what headphones do you own thread - i own dt150's :)

[Raymond Lin]

Given how much butt it's hauled today through London, gotta be on the van for tomorrow.

It's still not showing Evri has it though.

 

[mrk]

EEvri tracking is always slow to update, like other recent Evri orders, won't see tracking update likely until the early hours.

 

[mrk]

Well it's with Evri now, tracking shows it's with local carrier

 

[Raymond Lin]

Well it's with Evri now, tracking shows it's with local carrier

Mine is getting delivered to work....there is someone there until midday but the door gets locked after.

I need to get into my car soon as I get the "delivered" message!

 

[mrk]

This should be very interesting as we now have the same amp and headphones, so how our ears hear the i5 will be quite fascinating.

 

[Raymond Lin]

No delivery today. Evri has been and delivered my £20 IEM instead lol

 

[mrk]

Hmm yeah nothing here yet either although no post either.

 

[Raymond Lin]

These should not sound this good for £20. Got the DAC as spare to throw it into one of my many travel kit/bag in case I forget and need it.

 

[mrk]

They do look cool, shame I have lost all interest in IEMs really the last year or so, probably a good thing I suppose

I've been trying the LCD-5 through the GameSir's DAC and actually, it has slightly better sound than the X9 in bypass mode with them, so clearly the DAC on the controller is doing some factory EQing. There is a lack of bass and absolute loudness, but it's certainly more usable than the bypass mode without HP-EQ on the X9 and I suppose any other amp that has a bypass mode as well. Interesting... The HE1000se from the controller sound superb as previously mentioned, just minus the loudness again but I run the HE in bypass on the X9 anyway as no need for EQ.

Look at this adapter game just to get 3.5mm from the LCD-5 lol:

 

[Raymond Lin]

This is the thing, IEM are good for when I am not at home. I don't wear it on my walk to work, but I use them for long flights or travel days. The good thing with these they are cheap, it's £25 with a DAC. Doesn't hurt the wallet and i have good mucic everywhere. It sounds better than the Sony XM4 and 10x the price.

ps that is absurd to even try to connect those up lol

 

[Starvald]

They do look cool, shame I have lost all interest in IEMs really the last year or so, probably a good thing I suppose

I've been trying the LCD-5 through the GameSir's DAC and actually, it has slightly better sound than the X9 in bypass mode with them, so clearly the DAC on the controller is doing some factory EQing. There is a lack of bass and absolute loudness, but it's certainly more usable than the bypass mode without HP-EQ on the X9 and I suppose any other amp that has a bypass mode as well. Interesting... The HE1000se from the controller sound superb as previously mentioned, just minus the loudness again but I run the HE in bypass on the X9 anyway as no need for EQ.

Look at this adapter game just to get 3.5mm from the LCD-5 lol:

That adptor situationyou got going on is..... something!

 

[mrk]

(seems ocuk forums is not parsing media linkembeds...:

https://open.spotify.com/track/6sKKaLDc0SGoFSesS1WWD3?si=9269b0a1815b46e3

This is a superb song, that bass is immense, the LCD definitely seems to have a more weighty bass than the HE1000se, but the HE has more bass resolution, it's like the LCD punches low, and so does the HE, but the punch is "felt" more with the LCD, whereas the subtle detail in that bass is clearer on the HE. hard to pick a winner between the two as they are both aiming for different things.

 

[Things change I've changed]

Yeah tuned outside of my preference would be accurate, but the HE1000se almost perfect out of the box (just bin the pads and that's all) - So if Hifiman was able to do it on a headphone that originally launched at £3000 without needing any hardware profiling to sound good, then so should other brands, unless as you say it's deliberate in order to stand out for whatever reason.

The Susvara sounded great through the AADAC, but it just needed more power to get loud which the AADAC didn't have enough oomph to do, but the sonics were all there as I mentioned a while ago. I don't get the same impression with the LCD-5, this is 100% a conscious decision from Audeze and probably why many prefer the LCD-4 instead of the 5 as well, even if the 5 has the newer construction process for lighter weight and stuff.

On a side note, look at how much airflow restriction the LCD-5 has!

