That's fair, it's still good to have confirmation of it though and definitely something to be aware of, as I think it's something most people would definitely notice based on the amount it rolls off. Reaching -6db by 20hz is significant.
General Headphone Audio
- Thread starter garyfl
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That's fair, it's still good to have confirmation of it though and definitely something to be aware of, as I think it's something most people would definitely notice based on the amount it rolls off. Reaching -6db by 20hz is significant.
True. Maybe I would notice it then!
Who knows, maybe you wouldn't notice it, or like you said, just wouldn't care, everyone's ears are different. For me personally, seeing the numerical value of the change that I have a reference for is much preferred and more useful to me than reading a review that just says "there's a bit less bass".
It's that overall picture where I have always seen as an issue with places like ASR, at least on headfi people are more open to said bigger picture. Measuring a DAC is one thing, but that doesn't tell anyone how it actually sounds when it's installed within a chain, as each component has the ability to be heard differently as a whole, since nothing is truly transparent, if they were then none of this as a discussion would exist 
Though I see someone has posted something actually good in the WARMER thread now in relation to tube burn-in, which goes hand in hand directly with what I have observed with the stock tubes after 500+ hours:
www.audiosciencereview.com
Anyways I have installed the new tubs, happy to report that the low end bass extension (slam/punch, however you want to call it) is present right out of the box, this is great as it means as time goes on it will open up like the stock tubes did.
At present that extension is more prominent than the stock tubes with 500+ hours on them. The upper midrange is slightly more forward facing though, this isn't a big deal for me as all the detail, layering and soundstage is still the same and this I believe is dictated by the R2R DAC itself. There are some minor differences in the upper end range but then again I noticed that about the stock tubes which opened up the upper end a bit more which made 90s pop music feel less direct and a bit more relaxed which is nice for my preferences.
So far so good!
Though I see someone has posted something actually good in the WARMER thread now in relation to tube burn-in, which goes hand in hand directly with what I have observed with the stock tubes after 500+ hours:
FIIO Warmer R2R DAC (with tube buffer)
You are then using a steep filter in HQ player you basically shift the ultrasonic 'crap' above 96kHz and the unwanted signals will thus be attenuated a little by the slow roll-off of the post filter. The steep filter in HQ player could be slightly better than the one in the DAC or could be...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Anyways I have installed the new tubs, happy to report that the low end bass extension (slam/punch, however you want to call it) is present right out of the box, this is great as it means as time goes on it will open up like the stock tubes did.
At present that extension is more prominent than the stock tubes with 500+ hours on them. The upper midrange is slightly more forward facing though, this isn't a big deal for me as all the detail, layering and soundstage is still the same and this I believe is dictated by the R2R DAC itself. There are some minor differences in the upper end range but then again I noticed that about the stock tubes which opened up the upper end a bit more which made 90s pop music feel less direct and a bit more relaxed which is nice for my preferences.
So far so good!
I'll need a couple hundred hours on these too to answer that with any assurance, as at present it might appear to be £250+customs fees for the better bass extension lol, and to many that would be a rip when the stock tubes settled to a more improved sub-bass extension anyway.
But including the experience gained, the fun factor of doing the job, documenting it etc and now the listening as time goes on, maybe that's worth it?
Btw here is how hot the tubes get measured directly at the tip:
But including the experience gained, the fun factor of doing the job, documenting it etc and now the listening as time goes on, maybe that's worth it?
Btw here is how hot the tubes get measured directly at the tip:
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Yea no worries. It was more whether it's clearly obvious that it improves the Warmer, or if the changes are more subtle. I was just wondering.
I think tube rolling can certainly be addictive and fun. Although you tend to read/see it more with tube amps. Obviously this is a bit different and that why I wondered.
The bass is immediately better than even the burned-in stock tubes, so I suspect that these will get even better at the same sort of usage hours - Other than that any other differences are small enough right now that it would swing either way on the subjective preferences scale I guess. Hence needing more time to let things settle.
I got in the Soundpeats Air5 Pro today and have been wowed by how BIG the sound is from these, they comfortably beat my nothing Buds in all sound aspects, the app offers you a parametric-style EQ system over 10 bands with ability to change FR and Q factor etc, LDAC is supported as well as Snapdragon Sound, so all apt-X formats covered.
