Recent experiences with Headphones / Computer Audio

Laurel and Hardy

KickAssCop said:

My 7 month old quest might be over finally.

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Oh man that exposed magnet/membrane would stress the hell out of me.

MaZa said:

Oh man that exposed magnet/membrane would stress the hell out of me.

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lol I thought so too but then I went to Can Jam Dubai and the French dude there took his phone and slammed it on the exposed driver then rubbed it all over it and then said - yah, still sounds the same!
So it gave me confidence to indulge. I love it. Plus I keep the covers on when not in use.

On another note, tried Heddphone D1 today and Meze Alba IEMs.

D1 is a great headphone with good bass and overall great resolution with a fast dynamic driver. However, it was dark af and lacking air up top. Felt congested. Came home and listened to my Arya Unveiled and there is no comparison, Unveiled is better.
Meze Alba started out great and has good bass but the treble is sharp and female vocals sibilant.

Got these bad boys last night on a whim. Surprisingly capable for 30$. I would pick them over Sony XM6 lol.

I have a pair of Senns 6XX in the mail today getting a Balanced cable tommorow. Everyone says the 6XX is better than the 660 I really like my 58X for about 3 years I didn't use them but found they work good with either my IFI Zen Dac 3 or the Fosi Dac I usually play games at night so I can't have speakers full blast at 2:00am. I guess the 6XX is harder to drive my Model one sounds better but I hate the design I changed out the Pads on the senns with Silcon pads I know it's going to be hot the stock pads on the Senns collect dust really good and find them scratchy.

These are so good Way better than my 58X you just need the volume slightly higher to drive them. I thought the Ear Cups would need to be changed but they are way softer than the stuff on my 58X. I'll get the balanced cable tommorow see what that brings.

I didn't like the 6XX. Sold them off at a 20$ loss lol. After my other cans it felt like 20-25% of sound cues/details were missing.

Comixbooks said:

These are so good Way better than my 58X you jut need the volume slightly higher to drive them. I thought the Ear Cups would need to be changed but they are way softer than the stuff on my 58X. I'll get the balanced cable tommorow see that brings.

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FWIW I took out the foam from the outside grilles on the 58X and I thought it helped make them less claustrophobic sounding, they are fairly similar to the original HD660S but with the whole EQ response shifted more toward bass and less toward treble.

Dope.

Your ears ever Ring? When I used that Balanced cable got some pretty good Ringing of the Ears.

Comixbooks said:

Your ears ever Ring? When I used that Balanced cable got some pretty good Ringing of the Ears.

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I have been using balanced cables exclusively with my cans. No ringing for me. I think with K13 R2R it would be hard for me to get ringing as it is a warm DAC.

Comixbooks said:

Your ears ever Ring? When I used that Balanced cable got some pretty good Ringing of the Ears.

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balanced just gives you more output so turn it down you young whipper snapper! lol

Today was audition day. Listened to HE-1, some Dan Clark stuff, some Warwick Acoustics stuff.

Didn’t get a chance to try some other things.

I'd like to give Dan Clark headphones a try one day but thry are way too expensive for my blood.

MaZa said:

I'd like to give Dan Clark headphones a try one day but thry are way too expensive for my blood.

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E3 was very good. Also liked Aeon 2 flow. But I still prefer my Arya Unveiled over them.

MaZa said:

I'd like to give Dan Clark headphones a try one day but thry are way too expensive for my blood.

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They look nice and seem high quality but I'm not sure I'm totally into headphones that are 1:1 with the harman eq curve, anytime I've tried one of the EQs for that I've not liked it plus most of the fun from headphones is that they don't sound neutral.

Speaking of Harman, this is a mighty interesting video. While Harman curve was a step in the right direction compared to the chaos headphone design was before, it is still not the magic one-size-fits-all bullet. Simply because individual HRTF differs from person to person.


View: https://youtu.be/JVW53wmo-04

For me personally Harman is mostly spot on. However not all headphones sound the best if I apply an EQ that matches it religiously, instead they sound the best when I apply a couple of selective EQs that fix an obvious issue and leave it there. In this case my Hifiman HE400SE and Hifiman HE500 are a good example. For those only a bass shelf and fixing the low 2khz region (typical for all Hifiman) produced the best sound. Going all in for the Harman actually makes them sound bit worse with smaller soundstage.

