I’ve given up trying to understand the mechanisms for what I have heard.
I don’t run cable risers, but I have heard them make a difference (all be it small), my best guess is it changes the stress points on the wire.
Try a good isolation platform on a SS amp or DAC and try and explain cause and effect there.
I do have mid priced power cables, and I agree the only rational explanation is RF noise, and if you look at how they are designed that’s clearly a part of the thought process. I’d never try and convince anyone to buy expensive power cables, but for me with a power regenerator where they are in effect the only 6 ft of cable in the system, the difference is quite clear and enough I’ve had definitive preferences between $200+ power cables (though again we’re not talking swapping amps or DAC’s level).
BUT having said all that my general rule is you have to be rational about that, anything you invest in one aspect of a system could be invested in another, you really shouldn’t be spending more than 10-20% of the cost of your system on cables.
I’m not sure it’s RF. When I look deeper into the stuff I don’t understand about electricity, it seems that power is not transmitted though the wire, but via a field around the wire. There are, for example drones that can recharge by sitting on power lines. This can be some low frequency EMF.
But I get simpler as I get older. And try to understand less of the unimportant stuff and retain more of the important stuff. The whiteboard behind me says “Be strategically simple.
The Schiit Magni does run off a “wall wart” but this particular Schiit’s wall wart is just an AC step-down transformer, not a complete PS. Look closely at the input text in the picture – “AC IN” not DC, so you still couldn’t run this off an external LPS or SMPS or input-choke-shunt-regulated PS or batteries or anything else that outputs DC. The conversion from AC to DC is still being done inside the box by the Magni.
Guys I am seeking an advise AGAIN, sorry for which but you really helped me chose the correct dac and amp and change my mindset on the setup, so I hope you can give me your personal experience / opinion on something else.
I have an offer from Ebay seller, who is purchasing large amount of IEMs and other headphones directly from China where he has a colleague who has access to a large local distributor and purchases them at low cost. The offer is for Hifiman HE1000V2 brand new , unopened package still with Bublewrap and all the nesecery packaging, price is £1850 , of course warranty is not trasnferable, he has proof of purchase for the “gathering” as like i said he purchases big quantities of headphones.
There is also another seller with ZMF Verite Open , same price as the Hifiman so thats £1850 but they are used for around 2 years, and I have an offer from official dealer in the UK for brand new Verite Closed with lifetime warranty for £2399 but I have no idea what to chose. The brand new Verite Closed is a bit off my budget, I can buy it but I will have to split into few months on the Dac and Amp, but again I have no idea how either of these sounds and I was wondering if there are people who have any experience with any of these headphones to share their opinion.
I’d certainly try before buying. I’d absolutely get a warranty for the HiFiMan. Ebay also concerns me for such a purchase. Do you have any local stores for demos? Local audio shows? You might also read the HiFiMan and Verite threads (use the search tool) for prior comments and reviews.
You might start with mid priced equipment to explore your tastes. Many of us spend a long time before we find something we love, or settle down.
It’s not RF, just inductive charging, same thing if you do wireless charging for your cell phone or an electric toothbrush. Basically, a changing EM field in the vicinity of a coil of wire will induce a current in that wire (and vice versa which is an electromagnet). The field around the power lines is constantly changing because they’re AC. The drone sitting on them is just getting some current induced in a small coil of wire near its bottom side.
I agree with @generic - slow down and spend some time doing some research; then, go listen to everything you can within your budget. It takes time to to truly determine what you like and dislike, and during that period you’ll be simultaneously training your ears and brain on what to listen for.
An eBay seller that claims he has ties or special pricing immediately concerns me - tread lightly. I’d hate to see you or anyone else get scammed.
Let me ask you this: when you started posting in the thread you said you enjoyed your LCD-X. Is that no longer the case? I know I encouraged you to spend less on the DAC and amp and said it makes more sense to put more money into an endgame headphone before finding your endgame DAC and amp, but do you truly want a different headphone? If not, wouldn’t finding a mid-tier amp and DAC be the better route to go?
Finding an “endgame” headphone takes a long time and lots of listening hours; have you put in that time yet? Have you developed a sound reference so that you truly know what your endgame is?