What has impressed me is how deep the bass is able to extend to the point I reduced the bass range slightly to balance it out, boosted some of the upper end to give my preference of sparkle. Simply excellent. They are a bit under £60 and I'd happily choose these over the Nothing CMFs. The only thing is these do not support Android Fast Pair so you gotta pair them the manual way lol.
The other thing is the midrange and soundstage, it is perfect for vocals enjoyment, playing Praise You (piano acoustic) by Hannah Grace delivers a similar sort of texture and crispness in her voice as I hear on over-ear planars which was very much unexpected. Whatever Soundpeats has done with the driver engineering on them is wizardry.
I paired them to my Windows PC and enabled LDAC via the A2DP Alt driver and whilst the sound was good, it was missing the soundstage and midrange definition that was audible on my phone (S25 Ultra) as I had tuned the Adapt Sound feature on the phone already which tunes your buds to your ears specifically, no desktop OS has this sort of feature it seems so TWS buds are best enjoyed on an Android phone it would seem.
The charging case is also more compact than the Nothing buds case.
They sound better than the Kiwi Ears Astral
- It's the stereo image layering, it's just better as is that midrange.
^^ The app on Play Store has under 2 star ratings but I've not seen any issues with it at all, it just works?
What has impressed me is how deep the bass is able to extend to the point I reduced the bass range slightly to balance it out, boosted some of the upper end to give my preference of sparkle. Simply excellent. They are a bit under £60 and I'd happily choose these over the Nothing CMFs. The only thing is these do not support Android Fast Pair so you gotta pair them the manual way lol.
The other thing is the midrange and soundstage, it is perfect for vocals enjoyment, playing Praise You (piano acoustic) by Hannah Grace delivers a similar sort of texture and crispness in her voice as I hear on over-ear planars which was very much unexpected. Whatever Soundpeats has done with the driver engineering on them is wizardry.
I paired them to my Windows PC and enabled LDAC via the A2DP Alt driver and whilst the sound was good, it was missing the soundstage and midrange definition that was audible on my phone (S25 Ultra) as I had tuned the Adapt Sound feature on the phone already which tunes your buds to your ears specifically, no desktop OS has this sort of feature it seems so TWS buds are best enjoyed on an Android phone it would seem.
The charging case is also more compact than the Nothing buds case.
They sound better than the Kiwi Ears Astral
- It's the stereo image layering, it's just better as is that midrange.
^^ The app on Play Store has under 2 star ratings but I've not seen any issues with it at all, it just works?
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I was just reading about these yesterday. They sound impressive.I got in the Soundpeats Air5 Pro today and have been wowed by how BIG the sound is from these, they comfortably beat my nothing Buds in all sound aspects, the app offers you a parametric-style EQ system over 10 bands with ability to change FR and Q factor etc, LDAC is supported as well as Snapdragon Sound, so all apt-X formats covered.
What has impressed me is how deep the bass is able to extend to the point I reduced the bass range slightly to balance it out, boosted some of the upper end to give my preference of sparkle. Simply excellent. They are a bit under £60 and I'd happily choose these over the Nothing CMFs. The only thing is these do not support Android Fast Pair so you gotta pair them the manual way lol.
The other thing is the midrange and soundstage, it is perfect for vocals enjoyment, playing Praise You (piano acoustic) by Hannah Grace delivers a similar sort of texture and crispness in her voice as I hear on over-ear planars which was very much unexpected. Whatever Soundpeats has done with the driver engineering on them is wizardry.
I paired them to my Windows PC and enabled LDAC via the A2DP Alt driver and whilst the sound was good, it was missing the soundstage and midrange definition that was audible on my phone (S25 Ultra) as I had tuned the Adapt Sound feature on the phone already which tunes your buds to your ears specifically, no desktop OS has this sort of feature it seems so TWS buds are best enjoyed on an Android phone it would seem.
The charging case is also more compact than the Nothing buds case.
They sound better than the Kiwi Ears Astral
^^ The app on Play Store has under 2 star ratings but I've not seen any issues with it at all, it just works?
Caporegime
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I do not need ANOTHER pair of earbuds, especially having just bought the APP3 !
There's a massive difference between NEED and WANT!
Caporegime
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Okay, I don't want it lol. Seeing my Bokeh Closed is not even here yet.