On the other hand, with DT770 I apply an Harman EQ preset as is, either from AutoEQ or from Oratory1990, (latter is usually better) and the result is an immediate improvement all over. DT770 has too many problem areas to try to fix them individually without a help from measurement rig.

I now despise the term Harman as the sound produced with that tuning is not my jam. I really do not enjoy it.
Similarly, I also hate Beyer Dynamics. They sound unnatural to me. They actually make my ears bleed.
As for EQ, I absolutely dislike Oratory's EQs as everything after that sounds the same. It is really not my jam and completely kills the individuality of the headphones.

Personally, I buy all these headphones with the idea that I want to enjoy their individuality and how they change the music and gaming for me. Only headphones I am EQ-ing right now are Audeze Maxwell 2 as they just respond so well to it. Similarly, HyperX C3S I EQ-ed once to my liking and now it just works. I also EQ my Arya Unveiled a little bit and have that profile saved on my K13 R2R. That's it. All other headphones, I now run without EQ. It is the best feeling to swap across them and see what are strengths of one vs. another.

That's just my opinion on this whole topic.

KickAssCop said:

I now despise the term Harman as the sound produced with that tuning is not my jam. I really do not enjoy it.
Similarly, I also hate Beyer Dynamics. They sound unnatural to me. They actually make my ears bleed.
As for EQ, I absolutely dislike Oratory's EQs as everything after that sounds the same. It is really not my jam and completely kills the individuality of the headphones.

Personally, I buy all these headphones with the idea that I want to enjoy their individuality and how they change the music and gaming for me. Only headphones I am EQ-ing right now are Audeze Maxwell 2 as they just respond so well to it. Similarly, HyperX C3S I EQ-ed once to my liking and now it just works. I also EQ my Arya Unveiled a little bit and have that profile saved on my K13 R2R. That's it. All other headphones, I now run without EQ. It is the best feeling to swap across them and see what are strengths of one vs. another.

That's just my opinion on this whole topic.

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I on the other hand want headphones to sound "correct". I am a neutrality fiend, as misguided as that goal usually is, any kind of obvious, heavy handed coloration is a flaw. Within reason, I do enjoy occasional bass boost as much as any music loving person.

Anyway, a continuation for the previous video.

View: https://youtu.be/s0nZCXyDTz4

I can understand that. I just prefer different sound sigs for different moods. Neutrality is fine but it is so bland that I don't quite enjoy it.

KickAssCop said:

I can understand that. I just prefer different sound sigs for different moods. Neutrality is fine but it is so bland that I don't quite enjoy it.

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The big reason I like neutral speakers, or Harman curve phones (which are basically neutral to how we hear things) is that then modifying from that is easier. If you have flat DACs, flat amps, flat speakers, a good room, etc, then it is much easier to dial in the mods you want. It is harder when something is inherently unbalanced. Particularly if it is a case where you need to boost some frequencies a lot, since that costs amplifier headroom and can lead to distortion. Likewise if there's a big resonance at a frequency it can make things in that range really boom, but if you don't want that, good luck taming it just with EQ.

So when feasible I like things to be neutral, then I can add whatever changes on top of that make me happy.

Sycraft said:

The big reason I like neutral speakers, or Harman curve phones (which are basically neutral to how we hear things) is that then modifying from that is easier. If you have flat DACs, flat amps, flat speakers, a good room, etc, then it is much easier to dial in the mods you want. It is harder when something is inherently unbalanced. Particularly if it is a case where you need to boost some frequencies a lot, since that costs amplifier headroom and can lead to distortion. Likewise if there's a big resonance at a frequency it can make things in that range really boom, but if you don't want that, good luck taming it just with EQ.

So when feasible I like things to be neutral, then I can add whatever changes on top of that make me happy.

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I agree with the approach but personally, I can't be arsed tuning headphones. Plus I have an issue when I move from device to device, I don't want to tune it all the time and invest in EQ capabilities across platforms. That is why I own 10 headphones/IEMs and love different sound sigs.

