General Headphone Audio

mrk · 11 Jul 2025 at 14:13

Yeah ebay, I don't mind, the new ebay simple postage system is nice too, get QR code, take to post office or book free collection. Ebay cover the value if it gets lost/damaged and all tracking is done directly via ebay. Buyer pays more of course for the buyer protection fee, but you are still protected too it seems.

So bought Arya Stealth a year ago for £510,sold for £375. That's not bad going I guess.

Timber · 11 Jul 2025 at 14:27

mrk said:
Yeah ebay, I don't mind, the new ebay simple postage system is nice too, get QR code, take to post office or book free collection. Ebay cover the value if it gets lost/damaged and all tracking is done directly via ebay. Buyer pays more of course for the buyer protection fee, but you are still protected too it seems.

So bought Arya Stealth a year ago for £510,sold for £375. That's not bad going I guess.

No that's fantastic value back. I think I said this before but whilst I saw a bit of a slow demand on some on console games, I didn't on the three DAC/AMPs I sold this year (not that I sell much, I'm talking a handful of auctions in the past couple of years, but I did a clear-out of some small bits a few months ago). I'm old fashioned though and would rather choose the delivery service I dictate and send as I choose. Not have eBay mandate the whole thing, but I appreciate that might be me being an old fart.

mrk · 11 Jul 2025 at 14:41

Yeah I don't sell on ebay too often but when I do it's usually a higher value item, though weirdly some stuff you can still pick your own postage method whereas other items ebay mandates their method and you just pick whether it's EVRI (eugh) or Royal Mail.

Starvald · 11 Jul 2025 at 16:50

mrk said:
Watching one of Mend It Mark's videos where he fixes a headphones amp, the thickness of that lid and panelling reminds me of the X9

just watched that. He did a follow up video, where he looks at how it dissipates heat. He also found a fault he missed before. An interesting watch as well.

He's a nice chap. Found his channel a number of months ago, when he was sent a high end pre amp by the manufacturer, who said he wouldn't be able to fix it. So, of course he did fix it, after reverse engineering it, and making his own circuit diagram of it. They copyright claimed him. Louis Rossmann did a couple of videos calling them out for that.

mrk · 11 Jul 2025 at 16:54

Yeah I found the video and saga of that this morning and binged the videos after seeing his funny video about it all and then the Rossman followup. Awesome stuff.

The one that led me to that:

Needless to say, Tom Evans Audio did not come out of it in good light at all.

Jenz · 12 Jul 2025 at 10:37

Fiio K15 is confirmed for £499 and available to order 1st August.

Which should mean that the K13 R2R is significantly lower priced. I'm expecting £299 maybe £249.

Raymond Lin · 12 Jul 2025 at 10:39

The K15 would be interesting, if it's as good as the K17 Although its a different DAC and different PSU configuration so probably not.

mrk · 12 Jul 2025 at 10:51

You have to buy the external DC linear PSU if you want the better results, also it's not R2R like the K13 R2R is so will appeal to a different audience. All depends on the connectivity and feature set inside the menus on whether £500 + whatever the new PSU costs is worth that.

Fiio already confirmed the K13 R2R was for those who wanted better R2R and more connection options, so an already good K11 R2R but better for £100~ more seems perfect.

Timber · 12 Jul 2025 at 11:23

Jenz said:
Fiio K15 is confirmed for £499 and available to order 1st August.

Which should mean that the K13 R2R is significantly lower priced. I'm expecting £299 maybe £249.

The Fiio rep on head-fi said $300 so I think you're spot on with that range.

Early on if's the new hotness there might also be resellers taking advantage.

mrk said:
You have to buy the external DC linear PSU if you want the better results, also it's not R2R like the K13 R2R is so will appeal to a different audience. All depends on the connectivity and feature set inside the menus on whether £500 + whatever the new PSU costs is worth that.

Fiio already confirmed the K13 R2R was for those who wanted better R2R and more connection options, so an already good K11 R2R but better for £100~ more seems perfect.

Are you talking about something like their PL50 linear power supply?

mrk · 12 Jul 2025 at 12:43

There's a new power supply out that updates the PL50, but yeah PL50 would still work I assume

Timber · 12 Jul 2025 at 14:27

mrk said:
There's a new power supply out that updates the PL50, but yeah PL50 would still work I assume

Ah OK. I couldn't find one their website when I went looking, so that's the model a quick search brought back on the search engine.

mrk · 12 Jul 2025 at 14:42

Yeah it's releasing along with these new amps so probs won't be listed until official page for orders goes up too.

