General Headphone Audio

I dont have any experience with "audio grade" capacitors but when i replaced all of the ones in my audiolab dac the other year i used thd cheapest ones i could find on ebay and didnt notice a difference.

Caveat that a different design might have different results but I hand built an O2 amplifier and rolled a massive amount of capacitors including Nichicon, Elna Silmic, WIMA, even sourced some out of production supposedly legendary vintage LCR audio ones (totally overrated in my opinion).

Found some interesting stuff along the way though including that most "audio" capacitors are way over hyped but there is also some nuances to that story. Again as above I'd caveat that things like ESR can mean you can't just roll any given capacitor in a design and get good / correct results without a solid level of engineering knowledge and a capacitor which might not work well with one design might be excellent with another.

One of the more interesting discoveries was that using the right bypass capacitor on the ubiquitous LM4562 opamp dramatically improves its already good performance - even in well designed commercial products if they lack it - almost makes me wonder if TI sabotaged it to protect their higher end LME49xxx opamps.
 
That's why some manufacturers ignore the reference deisgns supplied by chip makers and instead adopt their own designs, which may include discreet architecture or a mix of other designs to get better than stock sound from chips that are otherwise used with those reference designs by cheaper manufacturers. That sound guy who I forget the name of on youtube did a good video on it earlier this year actually and it's why some amps cost so much because whilst they may use the same DAC chips as found on much cheaper models, the circuitry is customised enough to then stray away from a reference design and have its own unique sound. I think the X9 is one such product that does just that.

It seems the WARMER thread has been cleansed by the mods, or is being. I had a PM saying not to be inappropriate as apparently someone reported a recent comment as it offended them - I've merely paraphrased what people have discussed in the Headfo thread for the Warmer as it's relevant to the discussion since this DAC does not abide by the usual /rules/ of DAC design since it's made ignoring measurement accuracy in favour of subjective listening pleasure.

People...
 
I imagine they still designed it with measurements in mind, they just had a different target they were aiming for instead of the cleanest signal possible. Hard to design a product based purely on subjective opinion without measurements, probably measured what people find subjectively pleasing from test groups or existing research and targeted that. Much like how the harman target is based on what people find subjectively pleasing rather than a pure flat reference reproduction.
 
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Certainly probable that played a part though my take on it was exclusively base don the CEO's interviews where he states it came about because of his personal love for old tube amps and his experience of them from the past.
 
Still not shipping update from ZMF....normally when you order a headphone from them, as they are built to order, it's anything from 4-8 weeks wait. Especially during their busy season like Christmas. But I bought a B-stock one, so it's already done, yet nothing now for 10 days. I emailed them a couple days ago and was still being quoted the 4 weeks shipping time frame, so it has a chance to go through their QC.

What? Surely the fact that it is B-stock is because it went through the QC already?

So weird.
 
Maybe they are shipping you a on b grade one instead for whatever reason?

The Dunu tips arrived today and I am using them actually on the Ai4 Pro as they fit nicely and are more comfortable lol.

Also the Sennheiser 2 pin to 3.5mm adapters arrived and they too work great. one cable for everything now.

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I have a problem - I usually have my PC setup with the AE-5 soundcard with most effects off but a small amount of VSS surround, which technically is a distortion when it comes to music, but great for gaming and movies. But now when I use any other audio setup, no matter how high end, to listen to music it sounds flat and boring in comparison like something is missing :(

I've been aware of it for awhile but having had a listen to some higher end setups recently and adding a few other options like the QX13 to my setup has really emphasised it.
 
You know what really helps to make your system sound better?

Being away for weeks from home, not using it, come back then turning everything back on. Suddenly I am hearing things I haven't heard before! lol
 
Sounds like you need a WARMER to fix that.

I doubt it would make a difference, though I've not tried one.

As Raymond Lin said the only way to fix it so to speak is take a good break so the brain resets - VSS Pro does a good job of making it feel like you are inside the music, without the distortion/tinny sound of older/other attempts at 3D sound - only well recorded music using a live instruments listened to on good headphones can match or beat that.
 