It is an inefficient way to optimize my enjoyment but is more efficient overall on my time. I have auditioned close to 120 headphones and over a dozen IEMs. I really enjoyed my time auditioning everything from most expensive headphone (Senny HE-1) to the cheapest Ugreen Max5C. There is still a sea of headphones and IEMs I want to spend time with and that is the beauty of sound. There is no single good sound. It's a lot of variations which I love and sometimes hate. And that to me is part of the fun and satiating my curiosity on how people perceive sounds differently.

I am still a noob in this whole space and only spent a bit over 7.5 months doing the above. But I love the journey. By sticking to a single tuning, it is too big of a compromise to make for me personally. Plus neutral tuning is exactly what I don't appreciate or enjoy .

Hey I'm not going to tell people how to enjoy their music . Personally I prefer just tweaking the PEQ on my soundcard and then I can change settings by turning a dial.

Walmart has a Razer Headphone with Dac for 200.00 it's half off I might pick it up after my shift been sitting there for months due to price.

After spending time with my headphones I don’t think I can listen to these gamer headsets anymore. Only 3 gamer headsets I would recommend are:

HyperX cloud 3 S if you want to spend less than 150$

Rog Kithara if you have 300$ and want a wired solution

Audeze Maxwell 2 if you want wireless high end planar solution

Everything else is BS, IMO

What type of music are you listening to like Arabic stuff or American? That Arabic stuff has alot of twangy stuff.

Comixbooks said:

What type of music are you listening to like Arabic stuff or American? That Arabic stuff has alot of twangy stuff.

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lol not Arabic. I only listen to English music.

MaZa said:

Harman

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KickAssCop said:

Harman

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Sycraft said:

Harman

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in case anyone else has never heard this "harman" term before...
https://www.howtogeek.com/what-is-the-harman-curve-and-why-do-people-like-it-so-much/

pendragon1 said:

in case anyone else has never hear this "harmon" term before...
https://www.howtogeek.com/what-is-the-harman-curve-and-why-do-people-like-it-so-much/

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That is a good article. And as pointed out, it is not the holy grail that every headphone must aim and hit with 100% accuracy. It is a sort of guideline, a reference showing how generally well designed headphone looks like when measured. But how high is the bass shelf and treble hump depends entirely on the listener. Human hearing is generally the same through bass to mids but as shown in the videos I linked above, beyond 1khz it can wary wildly from person to person. One person spot on treble can sound piercing or veiled for another. It is not just a matter of taste, it is real physical thing that can be even measured with in-ear microphones.

More auditions today. Went to try out Noire X but they didn’t have it. Tried

Noire XO - overall decent but anemic bass

DCA Stealth - overall decent but anemic bass and some treble spikes

Atrium closed - liked this again but too expensive and not worth the dime. Also heavy af damn

Fostex 909 - very good. I really liked it. Light weight and everything. But I no longer like round cups it seems so was feeling a bit uncomfortable. Also didn’t feel like a 2000$ can

Senny IE600 IEM - was very good but spicy treble up top

Final A6000 - didn’t like it - too spicy for me

Moondrop Variations - was decent but then I put the shout track - chasing cars and it blew my ears out

After all of this I am even more convinced that HE1000 Unveiled is truly end game for me. There is another can I want to try so I will go tomorrow and do a thorough test of HE1000 Unveiled, Arya Unveiled and LCD - X / LCD - 2C to land my final can. A bit sad that there wasn’t a closed back to my liking. I wanted to give Bokeh Closed another try but it was sold out.

Dammit Jim!

Went to an audio store to try out the 3 planars that I short listed after lots of trial and error. Tried everything from ZMF cans to Meze to Fostex and beyond.

