Thank you for your reply! I’ll take a look at them! I was specifically looking for in-ear earphones/earbuds (not in-canal) and realized how difficult it is to find decent ones (especially with detachable cable). There are barely any to choose from. I’ll consider headphones.
If you use the search here, you’ll find a whole thread on Koss headphones. They are the gateway drug to the headphone rabbit hole.
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By no means meh! I have the 550. Initial problem with volume but Arthur (power holdings) took care of it. I would buy from him again in a heartbeat.
The 550 sounds great. Also, you can run 3 cans at once, which makes A/Bing, well add a C, really easy. It’s my grail ss amp.
For iems, I texted bunch and wond up with Campfire Audio Sonora (or something like that), Ortavelli 80’s, and Noble mid-tier. All fit and sound different. Best, IMHO, the Campfires. It was a “h@@y s@@t” moment. (HiBy r6 with Cayin c9.)
When using USB Audio Player Pro with a dragonfly cobalt does it make sense to use the highest quality usb sampling level of 192 khz if your dac can only go to 96 khz?
I ask because there is a difference in streaming rate (ie 2,900kbps for 96 khz vs over 5,000 for 192khz). I do believe i hear slightly better fidelity on recordings of 192 because of the higher streaming rate.
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Approach the problem from a “bit perfect” point of view: if you limit your signal before it arrives to the DAC you’re altering the signal.
From such a perspective it makes sense that you perceive better quality when you don’t modify the sample rate.
The DF has its own instruments to downsample at his working rates.
Anyway if it sounds better to you just enjoy it.
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I’m curious. Do you all think just having a Schiit Loki could potential bring a neutral SET amp to sound a bit more like an OLT amp? I like the sound of both, although I prefer the neutral SET amp (if I had to pick one). However I do sometimes want to hear the extra bass and bloom of OTL amps. I’ve been thinking a Loki could actually do this to my SET amps, just boost the bass and sub bass a bit. What do you all think?
I’m talking like turning a Hagerman Tuba / Schiit Valhalla into a Bottlehead crack’ish sound.
An alternative is tube rolling.
Less impactfull but much more enjoyable to my ears.
I find it difficult to EQ a tube amp quite heavily without getting in return unwanted results.
Just my two cents.
The Loki can increase the quantity of the bass but I doubt it will add the harmonics (bloom) of the tube amp.
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Well, as a follow up to my journey, I still have not heard back from Justin at Headamp re the BHSE + CBRN. After originally emailing, I called as spoke with him (to be told he couldn’t talk and would call me back - which he never did), I then emailed, emailed again, and nothing. It’s very disrespectful IMO, and unprofessional. So, I don’t know how anyone would trust buying anything from a company if you can’t seem to get a response at this point. God forbid you needed to warranty something… His amp was my number one choice, but it’s now off the table (not that I’m guessing he cares in the slightest).
I had been going back and forth with someone (I don’t want to call him out publicly) at headphones.com, but that too has been VERY slow. The guy is nice enough, but we might as be sending physical letters at this point… I do believe he was waiting to hear back from someone else on something’s, so it might not be entirely his fault, but like before, he wouldn’t directly answer all of my questions. I literally emailed them weeks ago and outlined a bullet pointed list of questions. And before that list, I said “please reply to me with answers to these questions in your next email”. After not getting direct answers, I finally gave up. I feel like I might be able to work with them again at some point, but I’ll have to be over the phone, or another rep via email.
OTOH, Audeze was great at responding to me directly. Always very quick, clear and professional.
At this point, I went ahead and ordered the CBRN’s direct from Audeze. And, I put a deposit on a DNA amp (as the owner, while a bit slow to respond, was up front with what to expect). I’ll be reaching out to the company that makes the Carbon amps as I’ve heard they’re great for electrostatics, and (from what I’ve been told) they’ll actually reply to you.
While I’m sure these vendors could care less about the money I didn’t spend with them, they’ve lost it (in all likelihood) for good for future purchases. I’m a decent amount of money in, with a decent amount to go in the coming weeks. I only mention the money to illustrate the frustration I’m facing with the amount spent, and for others to know what they may (or may not) expect.
