare experience lately... and it reminded me of the experiences I had in the mid/late-90s when I was first getting excited about the possibilities of Hi-Fi. Ultimately, I did sense the presentation was a bit flat and slightly dry. This isn't an amp that ends the argument for tubes. My feelings distilled to: possibly great DAC and fully competent solid-state amplifier.
MrSpeakers Alpha Prime:
I think Dan may have taken the criticism of the early Alpha Dogs too much to heart: the Prime is a neutered lapdog on medication. Can't even call it dog. Sure you can kick it all the way up to the ceiling without it biting your ears off, but at normal levels this thing has no life; leaving it easy to focus on the slightly wooden bass and the t50rp ortho driver rasp.
Fostex T500RP:
All I could hear was the wooden bass of the driver, seemingly nutty 4k+ response, and the rasp... I can't un-hear the rasp.
oBRAVO AMT/1;
One could probably make a project of designing a crossover to make it respectable. As awful as it was, MANY of the 2-channel setups upstairs at RMAF were worse.
Sony MDRZ7:
Distorted low bass, no sub-bass itself but lots of chuff. The rest of the bass is satisfyingly full without being big. Otherwise, it has a pleasant balance with enough presence and treble to keep it exciting. However, it ends up sounding a bit gritty and blatty. Except for the unsatisfying low-bass situation, this is what a normal person would think a $200 headphone should sound like.
Pendulumic Stance S1.
Some showstopping resonance issues. (A hoot with some pierce to it, it was odd.) Good popular full balance. Metallic electronic hash in the signal. Never call your product S, you are just asking for it.
Pendulumic Stance S1.
Some showstopping resonance issues. (A hoot with some pierce to it, it was odd.) Good popular full balance. Metallic electronic hash in the signal. Never call your product S, you are just asking for it.
Uh oh. I hope Mike Johnson, VP of Sales @ Pendulumic doesn't come by here and ask you for another listen, like what he did for asr.
They were pretty negative impressions. Made me wonder if anything pleases him at all. If he expects a $199 bluetooth headphone to get every single thing right, he's expecting too much. Balanced sound, comfort, good build quality, optional battery slots, and some resonance issues. Sounds pretty fantastic for the price, to me.
I also played some heavy electronic tracks with low/sub bass on the Z7s and they had plenty, and it wasn't distorted. And who cares what a 'normal' person thinks? A normal person thinks iBuds are perfectly fine.
Pendulumic Stance S1.
Some showstopping resonance issues. (A hoot with some pierce to it, it was odd.) Good popular full balance. Metallic electronic hash in the signal. Never call your product S, you are just asking for it.
They were pretty negative impressions. Made me wonder if anything pleases him at all. If he expects a $199 bluetooth headphone to get every single thing right, he's expecting too much. Balanced sound, comfort, good build quality, optional battery slots, and some resonance issues. Sounds pretty fantastic for the price, to me.
I also played some heavy electronic tracks with low/sub bass on the Z7s and they had plenty, and it wasn't distorted. And who cares what a 'normal' person thinks? A normal person thinks iBuds are perfectly fine.
LOL! Hey! I consider myself "normal" and don't like iBuds...
Pendulumic Stance S1.
Some showstopping resonance issues. (A hoot with some pierce to it, it was odd.) Good popular full balance. Metallic electronic hash in the signal. Never call your product S, you are just asking for it.
Uh oh. I hope Mike Johnson, VP of Sales @ Pendulumic doesn't come by here and ask you for another listen, like what he did for asr.
Asr's post was straight up grumpy dickwad status. It was ballsy to call them scam artists as well, even in jest.
I wasn't commenting on the replies. The "oh no, we must all agree" bullshit wasn't needed either.
.........
Sony MDRZ7:
Distorted low bass, no sub-bass itself but lots of chuff. The rest of the bass is satisfyingly full without being big. Otherwise, it has a pleasant balance with enough presence and treble to keep it exciting. However, it ends up sounding a bit gritty and blatty. Except for the unsatisfying low-bass situation, this is what a normal person would think a $200 headphone should sound like.
......
"Micro-rasp" on HE560's treble. That's the first time I've heard the description.It pleases me that I could find a relatable description. My actual note for the best HE560 system: "a bit fttht-sy".
