what headphones do you own thread - i own dt150's :)

[Ayahuasca]

I'm not going to take the risk because it's AliExpress, but you can get some HifiMan Edition XS for £214 at the moment with a code.

Also will be getting closer to £300 if you get hit with tax/customs charges.

 

[rids57]

I've wanted a nice planar headphone for a while and have been looking at the HiFiMAN Arya Stealth and the Audeze LCDX but I wasn't prepared to play the reliability lottery with HiFiMAN and current stock of Audeze are having problems keeping their ear pads attached to the headphones. So I ended up taking a good long look at the Quad Era-1, ordered them yesterday from Audio Affair and have been playing music on them for the last hour. Initially I had a worry about pad replacement but discovered that Audio Sanctuary sell both pad types for £50.
On playing music my first thought was disappointment but realised I'd just been listening through my HD800S so I sat back and waited for my brain to adjust to the new signature and I could actually hear the sound changing through duration of Rikki Don't Lose That Number. I then started playing Gaslighting Abbie, also by Steely Dan and instantly fell in love with them, planar bass is a real thing, they don't hit as hard as my Denon D7200 but my god do they dig deep. The sound is quite like a Focal Clear but with a bigger sound stage or an HD650 with deep, deep bass and sparkly highs. Vey happy with my purchase and will be sticking with what I've got for quite a while - I need to save for a full gaming PC, mine is 10 yrs old and showing it's age.

My stable:

Quad Era-1
Sennheiser HD800S
Grado RS-1x
Denon AH-D7200
Beyerdynamic DT 1990
Grado SR325x
Sennheiser HD650
HiFiMAN HE400i (2017 model)
Sony MDR-1a
+ IEMs

 

[mrk]

planar bass is a real thing, they don't hit as hard as my Denon D7200 but my god do they dig deep. The sound is quite like a Focal Clear but with a bigger sound stage or an HD650 with deep, deep bass and sparkly highs.

See this is what I said about the Nano, glad someone else has noticed the bass and the resemblance to the HD650 too.

I checked out the specs and interestingly the Nano hit a bit lower (5-55KHz vs 10-40KHz) but even still, planar bass is no joke, especially drivers the vertical size of a HiFiMAN. With my mods, the Nano is now my genuine end game I think as long as they don't fail. So far they have been like wearing large bookshelf speakers on my head, the bass is akin to my KEF Q300, actually the soundstage and detail isn't to far apart either, sparkly highs with no sibilance, textured mids and lows you feel inside your head.

I have the new Edifier STAX S5 coming tomorrow which looks to have new planar drivers so will be interesting to see what they are like as closed backs.

 

[rids57]

people can't hear below 20Hz or above 20kHz anyway, so I have no idea why they spec such crazy numbers, hell, my old ears are out at 10kHz

 

[mrk]

You don't need to hear low deep bass detail, you can literally feel it, which is exactly what is possible with large driver planars

 

[rids57]

I know what you mean, I've been playing bass heavy music all night and can't stop grinning

 

[mrk]

The S5 is here, compared to the S3 there is a change in plastic material, the cups have a leathery face texture now, there's lambskin pads as well as the same "gel" pads from the S3. cupsize is the same and headband now adopts the same design as some other Edifiers now.

The size difference to the Ananda is quite funny

It uses 2nd gen planars, though the exterior looks the same:

Amusingly both can be bought around the same price, so will be interesting to hear how they compare.

 

[mrk]

ok so couple days later and have to say the S5 is a big refinement over the S3, and the S3 was already very good for sound, just had various technical quirks/issues that I mentioned before. All of those (well all but maybe 1 or 2) have been resolved and the ones that remain seem to be engineering limitations or design choices.

The plastic quality is improved too.

The soundstage is wider than the S3, these give a greater sense of open air which is strange at first since they're closed back. I wondered how the planars are venting air given this but noticed vents on top of each cup that hide under the headband arm bit:

They're over £100 more expensive than the S3 though, so whether they are worth the price will be user preference. Wired mode sounds the same as wireless now (LDAC/aptX-HD) and you can use them wired via USB-C now too so 3 methods of input, dual-device pairing via BT and now has custom EQ control too which seems to remember across all inputs. The pad fit and finish has been revised too:

Think these are a keeper for closed back listening

 

[Mr_Orange]

This song is my recent go to just for the sheer quality of literally everything in it on wide soundstage headphones. It is just sublime:

Thanks for the tip. That really does a great job of sound stage testing! I've added it to my audio testing playlist.

I use this for testing. It's great for detail but it doesn't tackle soundstage is the same way "I Can't Go For That" does.

