Caporegime
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I avoided words like Midriange, Bass response, vocals on purpose, coz that won't be fair lol but K11 r2r is genius lol
Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?
- Thread starter Random Guy Esq.
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I avoided words like Midriange, Bass response, vocals on purpose, coz that won't be fair lol but K11 r2r is genius lol
Caporegime
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Caporegime
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I am kidding btw, I dispise the overuse of those words, it makes each one like a cookie-cutter review of each other.
Pretty much any audio review ever 
, i get it for headphones and speakers as those things need describing as they change dramatically but for stuff like amps and dacs they are so pointless and overused. Those things all sound pretty much the same, just tell me if its **** or obviously modifies the sound in any particular way you dont need to describe the rest.
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13 - Harmonics
, i get it for headphones and speakers as those things need describing as they change dramatically but for stuff like amps and dacs they are so pointless and overused. Those things all sound pretty much the same, just tell me if its **** or obviously modifies the sound in any particular way you dont need to describe the rest.edit:
13 - Harmonics
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Caporegime
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Agreed
This is why pure analogue only gear is sometimes better, less to go wrong, plus if it's high quality it will still have value in 10-20+ years.
So my main HiFi gear I use Wiim Pro for streaming, think I paid £110 in a sale. Of course I connect it digitally into a external DAC, then an pure analogue amp. If in say 5 years the Wiim Pro dies or it's not supported it does not really matter as it's external to my better gear, so the Wiim it's kind of disposable in that sense.
I was looking at the Yamaha R-N2000a that's a higher end Yamaha integrated with all the streaming built in, it's an amazing versatile amp, but if something on the digital side fails or not supported, you left with an expensive amp that's at best out of date, but pure analogue gear will never go out of date.
Same story with my studio monitors, pure analogue with no digital domain, and not reliant on any software updates.
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Caporegime
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The older I get, the more I agree with this.
I have for example removed all my Amazon Echos...they worked and then they don't....I just can't be bothered to fix them. I don't need voice command to turn on my lights. A light switch is tried and tested technology. It's fine.
What I am resisting real hard a lot of things get an "app", you can now get an app for a toaster, you can get a screen and app for your fridge, you can get an app for your coffee scales, I even have an app for my bathroom scales too!
Part of my concern is when these companies pull support for the app, will the app always be available to download? At minimum they won't support them forever, especially for a small company. Even big companies like Fuji will pull support on old apps and release a new one.
I'm going off on a slight tangent here...
For anyone into higher-end stereo audio, your goal is to buy gear you would be happy if never replaced, then you spend you time on the music and forget about the gear.
The manufactures want you to continually purchase gear, the YouTube channels and review sites they all push it. I'm not against new gear as it's getting very good, especially the advancements in class D amps. But by integrating the digital side, then the apps, their encouraging you to keep changing gear.
An alternative approach is to buy pre-owned gear (it's taken it's devaluation hit) that's been higher end and it's not reliant on apps or updates, then like myself you have an almost disposable Wiim Pro (or similar) for the streaming side.
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Sometimes you need to update a piece of gear, you might replace your 10yr old speakers and the new pair has a different sensitivity rating or it doesn't gel with the rest of your chain. This means you either need to return the speakers, or change your gear. It's just the way it is, things need to have harmony to sound nice together. I talk about this in my review.
The solid state amps have had issues too but those were largely related to early OLED displays burning in over time, or in the cas eof Topping, the DX3 Pro+ basically dying completely after a few weeks.
So regardless of being analogue or digital, anything can fail. The one thing that has never failed for me though is a menu system or connectivity system where devices talk to each other.
Not always. I've had more imbalance issues with pure analogue amps than solid state. For example all NAD analogue amps have low volume imbalance, you need the dial at a certain level to get perfect stereo channel balance, otherwise one channel is louder than the other if too low. Digital volume pots resolved that but introduced noise into the circuit on that era of amp. Rotel was no better, I had the RA-02 with issues. One of my other NAD's power transformer failed too once.