Caporegime
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- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I actually wear the CMF over the APP3 to the gym because they are CHEAP lol
Pairing it to a new Redmi Note 15 series phone I can see that it supports a whole bunch more CODECs than what the official specs suggest including LHDC v5, quite neat but it will depend on your phone. I was watching a movie view my PC on them last night using LDAC and didn't have any noticeable issues with bluetooth latency and lip sync which was a surprise as the lag was slightly noticeable with the Nothing buds.
Only IPX5 vs the Nothing's IP55 so no dust protection but the same water protection so can be washed under the tap which I have done on the Plus2 before without any issue.
Only IPX5 vs the Nothing's IP55 so no dust protection but the same water protection so can be washed under the tap which I have done on the Plus2 before without any issue.
As some have mentioned earbuds etc for gym use, Has anyone got any recommendations under £60 for a set but ideally with the wire between the two buds. I've currently got Soundpeats Q30 (Bought 2019) and have lasted well. The battery is starting to show its age though. I'm tempted just to get a similar set from Soundpeats just for updated USB-C but open to suggestions.
I've got some questions for you guys. Inspired by this thread over at r/headphones (I can see @mrk responded) which is essentially a Fiio K17 owner who has now added a Fiio Warmer as the DAC into their setup.
1. The OP on reddit is running the Warmer into the Fiio K17 via RCA. Is there any negatives to only running RCA to the K17 this way (given the similarity of inputs/outputs you could do the same with the K15)? Or is balanced simply preferable?
2. Stupid question time, but I've never run this config. If you run a DAC/AMP to Tube OTL via RCA and then the OTL uses RCA to powered speakers. Does the OTL tube amp always have to be powered on for the speakers to work? Or can you just use the DAC/AMP into Speakers in this scenario and not have to always have the OTL tube amp powered on (i.e. you'd only ever power on the OTL tube amp for headphones)? My assumption is the OTL tube amp has to be powered on.
Reasons for asking still playing around with researching simplyfiying my setup and although I'm unlikely to buy a Warmer for use with the K15 it intrigued me. My current thinking is a DAC/AMP plus OTL Tube Amp is the better choice. And I'm thinking the K15 might be better in that scenario versus the K13 R2R (even if this is the darling of the reviewers right now).
1. The OP on reddit is running the Warmer into the Fiio K17 via RCA. Is there any negatives to only running RCA to the K17 this way (given the similarity of inputs/outputs you could do the same with the K15)? Or is balanced simply preferable?
2. Stupid question time, but I've never run this config. If you run a DAC/AMP to Tube OTL via RCA and then the OTL uses RCA to powered speakers. Does the OTL tube amp always have to be powered on for the speakers to work? Or can you just use the DAC/AMP into Speakers in this scenario and not have to always have the OTL tube amp powered on (i.e. you'd only ever power on the OTL tube amp for headphones)? My assumption is the OTL tube amp has to be powered on.
Reasons for asking still playing around with researching simplyfiying my setup and although I'm unlikely to buy a Warmer for use with the K15 it intrigued me. My current thinking is a DAC/AMP plus OTL Tube Amp is the better choice. And I'm thinking the K15 might be better in that scenario versus the K13 R2R (even if this is the darling of the reviewers right now).
1. There shouldn't be any noticeable difference in sound quality between the single-ended and balanced interconnects.
2. It depends on the tube amp, some amps it might be a passive passthrough in which case it can work when off, and others will work as a pre-amp and will need to be powered on.
Technically no but there is with the WARMER, the soundstage/imagine is slightly less wide with RCA output vs XLR output. I tested this in depth when testing if both outputs work at the same times without sacrificing SQ and A/B switching on the A90D showed that soundstage was better via XLR output, even though the output power of the RCA was slightly higher than the XLR.The difference was noticeable on both HE1000se and speakers.
K15 and 17 have the same 4.4 balanced input yeah, so if you have the correct cable, no reason not to use it and be fully balanced.
These might do the trick?
soundpeats.com
K15 and 17 have the same 4.4 balanced input yeah, so if you have the correct cable, no reason not to use it and be fully balanced.
These might do the trick?
SOUNDPEATS Q30 HD+ In-Ear Stereo Bluetooth Headphones
Wireless, Waterproof, Weight-lighter sports earbuds---Q30 HD + Soundpeats, crafted for all your outdoor adventures.
soundpeats.com
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