General purchase advice: Ask your questions/for advice here!

I need advice!
6310

Hi @Alexandra ,
I was hoping someone who had heard the DMP-A6 would respond, but it’s been over a week. So, just a few thoughts from someone who, I repeat, has not heard the device.

If you’re looking for a low-cost streamer and you really like having the color display on the unit, you might consider the WiiM Ultra. The display is smaller, but it uses the same DAC chip as the DMP-A6 (ES9038Q2M). It retails for $329 USD, so I would guess you could probably get one new for less than a used DMP-A6.

If you don’t care that much about having a display on the unit, I can recommend the WiiM Pro Plus. It retails for $219 USD. It uses the AKM 4493SEQ DAC chip, and my preference has been consistently in favor of the AKM chips over the ESS chips in low-cost DACs. The AKM in my experience are more tonally-dense and enjoyable for longer listening.

In the end, I don’t really understand the pricing strategy of the Eversolo streamer line. The A6 isn’t particularly cheap, but they still charge over $500 USD to upgrade the clocks and op-amps in the A6 Master Edition. To get the better DAC and dual power supply, you have to go for the A8 which is nearly triple the price. As always, use cases differ, so it might make more sense to someone else.

Hope that is of some use.

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6311

Thank you for the lovely advice. I will defo look into this!

6312

Hi ,
I’m looking for a dedicated music device,( maybe sometimes film ) for commuting . in my research I have liked the idea of using either an old iPhone 3G or GS or iPod Touch. Both are really inexpensive and nice quality on the used market I also found the Wolfson Dac used in these ,as described, more attractive to me, than the Cirrus for my music, which is Classical.
One of the things I’d like to know is which of these devices sound the best for music with my B&O M4 headphones there are different Wolfson Dacs ( & serial numbers ) in different iPods and phones. Just to note, I orders an Apple Dongle last night ,on eBay.
I am now using my iPhone 5 SE which is my daly phone and by the way, I really like it. I don’t need to “upgrade” .
Also is there something clearly better than these on the used market in sound quality for a reasonable price?
importantly. I need to be able to download excellent quality files on these devices for listening to music , in {{ Primephonic }} for example .
Thanks

6313

Complete newb, need help deciding what i want, figure start with headphones first and decide if i need an amp from there? My use is listening to music via my laptop, A Lenovo Legion, preferred over the ear, I want to get back into listening to some electronic music such as Deadmau5, some dubstep, Hardstyle, etc… also listen to alot of 80s & 90s rock and Americana. I do game on this laptop as well, nothing too crazy but alot of RPG and Openworld games. Like the Batman games, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and recently Warhammer Space Marine.
Thank you all in advance as i wasn’t sure where to start, Looking at the $200-$300 price range, willing to go up to $500 if its really worth it.
as a side quesiton, with a gaming laptop, would it be necessary to get a seperate amp for a headphone setup? would it make THAT much of a difference in sound quality?
And also any advice on optimizing my pc for audio? Again, total newb and thank you all!

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6314

Welcome to your headphone community Scootersquad!
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Right now I have HiFiMan Sundara on my ears listening to Deadmau5. These headphones fall within your expressed budget and provide sparkle and clarity that would truly move and impress “total newb” ears that have not yet developed favor nor bias for particular headphone characteristics.
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I am plugging HiFiMan Sundara back and forth into a Samsung tablet and then into a $1,400 amp dac stack to compare them listening to Deadmau5. And yes, of course there is an increase in the quality of controlled bass and overall precision. A pricy amp also provides more volume to listen at (unnecessary to me) rock out levels. But, you are specifically asking if a separate amp is necessary. The answer for this particular headphone, the Sundara, is no.
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So, for you, no I do not recommend an amp… for now. If you go with Sundara, see how well they work out for you straight from the jack of your gaming laptop. They actually sound pretty amazing right now playing straight from a low powered jack from my Samsung tablet.
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Also, down the road when you get the itch wondering if you should get a DAC (the next logical enticement) my opinionated answer to that is also no. However the exception is if you increase your budget to the bare minimum move to a Schiit Bifrost 2 OG or better which would run you $400 and up in the used market or a brand new Schiit Bifrost 2/64 at $700.

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6315

Thank you very much, would you think there is a huge difference between the closed back and open version of the headphone, there is a $100 price difference on them. I’m gonna try to find a local vendor to try them out

6316

By reputation, the closed-back Sundara is more bassy and less clear than the open-back version (which is the version that made the name). The open version gives you a taste of what some more expensive 'phones can offer. I don’t think you’ll get that with the closed version. There’s a reason the closed version started out selling for $100 more than the open and now sells for $100 less (as you noted).

