Hi – I have the Pioneer XDP-300R, which is a similar sibling of the Onkyo DP-X1A. The tuning and casing is slightly different but I believe the hardware is pretty much identical.
I also have the A&K SR15. They actually are very comparable in terms of power handling and capability. The Pioneer tuning is much more neutral and spacious sounding vs the SR15 , where as the SR15 is more mid-focused and mid-foward and has a noticeable warmer and more intimate sound signature. I type this as I just A-B’d both of them back and forth using a new IEM I am reviewing.
I was planning on just keeping one of these and really the SR15 as I purchased it recently to replace the Pioneer, but since going back and forth between the two for months now, I have decided that they actually compliment each other really well for different sound profiles depending on which headphone and mood I am in.
Hi sorry I’m quite bad with sound science, but just to check, will double amping fry any equipment?
I’m thinking of this setup:
PC (line out) to Tempotec Sonata HD (which is a DAC/AMP combination) to Fiio A3 (AMP) to IEM/headphones
I tried it with PC at max volume (sonata HD has no volume controller), and just controlled the volume at the 2nd amp (Fiio A3), and found that the sound is a bit fuller for soundstage and details.
I know there may be amplified noise/distortion that may adversely affect sound quality, but will this cause any damage to the 2nd amp?
Thanks for your advise and input, greatly appreciated.
As long as you’re not getting audible distortion, then it should be fine.
If you are getting audible distortion then you’ll want to turn down the output level on the first amp in the chain, as it is likely overloading the input stage on the second amp. In most cases that will just cause clipping on the input stage of the 2nd amp, but if you take it too far it is possible to fry it.
Hello, first post on The Headphone Community so greetings to all and happy travels with this new (?) venture!
I’m on the market for a dynamic driver IEM, either current or legacy but still available on the second hand market, to use for my education on the DD signature as well as my reference for the occasional review. I already own the Etymotic ER4s (single BA) and the FLC8s (tunable hybrid DD/BA), which I both really enjoy for their own traits, and I’m really curious about what a pure DD would bring to the table. So, what do you think?
Hello and welcome @angpsi. I’ve heard good things about the Beyerdynamic Xelentos. I haven’t used them myself and they aren’t cheap either. Try some Chi-fi DD if you can find some. @antdroid may be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck with your search.
Thanks @prfallon69! However, I was thinking about keeping it mainstream because chi-fi makes me anxious over the subject of quality control. On the other hand, I do indeed care to keep the budget lower than $1000, and preferably under $500; in this respect I was thinking about going for a legacy Sony EX800ST/MDR7550 or the Sony EX1000 which seem to hold their own for a reference tuning. My only reservation about these two is that I can’t tell whether newer models made their ‘reference’ sound signature redundant – something like how the Sennheiser HD800[s] put the HD600 into mid-fi territory back in its day.
On the subject of Xelentos, I just became aware about what may have been common knowledge to others: the market is full of these copycats from EarphoneDIY Labs and it’s pretty easy to fall for them if you don’t know how to make them out!
I have the Copycat Earphone DIY Labs Xelentos. It’s actually not too bad for its price, but from what I hear from owners of both real and DIY version, they aren’t exactly the same in terms of technical performance.
For me, they have a bit of a really flat mid-range (and i mean that from missing any sort of dynamics and flavor, as opposed to a flat neutral tuning). The bass is a bit in your face and the treble is actually pretty nice though, and has decent imaging for it’s price. I have not heard the real one before.
Thanks for the info @antdroid! So what do you reckon about my original question? Do you have any suggestions for a DD IEM to use as a reference point for my education/reviews?
Or, do you guys maybe think that the question is not pertinent, now that most IEMs go towards the multi BA / hybrid route anyway?
It sounds very nice as a headphone amp with my Audeze LCD3f cans. Its auto mutes the speaker taps with the cans plugged in. I prefer a switch but hey, everyone is different.
Somebody answered my question on the other forum thread.
Having been used to Home A-V systems based around an A-V Receiver for over 20 years, I have been obliged to switch to a Soundbar (Sony HT ST5000) for the first time in the flat to which we are retiring. This is due to space limitations.
The issue is that the House Rules are rather strict regarding noise disturbance and I like my Metallica, Bon Jovi, Sci-fi films etc. I therefore decided to get wireless headphones but opted for RF type rather than bluetooth because it is for indoors use only. I have paid for Sennheiser RS195 but as the soundbar does not have a headphone socket, I have to plug the RF transmitter to the TV.
I want all external audio to be muted when headphones are in use.
That being the case, do I have to connect devices like the Blu-ray player, satellite box, CD Transport etc direct to the TV’s HDMI slots or will connecting them to the soundbar achieve the external muting?
I doubt there’s an automatic way to have external audio mute when the headphones are in use, simply because there’s no way for any of the other devices to know you’re using them.
If the TV allows independent control of its internal speaker volume/muting and that of its digital audio output (most do) and its analog output (no idea, you’ll have to try it), then you’d connect the sources to the TV and run an optical cable from the TV’s optical output to the Soundbar’s input. Then to listen with headphones you’d simply turn off or mute the Soundbar.
Thanks. That is the part I am struggling to come to terms with…connecting the AV devices to the TV directly instead of a ‘controller’ like an A-V Receiver. Somehow it does not seem right; daft, I know and probably my OCD but there it is.
I guess to use my Sennheiser RF headphone and mute the external audio, I’ll have to connect the devices to the TV.
Another option would be to take the analog outputs from all of those devices (including the TV if you want to listen to that on the headphones too) into a switch, and connect the headphone’s RF transmitter to the output of the switch.
Then you wouldn’t need anything else but the source powered up to listen on headphones.
That’s what I thought. But if both the TV and Soundbar have the ARC facility, is there the possibility that when a headphone jack is plugged into the TV, the latter sends some sort of signal down the ARC to ‘tell’ the soundbar to mute itself?
Greetings!
I’d be grateful for any advice/comment.
The lowest audible volume setting on my Mytek Brooklyn Dac+ is -100 on the Db scale.
Does that mean that when the setting is at -40Db then the audible output is actually 60Db?
Thx so much,
