Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?
- Thread starter Random Guy Esq.
- Start date
I had to skip through some of that review, but I think it's clear it's a good one.
When it came up in the other thread, I said £153, but I've realised now I confused it with the ZD3. Sigh. So it looks like this is £189.99 in the UK via their official store. At that price it's Fiio competition is more the K7 rather than the K11 Zeos compared it to imo. Both same chips, albeit the Fiio uses two AKM chips. But this has XLR out, more power, remote and BT for the same price as the stock K7. Fiio K7 has perhaps the slightly better AMP. Both probably sound the very, very similar in reality.
Also everyone's favourite website; ASR loved the ZH3
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Functionality and looks aside a lot of these devices are largely the same underneath - very little has really moved on in years in terms of the core DAC and amp circuitry - some iterative improvements to ESS and AKM, etc. DAC chips, mostly still using opamps and/or drivers that are basically 20+ years old with again some iterative updates - some hardware still using stuff like the NE55xx which is pretty much unchanged in nearly 50 years (not that there is anything wrong with it). Makes me laugh when people derogatory call older hardware obsolete in this context which often is basically the same as the latest stuff when you boil it down.
On a similar note about devices, the Topping PA7 has seen a rather odd price change lately, I paid £500 for it back in June, the PA7 right now is £350, whilst the PA7 Plus is £600. I could have saved £150, but more importantly why is the Plus £600, they are both the same device just the Plus ships with the higher rated power supply which does not cost £250!
Aiyima too has a new power amp that looks great and has swappable OpAmps at half the PA7 cost with a lot of power output not too far from the PA7, it also has the matching features like XLR, bypass, 12v trigger etc and is simple with no display like the PA7. Had I known then I'd have just got this A20 and retained use of my Sparkos OpAmps as they were awesome in the A80 I had previously.
Aiyima too has a new power amp that looks great and has swappable OpAmps at half the PA7 cost with a lot of power output not too far from the PA7, it also has the matching features like XLR, bypass, 12v trigger etc and is simple with no display like the PA7. Had I known then I'd have just got this A20 and retained use of my Sparkos OpAmps as they were awesome in the A80 I had previously.
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Same with the A80, probably just to highlight that they aren't generic Chinese stuff. Either way these caps will last decades before needing replacing (someone on another board did the maths recently on capacitor age as longevity of the PA7 was questioned on ASR as people thought it was running too hot, when in fact they're supposed to run nominally 40 degrees+, even at 55 degrees the lifespan is like 14 years for capacitors if run 24/7.
I think like you I'm probably done with any more audio changes this year. I was always super interested in the Fiio K15 and K13 R2R releases and whether they could replace my Fiio K7. But I think I'm coming to the conclusion that either are not just quite right, or maybe a bit wasted on me.
K13 R2R appears to use the same R2R as the K11 R2R. So there's this 'distortion' to deal with and whether I want this in my main DAC/AMP. Then there's the reliance on Fiio's volume controls (I didn't like this on the original K11) and a form factor that doesn't quite work for me as smaller units.
The Fiio K15 seems to have not really created much buzz. I can only assume some of this is Youtubers who think it's just a cut-down K17 and that's reason it's not been reviewed as much. Again form factor doesn't work as well. Dependant on software again and I'm not sure how much of an audio improvement this will be on the Fiio K7. There's also a few bugs raised on Head-Fi which don't seem to have had Fiio's attention yet. The one advantage the Fiio K15 would bring is more i/o and that could mean I remove one, or two other units from the desk which is a positive.
And for headphone use I tend to prefer the iFi stack, or my Gremlin, so that again makes me question what is it I'm looking to upgrade the K7 for. At some point in the future I'll look OTL Tube amps again, but not today. Headphone wise I went a bit silly with five HD 6x0's over the last 18-months, but for music I found my headphone. At least for now. And for gaming I'm well covered with the PC38X and TYGR.
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On another note I've been using Musicbee and I have to say I actually really like it. Over the years I've used loads of music players on Windows, Mac OS and Linux, but always had a preference for Foobar 2000. And whilst I'm not sure this replaces Foobar, there are some things about Musicbee I prefer. The ease to switch between ASIO/WASAPI playback, easier configuration of layout options, greater theme variety and it's a better looking player overall. Overall it's easily up there.
I only mention here in this thread, as it came up as a recommendation from mrk.
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Caporegime
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I was done when you helped me buy my stuff. I don't buy audio stuff that often. There's a reason why I still use a midi hifi system
I'm fancying an upgraded closed back headphone to replace my Fiio FT1's. Whilst I like the FT1's I do not feel they are in the same quality league as my Arya Stealth's. I'm stuck at what to consider though around the £4-500 price bracket?
Caporegime
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Aune SR7000?
Thats a good shout
Caporegime
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- 20 Oct 2002
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- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
It sounds like the distortion on an electric guitar amp is pleasant when on paper it is unwanted.
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Caporegime
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- 20 Oct 2002
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The electric guitar term would be “clean but on the edge of break up”
There is a pocket of people out there who don't like enabling any sort of EQ so it can be understandable Either way EQ can fix the brightness yep, but it won't touch stereo image or soundstage, I feel all three come together to give the overall signature. I didn't like the DX even after EQ because of the other two aspects not being the "musical" I'm fond of.
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Morning all
I have the headphones below but they are starting to fall apart, only play fps so nothing too crazy, any recommendations in the £100-£150 ballpark? I have a Creative A-E5 pci card - thanks in advance
I have the headphones below but they are starting to fall apart, only play fps so nothing too crazy, any recommendations in the £100-£150 ballpark? I have a Creative A-E5 pci card - thanks in advance