Ended up with head to head of

LCD-X vs Arya Unveiled vs HE1000 Unveiled

LCD-X
Pros
- Great impactful bass (reminds me of my Audeze Maxwell 2 post EQ)
- Surprisingly vocals didn’t feel as recessed as FR would have you believe
- Sparkle up top
- Good low end, never felt muddy or boomy
- Planar that felt it was in between Planar and Dynamics
- Organic sound with body

Cons
- Those 612 g destroyed my neck within half hour. And I already daily an Audeze Maxwell 2 which is 560 g almost
- Pads got hot
- Can be shouty for some higher pitched vocals
- Layering and separation was less than what I expected; I felt Audeze Maxwell 2 does it better
- Small soundstage

Arya Unveiled

Pros
- Amazing organic smooth sound
- Great warm vocals
- Beautiful timbre
- Bass is clean and fast
- Top end is fantastic and never fatiguing
- No comfort issues

Cons
- Some tracks can get shouty
- Soundstage smaller than HE1000 Unveiled
- Piano black plastic
- Exposed driver (though not bad like Susvara Unveiled)

HE1000 Unveiled

Pros
- Amazing organic smooth sound
- Most resolving and (hot take) felt even better than Susvara to my ears
- Best timbre
- Vocals are lush and smooth
- Holographic stage
- Best imaging I have heard
- No comfort issues
- Mid was never shouty
- Top end is ethereal

Cons
- Exposed driver
- Bass impact was slightly lower than Arya Unveiled (might be source also as it was Astell & Kern DAP)
- Price

At the end of the day, I wish someone would make a can with bass of LCD-X, weight of Unveiled, price of Arya Unveiled, Mids and top end of HE1000 Unveiled and resolution of HE1000 Unveiled.

Going a bit old school here today with my Sony DR-S3 studio headphones circa 1979-1981 ... The MDR-V6 or 7506 honestly blow these out of the water for comfort and sound however.. still kinda neat looking vintage cans.. and I have hear much worse vintage headphones than these. The Dead Kennedys are seen wearing these headphones in the Lost Tapes videos.

Tried some Bose products. The headphone was amazing but it had two issues - headband creaks when lying down with it. Also even with ANC sound bleeds out so wife was not enthused about it.

Replaced it with the buds and it is the same sound with tuning I really am enjoying it.

Missing one very critical feature that may make me send it back - no volume reduction when speaking.

Picked up open box of 599 Senns should be here next week. Supposedly its good for gaming. 100.00 cheaper than Amazons list. I wanted a 660S2 but I figured it's similar to my 6XX.

Comixbooks said:

Picked up open box of 599 Senns should be here next week. Supposedly its good for gaming. 100.00 cheaper than Amazons list. I wanted a 660S2 but I figured it's similar to my 6XX.

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660S2 is significantly different than 6XX.
599 Senns is a muddy mess IMO.
505 is the better 500 series worth owning IMO.

I ordered HE1000 Unveiled. Should be here in 2 weeks or so. Can't fucking wait!

You ever try a Beyerdynamic 1999 Pro?

Comixbooks said:

You ever try a Beyerdynamic 1999 Pro?

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I don’t believe I tried the 1990 Pro. I hate Beyerdynamic products so I have no reason to try them again. Always give me a headache.

Comixbooks said:

You ever try a Beyerdynamic 1999 Pro?

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I have the first generation 1990s, the headband gives me a sore head after a while so I have to move them around to prevent that, also they really have a strong head clamp. Besides those issues I do like them though I don't really use them that often, no real reason I just have a lot and tend to use my newer ones more since they're new and I've had those for years.

This guy talks about the clamping force here, he made his own rig to measure it so only reference his with his own measurements.


View: https://youtu.be/oFR9mvsMENE?t=320



The TYGR model should have similar clamping force to the Edition headphones for home use. My favourite headband is the regular Pro line one, it's more padded the Edition one that causes me to have to move it around because of soreness after a while.

My 599SE senns should be here today its boasted as a gaming headset I just hope it fits my large head and works since its a lightly used set of cans. I really like my Fosi K9 it sounds great with Borderlands all the guns sound great but not too pronounced.

Comixbooks said:

My 599SE senns should be here today its boasted as a gaming headset I just hope it fits my large head and works since its a lightly used set of cans. I really like my Fosi K9 it sounds great with Borderlands all the guns sound great but not too pronounced.

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I did not like the 599. Went back fast. HD 505 is the only 500 or 600 series Senny I recommend. Amazing product especially if you find it for cheap.