The solid state amps have had issues too but those were largely related to early OLED displays burning in over time, or in the cas eof Topping, the DX3 Pro+ basically dying completely after a few weeks.
So regardless of being analogue or digital, anything can fail. The one thing that has never failed for me though is a menu system or connectivity system where devices talk to each other.
Caporegime
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I guess there are 2 ways to look at it.
1 - There will always be people who are into this for the gear, not the search for the music nirvana. Or, they are in it for the journey, not the destination. If one put it in a more romantic way.
2 - There are those who are in it for the music, gear 2nd.
I put myself in the 2nd one. Don't get me wrong, I love new gear, I love gadgets but I also will stop chasing quite quickly. I have only bought 2 pairs of HiFi Speakers in my entire life, that is if you count the 1st pair of Missions I bought from a friend for £50 at uni. I have only even own 2 desktop headphone amps in my life...one this year, and the other one...about 20 years ago.
The thing with screens is that they age badly, unless they look outdated from the start. Like that Fiio R7 with the Android interface, it is essentially a phone running Android 12 or 13. It looks fine now but as we know....Andriod phones don't support Android OS for that long, I know Pixels and Samsungs now says 7 years, but a Fiio product? So that interface, especially one that is like a phone....will date, badly and then one by one....the apps on it, running that ancient OS, will stop being supported, or at least, it won't run the latest version. With a phone you just get a new one, but you have a really good headphone amp and streaming device...."Sorry, you need Andriod 15 to run the latest version of Spotify"....
I have like accepted I upgrade/update my phone every 4 years, I however will not want to upgrade my headphone amp every 4 years, or even 8 years.
Which is why I am glad the OLED screen on the Xduoo is super basic, almost like my Marantz CD player level basic.
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Both can apply too, I value the quality of music, which is why I have a massive curated playlist of epic music that sounds great whatever the weather, but those same songs sound even greater on different gear so it's become my go to for hearing stuff in music that cannot be heard on older gear that newer gear brings out of the shadows etc.
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Caporegime
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I will never do that...I don't listen to and won't create playlists for the purpose of picking out "sub bass" or "at 30 seconds mark you can hear the kick drum"....or whatever way some reviewers talk about some track by a band that I almost certainly never heard of. Why can't it be Whitney's Houston's Greatest Hits or Taylor Swift's Love Story huh? lol
I also don't use the same songs to test gear....either....my taste and mood change. When I "tested" my Edition XS that night it arrived, I picked the Taylor Swift album that I had been listening to the most recently (Tortured Poets Departments), I think then I listen to some YouTube Mix from the 80s music as that was the mood I was in.....I think Top Gun's title track rings a bell lol
I don't do playlists to tests gear, I know that's your job for consistency but I don't do it for a job (or even have the responsibility to), that's not music for me. It would turn music into those 4k HDR video you see all OLED TV plays at demo rooms, like that honey or that frog, played in a loop.
Something that bugs me about high quality audio gear. My best memory about my favourite music is when I was a teenager, playing Oasis through a pair £20 battery powered portable Philips speakers made of plastic in my bedroom, I remember they were purple. I had better hearing then too!
Now I have worse hearing no doubt, definitely much better gear but I don't recall music stirs the same feeling the same way. I don't think I enjoy it like I did. So I ask myself....is the gear really helping to bring the best out of the music? Does it really matter?
I also don't use the same songs to test gear....either....my taste and mood change. When I "tested" my Edition XS that night it arrived, I picked the Taylor Swift album that I had been listening to the most recently (Tortured Poets Departments), I think then I listen to some YouTube Mix from the 80s music as that was the mood I was in.....I think Top Gun's title track rings a bell lol
I don't do playlists to tests gear, I know that's your job for consistency but I don't do it for a job (or even have the responsibility to), that's not music for me. It would turn music into those 4k HDR video you see all OLED TV plays at demo rooms, like that honey or that frog, played in a loop.
Something that bugs me about high quality audio gear. My best memory about my favourite music is when I was a teenager, playing Oasis through a pair £20 battery powered portable Philips speakers made of plastic in my bedroom, I remember they were purple. I had better hearing then too!