Finally, Torq is a wicked cool dude BTW! Very very helpful. Willing to give 1000% on every reply. It’s people like him that have caused me to love much of this hobby.
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Hey Adam,
Thanks for the mention. I’m a little unclear as to which parts Alan did not address in your emails as I do see he carefully answered each of your questions (including the bullet points you asked) over the week of emails from what I can see in the email chain. I do see that we were also waiting to hear back from Headamp on the BHSE. I see you swapped directions to a different amp which Alan let you know we did not carry and we have not received an email since.
We would definitely appreciate the business but Alan was being as honest as he could with you with a headphone that has an indefinite wait time ( have not received one since launch) and an amplifier that we had not received a response from the manufacturer on. We would much rather be honest and transparent with you like Alan was than take your money and sit on it until some indefinite point in 2022.
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I have contacted multiple companies. Some of them have ignored my emails when I had been making odd requests and asking odd questions. However, I have had immediate responses from all non-Chinese companies when asking for service on products that I already purchased, which seems to be a priority focus for most companies.
Companies that contacted me immediately for product support were Schiit, Audeze, Monoprice.
Companies that contacted me immediately for odd requests and odd questions ZMF, Audeze, Schiit, Burson, TTVJ.
You can get a very good feel of which companies are good from the forum members. There is also a thread where feedback is shared;
The truly bad customer support companies have well known reputations, such as Questyle. Sometimes I am very excited and eager and I try to have patience with companies. Especially with the demand and supply chain problems that have cropped up. I just take a step back and take a breath. There are lots of people here to help us.
Hi Adam, if you would not mind sharing a bit more context on the lack of communication you experienced with the different manufacturers and/or retail vendors?
- What is your expectation on response time on an email, voicemail, or online form entry?
- Do your queries require the need to speak to the person at the top, or could an employee be able to answer in a sufficient manner?
- There have been many within the forum who have responded to your questions with suggestions, what entails a 1000% score in your eyes?
Thank you in advance for your response, this survey is not affiliated with any dealer, manufacturer, or entity.
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Among my hobbies is bodybuilding. As such, and with a renewed interest in headphones, wondering if anyone has some recos for something over-ear that is either Bluetooth or could be driven amicably by something like the Qudelix 5k…
It’s not exactly running, so doesn’t need to be indestructible, but it will certainly encounter some sweat, etc.
I train alone in a garage, so open or closed back is fine. I have iems that I’m OK with but have always preferred over ear headphones in all use cases.
I’ve gone through a couple dozen running as I sweat quite a bit. I’ve killed almost every headphone in the book and the only one still surviving to this day is the powerbeats. Since the wonderful pandemic, I’ve done the treadmill in the garage and ifit, so I just listen to people and don’t beat on my hearing anymore. But I still use the powerbeats at work that I use to run with.
The Sennheiser HD5-- series has a healthy amount of clamp force and velour pads. Perhaps the HD 569 might do well for you.
if you can deal with a cord, lots of us have gone to the Koss Porta Pros, because they are “destructible”. As in, they cost an amount that I do not care about wearing out in a year or so. Not that I have, just that I suppose it will happen.
If cords are a no fly with your style of training, I have less ideas, as that’s when I give up on fidelity and go for the AirPods.
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Chord is fine if I can just run into the Qudelix I clip on a shirt. Streaming off iPad doesn’t lend itself to having source on my body 
Sound quality a level up from pricey Beats, etc., consumer brands?
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+1 on the Koss as a pair to enjoy without worrying about them. They are also on ear so they don’t build up as much sweat as over ear models (something that I suffer from a lot due to where I live).
Check out the Koss PortaPro and the Koss KSC75 threads for plenty of impressions.
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Yeah better than most skull candy, beats, level gear. The thing the protagonist pros do is actually what they don’t do. They don’t try to get more out of a cheap driver than they can.
(Insert standard audio impressions disclaimer here - to my ears, on this day, for me, your mileage may vary, do not take without grain of salt, cosult an attorney before making a decision, etc, etc, etc)
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