Bass Drops

Provided to YouTube by Kontor New Media GmbHBass Drops · Nenad VasilicBass Room℗ Nenad VasilicReleased on: 2019-09-20Artist: Nenad VasilicMusic Publisher: C...

www.youtube.com

 

[waspy88]

I have the original HD800 from 2015, 9 years in I have tried many open back headphones and keep coming back to them, before that I owned a pair of the Ireland made marbled HD600 which I purchased all the way back in 2003!
The HD800 are wide beautiful earphones, but to get the best bass out of them I needed to a GSX Mini from head amp, that really makes the HD800 sound a lot warmer and nicer and less shrill.

The OG HD600 were so good, I shouldn't have given them away.. the HD650s (newer versions) are not great, I also sold on a pair of LCD-X II as I found it super muddy.

The best sub-bass notes I've heard are from the Sony IER-Z1R that really does sound amazing for EDM and D&B, but only problem is they are quite big and not for people with smaller ears.

 

[mrk]

So my Topping MX3s has been cutting out more often when using the Ananda Nano, those cans are just too sensitive at 14 ohms at moderate volume it seems, and the display just show P-0 whihc means its power circuitry are too overwhelmed driving these headphones.

The mission to find a headphone amp that can drive them continued and I made a post on reddit where someone recommended I buy an £800 DAC and £600 Amp combo...... Erm....

Anyway I contiued my search and came across this little thing, the Questyle M15i, looked it up on YouTube and one reviewer who checked out the non-i model replavced his desktop headphone amp setup with just that. and drove the Ananda Nano with it as well.... I think I'm sold and it's currently £150 on Amazon:

The best sub-bass notes I've heard are from the Sony IER-Z1R that really does sound amazing for EDM and D&B, but only problem is they are quite big and not for people with smaller ears.

Definitely try out full sized planar headphones, they are another world of sub-bass let me tell you!

As for the size of even Ananda sized headphones? Yeah they are ridiculously big on the head - But very comfortable with a few custom tweaks.

 

[Timber]

Anyway I contiued my search and came across this little thing, the Questyle M15i, looked it up on YouTube and one reviewer who checked out the non-i model replavced his desktop headphone amp setup with just that. and drove the Ananda Nano with it as well.... I think I'm sold and it's currently £150 on Amazon:

Slight aside but I remember watching that video before and it really rammed home the point of advancements in tech and how you don't need to spend that much. It also coincided with seeing a similar reddit thread on the Qudelix 5K and a poster asking why they needed anything more expensive than the Qudelix.

 

[mrk]

Wow that Qudelix 5K Reference is cheap, and if it's that good then I'm willing to give it a try, I also found the Fiio Q15 which is a bit more expensive at £379 but has inline volume control dial which would be kind of handy I guess but these small ones I can just keep in the headphone case and use as and when I need headphones, super convenient.

 

[waspy88]

So my Topping MX3s has been cutting out more often when using the Ananda Nano, those cans are just too sensitive at 14 ohms at moderate volume it seems, and the display just show P-0 whihc means its power circuitry are too overwhelmed driving these headphones.

The mission to find a headphone amp that can drive them continued and I made a post on reddit where someone recommended I buy an £800 DAC and £600 Amp combo...... Erm....

Anyway I contiued my search and came across this little thing, the Questyle M15i, looked it up on YouTube and one reviewer who checked out the non-i model replavced his desktop headphone amp setup with just that. and drove the Ananda Nano with it as well.... I think I'm sold and it's currently £150 on Amazon:

Definitely try out full sized planar headphones, they are another world of sub-bass let me tell you!

As for the size of even Ananda sized headphones? Yeah they are ridiculously big on the head - But very comfortable with a few custom tweaks.

The LCD X was Planar, the bass was just a boomy.. didn't dig deep, I think I should try the LCD-4s they seem to have better frequency response

 

[mrk]

That could well be an Audeze/LCD-X trait though? From everything I've read and my experience with two Hifimans now and also 2 models of STAX/Edifier, the bass is not boomy but reaches incredibly low with awesome detail regardless of volume level.

I have not ordered an amp yet, currently have the following saved to basket pending a decision:

Yes that is me considering buying another DX3 Pro+ under the notion that maybe the one I had before was just a dodgy unit

 

[Timber]

Wow that Qudelix 5K Reference is cheap, and if it's that good then I'm willing to give it a try,

The Qudelix 5k is a bit of a unicorn product imo. It's the software that the USP, but the wireless connectivity combined with it being a USB DAC/AMP also stand out. And is one of the few DAC/AMPs to work correctly with the PS5 too. Balanced output too. I don't know if its specs compete with some of these £300-400 dongles but I've been blown away by mine. Use it a lot with my phone as a Bluetooth dongle.

