I hear the Bifrost 2 as having a “full bodied mid range without an elevated treble emphasis.” I distinguish between full bodied versus warm (warm to me = elevated bass and/or boomy). I hear many DS DACs as having lean mid range body and piercing treble.
I hear the RebelAmp as generally neutral and fully extended from low to high, but as smoothing the sharp edges common with many solid state amps (THX and the like). I hear many common SS amps as reproducing or exaggerating unwanted treble noise, which may be heard as brightness or hissy noise. I heard my now sold Magni 3 and later Magni 3+ as having this character versus the lean, clean, and narrow THX AAA 789.
The Clear and HD-600 are neutral-to-bright and very reactive, so the Bifrost 2 and RebelAmp offset their potential weaknesses in a good way.
New to the whole headphones hobby space (ironic given that some of my favorite activities over the years revolve around music).
Current set up is Amazon Music HD on laptop—-> Zen Dac v2 —-> Focal Clear OG. Listen to a fair bit of oldies soul, hip hop. Really happy with the jump from my closed back Bluetooth headphones to the Clear.
Two questions here (for reference, I’d probably be willing to go up to $2-3K for headphones but for obvious reasons, I’d want it to last a while if that expensive):
I was looking into getting a planar magnetic open back headphone, but a few of the most popular high end recommendations seem a bit flimsy/plasticky, say Hifiman 1000v1. I’d prefer to own only a couple very nice headphones so build quality/durability matter. Other options are allegedly a bit too heavy or uncomfortable to wear, like the Audeze offerings in that same price range, or RAD-0s (I don’t mind the focal weight at all but obviously it’s only 450ish g). Is there a planar magnetic open back that has solid build quality without being 600+g or uncomfortable to wear for expended periods of time, but can still deliver on sound quality?
Would the Zen Dac v2 suffice as a DAC/amp combo for the planar magnetic headphones mentioned above? If not, any good DAC/AMP options under the 1.5K mark?
There are many experienced people here, all with different tastes, opinions and methods of doing things, so bear that in mind when reading the recommendations you receive (including mine). With that said, your headphone is in the mid-to-high tier, but your Zen DAC 2 is considered entry level. If you had an entry level headphone, I’d recommend upgrading to a better one; but since it’s already a really solid transducer, I’d personally upgrade the amp and/or DAC provided you’re still happy with the Clear. Even if you’re looking for a completely different sound - in which case upgrading the transducer would be applicable - you may want to consider a more robust amplifier in order to really synergize and also drive the planar headphones you’re considering.
As for a lightweight planar that isn’t plasticky, I immediately think of the Meze Empyrean; though the opinions are quite varied on its sound quality.
Hey everonye, I am looking for a budget pair of 50$ wireless earbuds, I narrowed it down to 2 options.
The Edifier TWS1 Pro or the TaoTronics soundliberty 79.
Both seem great and have good reviews. Does anyone have any input on which one I should get between the 2? I know the Edifier are newer.
Well, i’m not an iphone fans, so i’ll use an android phone, to get an idea i’ll be something like the oneplus 7/7T or some, but for now i’m waiting for those that have the camera under display, but… the phone is not the only place i’ll be use them, i pretend to use it with the laptop as well, those dragonfly that you mention are recommendable for a laptop/PC? must of the time i’ll spend with the headphone will be like 70% music, 20% youtube/twitch and 10% game(but this one i don’t care that much…).
And thos koss you mention… well that’s a new recommendation… i can affort them but i’m wondering about the sound and if they can give some isolation, those 2 things are what i’m looking for primarly
Just like i say to @Hansel not a fan of apple phones or products, but those koss that both of you mention… it’s always good to save money but how much would i lose in sound quality? that have me thinking 'cause i can buy them right now, but don’t wanna rush thinks.
And have a question… those dragonflys they are usb… so i think there will be no problem on using them with a laptop/pc, but there will be a difference on using them with an OTG? 'cause even androids phones still need an adapter for that type of connections… and well, have never use and amp or dac so don’t know how they work, those they need some configuration or something? or it’s just plug-in and play or how…?
Koss - give ZERO (0) isolation. Sound is mid-fi, but well done. Everybody who has them likes that they weigh about 2/3 of a feather. The point of them is not audiophile sound, but quite good consumer sound for a low, low price. Plus the mic is pretty good, I use them on my phone a lot.
The Dragonfly is USB and works great with an OTG cable. I used to manage developers among other things, so I’ve always kept a few options around - from Motorola ZOOM days through Android 8 tablet, Mac, Windoze and Linux boxes. You never know what you need.
There are 3 Dragonfly on the Audioquest wildlife, black, red and blue and that is also the order from less expensive to more expensive ($99,$199 and $299 if buying new), I know @pennstac is the master with the dragonfly black.
I own the red but barely use it. But yes, they are usb and can be connected to your laptop and cell using an adapter and you’ll hear the difference in any of both cases.
The reason I suggested Bluetooth devices like the Fiio btr5 ( cheaper than the red and blue dragonfly) or the ES100 ( cheaper than the three insects) is because, when using my phone ( an iphone) I hate having all that cables going to my pocket and disconnecting all the time therefore I use Bluetooth.