I agree completely with @hottyson that there’s no real reason to concern yourself with amps or DACs until the budget gets a little bigger. Recommend instead that you look at free equalization (EQ) apps and learn how that can help you “season to taste” with your 'phones.

If you really want a closed-back, something like the Sennheiser 569 (around $150) or the Meze 99 Neo (around $200) would be worth considering. Neither of those will give you the “sparkle and clarity” of the Sundara Open, however.

If you have a local shop with a good selection, try as many different sets as you can, even some outside of your budget. You’ll get a better idea of what sounds best to you, and that’s really the name of the game. Let us know how it goes.

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6317

Yeah, most all would agree with Luo_Ford’s assessment. The Closed Sundara does not have a positive reputation which is in stark contrast of the stelar reputation Open Sundara.
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If you are in need of a closed headphone feel free to re-ask here and the members will readily provide recommendations that fit your situation. Just be aware that when selecting a closed headphone, you may be doing so with sacrificing audio quality and the selection becomes quite narrow compared to the plethora of highly recommended open headphones. I have large variety of closed headphones but none of them sound acceptable to my ears until I reach for Audeze LCD-XC which retail for $1,300.

6318

Listen to @Lou_Ford and @hottyson. Closed back headphones generally sound worse/awful when compared to open headphones. The only time I’d choose closed is for noisy environments and travel, and then I’d go with noise cancelling knowing the trade offs regarding sound quality.

6319

Thank you all for the advice, I found an audio shop not far from me, maybe I’ll stop next week. I’m near the Cleveland area. And I’ll stick with an open back, just didn’t know the difference between open and closed back.

6320

Like @generic the pink frog, I agree here with @hottyson and @Lou_Ford. Given your price range and present equipment, the open back Sundara makes sense. I have not found ANY closed backs in a reasonable price range that compare to the open backs, or, for that matter that don’t irritate me when I listen for long. And there’s a lot more to Deadmau5 and dubstep than bass. You get better detail with open back. Closed backs also sometimes have unpleasant internal reflections. The reason for most closed backs is so as not to disturb others.

Now @hottyson mentioned plugging his Sundara into a $1400 DAC/AMP stack and hearing an improvement. It figures. But probably the next step is a $200-300 DAC/AMP or DAC and AMP. You’ll hear a lot of improvement, and will be set to try out a range of other headphones. The Sundara is reasonably efficient, so it doesn’t REQUIRE the extra power and clarity you’d get with another DAC/AMP but it will make a difference. Lots of other headphones DO need to have more than the laptop will deliver.

And the audio included in your laptop is usually very inexpensive. Often no stronger than the $10 Apple “dongle”, certainly not representing as much as $50 of the laptop’s price.

6321

Another option would be the HD6560S headphone with a dac/amp from JDS or Schiit. This would cost about $180 for the headphone and $200 for the dac/amp.

I don’t know where built-in audio on laptops is these days but I have to beleive that using an external dac and amp would be a big step up.

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6322

Try everything you can at that shop, and be sure to bring music you’re familiar with to listen to. Have fun!

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6323

Use case… Streaming or Download :honeybee::honeybee: or not :honeybee::honeybee:

OK, I’ve got a first world problem. Tweaking the car audio. Putting in a better (but still original size puny 6x9) “subwoofer” in the original spot using the original leads has definitely helped the low bass.
BACKGROUND:
2024 Cadillac LYRIQ EV. I’m not going to go crazy, not going to change amplfication, or make other mods. Software is limited. This year - the last year that GM supports it - I can use Apple Carplay (and Android Auto if I feel like it) to connect from my phone to the car stereo system. The GM systems run AAOS (Android Automotive Operating System) which is related to but is not Android Auto. Starting next year, software has to be supported on AAOS, you won’t be able to use Carplay or Android Auto. I’m guessing it’s a security hole.

QOBUZ just came out with an AAOS player and I’ve installed it (along with Radio Paradise. I don’t use Spotify, but that’s available too).

The stock car audio DOES NOT have Parametric EQ. It has surround sound - adjustable, and Treble, Mid, Bass tone controls.
It’s not awful.

