Toneboosters makes a competing product called Morphit that not only lets you simulate a flat “reference” response, but it also lets you simulate any of the other headphones that it supports. So, you could listen to an HD600 but HD800 frequency response. The other cool thing about Morphit is that they have a mobile version that integrates to USB Audio Player Pro and only costs $3.99. UAPP is another $7.99, but that’s still a lot cheaper than Sonarworks.
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Now this is something super interesting. Would you say this is a reliable way to test if you like a particular headphone’s tonal balance by simulating it on your own?
I haven’t played with it enough to be able to tell you. My main headphones are the DT 1990, the LCD2C and the HD 600. Only the HD 600 is supported by Morphit, so I can’t compare simulation to reality.
Ahh, so you would need to own two of the supported headphones and apply the tone morph to tell if they sound similar?
Or at least have access to both. Like if I ever make it to a headphone meet, that would be a fun experiment. Bring my HD 600 (which is supported) and see how the Morphit simulation compares to the real thing.
Well here’s a delayed reply, @pwjazz. I’ve been trying to use the Android phablet (CHUWI Hi9 Pro) that I picked up so I would have one modern Android device when I was trying to give the iFi xDSD DAC a workout. My old Motorola Xoom was just too ancient and only ran Android Corn Syrup, while the new one runs the much more modern Android Pop Rocks. (I’m sorry, I can’t resist renaming Android system versions).
After TIDAL modified their Android app to handle MQA, @Torq pointed me toward UAPP, which I use along with the xDSD to get the proper experience.
I would expect that Morphit Mobile would not work in MQA bit-perfect mode, but there is only a modest amount of MQA content anyway. Would you suggest Morphit Mobile plug in (it’s cheap), or perhaps Sonarworks (it supports more of my headphones, and I don’t know if it works with a USB DAC on Android)
Even though I listen more frequently at present to iOS devices with DAC and Camera Kit at present, I’m trying to have a go-to mobile listening station.
Your thoughts?
In regards to the original question: A good power strip with filtering. $80. Not that cheap Furman crap either. APC or Tripp Lite.
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Pyle rack mount power…inside a small wall mounted rack enclosure under my desk, powering everything, don’t think I could go backwards from this lol, definitely could move forward with better power supply conditioner though.
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Neither supports any of my current headphones so I can’t do a sound comparison. Functionally, the biggest difference is that True-Fi works with Spotify whereas UAPP with Morphit works with Tidal, Qobuz and Google Play Music. True-Fi on
Well that makes it easy. I don’t use Spotify. I love this era where nothing works with everything. Imagine if you could buy one car that would go North or South, but you needed another one to go East or West.
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Yeah. The licensing model for music has been broken for a long time, and I don’t think the streaming era has moved things in the right direction. The old parasitic middle men have been replaced (well really augmented) by new parasitic middlemen. I would love to live in a world where I owned a license to specific music itself (ideally directly licensed by the artist), granting me the right to replay that recording whenever and wherever I like in perpetuity. Services like Spotify, Tidal, etc. would be replaced by music delivery services, which is just a minor convenience that would help me manage my collection. If I ever lose a local copy, I could present proof of ownership and obtain a new copy from any distribution service for a nominal fee.
Whenever possible, I buy music on CD or from Bandcamp, as this comes closest to my ideal model of licensing/distribution.
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VHS vs BetaMax all over again. Ford transmission fluid vs Dextron. It used to be very manageable. I like your music model. Apparently, you don’t actually “own” the book you buy on Kindle, even if, like I do, I almost always buy. (I’m not paying another subscription). I own all the old paper books, and can resell them. I think that Amazon was in court about their buttons saying “buy” when it really meant a lifetime license to read. You can “lend” but not sell. This became obvious with the Kindle DX that was used in colleges with electronic versions of textbooks. It was marketed to publishers as a way to avoid the “losses” of the used textbook market.
Music on CD is good because you can transfer it for personal use easily. I used to buy CDs but went back to records most of the time because well…vinyl. Not at all handy for transferring.
I don’t think the situation will become any better, at least in the US. We recently passed a law that starts to apply royalties for music recorded before 1972. I wonder who will get Scott Joplin’s royalties?
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Our copyright system is nuts. I once created a video which I set to a 1920s recording of Louis Armstrong. When I uploaded to YouTube it rejected the video for including copyrighted music. After looking into it I was surprised to find that even something that old was still under copyright.
I haven’t scoured this entire thread so someone else may have mentioned this.
The cheapest investment I’ve made (years ago) that has made things noticeably better is using Qtips on a regular basis to clean my ears after I shower.
I know all about them supposedly piercing ear drums!
If you plan on jamming them in, that might be the case (and in that case, I’d advise against using them).
But if you’re gentle, pay attention to what you’re doing and avoid insering them to hard/far, all they do is clean out the wax.
I just use them when I shower and have been doing so for ages, since I noticed it imoroved my hearing in general (as opposed to just drying your ears with a towel).
NOTE: I am not a doctor or hearing expert; use at your own risk!
(I am an older guy with much better hearing than most my age, according to the online hearing test.
So I haven’t damaged anything in > twenty years of using them. YMMV if you fall on your head with a Qtip in your ear!)
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CAIG Deoxit clean up is a very inexpensive tweak. I just did my system AC and headphone connections tonite. Amazing how much grime accumulates in the connections. Cleaned up some tube pins too.
Used Brush on D100L and G5 Spray. Stuff works.
Since I upgraded to Android 12, Neutron player stopped working. So, I switched back to USB Audio Player Pro, which happens to have Morphit baked in.
I’ve been having fun playing with the headphone simulation stuff. Morphit doesn’t have the HD58X, but they do have the very similar HD660s. Simulating Audeze and Hifiman headphones yields what I consider believable results based on having owned some of these. Hifiman sounds bright, a little artificial and a little soft, Audeze sounds warm and laid back but with good treble sparkle, HD650 sounds very similar but a bit smoother.
Some people believe in owning multiple headphones to suit different genres and moods. I think Morphit is a legit option for this which doesn’t require buying a bunch of headphones now keeping them readily at hand. Today, I’m enjoying an LCD2r2 without the weight, expense or difficulty of finding a unicorn pair on the used market!
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For me, my JLab Studio headphones don’t need any kind of enhancement! They come with 3 modes (Jlab signature, Balanced, and bass-boosted) Jlab signature is the default mode and is best for multiple types of music! Balanced does not add any effects, helpful for Classic songs or maybe podcasts! Bass-boost will “drop the base” and play tones as low as possible! Helpful for Electric, dance, EDM, hip-hop, and rap songs (among other genres)!
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