Now I have worse hearing no doubt, definitely much better gear but I don't recall music stirs the same feeling the same way. I don't think I enjoy it like I did. So I ask myself....is the gear really helping to bring the best out of the music? Does it really matter?
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I think you misunderstand. I'm in it for the music, I want to be able to hear details in music that previous were not clear because the creators of that music intended them to be heard else they would not have used those instruments or mastered the track that way.
That is what the musical journey is all about, if I upgrade my speakers years later to discover hidden details in my fav music then that's a total win.
You want true authentic music, then you need to find the equipment that brings out the truth in that music. You can also fully enjoy the music in the process, like I did and continue to do. It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both, and I am proof of that. You just have to not be closed minded.
That is what the musical journey is all about, if I upgrade my speakers years later to discover hidden details in my fav music then that's a total win.
You want true authentic music, then you need to find the equipment that brings out the truth in that music. You can also fully enjoy the music in the process, like I did and continue to do. It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both, and I am proof of that. You just have to not be closed minded.
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Caporegime
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I have like 8 pairs of headphones, close minded people would have stopped much earlier lol
I just don’t hear to the same degree some reviewers says. Is the XS better than say my XM4, yeah…but like I’d say like 5% at most…may be 2%.
Sometimes I feel like the way they word their review it sounds like my entire world will change because of 1 piece of gear, using words like “different league” and I’m like “is it?”
I just don’t hear to the same degree some reviewers says. Is the XS better than say my XM4, yeah…but like I’d say like 5% at most…may be 2%.
Sometimes I feel like the way they word their review it sounds like my entire world will change because of 1 piece of gear, using words like “different league” and I’m like “is it?”
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Oh yeah its size means it's also a personal radiator as it runs rather warm
Been meaning to ask how you're getting on with your topdon. The first unit I received has an issue where everytime it focuses it seems to create a ghost image of the hotspot and when I move the camera the hotspot is overlayed on the screen, so I can't see anything and it screws up the temperature readings. It's been replaced now so hoping the replacement works better. It's a TC002 unit; I actually regret buying it because when o was testing the first unit I found it struggles a bit to differentiate between objects on certain surfaces and also it's not really possible to measure small electronic components - for example trying to measure temperature on each wire of a 12hwpr GPU power cable is difficult
This model is the cheaper model of their lineup but the one I got doesn't have that issue, at least not on the phones i have used it on (Pixel 9 pro XL, S25 Ultra, Xiaomi 15 and POCO F7 Ultra). I want one of the higher end models as the imaging resolution is much higher so would be better at reading smaller detail items like wires, the 002 is too low resolution to be able to read such thin items.
I don't think it does, I've been A/B testing both back to back and the details are all there between them both, it's the presentation of that sound which is different between them, and then moreso once you enable the EQ features on the X9 and it overtakes cheaper DACs by a good margin. The K11 R2R in OS mode on my headphones and speakers specifically sounds the most detailed due to the internal resampling that takes place in OS mode. NOS mode is the factory default which I guess is what most people will stick with under the presumption that it's the "pure" option to use.
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Soldato
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It factually does I'm afraid, even in OS mode, MRK, you can sometimes be wrong about something, your world will not crumble, I'm wrong about things sometimes, time and time again delta sigma measures better than R2R, now that doesn't mean it's better for you, it's a preference, the same as Dynamic headphones vs Planer Headphones, it's a preference, but when you bought into planer you kind of bought into the technology as being superior and that's why they sound so amazing! Same as your new amp with the R2R volume, thinking that's why it must "sound so clean" look, you seem like an ok chap, (a bit over enthusiastic at times!) but I'm not sure your aware of how you come across sometimes in the respect that you are quite ardent, almost obsessive about defending your purchases and decisions and projecting that into others, I have tons of gear, and I have my own philosophy in terms of what I think is best for enjoying audio, but it's not right for me to project that onto others, sometimes I'll say something and someone disagrees and that's that, I've understood they have a different perspective or needs, I don't need to always be justifying myself to validate my decisions and life choices.
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