Over time and with increasing practice, you get a feel for what characteristics Tip‘s should have for BA, Dynamic, E-Stat, Planar or combined driver driven earphones.
The size of the bore, the material, the length of the Tip’s are mostly similar between different In-Ear manufacturers if the driver configurations are similar.
The sizes S, M, L, XL and everything in between, on the other hand, rarely change because the size of your ear canal stays the same and only occasionally different manufacturers vary a little in the tipsize they offer.
However, I also have a little experimental material at home.
Hmm. Estimating 100 tips and 50 IEMs and allowing about 10 minutes per combination, that works out to around 35 days of around-the-clock experimenting. Or you could spend well over a decade at one combination per day.
Hello, everyone. I’m currently using a pair of Xiaomi Piston Basic’s earphones, because I previously had two pairs of the Xiaomi Pro HD which were perfect for me in terms of comfort, shape and very good sound and microphone for the price. I wanted to ask for your advice as I’m looking for something with better sound quality than the Xiaomi’s (although they’re pretty good for the price - 5 to 10€)… What do you recommend 40-50€ for WIRED earphones similar to the Xiaomi’s and with a good mic (important for my work) and good sound quality ?
Totally agree about the cable – still working on the tips.
My first thought was to go back to Hart and get a modular cable to go with my existing stuff, but couldn’t justify an $83 cable for $42 IEMs. So, got this $12 Tripowin Zonie instead. It’s more pliable and robust than stock for not a lot of money.
The TINHiFi case was $16, so now I’m up to $28 of “accessories” for a $42 item. Tips will probably make it more on accessories than the item, but the whole thing should still end up less than a Benny, so no complaints.
These are my favorite tips for most of my iems. I like the Xelastecs too, but they are quite fragile, and last like complys, although i generally only like foam tips for iems i otherwise can’t keep in my ears anyway.
Thanks, @InvisibleInk and @senorx12562. There is a good chance that the Trio will become my “daily driver” at work and not just my travel set. If so, I’ll definitely follow your recommendations and find the right size of the AZLA SednaEarfit CRYSTAL Standard (seriously, they could come up with a shorter naming system) for me.
I am sort of playing with the thought of adding another DAC to my collection, given how my current setup has more AMPs (how dare the collection not have a perfect 1:1 ratio of AMPs and DACs! shocked gasp)
I was wondering if you guys had some interesting suggestions. Budget is around 1500€ and I am located in Germany.
I am more of a person who doesn’t hunt for the best measurements necessarily. The gear needs to make a lasting impression. Have a stand out factor so to speak.
In case its relevant, current DAC/AMP gear: Bifrost 2, Mojo 2, Modi3 (on loan to a friend), Magni Heresy (on loan to a friend), Topping A70 Pro, xDuoo x Drop TA-84, Lyr+, HiBy R4, Vali 2++
One of the reasons why I have Bifrost 2 (non64) as its one of the most alive/energetic sounding DACs I have ever heard.
I was eyeing the Holo Cyan 2, but I was curious to hear about your other suggestions. Thank you!
I think this was referring to the Geshelli Dayzee. Can you elaborate a bit? It’s a basic DAC, albeit with more outputs than usual.
Also, rough budget for this, and do you have any interest in the technology inside? Looking for something different than what you have, or similar-but-better?
I am more looking into a DAC that at best maybe runs two AMPs at best. not one DAC to rule them all.
I like to play with them. Change the setup around. Run the Lyr with the Mojo
Run the Bifrost with the A70
like having different kinds of pants and shirts and recombining them to different outfits depending on the mood
I mean the technologic part inside of it is a “cool to know” thing (like how the chord products use xilinx FPGAs) but dont get much else from the knowledge in that regard.
More like have something different sounding mostly. The Bifrost and Mojo for example are drastically different sounding, same for the quad ESS in my hiby.
I mean the Holo Cyan 2 is also an R2R like the bifrost, but due to how R2R require a custom solution every time, instead of just using an “off the shelve” ESS/AKM/younameit I can imagine the Cyan still sounding drastically different.
The way I would describe me as an audiophile. I do like a really competent good headphone/component. But it needs a stand out characteristic for me to go “I need this”
Just being an overall good pick is “boring” to me. It’s maybe of the reasons why I don’t like the HD6XX line.
A piece of gear needs to cause an emotional response in me for me to warrant buying it.
OK, so I’m thinking there are some DACs that are quite different from what’s in your stable. These are all based on old-school R2R chips and employ tubes. As such, they’re all shooting for a full-bodied, tonally-dense presentation rather than hyper-detail. You might find that different enough to be interesting, or it might just come off as boring.
In no particular order,
BorderPatrol DAC, $1650 with either USB or coax S/PDIF input. Uses the venerable Phillips TDA1543, which is an R2R IC. NOS, and no output buffer. More unique, it uses an EZ80 tube rectifier and choke smoothing in the power supply.
MHDT Orchid / Orchid 69SE, $1210 / $1300 + $120 shipping to Europe. Uses the Philips TDA1541A R2R chip. NOS, no digital filter like the BP, but now the tubes are where you’d expect, in the output buffer. 5670 for the regular Orchid, 6922 in the 69SE.
AudioNote DAC 0.1x, $?? (probably under $2k). Also TDA1543 based with 6111WA dual triode in the output.
BorderPatrol is US-based, and offer a 14-day trial. MHDT is from Taiwan. AudioNote from the UK. With all of them, you can play around with tube rolling.
And now (to shamelessly copy Monty Python) for something completely different…
For around $300 there is the AK4493 version of the Geshelli JNOG2 (Socketed). The AK4493 is delta-sigma, but I much prefer it to the ESS chips I’ve heard in DACs below $500. The socketed version allows you to try rolling op-amps, which is yet another way to “change things up.”
elsewhere you wrote that you want to use this dongle primarily with IEMs.
My question is: which specific earphones do you intend to use the dongle with?
We can list over 50 different brands here, but in the end that won’t do you any good, as in-ears in particular are very sensitive to output voltage, various DAC modules or sheer power.
And for my part, I can list at least a dozen IEMs for which the Dragonfly is the best choice in my opinion.
For other In-Ears, a simple Apple dongle sounds excellent and “warmer”.
The Cayin RU6 is a safe choice in this sound direction as a mobile r2r DAC.
Likewise, ifi Audio tends towards “well-tempered” tonal presentation.
For all of this, however, it is important to know which driver, which brand, which usecase…
All of this actually makes a difference as to whether you will be satisfied with your sound in the end.
