Pictures of your portable rig

Oooo, now those A12t’s I really like the look of. Great setup.

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omg! clean asf!!! 10

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Thanks, the look of my A12t are a little divisive among my friends, they either agree that it looks good, or think that I am an odd ball to choose clear face-plates and a solid shell.

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Heh, I am cheating for the sake of a nice photo, for this particular pairing, there actually is a 4.4mm female to 2.5mm male converter, since the cable is terminated in 4.4mm.

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How is the isolation compared to none vented customs? Great colour choice btw.

This is my soundstation. Have a few Sonos speakers around the house.

iPhone Xr > Supra USB > Chord Mojo > Sennheiser HD650.

Two months ago I had Denon D5200 and a Dragonfly. Woops!

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They both are vented (universal and customs) in the same location.

Welcome Henrik -If you cherrish your wallet… leave immediately!!!

But nice I am not the only one from Aarhus around here :sunglasses:

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Oh I meant in comparison to customs that are not vented or other none vented universal iem.

Too late! :slight_smile:

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My recently, as of yesterday, completed portable rig.

Azla SednaEarfits ===> Empire Ears Legend X ===> Dunu Hulk ===> HiBy R6 Pro

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Very nice portable setup. I bet it sounds wonderful. Enjoy.

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Thanks. For my musical tastes this is the perfect match.

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rps20200617_145042
Pioneer XDP30r and ADV M5 TWS

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My collection and progression of BA-Dynamic Driver Hybrids
BGVP DMG > Final Make 2 > FiR M4

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I picked up this nice second-hand AK Jr. recently. I got it for a couple of reasons. One of them is to use it with my Massdrop Plus IEMs. The two go together pretty well. While the sound is a bit warm and slightly congested (the treble on the MD+ is a bit rolled off), there are the compensating pleasures of the deeper bass extension and the superior clarity and resolution over my iPhone (with dingle dongle), which had served as my previous portable source. I hadn’t realized how small this DAP is, and I’m glad the battery can still last for 4-5 hours - not much by today’s standards, of course, but not bad for a small DAP that might be half a decade old and that I got for another, more specific purpose.

The second reason I got the AK Jr. is to find my way out of a catch-22: I’m saving up for a pair of Campfire Audio Andromeda (or perhaps the Ara or something else in this price range). I’ve only auditioned the Andro with my iPhone, which makes it too bassy for my tastes with its output impedance below 1 ohm; ideally, then, I’d like to try the Andro from a DAP with a recommended output impedance of between 1 and 3 ohms, to get a good sense of its sound signature; the thing is, though, that I don’t want to splurge on a DAP only to find that the Andro isn’t my cup of tea. (I also don’t want to have to spend a lot on a DAP, given a limited budget, before I’ve picked out the right IEMs and have purchased them in the first place). So, this is where the AK Jr. comes in. I now have a DAP to test-drive the Andro and other IEMs, one that will also see me through until such time as I can afford to upgrade it to a superior, new DAP, perhaps a Sony ZX507 or AK S25.

Now I have to wait until lockdown ends here and it’s safe to go to a retailer and try out some different IEMs. It’s a good thing I’ve still got some more saving up to do!

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Hey man. Great post here. Listen I think you’ve gone about your audio upgrade strategy very well and I’m pretty much in the same boat as you. I didn’t go crazy on a DAP. In fact I have the AK JR and I’ve had it for 4 years now. It is a terrific DAP and it will showcase and prove nicely just how great your other equipment/accessories are. I’ve paired many headphones and portable amps with the JR over the years and just this past year I finally got onto the IEM train and I’m quite certain I’ll never get off. :slight_smile:
I’ve settled right now for the past 5 months on the Campfire Atlas. I think they’re amazing with the JR. I will never sell the Atlas. I’m truly in love with their tuning and powerful mid bass.
Now I’m stupidly after the Empire Ears Wraith to compliment my Atlas’s.
Also I think I have no intention of getting rid of the JR. It does the job and you’ll see that as you upgrade your IEM path.
Hope you grab those Andros soon.
Cheers man.

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Thank you for the kind words - now that I’ve been listening to the AK Jr for a couple of weeks, I know exactly what you mean: I could see myself using this little guy until the battery finally gives out (I’ve not looked to see if it’s possible to replace the battery but that might be another option). The interface isn’t the fastest, but that doesn’t bother me, I don’t need streaming, and the sound really is lovely, so I could be happy with the AK Jr for a good long while yet.

I should think that there might be a decent market for a refreshed AK Jr, one that has a good 15 hr battery, say (if that’s something possible with the same form factor), and that comes in around $350-450. It’s too bad that Astell&Kern’s entry-level model is now $700.

You know, I’ve been very tempted by the Atlas, not least since they’ve been discounted to $900. I wonder how long until they sell out? (Maybe it’s better to get a pair of complementary IEMs rather than a better DAP! The Atlas is a great IEM, I got to try them at CanJam and enjoyed them a great deal. Daydreaming, I’d love the Atlas, Andromeda and Solaris trinity!

I got to hear the Wraith at CanJam this past February. I couldn’t get a perfect seal - I get this a lot, it’s nothing to do with the IEMs - but from what I did hear they were incredibly fast and open sounding, and my sense was that they had great treble extension. I also want to check out the Legend X, given the great comments I’ve read about it being a hell of a fun, bassy IEM.

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Yeah. I think you are right on the money with your descriptions, which really co-relate to my experiences, however I did find this out about the JR. Don’t exceed a 64 Gig SD card. The unit itself gets far more buggy and slow if too much memory is exceeded. The JR is a bare bones player. It focuses more on audio quality than bells and whistles, not processing and extreme UI sophistication, which I love. And one last thing. Micro SD card format. Use exFat and don’t exceed 32 kilobytes processing speed.
I find I have very little UI problems when doing this. Give it a try and most importantly enjoy the music.

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