They can be connected to your laptop too using a usb to usb mini for the ES100 or a usb to usb C adaptor for the Fiio. They are the main reason I don’t use my dragonfly red that often.
From your list of headphones the only two I own are the HD58x and the Meze recommended by the Prof. and both of them will do good with any of the devices mentioned above.
The Koss are great for the price, but they don’t get close to the Sennheiser’s or the Meze’s.
You mentioned something key now, isolation !!! HD58x and the Koss will NOT give you that, from the 3 that i own only the Meze 99 classic will give you isolation.
I’m answering you from my cell and have no idea how give you some links in an easy way, but the cheapest 99 classic are on Drop.com or used or on Amazon used as well.
In this great forum you will find lots of info about the Dragonfly’s, the Koss and any Sennheiser, the Meze and the Fiio and ES100.
I have a Black with Jitterbug AND a Cobalt (Blue). People sell the Black short because it has less power, but it ALSO draws less from your phone, and is just the ticket to help out an already efficient headphone by tightening up bass and doing high-res wizardry on your files. I use the Cobalt more, it’s the smallest by a hair and has the jitterbug circuitry in it.
Note that many or most ANDROID devices will need to bypass the Android USB limitations by using software such as UAPP to get high-res out.
While Bluetooth devices are fine - I use the iFi Zen Blue V2 at work all the time, it should be recognized that the limitations of BT 4.x will NOT let you do CD quality, and 5.x will only allow CD but not better only under PERFECT conditions. No higher definition possible.
As far as isolation, what @Hansel (and most certainly what @ProfFalkin) say.
I recommend finding the original Samsung Galaxy Buds or any of that series (not the live though). They are fantastic for fit and sound quality. Works best with android phones of course.
yeah i’m thinking on buying the dragonfly black to begin with since i’m new to this hi-fi world, i’m also considering the bluetooth device you recommend but, have always been a skeptical about bluetooth stuff and audio.
And thanks on the suggestion on the headphones think i know which would o buy, you’re being so helpful.
There is a thread that has a lot of discussion about UAPP and android. Maybe @prfallon69 or someone else can put up a pointer. Android’s handling of USB leaves something to be desired for quality audio. UAPP replaces how the Android system manages and limits the USB.
Dolby does something different. It can make a difference with either wired or wireless because most of what Dolby labs does is to process sound in one way or another. That is not always desirable for music. You can listen to the latest Dolby here:
When Dolby first came out, it was a system to reduce hiss noise on tapes, especially cassettes. It did this by making the recording volume louder in the frequency of tape hiss, then reducing the volume on playback. It worked pretty well. It was also used on master tapes. As we moved from tape to digital, they found other things to process. Now they are big into muli-track and working with spacial (placement in space, room acoustics) effects. That’s the Dolby ATMOS in the link above.
But Dolby is big for movies - not so much for music. It tries hard not to be a gimmick, and for its intended use is not.
I recently posted a FS topic; however, it’s not showing up under Buy and Sell. I know it requires moderator approval but it was done a few days ago. Any advice?
My current setup is a Verite open-back which I’ve had for a few months now that runs through a Modius and Asgard 3. It sounds pretty good as-is for the obvious reasons, but I’m not sure if something seems missing or not. I tried out an Echo amp on the general advice is that ZMF headphones run better on them as a whole, and while I’d say it was certainly “better” than the Asgard 3, I couldn’t exactly tell you why, so it didn’t feel like it was enough of a jump to be worth the money. What I like best about the Verite are its soundstage and how clearly it presents instruments like drums, although I listen to a wide variety of music.
I’ve come to find that at this point I don’t really want to bother with tubes any more unless one day far down the line I go for a truly top-end setup, mainly because I listen from my computer and I like having the always-on advantages of solid-state amps. With that, I’m curious if there’s anything reasonably priced that’s worth jumping to from the Asgard 3 that’ll be worthwhile. Maybe I’m also looking for a different sound that yields better results with different headphones for what I want, or maybe I’m just crazy and should stick with this setup (and could use that validation).
Should I look into the 2021 LCD-X or 800S? I’ve heard both recently on a demo floor, but the LCD-X was an indeterminate older model and I didn’t get the 800S a long enough listen so I don’t necessarily want to discount either. People seem to be raving about the new 2021 LCD-X model which has my interest piqued. Any input’s welcome!
Thank you for the update. To be honest, I have lurked for quite a while but am only interested in selling headphones to someone who would truly enjoy them. There appear to be many of those type of folks here in this community and I would like to make sure they go so someone who would enjoy them. If that presents an issue I can go elsewhere.
It’s not an “issue” as such, just the way the forum and the community here works.
As a seller, you’re going to get asked for some level of provenance as to your trade/sales history. If you don’t participate in the community as a whole, that’s going to be something people are more insistent about as potential buyers will have no idea who you are/how you conduct things.
Regardless, there are no posts pending in the approval queue. I have no idea what happened to any prior posts you made, if any. And since there is nothing pending, you’d have to repost them.