I mentioned it because it has a level of soundstage and imaging that other DACs, including the X9, do not have, whatever the tuning is inside this Fiio has done it nicely really and it's excellent in movies games and music alike - The extra detail midrange and up helps too in this applications.

The feeling I get playing content via the HE1000se and the Triangles through the Warmer is a sense of wow each time really when a new track comes on that I haven't heard in a while and now playing through it instead of via the K13 R2R or the X9 (examples).
 
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Apple Music trial ended this week, just signed up to a 2 month Tidal trial for £2. Let's see if it's any actual noticable difference.
 
I tested Quboz Tidal and Spotify back to back a while back and found no reasonable quality difference between them with the same song releases, unless there was a clear mastering difference, then on my gear and to my ears they sounded identical. Stayed with Spotify because it's £4 a month and the recommendation system is superior to the others.

The Spotify phone app is also much nicer to use than the others lol.
 
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Trying it now....any difference might just be placebo....unless my ears are telling me there is MORE? I really don't know. But if I don't know then I shouldn't spend money on it.

When it ends I will stay with YouTube Music.
 
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas day, or is having a nice holidays.

I went a bit crazy last night; essentially ordering an entire new audio setup. I've been mulling changes for a while and didn't want to spend too much. However I wanted to simplify the number of DAC/AMP boxes attached to my PC (five currently), that can sound great with my HD 6x0 collection and also be useable for other media. And of course improve on what I already have.
  • Fiio K15 - fairly safe choice with some nice inputs/outputs, AKM chips that I like and should improve upon the K7.
  • Xduoo TA-66 - I think I can be fairly confident this should be comparable to other budget tube amps like the Little Dot, Dark Voice etc. and builds on the APOS Gremlin sound I love.
  • Edifier MR3 2.0 Studio Monitors - don't need anything fancy and have been running the Edifier R1600T speakers OCUK had on offer over a decade ago! The MR3's have balanced TRS inputs which will be useful.
  • Fiio K13 R2R - my slight extravagance, I know the Fiio Warmer was an option and would look brilliant next to a K15, but there's a few things I'm unsure about with it. I can obviously use the K13 as a DAC too.
All due to arrive over the next few days and I'm going to give it all a really good listening test. I might keep my iFi Zen CAN Signature HD 6XX if it adds something different to my setup but we'll see. Either way I'm hoping this should be the last spend on DAC/AMPs for a while.
 
Seems Santa was generous :p

Unfortunately not. Treats to myself.

Btw you know that new Fiio power supply is 70W. Is there any chance it will be capable of power multiple devices? Or is that a big no-no with linear power supplies.
 
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Hope everyone had a nice Christmas day, or is having a nice holidays.

I went a bit crazy last night; essentially ordering an entire new audio setup. I've been mulling changes for a while and didn't want to spend too much. However I wanted to simplify the number of DAC/AMP boxes attached to my PC (five currently), that can sound great with my HD 6x0 collection and also be useable for other media. And of course improve on what I already have.
  • Fiio K15 - fairly safe choice with some nice inputs/outputs, AKM chips that I like and should improve upon the K7.
  • Xduoo TA-66 - I think I can be fairly confident this should be comparable to other budget tube amps like the Little Dot, Dark Voice etc. and builds on the APOS Gremlin sound I love.
  • Edifier MR3 2.0 Studio Monitors - don't need anything fancy and have been running the Edifier R1600T speakers OCUK had on offer over a decade ago! The MR3's have balanced TRS inputs which will be useful.
  • Fiio K13 R2R - my slight extravagance, I know the Fiio Warmer was an option and would look brilliant next to a K15, but there's a few things I'm unsure about with it. I can obviously use the K13 as a DAC too.
All due to arrive over the next few days and I'm going to give it all a really good listening test. I might keep my iFi Zen CAN Signature HD 6XX if it adds something different to my setup but we'll see. Either way I'm hoping this should be the last spend on DAC/AMPs for a while.

Nice, i can vouch for both the k15 and the MR3's. The k15 still has a few softqare bugs to iron out but its a solid unit.
Why both the k15 and k13? Are they for seperare rooms/setups?
 
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