I have been running ROON ARC over Apple Airplay, connecting to the Roon Server I run at home. This gets me parametric EQ for anything playing through ROON. ROON ARC is slightly flaky. Well, moderately flakey. Many times it gets fussy with the connection. It seems to kinda-sorta want to step down resolution over a so-so connection.

I’ve been looking at downloading music to my phone, which lets me use ROON ARC as a player without concern for the vagarie of the Airwaves (State of the Ether, or just plain luck). I find that I can access Apple Music downloads if I download to my Mac, which also runs the ROON server. And then I point the Roon Server at the Apple Music Media folder, which lets me use ROON ARC to download said high-res files to my phone. And play them in the car.

I see stuff in my QOBUZ library, but it’s of course not downloadid. And QOBUZ plays nicer with ROON than my Apple Music Kludge.

So is it worth subscribing to the SUBLIME tier on QOBUZ and paying for some choice high-res download files? ROON is aware of the AAOS situation for several makes this year and ALL GM next year, they may release an AAOS version of ROON ARC.

In any case, I find I like my car well enough that I might choose to upgrade it in a year or so to the new model a LYRIQ V which would have adjustable suspension and another 150-200 horsies and pounds-feet to play with. But no Carplay…

And for those of you who are into downloaded files, how is it working wiht them. I haven’t played that much with actual files since ripping a bunch of CDs years ago.

6324

Depends on how many of the high-res files you’re planning on buying are discounted, and by how much. Sublime costs $50/year more than Studio. If you think you’ll make enough high-res purchases to recover that via the discount, then go for it. Actually, $50 to try it for a year and see isn’t that much at risk, really. (I’m pretty sure it’s a 12-month commitment on Sublime.)

I don’t know how much of the catalog is discounted, and I note the weasal-lawyerese of “up to” 60% discount, so I wouldn’t know how to predict it, but it still seems likely you could pretty easily get the $50 worth on discounts with a relatively modest number of purchases.

If you try it, let us know how the downloads compare to streamed content in high-res.

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6325

I think that @Torq uses Sublime. I’d probably buy enough to justify the cost.
The real problem is there is no EQ available. I texted the developers of UAPP, and they don’t want to work with AAOS, so that won’t happen. I wouldn’t want to try to use Neutron Player in the car - interface is to confusing. And I don’t know of any other Android apps that can do EQ on an entire system.

6326

I think system-wide EQ on Android is difficult-to-impossible due to the way the framework is organized. So you’re left trying to find an EQ that will automatically be recognized by the player(s) that you use. While not techincally system-wide, if it covers the players you use it’s just as good.

From what I understand, with AAOS the vehicle becomes an Android device. It that’s the case, then I imagine it’s going to be highly variable between automakers as to what 3rd-party stuff is allowed and what built-in pieces might be there. Maybe you’ll get lucky and Cadillac will provide some nice EQ as part of their system. That would be a nice present for the new year!

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6327

The AAOS Apps we recognize as such are Spotify, Radio Paradise, Qobuz, Sirius XM. The more subtle ones are whatever is baked into the system to play the radio and/or music on flash drives - which I’ve not tried. The SYSTEM settings for SOUND have the “Equalizer” which are the 3 tone controls. Treble, Mid, Bass. It also has settings for Fade and Balance, plus a “sound mode” where you choose Front or Rear - I always choose front - and one other slider from STEREO to SURROUND, which gives more and more space at the expense of pinpointing location in the soundstage.

Ideally, it would be great to replace the EQUALIZER component with either PEQ or something like a representation of a Schiit Lokius. 6 properly selected bands and slopes (Q) on a dial setup. I’m pretty certain that that ain’t happening.

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6328

Hi everyone, I commute on a train and want a closed back headphone for listening to music on the ride. I’m in the under $200 range. I was deciding on the Fiio FT 1 but they seem like they may be too bulky for commuting as I need to put them in my back pack along with everything else I have in there. Is there a set that has as good sound quality as the FT1 but is either slimmer or more compact? I was looking at the Sennheiser HD569 or the Sony MDR 7506 as an alternative. I would appreciate your thoughts. I will be using them with an Audioquest Cobalt and my Pixel 7. Thanks

6329

You’ve heard the conundrum - Price - Quality - Schedule >> Pick any two?

You’re working with parameters that are somewhat exclusive.
SIZE - in a closed-back over ear, small makes it hard to do sound quality,
PRICE - You can solve many things by throwing money at it

I’m guessing that you want closed back to keep out noise. You’re looking at wired, so no ANC gimmickry.

I’d say that the only solution would be in an IEM.

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