General Headphone Audio

Raymond Lin · Tuesday at 19:35

Angst said:
On the one hand, I want a super simple bulletproof device that just works and doesn't need firmware updates like my old DAC, but then on the other, I don't think I could live without built-in PEQ anymore, it's just so much better than relying on software.

My Xduoo XA-02 is such an amp, although i am tempted to sell it and get a K13!

Angst · Wednesday at 16:13

I had a bunch more earpads turn up from AliExpress last week. After some experimenting, I think I am a few steps further towards the perfect tonality with my 3d printed headphone design.

The red is my design currently, and green is the HD650.

maj · Wednesday at 20:04

The K13 talk is making me wish I'd have gone for that instead of the Z3 although its double the price for what I paid for the Z3. It reviews as entry-level which I would somewhat disagree with.

Raymond Lin · Wednesday at 20:06

maj said:
The K13 talk is making me wish I'd have gone for that instead of the Z3 although its double the price for what I paid for the Z3. It reviews as entry-level which I would somewhat disagree with.

My issue is that I doubt I can tell the difference! There is a bigger difference when switching headphones.

maj · Wednesday at 20:30

Raymond Lin said:
My issue is that I doubt I can tell the difference! There is a bigger difference when switching headphones.

There's that too. It may just be me trying to justify going for the cheaper option when the K13 could have been my end-game. After going from a JDS Atom v1 to this, I'm just hoping it hasn't just been a sideways move and that overall this is better. The Z3 does balanced and powers my XS with no problems, just may like the R2R sound more. Hopefully I'll get to try one at some point.

When Zeos reviewed it, he said good things about it but then finished by saying its something you'd give to your nephew who's just starting out and I was like erm...well... really?

Angst · Wednesday at 22:05

Personally, after owning the k11, I think the R2R sound is overstated online. The difference is fairly minimal, and if anything, just worse. The only reason to change to the k13 really would be for any extra features like Bluetooth or pure fomo. The fosi measures well and has more than enough power for anything you may buy.

Raymond Lin · Wednesday at 22:07

Angst said:
Personally, after owning the k11, I think the R2R sound is overstated online, and the difference is fairly minimal. The only reason to change to the k13 really would be for any extra features like Bluetooth or pure fomo. The fosi measures well and has more than enough power for anything you may buy.

Which is why I just won't be going for it. If there is anything, I would get a new tube amp.

Timber · Wednesday at 22:15

maj said:
There's that too. It may just be me trying to justify going for the cheaper option when the K13 could have been my end-game. After going from a JDS Atom v1 to this, I'm just hoping it hasn't just been a sideways move and that overall this is better. The Z3 does balanced and powers my XS with no problems, just may like the R2R sound more. Hopefully I'll get to try one at some point.

When Zeos reviewed it, he said good things about it but then finished by saying its something you'd give to your nephew who's just starting out and I was like erm...well... really?

I remember you posting about the ZH3, DX5 II, K13 and when you got a very good deal on the ZH3. I suppose one question is do you notice a difference between the old D10 + Atom combo, vs. the ZH3?

There's always going to be something newer, or better around the corner, although I do appreciate sometimes you need to try something else having been through this myself. I definitely agree with @Raymond Lin that headphones matter more. And there's clearly something around synergy between headphones and amplifiers. i.e. the higher impedance stuff is definitely affected in ways more modern lower impedance headphones aren't. Or also scaling of certain headphones.

However I also have read about blind testing before and even in this past week bumped in a thread on r/headphones with someone claiming they couldn't hear any real difference after blind testing different equipment. That would be something I'd like to try sometime, albeit extremely hard to setup.

Raymond Lin · Wednesday at 22:20

Timber said:
I remember you posting about the ZH3, DX5 II, K13 and when you got a very good deal on the ZH3. I suppose one question is do you notice a difference between the old D10 + Atom combo, vs. the ZH3?

There's always going to be something newer, or better around the corner, although I do appreciate sometimes you need to try something else having been through this myself. I definitely agree with @Raymond Lin that headphones matter more. And there's clearly something around synergy between headphones and amplifiers. i.e. the higher impedance stuff is definitely affected in ways more modern lower impedance headphones aren't. Or also scaling of certain headphones.

However I also have read about blind testing before and even in this past week bumped in a thread on r/headphones with someone claiming they couldn't hear any real difference after blind testing different equipment. That would be something I'd like to try sometime, albeit extremely hard to setup.

It would be very hard to set up because ..

1 - Our hearing memory in the brain is VERY short. Of all the senses, it is much shorter than taste for example
2 - An increase in volume will appear to be better
3 - You will need a 3rd party to swap over but this seemingly is the easy part if you can just put up a big town as dividers with a 2m cable in between. or just wear eye covers or turn around.

Matching volume would be my concern, especially if you put in something really basic like a dongle DAC such as an Apple dongle.

Timber · Wednesday at 22:24

Raymond Lin said:
It would be very hard to set up because ..

Yep. Third-party would need to be extremely well briefed. And you'd need a benchmark AMP etc. Loads of things to go wrong.

Timber · 2026-01-08T16:39:42+0000

How many DAC/AMPs is too many?...

Finally got around to listing the Fiio K7 BT for sale, along with the iFi Zen Signature Set. I did have slight pangs of 'oh should I keep this', although my recent upgrade was meant to simplify the set-up and not add to it. Anyway did a proper listening session on the iFi Zen Signature stack vs. the TA-66/K13 combo and K15. Was very close as I mentioned a few days ago, however I realised that in some ways I actually prefer the dark iFi sound. It's nuanced, but the iFi Zen stack has this mix of detail and warmth that's different enough from the other two. And one thing I hadn't appreciated enough was the XBass (6XX) button and what that does to the HD 600. Part of it might be my already modded HD 6XX not being a good fit, but the XBass button on iFi's Zen CAN is pretty magical.

What lets the iFi Zen stuff down is the lack of inputs. Not having optical kind of makes it limited in my setup. Shame becuase for the HD 6x0 is a fantastic DAC/AMP combo. If it doesn't sell for an acceptable price I'm going to find a way to stick it back on the desk.

Also on another note, a question. Are tube-savers universal?

I bought a pair of them for the APOS Gremlin last year (9-pin from Tube-Shop UK). The listing had them as 'TS-9 socket saver for B9A valve base ECC83 12AU7 EL84'. The Gremlin could take either ECC83, or 12AU7 but the latter was supplied as stock. The Xduoo TA-66 uses a 6N2 which also seems to be 9-pin. Can one of the same tube savers be used on the TA-66, or would that be a big no-no?

Picture with the TA-66 6N2 tube (left) and Ray Core 12AU7 tube alongside the tube-savers in question.