No wonder it sounds so muffled. I wonder if I can open it up and remove the outer grille film... Though that then involves removing the adhesive tape holding the pads on :/

Here we go again and people lap it up, the LCD-5 does not sound muffled, FACT, outside of Susvara it's one of the most resolving headphones out there, and the transparency of the grill is not an indictor of that either (shakes head), otherwise all closed back headphone would sound awful, they don't, ultimately it's down to the tuning, where you are correct is the the HE1000SE does sound more 'fun' due to it having a slightly v-shaped sound signature, it also gives it more 'body', thicker vocals, the LCD-5 is a very neutral sounding headphone, it will sound a bit flatter, I could've easily guessed it wasn't your type of 'fun' sound.

Also as Goldensound recently said in his review of the X9 amp, be wary of using the auto EQ correction profiles as there is no information as to how the headphones where even measured, what rig they are using and have they even been HRTF compensated!,

more information here (starts at EQ section),

 

[Rroff]

Not a great pic but got the 505s

Initial impressions they are somewhat like a V shaped response more aggressive HD600 - the bass is actually really nice - detailed, plenty of thump but well balanced with the rest of the audio and while they can't touch the best headphones for bass extension/sub-bass IMO they are more credibly close behind than some reviews allow. The treble though I found a touch aggressive and harsh intruding on the mid-range a little at times - the 550s are definitely better there when it comes to music. It is pale imitation though of that full blooded mid-range of the HD600s where every instrument feels like it is picked out and physical.

For gaming positional audio is decent but personally I would say the 560S have a cleaner less cluttered soundstage - sometimes distant sound sources intrude a bit on things you might be listening to in closer proximity like the footsteps of other players. I was hoping these would open up a little more than the 560S but they are about the same really - there are better headphones for an open soundstage. Massive upgrade in comfort over the 560S though.

For a 120ohm headphone they are trivial to drive (EDIT: I wonder if this is throwing some reviewers - though it shouldn't really - they work really well from low powered sources but flicking my output from 32 to 120ohm the difference to bass is significant but also comes with a bit more aggression in the treble).

 

[mrk]

There is an entire thread on headfi where people confirm it doesn't sound great until you add EQ or use an amp that does a similar thing to the tonal range out of the box, so yes the LCD-5 does sound muffled without EQ, which is exactly as I and others have described and even more recently others on reddit have confirmed after seeing my comment about it that they too found the lCD-5 lacking out of the box without any tuning applied.

It IS my kind of sound (just a different flavour) after the PEQ has been applied, again, exactly as I have said in my full comment post. It suits som,e music and not others, just like how the HE1000se suits some music and not others when compared to the LCD.

LCD-5 needs EQ for the most part, this is a fact, it is not a clean transparent sound without it on an otherwise powerful and neutral sounding amp in its bypass mode.

I already know about the auto EQ profiles, and have already been using them as baselines for the ones that sound the best to my ears, then tweaking it to my ears and saving the profile into a slot as a custom profile. I commented on this in the head fi thread pointing out he should have mentioned this capability but does not, his video is obviously also old as he mentions nothing about the additional features that have since been added even after the early firmware updates.

He does infer that everyone hears things differently though, which is correct, and that individual tuning is therefore a must, not tuning to some graph or whatever, tuning to each individual ear, which is exactly what I am/have been doing to get what sounds correct to my ears in my chain, then comparing the others against that result. I am not bothered about anything else.

 

[Things change I've changed]

There is an entire thread on headfi where people confirm it doesn't sound great until you add EQ or use an amp that does a similar thing to the tonal range out of the box, so yes the LCD-5 does sound muffled without EQ, which is exactly as I and others have described and even more recently others on reddit have confirmed after seeing my comment about it that they too found the lCD-5 lacking out of the box without any tuning applied.

It IS my kind of sound (just a different flavour) after the PEQ has been applied, again, exactly as I have said in my full comment post. It suits som,e music and not others, just like how the HE1000se suits some music and not others when compared to the LCD.

LCD-5 needs EQ for the most part, this is a fact, it is not a clean transparent sound without it on an otherwise powerful and neutral sounding amp in its bypass mode.

I already know about the auto EQ profiles, and have already been using them as baselines for the ones that sound the best to my ears, then tweaking it to my ears and saving the profile into a slot as a custom profile. I commented on this in the head fi thread pointing out he should have mentioned this capability but does not, his video is obviously also old as he mentions nothing about the additional features that have since been added even after the early firmware updates.

He does infer that everyone hears things differently though, which is correct, and that individual tuning is therefore a must, not tuning to some graph or whatever, tuning to each individual ear, which is exactly what I am/have been doing to get what sounds correct to my ears in my chain, then comparing the others against that result. I am not bothered about anything else.

I agree that many Audeze headphones sound better with EQ, although to say it sounds muffled as standard is unbelievable, if you could link to other people saying that it would be greatly appreciated so I could follow their line of reasoning.

 

[Timber]

Not a great pic but got the 505s

...

Interesting impressions, thank you. Kind of reads as if the HD 505/550 aren't necessarily worth the extra over for gaming over the 560S. For most people anyway.

I remember when the 505/550 (and the Audio-Technica R30X/R50X/70Xa) came out I was very interested in the reviews, especially given the noise about how they would be for gaming. I think now I'd probably look at the HD 490 Pro too because of the change to the chassis Sennheiser made. I imagine the 490 Pro, like the others, would compliment the HD 6x0 well, again nicely for gaming. That said I don't need more headphones so need to resist the temptation.

I do like the copper indents on the 505 which make it the nicer looking of the two new 5xx models. Bit like the 660S2 they kind of stand out.

 

[Rroff]

Interesting impressions, thank you. Kind of reads as if the HD 505/550 aren't necessarily worth the extra over for gaming over the 560S. For most people anyway.

It is interesting for gaming as though the positional aspect is good the 560/505/550 are not as clean or as wide/open soundstage wise as some of the gaming headsets though the sound quality is much better. Though the 560's sound a bit thin and flat compared to the 505 I'd say it keeps things less cluttered soundstage wise for gaming though the 505 are better for music and comfort.

I was hoping from what some people had said the 505 would be a decent compromise for music and gaming but having tried them I'm not so sure, still early days though.

 

[Timber]

These should not sound this good for £20. Got the DAC as spare to throw it into one of my many travel kit/bag in case I forget and need it.

They do look cool, shame I have lost all interest in IEMs really the last year or so, probably a good thing I suppose

They look lovely. Absolute bargain. I've said this before but I wish I could get into IEMs. For gaming, particularly on console they make so much sense; can be driven off of anything, lightweight, loads of new releases (too many?) and lots of choice/options. In some ways more interesting than the full over-the-ears market. Perhaps one downside is that I have read you need to be more careful with hearing damage when using them, but I can see the appeal.

It is interesting for gaming as though the positional aspect is good the 560/505/550 are not as clean or as wide/open soundstage wise as some of the gaming headsets though the sound quality is much better. Though the 560's sound a bit thin and flat compared to the 505 I'd say it keeps things less cluttered soundstage wise for gaming though the 505 are better for music and comfort.

I was hoping from what some people had said the 505 would be a decent compromise for music and gaming but having tried them I'm not so sure, still early days though.

I imagine for music they will pull away from the 560S. I didn't like the 560S for music. A bit like the AKG K361 had this trait where certain tracks would sound great on them and other stuff was 'eek'. I suspect that might have included revealing imperfections in the recording. As you've said for me the 560S for music was too analytical, cold and a bit lean.

 

[Raymond Lin]

They look lovely. Absolute bargain. I've said this before but I wish I could get into IEMs. For gaming, particularly on console they make so much sense; can be driven off of anything, lightweight, loads of new releases (too many?) and lots of choice/options. In some ways more interesting than the full over-the-ears market. Perhaps one downside is that I have read you need to be more careful with hearing damage when using them, but I can see the appeal.

Yup, I have done that more than once and yanked them out of my ear! I have to turn down every new pair to zero to make sure now. I almost did it with this when i plugged it into my DX5 II when I was only listening with my XS before.

The sound signature is much less V shaped than the Chu II, I think the EW300 is somewhere in the middle and more "smooth"? The cable from the EW300 is the nicest though, I wish most of them come like that.

I definitely don't think I will get the Daybreak now, I can't imagine they will be worthwhile for the amount I use IEM and the sound i am looking for.