General Headphone Audio

danoliver1 said:
Any recommendation for a tube amp? Interested to try one.
Click to expand...

Budget?

I can vouch for the APOS Gremlin and Xduoo TA-66. Both great budget options, although the TA-66 has the edge as a OTL tube amp.

The one I've not heard is the Bottlehead Crack that for a long time has been the defacto recommended for the 6x0. Although it's more expensive than it once was.
 
danoliver1 said:
Was looking at the xduoo ta66 at £250. Or go all in with the cayin hpa2a at £999?
Click to expand...

That's a good budget, and both of those are nice amps, the HPA2A is a 10kg beauty!, I think you first have to decide if you want to wet your toes your not, plenty of decent budget options out there, on the budget side I'd probably go with the aDuoo TA-26S over the TA-66 as has a bit more power, 4.4mm jack, and more common tube options for tube rolling, you do lose the stepped attenuator and point to point wiring though if that's a concern for you.
 
Watching a bit of the The Headphone Shows coverage of Vienna Highend Show this year and whilst a lot of went over my head (i.e. not of much interest to me) one think did stand out and that was very quick take on two new Aune headphones.

The new supposedly budget AR 3000 they called the best headphone there and they actually preferred those to the AR 9000 (c.$1,500 - although maybe too early for prices). Could be one to keep an eye on depending on when it comes out.

Short segment starts at 11.13 minutes in.
 
Timber said:
Watching a bit of the The Headphone Shows coverage of Vienna Highend Show this year and whilst a lot of went over my head (i.e. not of much interest to me) one think did stand out and that was very quick take on two new Aune headphones.

The new supposedly budget AR 3000 they called the best headphone there and they actually preferred those to the AR 9000 (c.$1,500 - although maybe too early for prices). Could be one to keep an eye on depending on when it comes out.

Short segment starts at 11.13 minutes in.
Click to expand...

I saw that too, and apparently the AR 3000 is a sub £200 headphone.
 
Decided to move the HD580 over to the Vinyl set up with the X-can.

Now I can listen to it 100% analogue, this could have been the same set up 25 years ago!

42177891f260.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I clocked that too and I'm very interested in what other people think of the AR 3000, although you do have to remember that they tend do have preferences that lean more heavily towards neutral/balanced tuning, for example Resolve currently considers the HD480 one of the best overall sounding headphones "period" , Listener also for example considers it as the best headphone he has heard full stop!
 
Last edited:
Things change I've changed said:
I clocked that too and I'm very interested in what other people think of the AR 3000, although you do have to remember that they tend do have preferences that lean more heavily towards neutral/balanced tuning, for example Resolve currently considers the HD480 one of the best overall sounding headphones "period" , Listener also for example considers it as the best headphone he was heard full stop!
Click to expand...

True, but it was that moment when you could genuinely see/hear the excitement in their voices. Like this could be a real corker.

Although the Sony INZONE H6 Air has reminded me that age old dilemma again. In that it's fantastic, a really good headphone. Probably the de-facto gaming headset/phone under £200, but I already have the PC38x and the TYGR 300R that are also brilliant for gaming. I can't choose between them. You can only wear so many headphones and I've reached that way too many point again. So I think for music I need to be really careful moving forward with what I buy. Or just accept the HD 6x0 is it and enjoy those - which probably isn't a bad place to be.

But I will definitely read others views with interest about the AR 3000. And then hide the credit and debit cards.
 
Hope so, providing a few others seem to concur I'll certainly grab one!

Regarding your headphone dilemma I would try and keep one of your favourite gaming headsets and the HD 6XX for music until something really amazing comes along (like the AR 3000 :p ), even then it's always worth keeping the HD6XX as a reference as it's one of the most compared headphones out there.
 
Things change I've changed said:
Regarding your headphone dilemma I would try and keep one of your favourite gaming headsets and the HD 6XX for music until something really amazing comes along (like the AR 3000 :p ), even then it's always worth keeping the HD6XX as a reference as it's one of the most compared headphones out there.
Click to expand...

I just need to be very selective moving forward. For music I'm not getting rid of the HD 6x0 collection. At least not yet.
 
Ouch.....cost of increasing components breaking into the Audio World. Saw this on r/headphones and it's hard to not get annoyed by it, particularly given how much AI and other economic factors are destroying consoles, PC components, SoC, selfhosting etc.

FiiO and Other Chi-Fi Brands Are Getting Pricier Because a Bigger Buyer Is Hoarding the Parts First [Reddit Link from Headphonesty.com]

Chi-Fi DAPs have always sold on the promise of serious portable audio without the premium-brand tax. That promise is getting harder to keep.

FiiO’s JM21 went from roughly $199 to $239.99 within six months, and other DAP makers have started raising prices too.

The strange part is that the pressure is coming from outside audio. AI servers, EVs, and a tight passive-component market are pushing up the cost of capacitors, PCBs, resistors, and other parts that DAP makers still need.
Click to expand...
 
The age of waiting for something to be cheaper is over. If you seriously want something and can get it without going into debt, just do it.
 
Raymond Lin said:
The age of waiting for something to be cheaper is over. If you seriously want something and can get it without going into debt, just do it.
Click to expand...

True, although the worry is that this has more seismic repercussions. I remember listening to one podcast talk about small players in the SoC space (i.e. Raspberry Pi etc.) where there will be casualties - companies that no-longer can remain viable. And this article talks about the difficulties in the budget/value space where Fiio has a lot of its products. Also similarly we probably have seen the death of Microsoft console hardware and only Nintendo plus Sony of the traditional players will remain in a smaller console market.

That's the scary side to all this. What will we lose. I think personally headphone audio has been going through a golden period running in its own niche space unaffected by the greedy megacorps and 'profit at all costs' capitalism. Unfortunately some of those external factors might be breaking through.
 
Last edited:
Timber said:
True, although the worry is that this has more seismic repercussions. I remember listening to one podcast talk about small players in the SoC space (i.e. Raspberry Pi etc.) where there will be casualties - companies that no-longer can remain viable. And this article talks about the difficulties in the budget/value space where Fiio has a lot of its products. Also similarly we probably have seen the death of Microsoft console hardware and only Nintendo plus Sony of the traditional players will remain in a smaller console market.

That's the scary side to all this. What will we lose. I think personally headphone audio has been going through a golden period running in its own niche space unaffected by the greedy megacorps and 'profit at all costs' capitalism. Unfortunately some of those external factors might be breaking through.
Click to expand...

The landscape will change, definitely. That DX5II at £250 at launch is looking like a bargain.
 
Nothing ear 3 added to the TWS collection as I was always fond of their design. Punchy setup out of the box but I found a QR code eq that tamed and neutralised them right down. It's always nice when a earphone EQs well and has a parametric setup.
Az100 still my faves.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom