audio-tech

[elder thistle]

if the edition xs represents "as good as headphones get" under $1000, we are doomed as a species

[hot marsh]

The ft1s do seem to be available now

Tho i dont have the money rn

[elder thistle]

also that $40m50x clone is immortalized as the unfair baseline for $150 headphones

[thorn cedar]

Neither are they a thousand and neither are they the best under a thousand

[livid ruin]

does anyone have waterfall graph for the mx50 clones btw?

[thorn cedar]

I had the ed ex myself and honestly they were muddy

[livid ruin]

and distortion

[thorn cedar]

And it's a.planar

It's meant to be sharp and sparkly

[elder thistle]

yes, but its m50x clone vs m50x

I'll send that in a biy

[livid ruin]

i’ve seen fr for the m50x clones but not the distortion or waterfall

[elder thistle]

should be almost identical within unit variance

[thorn cedar]

I just have the ananda nanos and now they're only like $400 and they're just as good as any of hifimans $1000 shit

[livid ruin]

i wouldn’t personally probs buy them as you don’t know what kind of hardware change they may do

they’re clones afterall

from unknown manufacturer

so, i wouldn’t put them as a recommendation, you might as well be getting a headphone lottery

not just about unit variance

[livid ruin]

yes over $400 headphones tend to have sort of diminishing return but i wouldn’t call them on par with higher end stuff (brain error)

outside hifiman offrerings

[thorn cedar]

Lol listen to what you just said

[livid ruin]

?

[warm scarab]

I cant think of a headphone I would buy over xs in a 1k price bracket either

at msrp

[lean grove]

I can't think of a headphone

Someone help

I'm having a stroke

[warm scarab]

I think tungsten was like 800$ ish right

or was it 1800

[lean grove]

Tungstens like $2k

[thorn cedar]

"Past this point there's little improvement to the next, but the two are not on par with each other"

[thorn cedar]

Have you tried arya/anandas

[warm scarab]

yes

I've not tried organics

[thorn cedar]

Or the nanos

[warm scarab]

and anandas are a sidegrade to xs at most

[thorn cedar]

Nah

[warm scarab]

its not an upgrade just different

[thorn cedar]

You get a proper suspension headband, nanometer thick diaphragm

Called the nanos for a reason

[warm scarab]

I don't care about how much nanometers is the diaphragm

sounds similar

headband is neat ig but I could just add a lace for 20$ and save 300$ instead of buying marginally better headphones at most

[thorn cedar]

If it's poorly made, if you control for all variables thinner will always yield better transient response

[warm scarab]

on measurement devices yes

[livid ruin]

yes, even little improvement does not make them on par if something is objectively better, for example a headphone follows a certain target better, less distortion, average channel matching, soundstage, imaging etc. if one is on average better then the other one is not on par. maybe respectable to it’s budget yes, value-wise it is better but not if your budget is $1k

[thorn cedar]

Nah u hear it

[warm scarab]

crazy when hifiman makes a 500$ headphone everyone worships it and the moment they drop the cost everyone starts saying its mid

this is a testament to the average audiophile

[thorn cedar]

Try the nanos

[warm scarab]

omg this is more expensive

[thorn cedar]

The extra thinness adds to soundstage

[warm scarab]

because it sounds different doesn't inherently link it to transient response or the thinner driver

[thorn cedar]

Far more technical headphones than the xs

[warm scarab]

thats a conclusion you arbitrarily came to

[thorn cedar]

What

[buoyant vale]

supernano

[thorn cedar]

No thinner = better transient response is fact lol

There's less mass to move

[warm scarab]

edition x was good all along we just didnt know the value of what we had

[thorn cedar]

With the same amount of energy you get to move it faster

[warm scarab]

yeah and there is no conclusive evidence the additional soundstage is due to what you are talking about

[thorn cedar]

Well it's a more whispy headphone

Something some don't like

[warm scarab]

yeah maybe they fucked with the tuning

not like the diaphragm is the only component of the driver

they got a bunch of shit in there

[thorn cedar]

Can be eq'd out ofcourse

[livid ruin]

i’d personally pick hd560s (old ver.) over sundaras and he400se if budget is $200 for example

[thorn cedar]

No lol this is bruh

Listen

[buoyant vale]

You are not allowed to like XS now anyway, Wayne has decreed that it rings

[thorn cedar]

This is straight science

[warm scarab]

fuck my life

[thorn cedar]

Look at electrostats

[warm scarab]

no it is not straight science and electrostats work on completely different logic

[thorn cedar]

Even thinner(lighter really) diaphragm cause no voice coil and they're even whispier

Yeah there's less excursion

But if u got a planar and an estat, cut off bottom 1khz like you'd just hear it

[warm scarab]

you couldn't get me to buy an estat they cost too much and break too easily

I'm okay with demos

[thorn cedar]

Well that's a matter of fiances sure

I wish I could buy an estat on a whim

[bleak gulch]

https://tenor.com/qgNkIp2pvoz.gif

[thorn cedar]

Just to not use it

[livid ruin]

anyways, hifimans are nice within their respectable budget, i just don’t like personally they quite a bit lack sub bass and the treble is sort of peaky to me

[bleak gulch]

Me listening to music on my edition xs right now...

[warm scarab]

the point is there are like 20 different attributes that affect anything you said was the end result of the diaphragm thinness

[thorn cedar]

Where'd you get demos?

[warm scarab]

which is literally illogical

there are so many correlating and overlapping factors that end up affecting the soundstage

just drawing a 1 track line to: its thinner bro = more soundstage

[thorn cedar]

Except most of those variables across the headphones are the same

[warm scarab]

thats is unscientific af

[thorn cedar]

So the list of things that's actually making it sound different is not very big

[warm scarab]

yeah most

so at best they changed 2 components of the driver

[thorn cedar]

Yeah they're almost carbon copies of each other

[warm scarab]

and thats 2 different factors that may have influenced anything you just mentioned

and that is the best case scenario for your argument

[thorn cedar]

I never said it was just the thinness

@warm scarab where do you go for demo headphones lol

[warm scarab]

the electrostats?

[thorn cedar]

Any

[warm scarab]

local stores and my mates if they have them

im friends with some hifi store owners that had the 440 I think

i think that was the one

[thorn cedar]

Lucky

Try the nanos if you can

But preferably in an anechoic chamber

:p

[warm scarab]

i dont think ill find one of those

[thorn cedar]

Ig you'll have to buy them

[warm scarab]

yeah na

[thorn cedar]

If you ever do

And realistically eventually you will

Listen to a string instrument song as ur first one

And youll understand that the xs were simply not capable

[livid ruin]

oh no!

[warm scarab]

I don't think I want to have an awkward conversation to some random hifi store owner about wanting to try some planars that I wont buy

[thorn cedar]

Man it's literally the transience

You can feel it move effortlessly

[livid ruin]

do you have any scienfic graphs?

[thorn cedar]

You ever notice how a bugs skin can change colour depending on the way the sun hits of it

Doesn't have to be a bug

Halo cards too

[livid ruin]

well, your ears can indeed trick you, how your brain processes sound and also placebo

[thorn cedar]

Wut

Anyway

What i was trying to get at is iridescence

When a structure is smaller than the wavelength of light it'll scatter light randomly making a rainbow effect

[livid ruin]

everyone hears differently

[livid ruin]

even sleep can affect what you perceive as a different pitch

or how quickly

@elder thistle yeah btw, do you have waterfall or distortion graphs for the m50x clone?

or nah

i’d appreciate

[livid ruin]

scientific

[thorn cedar]

You can see the iridescence

[warm scarab]

@lean grove

[lean grove]

@warm scarab

[warm scarab]

@lean grove do you see the rainbows

[lean grove]

I see green

[thorn cedar]

Rainbow like effect

[warm scarab]

least schizophrenic audiophile

[thorn cedar]

Look at what happens with bubbles e.g.

[warm scarab]

"I can see the rainbows that make my headphone faster"

[thorn cedar]

Bro lol

Google iridescence

We all know they've layers of material on both sides for good reason you'd need direct sunlight to rly show it

[lean grove]

What's the point here

Even if they're rainbow what does that mean

[thorn cedar]

Are you audiophiles or are you not

Or are you the types to buy vinyl

[warm scarab]

i love rainbows

[lean grove]

Oh yeah this is nonsense.

[thorn cedar]

???🤣

[warm scarab]

can you define moving faster

like the pitch is higher?

[lean grove]

You're taking several physical aspects and convoluting them into one thing which may or may not exist

[thorn cedar]

You're tasked with throwing a fat 40yr old and a 4ur old child as far as you can

Which one is gonna go flying further

[lean grove]

How often does your nano diaphragm hit your ear

[thorn cedar]

Cause realistically no matter the circumstance you can only put out so much energy

That bits constant

[warm scarab]

I cap out my planars at 5k hits/min

otherwise my ear gets misaligned

[lean grove]

What you're describing is called efficiency.

[thorn cedar]

So yeah if somethings lighter and u apply the same amount of energy to it it'll move more

[warm scarab]

sensitivity?

[lean grove]

That too

[thorn cedar]

No

Overlap as a result but distinct

[warm scarab]

can you define how a headphone driver is faster

like what aspect of it at doing what and when

[thorn cedar]

From the moment a force is applied onto it till the moment it returns to its resting state

[warm scarab]

impulse response?

[thorn cedar]

No we talking about a trampoline on its side

Actually far closer to what u said

[lean grove]

Then I don't think you know what you're talking about.

[warm scarab]

thats exactly what impulse response is though

[thorn cedar]

If u had a trampoline on its side

And hit it

You could get s transient measuring of of it

[warm scarab]

we call that impulse response I think

[lean grove]

We do

[warm scarab]

the time it takes the headphone driver to come to a halt after getting hit by an impulse

and the rainbow casting effect of drivers is generally not used in measurements of it

[lean grove]

It should be.

[warm scarab]

I should ask my AI agent™️ what he thinks about this

I cant think for myself

[warm scarab]

this explains everything

[thorn cedar]

.

[warm scarab]

can you link the site where you took this from

because I couldn't personally find any IR measurements of nanos

[lean grove]

See Klaus he was trying to tell you all along that this is an impulse response

You should have listened

[warm scarab]

oh shit

[thorn cedar]

I wrote it some 10 minutes before sending the image

[lean grove]

Yeah Klaus you fuggin dingus

[warm scarab]

fuck my worthless life

[lean grove]

This was our bad @thorn cedar . We don't really listen to impulse responses that often.

Occasionally I put on a square wave for a few seconds but that's about the extent of it.

[thorn cedar]

It's all around you all the time😭

[warm scarab]

no i dont listen to those

[thorn cedar]

If i wasn't oc'ing my pc I'd be using the cans rn🫠

[warm scarab]

thats a good call I wouldn't want to burn my headphones

[lean grove]

One wrong dial and you hit your cans with a 0.001hz square wave at 50 volts.

It's over

[elder thistle]

m50x distortion vs tunical tnh101 distortion (with m50x earpads)

currently only sold as lyxpro has15, which is the same thing

tunical csd

m50x csd

[warm scarab]

how is that possible though

[thorn cedar]

wym?

you see it all the time

[warm scarab]

how can light make color

no I never see that

[thorn cedar]

what?

yes you do

[warm scarab]

no never

[thorn cedar]

wtf wdym light make colour

?????

[warm scarab]

what are you talking about dude

how can light make color

[thorn cedar]

imagine this guy wasnt trolling

[warm scarab]

is everything you are unable to explain trolling

is this light that makes color in the room with us right now

[lean grove]

He's not trolling he's genuinely this stupid.

[warm scarab]

holy crap guys its the light that makes color

reblog if yours is green

[elder thistle]

I'm no prism expert but makes sense to me

like aperture and diffusion

I thought it was more orderly though, hence rainbow order

[warm scarab]

explain to jackson how light works

we are listening

[livid ruin]

thanks

looks very good on your unit/s of m50x clone considering the price

i’d love to know who manufactures them

[broken heath]

I have a passive aux mixer, will it degrade my audio quality

Also what is the max length I should use for a microphone aux cable cuz I’m thinking about getting an extender cuz its complicated

Please @ me answer

[haughty girder]

what does it look like?

[serene scaffold]

just recently got the DT 990 pros and tbh im having some trouble cuz the audio is dookie and im looking for help for config and settings ik i should have an audio interface but in the mean time till i get one how should i config them so i can actually play a fps game and be able to hear the footsteps and gunshots like coming from the correct direction

[livid ruin]

which ohm version

[serene scaffold]

80

[serene scaffold]

idk if this is right too but it doesnt recognize my device just says Realtek audio speakers

[elder thistle]

sus

can you run it off of another pc or phone or something and see if it sounds about the same with music

[serene scaffold]

i did that and it sounds really good just when im in any fps

like i can barley hear the footsteps and like the direction of shots

[warm scarab]

normal

[broken heath]

I just found this on AliExpress: $15.38 | Mixer Stereo 4-in-1-out AUX Passive Mixer 3.5mm Line Levels Control Drop Shipping
https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0h0xNt

[haughty girder]

unless the potentiometers are complete garbage, it'll be fine

Also, about the cable length, depends on how much emi is around you

but I wouldn't go beyond a meter or two

[elder thistle]

if the output is hooked up to a headphone, you've probably added a thousand ohms to the output impedance

which is not ideal

you're also feeding different sources into eachother slightly, and a poorly designed source may create sound issues from it

so it's entirely possible it sounds worse when using that

it may also be completely fine

[serene scaffold]

how much better is an audio mixers auido drivers?

[broken heath]

Idk what that means?

[broken heath]

Idk what an ohm is

[broken heath]

Emi?

I need an extension cable for my mic, which goes into a splitter for headset to mic and sound. I need an aux cable to from aux to mixer to splitter cuz the splitter will split my headset mic to 2 aux signals

[livid ruin]

so, your main setup has shitty audio implementation?

it could be faulty as well

[inner basin]

Chat i fixed my airpods max 💀

[molten lotus]

does this save to the airpods or just when you use them with this pc

[inner basin]

No, just on the equalizer apo app on windows

But it does make them sound not horrendous which is good

[warm scarab]

9db gain -3db preamp

[inner basin]

I simply moved the sliders where they sounded good lmaooo

I’m not a professional

[lean grove]

Very specific frequencies and q values for just moving sliders around

[modern solstice]

I'd probably recommend removing things from the signal chain one at a time and listening if they sound better. I personally use the 250 Ohm variant daily and they sound awesome, even when hooked up to my phone. The higher the impedance, the harder your headphone amp has to work to get the same volume. It should not affect sound quality as much as yours seems to be affected, so I'm suspecting something else in the signal chain

If you get an improvement when removing a piece, either keep it out of the signal chain. If you need a mixer and/or audio interface, you might take a look at behringers cheap mixers from the xenyx line. Depending on the model, you get an usb interface, decent quality mic preamps, a headphone amp and up to 3 stereo ins (yes, I'm counting the aux-return as it has a level knob on some of them) ind one quite compact package. I picked up my xenyx 802 for just 30€ used.

[stone quartz]

L-Acoustics equipment is incredibly hard to find used

I want to get one of their KS28 subwoofers after having my world rocked by some at an event

[haughty girder]

For one, your pregain needs to be the negative of the highest gain value of a slider, so that you aren't clipping past 0dbfs

0 dbfs is the loudest digital signal you can get

[inner basin]

okay so should it be set to -9db?

[haughty girder]

yes

[inner basin]

ok thanks

[haughty girder]

It'll be noticeably quieter but that's just how digital EQ works

[inner basin]

yes

i would like to buy schiit loki mini for my existing audio stack

[haughty girder]

if you clip, you're losing detail in that area and adding distortion

[inner basin]

i basically turned the airpods max into my grado sr60x

[haughty girder]

soooo harsh?

[inner basin]

i want other people to try this eq because i wanna know if its my ears that are totally cooked

[inner basin]

the upper trebles a bit bitey and strong male vocals are as well

[haughty girder]

Do you know about brain burn in

[inner basin]

no

i am used to grado sound and love grado sound

[haughty girder]

yeah that's exactly it

brain burn in is essentially your brain getting used to sound

[inner basin]

when the vocals and midrange are not clear and forward my brain gets upset

[inner basin]

oh that

[haughty girder]

the really crazy part is how much your brain can fill in

[inner basin]

yeah cuz ill go from my sr60x to my meze 109 pro (8x the price) and i hate them for a little bit

[haughty girder]

it can take a bad headphone and fill in details to make it listenable

[inner basin]

guess that's what airpods max are for me LOL

[haughty girder]

so if you used grados for ages

it's not surprising that you prefer their sound

[inner basin]

but honestly on windows these are totally unlistenable without eq

every sound has this closed in bass reverb effect

[inner basin]

ive put like 50 hours into them since i got them like 5 days ago

really putting them through the ringer

and they are fantastic

the problem with the airpods max is that i dont have the shitty lightning to 3.5 cable

so i cant just like put more power into them

so if my preamp is set to crazy negative values then i cant really make them get to good listening levels

[stone quartz]

Do Grado still make all their stuff in NYC?

[inner basin]

yes

[stone quartz]

their factory tour video was interesting

[inner basin]

these sound way more spatious with the 2k and upper harmonic boost

i removed the shitty boomy bass

now the bass still exists and has the nice closed back room effect but it doesnt destroy all of the other frequencies

right now im tuning the eq more to find the best balance of tonality and fun

some tracks can sound unnatural and kinda tinny with this

[thorn cedar]

Lol

[thorn garden]

Anyone know where to get/but moondrop chu 2 cables?

[thorn cedar]

Don't all iems have the same cables

Well there is some 2 pin standard

[elder thistle]

as long as it's not KZ's version of 2pin yes

[warm scarab]

there is 0.35 and mmcx still

[elder thistle]

wuoh

never heard of 0.35

[warm scarab]

yeah because i remember the numbers wrong

but there are two 2 pin standards

0.75 and 0.78

[elder thistle]

o

[rain stump]

Any headphones recommended for Xbox?

[warm scarab]

does that mean wireless

[crisp moat]

I decided to get a Tangent PreAmp 2, so I could have a subwoofer pre-out

[lean grove]

never heard of these guys

[crisp moat]

Might get some better xlr cables later on, store only had the most generic ones

[crisp moat]

Value stuff

Nothing fancy

[lean grove]

yeah the subwoofer output looks pretty rudimentary.

[crisp moat]

Yeah, and so does my subwoofer, it's a cheap Jamo one

Definitely gonna upgrade that later on, just gotta sell the forbidden passive Genelecs first

They've seen some life

[lean grove]

@unique wind

the prophecy has been fulfilled

[crisp moat]

We had this conversation couple years ago

They do exist

1049A being the only passive model they ever made

[unique wind]

oh my god

the passive gene from the 80s

contraband speakers

[lean grove]

I dont think so. the origin story of this meme deleted their messages and their account is dead

[crisp moat]

Damn, I just looked it up

Looks like so

[warm scarab]

what is the point of this

[lean grove]

a few years ago there was a guy who came in here bragging about his endgame audio setup which he definitely did not own and we were able to call him out on it when we asked for a photo of his passive genelecs.

[crisp moat]

Can't call me out on my passive genelecs

Well maybe in few days when they're sold

[serene scaffold]

i need to get a new audio mixer however someone wants to give me their handmy down its a Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen is it still like good or is it kinda obsolete

[warm scarab]

oh shit I remember now

we didn't believe he had passive genelecs

because like

[lean grove]

if its free i say take it. only downside might be its bulky.

[warm scarab]

why the fuck would you have passive genelecs

[lean grove]

because i made the comment about the active ones having mediocre amps inside of them

[warm scarab]

its not like we think they are shit i have no idea about the speakers but like

passive genelects are unique

[crisp moat]

That they are

I'd say they're pretty aight bookshelf speakers

[serene scaffold]

$50 lol

[serene scaffold]

I don’t mind if it’s bulky just like care about the sounds quality and drivers mainly

[lean grove]

@warm scarab can tell you all about scarlett drivers

[warm scarab]

i fucking LOVE scarlett

[warm scarab]

provided that a scarlett 6i6 2nd gen is not a mixer I can confidently say its a terrible mixer 👍

in your shoes id personally sell the 6i6 2nd hand on ebay then get a cheap ass behringer and profit

a lot of people love scarletts because red chasis

sell it to some streamer wannabe

[desert salmon]

can anyone help me with my ground loop issue

i’m using rca to external dac and i’m hearing a hum. the hum is present when i keep the rca cables connected to the monitor, but removed from the dac

when i turn on the dac, the hum gets louder

i have all components plugged into the same outlet

my dac is getting power from my computer io

the rca cables are new and “shielded”

[lean grove]

if the speakers are humming without anything plugged into them then its not something you can fix.

[desert salmon]

really

no way

it’s so fucking loud

[lean grove]

what speakers

[desert salmon]

why does the hum get louder when plugging into dac

[desert salmon]

kali mm6

[lean grove]

oh. wack. uhhh... email tech support? i havent owned a pair but i think kali tries at least a little bit to have a decent noise floor.

[desert salmon]

ik

i used them via optical last time

no noise

very little hiss

they’re good

[desert salmon]

i did. waiting on their response

anyways, my system bumps with a sub now

rythmik l12

[lean grove]

cool

[desert salmon]

i just need this ground loop to go away

[lean grove]

does the speaker hum without any cables plugged into it at all

[desert salmon]

no

not amp issue

[lean grove]

okay thats good. means its probably not the speakers

[desert salmon]

mhm

[lean grove]

does the humming stop if you unplug the dac completely

but keep the cables in

[desert salmon]

nope

[lean grove]

like no power

[desert salmon]

it just gets lower

feint

[lean grove]

wack. yeah i mean you might just need a ground loop isolator?

[desert salmon]

what’s a good one

[lean grove]

idk

never had this problem

[desert salmon]

they’re like 60 bucks fk

me neither

[molten swan]

Hey LTT community,

I finally got around to investing in proper headphones. I got the Sennheiser HD660s2. However I have not really noiticed that big a difference compared to Cloud III for instance. I can hear more details but it doesn't sound much "better". if that makes sense?

Just wondering if any audiophile here has any suggestion.

It's hooked to a PreSonus AudioBox iTwo btw

[desert salmon]

all i know is they’re hard to drive

[molten swan]

Hard in what way?

It was either that or the DT990 Pro as those were on a good sale . I prefer the fitment of HD660s2 hence my choice

[desert salmon]

when i’m playing songs and they go a higher hz, the volem cuts out a bit

[desert salmon]

hard to power

[lean grove]

https://tenor.com/view/curb-your-enthusiasm-larry-david-confused-unsure-undecided-gif-3294343

[desert salmon]

idk wtf is going on

[lean grove]

what was your question?

[desert salmon]

let me show u an example

[molten swan]

makes sense, believe they are 300ohm impedance wise. I saw someone with similar DAC as mine saying it wasn't an issue so went for it,

[molten swan]

I am basically a newbie in audio world, so my question was if anyone has any input or suggestion for me in regards to me setup as I don't feel like I am getting that much better sound despite better gear

[desert salmon]

@lean grove

[warm scarab]

@desert salmon isolate the plug from others

[desert salmon]

how so

[warm scarab]

plug it into a socket by itself with no other electronics plugged into the same brick

and isolate the cable from any other cables and electronic devices as much as possible

[lean grove]

ah. you're not gonna get a substantially different sound by getting a new amp or dac or anything.

so. more or less what you see is what you get. how long have you been using the 660s2?

[warm scarab]

i dont want to shit on your enthusiasm but

in the entire 6** lineup

the 660 are comedically known as bad

[lean grove]

this is the 660s2

[warm scarab]

oh shit my bad

[lean grove]

not the og 660

[warm scarab]

apologies

[desert salmon]

660s2 are good

[warm scarab]

forgot the s2

[desert salmon]

my next upgrade from 560s

[molten swan]

I bought it for January sale this year. so not long

[warm scarab]

how long have you used it for

[lean grove]

660s2 take sennys in a different direction. if you like the 560s then yeah it makes sense.

[molten swan]

yeah that is what reddit told me so I made sure to get s2 as it seem to have much better reviews

[desert salmon]

yea i did that. if i leave the rca cables in my monitors, not plugged into anything, i hear a slight hum. when i plug the ends of the rca to my external dac, the hum gets louder

[lean grove]

but personally i think the HD6X0 lineup like the 600 or 650 are better.

[warm scarab]

oh so its not the speaker noise floor you want to decrease but the dac one

do what I said but for your dac instead

[desert salmon]

yes

[warm scarab]

move the cables away from any other electronics as much as possible

the dac itself too

dac's power plug too

dac's usb plug too

[desert salmon]

the dac’s power plug is connected to the pc

[warm scarab]

how long have you had it for

[warm scarab]

does it not have a separate power input

[desert salmon]

it does, i just don’t have a brick for the usb

[warm scarab]

well start by getting that

try plugging it into the front usb panel

[desert salmon]

ok

[warm scarab]

just somewhere in general thats further away from other plugged in usbs

[desert salmon]

i did that, the noise is a bit lower

[molten swan]

3 weeks or so. Have been trying to play with the sound profile a bit, but as I am newbie I feel like I messing up the sound more than improving it

[desert salmon]

never mind. the noise is the same

[warm scarab]

different ports may yield different results but the ultimate solution is probably the power brick you are missing

[desert salmon]

should i use the power brick to connect to the same outlet my monitors are in

[warm scarab]

maybe

try

[warm scarab]

when was the last time you tried the cloud 2

[desert salmon]

let me find a brick

[warm scarab]

and how often do you listen to music

and where do you listen to music from

[warm scarab]

bro dont just grab any

you are going to cook your shit if you connect a random brick

see what voltage and amperage it needs

[molten swan]

My brother has it so we compared last weekend

[warm scarab]

ok what about the other 2 questions

and what genre do you listen to generally

[desert salmon]

oops. i just used a random one to my surge protector

it worked tho

i don’t hear that noise

[warm scarab]

unplug it

because it works doesnt meant it wont cook it in 1 minute

read the manual and match a power brick

[desert salmon]

it’s 100-240v brick

[desert salmon]

for the dac?

[warm scarab]

yes

[desert salmon]

ok

[molten swan]

Sorry guys, something came up so I gtg. Thanks for the help so far

[warm scarab]

thats the input voltage

not the output

[desert salmon]

it’s a topping e30 II lite btw

[warm scarab]

any power brick that is 5 volts in output is enough

which is every phone charger

[desert salmon]

so i can use the random brick i found?

it’s tiny

[warm scarab]

if its a usb brick thing meant for charging stuff

yeah

[desert salmon]

yea it is

wait what am i looking for

the input?

[warm scarab]

if the dac randomly turns off its due to the amperage being not enough

[warm scarab]

dw about it

[desert salmon]

output*

oh so u know the topping e30

[warm scarab]

any random usb power brick will work unless it has low amperage, and a lack of amperage wont break your thing

[warm scarab]

I just googled it

[desert salmon]

btw did i make a good choice on the dac

[warm scarab]

eh not really lol

it works

[desert salmon]

rip

i mean i was gonna get a minidsp 2x4hd

but that was 3 times the price

[warm scarab]

dacs aren't a wortwhile investment until you are in the 500> range

[desert salmon]

and i’m not using 2 or more subs

[desert salmon]

shit

i was gonna use the apple dongle

[warm scarab]

provided you dont have issues with the dac you have

[desert salmon]

but it wouldn’t have worked

[warm scarab]

why not

[desert salmon]

with all the rca splitters

it would’ve been janky

[warm scarab]

it would have definitely worked lol

just 3.5 to rca

[desert salmon]

it would’ve, but

i needed 2

since i’m powering my sub

i need 2 rca

[warm scarab]

i mean its not like the dac you got is shit but i dont think there is anything about it aside from the fact it works

no fancy pcm filters or anything

[desert salmon]

what about the modi 3e

eh fuck it they all sound the same to me

tbh, i usrd my motherboard dac for my kali’s before adding a sub

it sounded fine lol

[warm scarab]

yeah this is why I said its not worth it lol

there are dacs that sound different definitely

[desert salmon]

yea

maybe i just wasted 100 dollars

[warm scarab]

but they are like 300$ ish

[desert salmon]

wait so if i went the dongle route

i need 4 rca into 3.5

how can i do that

[warm scarab]

in that case

you would get 2 dongles

[desert salmon]

oh really

[warm scarab]

and 2x3.5 to rca

mix it with voicemeeter banana or something

lol

[desert salmon]

and plug both those in

ah whatever anyways

[warm scarab]

oh wait no nevermind I am stupid

[desert salmon]

i’ll just keep the dac

[warm scarab]

I reversed the protocol

just wiring the 3.5 to both outputs should work

at worst you'd need a switch box provided you dont need the items to be active at the same time

[desert salmon]

whatever i’ll just keep my dac lol

i like the volume remote control

even tho it doesn’t work half the time

[warm scarab]

lol

[desert salmon]

i’m using the power brick of my manscaped razor lol

[warm scarab]

go for it

[desert salmon]

i couldn’t find anything else

i should buy an extension or something

so what do i do about the quiet hiss from rca

is that just the downside of unbalanced cables

[desert salmon]

oh btw there are pcm filters for the topping e30, just basic

[warm scarab]

yeah of course

there are in a lot of dacs

[desert salmon]

what do they do

[warm scarab]

uh dont worry about it

[desert salmon]

ok so just to confirm, i can plug in this tiny ass brick to my extension cord

[warm scarab]

yeah sure

if it doesnt make noise

[desert salmon]

wait

yea no noise

at all

thank god

i was about to waste money on some shit isolator

thank you

i thought my cables were bad

but people told me that’s rarely the case, esp with new cables

wait @warm scarab why is my sound quality way worse lol

[warm scarab]

no idea, is it?

you sure it isn't just that you changed the volume or something

[desert salmon]

yea

the highs are not coming in

look at the vid i sent

earlier

that’s what’s happening

and the quality is just worse

idk what’s going on

[warm scarab]

cable issue?

make sure the plugs are inserted all the way in @desert salmon

thats generally what a loose plug sounds like

or a broken cable

[desert salmon]

let me see

they’re plugged in

changing pcm filters does nothing

ok now it’s just drowning out the highs

the quality is ok

[warm scarab]

wtf you mean change pcm filters

[desert salmon]

how do i turn off the filters

[warm scarab]

wait

oh

its a different type of pcm

dont worry about it

just set your windows sameplerate to 48khz

and like 24 bitrate

should be ok

[desert salmon]

i did

it only goes to 16 but

bit

even tho it says it should go to 24

but i’m using optical to usb

will that fuck it up

[molten swan]

I listen to music ocassionally but not a lot. Like 1-2 times a week. I usually listen through youtube, but to test the headphones properly I tried something called Tidal I believe.

[warm scarab]

if you listen from youtube then its an incredibly scuffed source to begin with

what I will say in short is

if you do not use your headphones for music listening regularly, and when you do, you use youtube for that, its not unlikely that it will sound the same as cloud 2 to you

if your ears are adjusted to good quality sound through often listening to sources higher quality than youtube, then cloud 2 and 660s2 are leagues ahead

but if your only use case is gaming and basic desktop stuff then yeah, it really doesn't matter

[molten swan]

I figured that was the case, which is why I tested with Tidal and am started to collect music to play locally instead. But even in those cases I didn't feel that big of a difference.

What way to consume music would you recommend?

[warm scarab]

your method of testing isn't wrong but like

its one thing to listen to one music track critically for 1 comparison

and another to be adjusted to that higher quality audio source and its benefits

may sound like a weird mental gymnastic to justify your purchase but generally people who aren't often listening to music from good sources say the same things you are saying atm

[molten swan]

yeah that makes sense. I guess I was being slightly impatient since I wanted to test before the return window so I could justify keeping it

[warm scarab]

what genre do you listen to btw

often

[molten swan]

It was varies a lot. Heavy Metal, K-pop and Eurobeat the most atm

[warm scarab]

heavy metal is like

90% of the time mixed like shit

so it sounds normal with most headphones

k-pop idk

eurobeat should be ok

most important is to compare the songs you know very well

fuck me I edited that like 6 times

[molten swan]

can't argue with that.

As I mentioned earlier then I do hear the difference. It's like I can hear more, and the sound stage is a tad better. I am just trying to gauge whether I am doing something wrong or having too unrealistic expectation (or both).

But thanks for the advice

[warm scarab]

np

also ill also add that 660 isnt good for any of the genres you listed

[haughty girder]

kpop can range from really garbage to pretty good

[desert salmon]

yep

[haughty girder]

just treat kpop as normal pop

[desert salmon]

some are mixed terribly

[warm scarab]

id definitely not listen to metal on any sennheiser headphone

[haughty girder]

agree with that

well, primarily on senn if that's my only headphone

[desert salmon]

yo nexgen, do u maybe know why the highs on my speaker are fading out

[warm scarab]

pop can is a very broad term so it can be great or shit

like nexgen said

[desert salmon]

^

[warm scarab]

eurobeat is more edm, wouldn't really pick 6** for that either

[haughty girder]

Just like kpop - different agencies and producers create songs of different qualities

[molten swan]

I always wondered why some had multiple headphones, is that why?

[haughty girder]

yes

[molten swan]

Also what would you listen to? and how do you even judge what?

[desert salmon]

it’s the same for multiple studio monitors

it sounds different on diff monitors

[haughty girder]

eh I'd say the warmer sets like 650 are fine

[warm scarab]

yeah its fine

I don't think its bad by any metric

its just not my first pick

[warm scarab]

sometimes yeah, i think having more than 3 headphones is excessive

i think 2 is ok, 3 is situational and 4 is stupid

I generally stick to 1 headphone I like too so

[haughty girder]

Not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for here?

[warm scarab]

for example I'd use wider sounding headphones and more impactful ones for EDM like planars

[desert salmon]

in the vid, the highs are being drowned out, almost not coming through

[warm scarab]

on busy tracks like EDM planar responsiveness really shines imo

[desert salmon]

kind of fading away

[warm scarab]

are you sure it isn't the speaker

those are supposed to sound like that from where you are recording

[haughty girder]

send the original track

[desert salmon]

they are fine when using optical to my motherboard

[haughty girder]

I wanna compare

[desert salmon]

derre - bibi

[molten swan]

I was under the impression that I could just change the profile if listening to a suboptimal genre for it.

[haughty girder]

oh yeah random thing I bought a bluetooth speaker for the first time in 8 years

[warm scarab]

why not just use that then lol

[desert salmon]

cuz i need to connect my sub

[haughty girder]

oh bibi

uhm

[warm scarab]

could be beneficial, could be not, i personally dont like bothering to swap profiles so often

[haughty girder]

her music

a lot of is it pretty meh mastered

but I'll take a look

[desert salmon]

yea, but it shouldn’t sound like this. i know this song well

the quality is dog ass rn idk why

[molten swan]

Probably just my lack of knowledge. I was mostly looking at Byerdynamic and Sennheiser and from what I gathered on different forums Sennhesier HD660s2 seemed to be a solid choice.

At least people complained about DT990 being too harsh

[warm scarab]

id definitely avoid beyer yeah

[haughty girder]

it sounds normal

but I'm using spotify

Youtube's audio quality sucks

too much upper end artifacting

[desert salmon]

i’m using apple music

[warm scarab]

ive not had the 660s2 but if its similar to hd650 then it has stuff its good on and its not good on its personal preference

[haughty girder]

Hm

interesting then idk

[desert salmon]

lossless it still sounds like shit

[warm scarab]

maybe return it and get planars instead, give those a try

[desert salmon]

it’s not right

[haughty girder]

It sounds close to the same to me

[desert salmon]

i’m using my headphones and it’s not the same

i can clearly hear the highs

[haughty girder]

what headphones?

[desert salmon]

and the quality isn’t trash

[desert salmon]

560s

[warm scarab]

what headphones

oh

[molten swan]

Is spotify decent?
I assumed it was most likely just like youtube music. I have had premium for ages and only reason I usually use youtube is to avoid ads

[haughty girder]

they might just have a treble peak

[warm scarab]

hm

[warm scarab]

its decent

[desert salmon]

i eq’d tjem

so they don’t

[haughty girder]

EQ by ear or by preset?

[desert salmon]

oratory

and did the rest myself

[haughty girder]

yeah

[warm scarab]

personally I wouldn't bother with anything above spotify, difference is incredibly marginal

[haughty girder]

oratory isn't 100% fix

[warm scarab]

youtube doesnt respond to upwards of 16khz though

[desert salmon]

yea, but every other device sounds normal

[warm scarab]

idk i think oratory eq is good enough for what a music should be like

[desert salmon]

this is not an issue with the mastering

[haughty girder]

he measured on a gras rig for those presets iirc

[warm scarab]

its not ideal but it should be close enough to say "this doesnt sound right"

[haughty girder]

those aren't great

[warm scarab]

yeah ofc

[haughty girder]

that's true

[warm scarab]

maybe he fucked up the speaker placement?

[desert salmon]

either way, every audio device i have, i can hear the highs well

[warm scarab]

kali 6mm right?

[haughty girder]

wait

[desert salmon]

kali mm6

[haughty girder]

send picture of placement from eye level

[desert salmon]

i didn’t fuck it up

i have a phantom center

equilateral triangle

[warm scarab]

can you send like a wide view picture

[warm scarab]

room matters

[desert salmon]

i had no issues of this before i used an external dac

[warm scarab]

send pic

[desert salmon]

it’s not the placement

[warm scarab]

idk

[haughty girder]

nono I'm asking about tweeter angle

[warm scarab]

weird that an e30 messes up the sound

he did say the other dac works good though

without changing placement

[haughty girder]

oh he did?

[warm scarab]

yewah

[desert salmon]

yea my motherboard dac sounded great

i could hear very well

[haughty girder]

what the balls

[molten swan]

The only options for planer magnetic in my country with a quick search seems to be Audeze, hifiman or monolith and they seem kinda pricy

[haughty girder]

hifiman being pricy is hilarious

[warm scarab]

monolith is ass, audeze is overpriced, hifiman yeah go for those

edition xs b stock should be like what

300$ max

[desert salmon]

bro fuck this dac. it’s caused nothing but issues

piece of shit

[warm scarab]

230$

https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/edition-xs-refurbished.html

[haughty girder]

https://open.spotify.com/track/45ryK5kAHyUxV1C73fdur5?si=c2974d91eaef49ce

[warm scarab]

@molten swan

[haughty girder]

@desert salmon "The long night" be Seori

[warm scarab]

"Only available in the US, CA, MX, UK and EU countries."

[haughty girder]

try it

[warm scarab]

i hope you live in one of those

[desert salmon]

ok

[haughty girder]

her voice isn't too airy but is consistent enough to hear if something is up

[desert salmon]

lovers in the night u mean?

[haughty girder]

nono

uh

this is the title

English is The Long Night

if you can't find it then uhm

gg

[desert salmon]

copy and paste, i can’t find it

i found it

let me hear

[haughty girder]

Seori - 긴 밤

[desert salmon]

yea it’s shit

[haughty girder]

kk

[desert salmon]

her voice goes out

a bit

[haughty girder]

send recording if you can

[molten swan]

that doesn't seem so bad price wise.
The price in stores here for Edition XS is the equivalent of 471.35 USD

[desert salmon]

what part

[molten swan]

hence my worry

[haughty girder]

beginning

[desert salmon]

which is the worst

[molten swan]

I am from EU so that works

[haughty girder]

either that or about 1:43 for chorus

[warm scarab]

yeah there you go

sick ass 240$ headphone

I'd recommend if possible an ifi zen can with it

not the air one

should be like 140$ ish

i think that combo is exceptional

would go hard for edm and pop imo

[warm scarab]

yeah

thats muted af

[haughty girder]

yeah that don't sound right

[desert salmon]

yea

ik

[haughty girder]

lmao

[desert salmon]

lol

[haughty girder]

I agree with you now

[warm scarab]

go fiddle with the dac settings

[haughty girder]

^

[desert salmon]

how

[haughty girder]

OH

[warm scarab]

you mentioned messing with those

[desert salmon]

i tried each pcm filter

it doesn’t do shit

[haughty girder]

What sample rate are you on

[desert salmon]

44000

16 bit

[warm scarab]

huh

[haughty girder]

oh that should be fine

[warm scarab]

yeah

[desert salmon]

it can support 24, but i can’t go to it idk why

[warm scarab]

also go for 48khz

[haughty girder]

24bit is whatever

do 48

[desert salmon]

windows doesn’t let me

[haughty girder]

yeah

oh

[molten swan]

is that an amp, dac or both?
I am trying to not spend a lot of money on changing what I have, but I will consider it for an upgrade further down the line

[haughty girder]

go install drivers

[warm scarab]

lmao

[desert salmon]

i did

[warm scarab]

its an amplifier

[haughty girder]

then there should be a control panel

to change it

[warm scarab]

a very good one at that

what motherboard do you have?

[desert salmon]

im at 48000

[haughty girder]

Hmmmm

[molten swan]

me?

[haughty girder]

wack.

[warm scarab]

yeah

[haughty girder]

I have to assume no EQ anywhere right

not even in Apple music?

(I'm not familiar with it)

[molten swan]

ASUS ROG Strix X670E-F

[haughty girder]

stuff like this is off?

[warm scarab]

asus does have decent sound cards

may be able to do edition xs justice without an amp

[haughty girder]

Strix usually does

yeah

Prime I wouldn't hold out for it

[warm scarab]

honestly

if you can return the 660 and get the xs

[desert salmon]

yea

[warm scarab]

do try

I think the genres you mentioned resonate much better with xs than with 660

and its also my personal preference

do mind though for example nils loves sennheiser much more than hifiman stuff, its not like that is a bad headphone either

but may just not be suitable for your expectations and use cases

[molten swan]

well I haven't used an amp yet. In fact I am not sure when to judge if I need it

[warm scarab]

I dont think you'd have much need for an amp with a 660s2

[haughty girder]

If you can't get it loud enough to listen normally

[desert salmon]

@haughty girder

[warm scarab]

planars can benefit from an amp more often than a dynamic

because low impedance and sensitivity needs high current and a lot of amps fail to deliver that

[haughty girder]

RCA to speakers?

[desert salmon]

yes no eq

[desert salmon]

rca to dac and optical in from dac to usb to pc

[haughty girder]

wait what

[desert salmon]

im using rca to conncet to dac. optical in cable to my motherboard

i use optical to usb

to connect ti

[haughty girder]

wait why are you using optical...

[desert salmon]

why not

[warm scarab]

wait

you got an optical to usb converter?

[desert salmon]

yea

[haughty girder]

just connect usb B straight into the motherboard

[warm scarab]

wtf man

why you do this

[desert salmon]

wait

let me see lol

[warm scarab]

no wonder you cant use 24 bit

[haughty girder]

connect this straight to pc and get rid of the usb to optical

[haughty girder]

I asked cause this ain't an E30

like even my interface

4 year old driver but still shows

[warm scarab]

i didnt see that screenshot but the fact he said he couldnt do 48khz 16 bit gave it away for me

[desert salmon]

i can do 48

[haughty girder]

okay yea get rid of the optical lmao

[molten swan]

thanks for your opinion and time.
I will consider it for a bit. My complaint is less about me being unhappy but more about me wondering why the difference feels less big that I thought. Felt like going from a corolla to Hellcat but the performance only being slightly better difference

[warm scarab]

yeah thats probably whats messing you up

[warm scarab]

np, tldr is, you dont use the headphone for its best use cases and you dont often listen to music, i think its unsuitable for you

have a good one

[desert salmon]

oh but when i plug my usb to the motherboard

i have ground loop

[haughty girder]

LOL

[desert salmon]

bro fuckj

holy shit

[warm scarab]

you already have a power brick connected no?

[haughty girder]

does it sound normal tho

[desert salmon]

for power

but im connecting it another way too

[warm scarab]

doesn't it have both power and usb input

[desert salmon]

lemme hear

[desert salmon]

yea

[warm scarab]

that should fix it?

[haughty girder]

so it shouldn't ground loop if you plug in external adapter since it'll go through the adapter

[desert salmon]

but i have to connect it to mobo either way

[haughty girder]

💀

[warm scarab]

its not a ground loop but interference then

a usb power conditioner can help

[desert salmon]

im getting no sound out my my speakers

[warm scarab]

or not lol

[desert salmon]

when using the usb connector

[warm scarab]

fluenza

how about you like take 10 mins off

[haughty girder]

did you switch to e30 in audio devices?

[warm scarab]

read the user manual for this thing

[desert salmon]

yea

[haughty girder]

LOLL

[warm scarab]

then come back

[desert salmon]

i did

the manual has no info

[warm scarab]

you read it carefully?

[desert salmon]

using usb in, i get no sound

just buzz

ffs

[haughty girder]

wait is this mac or windows

[warm scarab]

ima read the e30 manual

[desert salmon]

windows

[warm scarab]

and if i find something that fixes this

i swear to god

[haughty girder]

if you adjust volume to 100

do you hear the test tone

[desert salmon]

ok i have sound

buit

[haughty girder]

also make sure you unplug optical

[desert salmon]

it still osunds like shit

[warm scarab]

@desert salmon change input channel

[desert salmon]

i did

i have sound now

[warm scarab]

2 seconds into the manual btw solved the issue we discussed for the last 5 mins

[desert salmon]

but it sounds like ass

and i havfe buzz

[warm scarab]

i bet i read it for 4 seconds and fix the sound issue too

switch from dsd to pcm @desert salmon

[desert salmon]

how

i did that

im on f-2

[warm scarab]

thought you read the manual

[desert salmon]

i cant get to the set up screen

[warm scarab]

does it say pcm or dsd at right

when outputting audio

[desert salmon]

pcm

[warm scarab]

try f-3

[desert salmon]

doesnt help

[warm scarab]

switch to m-p

[desert salmon]

how do i do htat

[warm scarab]

setup menu probably

[desert salmon]

yea i cant get to it

im holding the multi function

[haughty girder]

you have the remote right...

[warm scarab]

did you turn off the remote

from the setup menu

[desert salmon]

yeah

[warm scarab]

💀

[haughty girder]

K i'm out

[warm scarab]

like

[haughty girder]

What the fuck

[desert salmon]

im on mp

[warm scarab]

what the fuck man

[desert salmon]

doesnt do anything

[warm scarab]

ok can you for the 2nd time

press every cable inwards to the port

like