It is so small that the buttons aren't particularly great as a physical, tactile controls. OK for when you're out and about.

 

[mrk]

The Qudelix 5k is a bit of a unicorn product imo. It's the software that the USP, but the wireless connectivity combined with it being a USB DAC/AMP also stand out. And is one of the few DAC/AMPs to work correctly with the PS5 too. Balanced output too. I don't know if its specs compete with some of these £300-400 dongles but I've been blown away by mine. Use it a lot with my phone as a Bluetooth dongle.

It is so small that the buttons aren't particularly great as a physical, tactile controls. OK for when you're out and about.

Well the deed has been done

It was this review that convinced me to take the plunge and order it, he used the Edition XS, though they are 18 ohm not the Nano's 14, this should not make a huge amount of difference in this context I figure:

Questyle M15i Review

Questyle M15i Review

majorhifi.com

I'll post back on thoughts, be quite funny if the Nano have a new lease of life via a tiny little matchbox amp lmao where a much bigger desktop amp couldn't really do it. I'm fine with volume controlling via Windows as have media keys on the keyboard

The 4.4mm cable for the balanced output was necessary for the higher power of the M15i. Can return both if it doesn't work out and try something else which is nice.

 

[mrk]

So you want the good news or bad news?

Bad news first.... Why did nobody mention something like this before?! All thes emonths been looking at powered desktop headphone amps thinking that's what was needed for high end headphones output.

It's quite frankly disturbing how good this sounds, all the qualities of the Nano are amplified at greater volume than what the Fiio K7 and DX3 Pro+ were were able to do. There is no sound colouring, I hear some details that were missing on both topping and Fiio too, this may be because the soundstage is slightly wider whilst vocals have NAD-like smoothness and warmth. The stereo imaging is a bit more intricate too which probably helps with detail pickup. Everything else is transparent, if your heapdhones are wide soundstage and have epic bass and vocals, then there's more of that with this M15i.

It seems to only get a little warm to the touch. At Windows volume 30 at high gain the volume is the same as the Topping MX3s on high gain at 50% volume, the Fiio had no volume until 1PM on the dial anyway so probs not even worth talking about that. The DX3 Pro+ is probably the closest match gain for gain, though the M15i still feels louder probably because of the enhanced details and soundstage.

For all intents and purposes, this seems to be the perfect amp for the Ananda Nano's 14 ohms sensitivity.

I am amazed, why is everyone out there faffing over desktop headphones amps when things like this exist and are cheaper + better.

I'm probably going to get a Bluetooth milled metal volume dial now for Windows so I don't have to reach for the keyboard media keys when wanting to adjust volume

The M15i seems to be able to drive any headphone out there, seen many comments of people driving even up to 600 ohms.

Current Mode drive instead of voltage is the magic they're using here.

 

[Timber]

I am amazed, why is everyone out there faffing over desktop headphones amps when things like this exist and are cheaper + better.

Again this seemed to be a theme in the video's comments section you posted earlier. I had similar thoughts with the Qudelix, although more along the lines it's enough for me.

I suppose the biggest arguments against are if you need Optical/Co-ax inputs or have speakers as well as headphones then you need more than a dongle. There could be other more niche scenarios; tube rolling, very expensive models, power requirements, need a combined mic input etc. Either way it feels like very-high fidelity audio is getting cheap.

It's a very nice looking device the Questyle M15i. Having the electronics on display is very cool.

 

[mrk]

That's true, that's why I will forever have the Topping for the speakers and other input sources.

I spent all night listening to both planars through the M15i btw and the sound is 100% "analogue" in characteristics. I did some further reading and it seems what I was hearing is directly related to the components and tuning done by Questyle, they wanted to deliver an organic warm sound which is typically analogue - That's what i always refer to as the "NAD sound" as I've always had NAD amps before discovering Topping for speakers amping.

There's another donglebox around by UK company called ONIX, they have the Alpha model which is $109, it isn't as powerful as the M15i, but seems to deliver similar sound character and is voltage driven not current, so probably won't be as good for 14 ohm headphones like the M15i is. Has a screen though and looks cool:

Introducing ONIX Alpha XI1 - onixhiend.co.uk

The Smallest ONIX DAC

onixhiend.co.uk

I do like the window being able to see the gubbins though.

The one thing that has been apparent now is that the paper specs of these things don't mean anything as the way they drive headphones defeats on-paper expectations. I'm confident if anyone was blindfolded and had say the Nanos put on, they'd think a big heavy desktop amp was being used to power them, not something the size of a tic-tac box.