Timber · 12 Jul 2025 at 14:46

Understood. Will be interesting to see reviews with and without a better power supply. I'm guessing the difference is marginal.

Things change I've changed · 12 Jul 2025 at 17:15

I upgraded to a linear power supply for my Chord Qutest DAC, made a big difference, blacker background, improved instrument spacing.

Was reading this post from another forum the other day which really resonated with me,

"Seems to be two camps in the 600/650 world those in the middle of finding their sound and looking to "upgrade" and then old heads who have been up the ladder to the top and realized they passed their sound up and went on to live happily ever after with these 600 series

I'm in the old head group

Been to the summit and realized maybe my summit was actually at base camp lol"

This has been the case for me thus far, there are other Summit-fi cans out there I'd like to try but always come back to the 600's, there are a lot better technical cans out there but nothing thus far has quite hit the timbre mark for me and having a good search around the net over the years there doesn't seem to be a definitive headphone that beats it on that front, a true testament to what Sennheiser achieved all those years ago, often imitated, never duplicated.

Been playing this on repeat recently, one of my fav sax and trumpet tracks,

Eddie99 · 12 Jul 2025 at 20:05

mrk said:
Yeah ebay, I don't mind, the new ebay simple postage system is nice too, get QR code, take to post office or book free collection. Ebay cover the value if it gets lost/damaged and all tracking is done directly via ebay. Buyer pays more of course for the buyer protection fee, but you are still protected too it seems.

So bought Arya Stealth a year ago for £510,sold for £375. That's not bad going I guess.

Didn't you pay an extra £54 for the 3 year insurance as well? I think it might've been you who recommended it to me. Those extra cables you gave away don't look cheap either, probably would've been better off selling them separately as I doubt they increased the resale value of the Arya by much if anything.

mrk · 12 Jul 2025 at 20:35

I I actually forgot about the Amazon insurance, hmm oh well is what it is lol.

Cables I am not fussed about, rarely is a stock cable ever good and I can just sell the 6.35mm official one to recoup some cash as won't be using or needing that ever again.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jul 2025 at 12:47

Anyone got any recommendations on replacement HD600 earpads? Or where best to get a set of OEM ones?

Whilst the cushion part is fine, the foam part is breaking down.

edit - it's only the dust cover part I need to replace. Nvm, found it on the far east for under £1 !

Timber · 13 Jul 2025 at 13:50

Raymond Lin said:
Anyone got any recommendations on replacement HD600 earpads? Or where best to get a set of OEM ones?

Whilst the cushion part is fine, the foam part is breaking down.

edit - it's only the dust cover part I need to replace. Nvm, found it on the far east for under £1 !

Looks like you found them, but I was going to suggest Audio Sanctuary (audiosanctuary.co.uk) who stock both the Part No. 586410 (inner foam disc) for £3 a pair, or the 050635 earpads and foam disk £32ish for the pair. The foam disc on their own come individually wrapped and I think that's the part you mean.

Timber · 13 Jul 2025 at 14:10

Things change I've changed said:
I upgraded to a linear power supply for my Chord Qutest DAC, made a big difference, blacker background, improved instrument spacing.

I can imagine it can make a massive difference for certain hardware and I'm probably being a bit cynical. On a £500 Fiio DAC/AMP I'm just wondering what the difference will be. I know everyone always raves about the difference the iFi PowerX adaptors make but on the DAC it isn't noticeable to me. Maybe on the Can versus their normal one it would be noticeable, but I don't have that to try. I'm just wondering is it going to be worth the extra £150-200 particularly when that might push the K15 into more expensive competition.

Things change I've changed said:
Was reading this post from another forum the other day which really resonated with me,

This has been the case for me thus far, there are other Summit-fi cans out there I'd like to try but always come back to the 600's

For me it's the combo of price, mids, comfort, weight, repairability and something I've recently found out - scalability, or headroom. I'm not sure for music I do want to go elsewhere. Albeit these comments are may in respect of the 6XX/650. I've still yet to hear that og sound. But I was always more of a gamer than audiophile.

Raymond Lin · 13 Jul 2025 at 14:10

Timber said:
Looks like you found them, but I was going to suggest Audio Sanctuary (audiosanctuary.co.uk) who stock both the Part No. 586410 (inner foam disc) for £3 a pair, or the 050635 earpads and foam disk £32ish for the pair. The foam disc on their own come individually wrapped and I think that's the part you mean.

I didn't know earlier you can get the foam part separately, but I stumbled upon it and then found the same thing on Aliexpress. It's only 93p in the end. I actually only need the right side, not the left.