I'd love to hear if their new upper tier IEM is what the TE-05 originally sounded like.Based on your glowing descriptions of the TE-05 last Canjam, I dropped by the Fostex booth with the idea of listening, but there wasn't a dish of tips, just one baggie with a set. Seemed like a 'bring your own tips' affair, and also I don't like deflecting my eardrums with plastic tip insertion...speaking of which ---hey Comply: sell sets of tips for all bores at a nominal cost ($5-$10) at the show, get people hooked--- So I didn't listen to the TE-05 or the single balanced-armature TE-07. Ultimately, I had plenty of other things to listen to; and I haven't yet delved into IEMs at Canjam, maybe next year.
What headphone was used with the Schiit stack?This question feels like a trap. But it was the LCD-X, with all its own flaws.
I also played some heavy electronic tracks with low/sub bass on the Z7s and they had plenty, and it wasn't distorted.
One never knows, the unit may have been abused by a previous visitor. Enough of crazy people out there. Some guy may have wanted to give the cans an "instant burn-in" say.I could be wrong: but I really think the Z7 has a roll-off on the low-end that runs counter to a severe rise in distortion. It gives the impression of that region being there, but the character of the driver comes-in and takes over the lower you go. I'll stand by this.
ThuneThe response of the PM-3 I heard was smooth enough and the distortion was low enough that I'm not writing it off. Seems fixable, and your comments support that.
Oppo had 3 prototypes at the meet and they sounded differant then each other ...
I hope oppo voices the production unit the same as the one I liked.
I'd love to hear if their new upper tier IEM is what the TE-05 originally sounded like.Based on your glowing descriptions of the TE-05 last Canjam, I dropped by the Fostex booth with the idea of listening, but there wasn't a dish of tips, just one baggie with a set. Seemed like a 'bring your own tips' affair, and also I don't like deflecting my eardrums with plastic tip insertion...speaking of which ---hey Comply: sell sets of tips for all bores at a nominal cost ($5-$10) at the show, get people hooked--- So I didn't listen to the TE-05 or the single balanced-armature TE-07. Ultimately, I had plenty of other things to listen to; and I haven't yet delved into IEMs at Canjam, maybe next year.
Don't put much stock in my speaker impressions. This was the first time I've listened to so many different types of speakers. My expectations for speakers are also not very stringent. I'm not interested in setting up absorbers and traps and crap in my living room. Speakers, for me, are mostly for convenience, or when I just want a break from headphones, not for high level listening.
It's funny because the results of all the tweaking in the world with VCXOs, boutique caps, regulators, etc. are insignificant compared to the fundamentals of solid design. I doubt we will see a single "boutique" part on the Yggy, but instead just a bunch of surface mount components.
It's funny because the results of all the tweaking in the world with VCXOs, boutique caps, regulators, etc. are insignificant compared to the fundamentals of solid design. I doubt we will see a single "boutique" part on the Yggy, but instead just a bunch of surface mount components.
A few more thoughts on Rag/Yaggy.
As mentioned, I sat down in front of the stack right out the gate. Jason and the Schiit crew were still setting up their booth, sorting out streaming issues, etc. I started in listening. After about 5min, Jason walked up with a bit of a smirk. He said something like 'well?'.
I sat there with a big grin, struggling to find the words to frame what I was hearing. It was tough, because it was a new experience for me. After a few seconds too long, I mumbled something about attack, decay, clean edges, delineation, yada yada. Some of you that know me understand that I'm obsessed with DAC's. I came to the conclusion years ago that nothing 'downstream' matters nearly as much as the DAC, So I embarked on 'book learnin', forum reading and experimentation in fine, nauseating detail. I've swapped dozens of PS's in/out of my 'bench' DAC's. I've played with every shunt I can get my hands on, pre-regs, LDO's, different LDO chips, battery, the subtle tonality changes that can come with different caps in the PS. Wiring - from U.FL to soft annealed silver with cotton dielectric in the output stage... well you get the idea.
What I was hearing was new to me. Whole notes. No digital hash, no plasticky sheen, no decay that's not quite right. In the wholeness of the notes, I could hear into them - between them. Space, air - and as a fellow pirate mentioned, texture. In the end, Yaggy will not be perfect - I love tech audio because the brightest of us always figure out how to improve things. Regardless - Yaggy V1 represents a significant step in digital to analog conversion.
Sitting here listening to Rag fed by my uber bench DAC - driving HE-560's; I know my UberDAC's days are numbered.