Stop, research and listen; take time to enjoy the journey, while at the same time developing your listening skills and preferences. Then, and only then, should you consider attaining a full endgame system.
As someone who loves Hifiman and has personally had very few issues with them, I would also strongly recommend going with an official distributor that has a full warranty.
I have more sets than I voted for but realistically there are only about 4 sets I use regularly.
I cycle through those 4 sets on my primary rig, at about 2 weeks a piece and I’ve been considering letting one of those go.
“Too many” is too vague, as there are all sorts of reasons one may want more. Collecting, benchmarking, reviews, hearing assessments, nostalgia, loaning to friends/family, home, office, travel, workouts, commuting, Zoom/video calls, fear of breakage with some brands, etc. For personal use, I’m likely to rotate between 2-3 most of the time. The rest either sit there as references or come back into the rotation eventually.
If you are sane and can afford them, there is no limit. If you are prone to being a junk hoarder or choose endless side-grades then you should have a cap.
Well, I chose “no limit” for a few of the reasons you describe @generic …collecting, benchmarking, assessments etc.
Currently up to 14 sets, and about the same in IEMs, a few of which I haven’t used for quite some time and probably won’t keep in the long term.
In the future I can see thinning that number out. Though there are still others I will add as well.
For the time being though, as I expand my knowledge and upgrade and add different components to my chain, I like to try them with the different gear. Not necessarily even better gear but just different dac/amp architecture to experience the changes/synergies and perhaps scaling(or in some cases not).
Once I hit a plateau (if that exists for me, I certainly hope I stop moving the goalposts ) and reach as high as I’m willing to go , I would plan on keeping maybe a handful to represent tastes/flavors and genres and perhaps synergies and let go of the rest.
I’ve pretty much reached that point in IEMs. There’s a couple I really want to keep and a couple more I’d like to try…the rest I’m fine with letting go.
I say no limit because initially I’d thought I would probably just be a collector but I don’t think that is the case anymore. Certainly can see how someone would be.
Some of my headphones I definitely see as being unnecessary to keep at this point and don’t have any attachment to keeping them. Will definitely have a de-clutter sale at some point.
Given the HE1000V2 is an old version, you’d be better off with a new, full warranty Arya v3. With it being unopened, that’s actually worse than used because it could be DOA and there’s nothing you can do about it. The VC is incredible, as is the VO so I’d also choose those over the 1000.
I found an ad on US Audio Mart selling repaired Focal Elex for a seeming decent price. (Dunno if posting the link is allowed, but it was easy enough to find)
Wondering if it’s actually worth touching these with somebody else’s 10 foot pole, or if it should be avoided at all costs - I really haven’t been following the drama on the failures
Hi all. First post. So happy to find a group of knowledgable and welcoming people for a hobby I’m just starting in. After weeks of YouTube videos and reading through about 10,000 posts on various forums here, I wanted to get some advice.
I’m a newbie to audio, and got started because I enjoy gaming. SHP9500 and PCX38 got me started, but I recently wanted to expand into music in addition to gaming and explore what’s out there. I like most music genres, like a wide soundstage (gaming influence), but have a slight sensitivity to that shouty feeling in certain ranges. I currently have the HD6XX and Sundara with an IFI Zen Dac V2 and am loving life. My only reservation is whether I should return the IFI Dac V2 and go to a Dac and Amp that would maybe elevate both the HD6XX and Sundara a little more. Not looking to break the bank, but I’ve seen folks talking about the Jotunheim 2, Atom stacks and others and just wanted to get some thoughts on if there is a better pairing I should consider. $500 is about the upper end of what I’d want to spend on the dac/amp combined for now, but I’m sure that may change as I get further down the road and want to expand my headphone choices (interested in LCD-X, HD800S or Arya somewhere down the road, but I’ve got alot of listening to do before I go there). I like the thought of the Jot2, because of the all in one solution and I’ve already got the 4.4mm balanced cables for both headphones, but if it’s not the answer, then live and learn. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any thoughts.
) and reach as high as I’m willing to go , I would plan on keeping maybe a handful to represent tastes/flavors and genres and perhaps synergies and let go of the rest.