Headphone random conversation

[JarlBSoD]

Ordered a pair of Truthear Hexa but the delivery company accidently shipped them to Norway and i have no idea when they will arive now...

 

[Colif]

Ordered a pair of Truthear Hexa but the delivery company accidently shipped them to Norway and i have no idea when they will arive now...

I assume they were coming from China as that is a big difference.

 

[JarlBSoD]

I assume they were coming from China as that is a big difference.

No they came from a local company in Sweden. Was supposed to be a next day shipment but, apparently they forgot to take a turn off the highway at my city and go to Oslo instead

 

[Colif]

Oh, I assumed you were in US... It didn't occur to me you were in the area already
So sent by freight company that doesn't have a route that always goes through your city? That sucks. Many of my shipments are flown around country before they get to me. Not normally over me but it can happen. We wouldn't get as much mail as other cities do. So they often send to one and then transfer to us via a truck.

Mine hasn't left the shop yet so I won't get it much before next week now. At least it will only be on a truck, no flying unless they fly here direct. Given its pretty heavy it won't be in normal mail.

 

[JarlBSoD]

No no, it allways comes here, they just, somehow, managed to ship my package to the next contry

 

[Colif]

No no, it allways comes here, they just, somehow, managed to ship my package to the next contry

Shame it can't tell you about its holiday.

Mistakes happen. I had one package disappear out of the system for 12 days a few years back. I started to chase it with them before it randomly showed up.

I am currently running my most expensive combo - Focal Bathys worth $AUD1300 on my HiBy R6 Pro 2 DAP worth $AUD1250. I don't feel safe taking Bathys out of house so they don't get much use. The dap is necessary to be used external to house... occasionally.

Soon they be only headphones that won't work with Aune so its a good thing I learned they could run off USB on DAP or they would never get any use. DAP will also get a break as well. That is intentional as I get sick of having to charge it every day. Its also nowhere near as loud as new one will be.
on single ended connector on DAP, it gives me max of 125mW whereas the Anue has 1.5W.
On Balanced on dap it outputs max of 383mW whereas Aune is ... 5.7W
Its not even close.

Dap more aimed at IEM, can drive my Dunu Vulcans to silly volumes on medium gain, but not so good with HD600. Aune can run all of them, its controlled enough to not kill IEM.

I wanted to make sure I could power any new headphones I might buy next... like

ANANDA NANO

<p><img src="https://hifiman.com/attachments/image/20230908/20230908130255_25265.jpg" alt="" /></p>

store.hifiman.com

but they don't really need that much, just more than what I thought I had.

Everything I buy seems to reduce need to use something else I bought just a few months ago. I wish I had some idea where I was going when I started buying audio gear. May not have bought these headphones but they aren't bad... just under used.

remembers he could attach bathys via the 3.5mm cable they came with, it still uses its onboard dac/amp anyway and has to be on power to work. Hardly worth it.

 

[Colif]

After what felt like forever:

It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, box easily fit on the drawers, and out of box:

I have even more space. Set of drawers need a wipe down. Lava lamp probably won't stay there, as only vents on the Aune are on rear. At least I don't have the S17 Pro Amp as it operates at 56C, I don't need a new heater.

Screen looks black to me, yet camera sees a nice blue.

As usual, I tried to be organized before it got here.
Downloaded the USB driver off the Store website
Bought a 5metre USB cable as I knew one that came with unit would not reach to my PC

Get unit:
Attach the USB cable. It only just reaches... 14 feet of cable should reach... I can play with it to make its route more direct.
Install USB drivers, it says it needs a restart to continue... so I restart PC and now get an error
Driver dll required to run this device is missing...
great lol.

look on web and go to Aune home page and find another USB driver. Wonder if its the same one... its version .65.
Look in zip file for the previous one and see it was .55.

Run installer, it removes the previous drivers installed and this time didn't need to do a restart. Amp now recognized as default speakers and Studio Grade sound. (I sent email to their support pages suggesting that the store page link be updated)

It doesn't seem too loud but then it needs a few days burn in, and I am only using 6.55mm output. And I am only on half volume
compared to my DAP, its not under powered.
DAP on what is the equivalent of 6.55mm, only outputs 125mW at max, whereas the same connection on Aune is 1.5 watts. Looks like 11x
DAP on balanced connections (4.4mm) outputs 383mW at max, the Aune is somewhere between 5500 and 5800 mW. 14 to 15x more power.

The only balanced headphones I have don't need more power. I will have to try them but they won't need a lot of volume
Need to buy replacement cables for my HD600 before I can use either balanced connector on AMP. I will resist doing that for a few weeks...

How does it sound? Well, it needs a few days of burn in, so I won't say right now as it may change.
two sound filters, advice on the unit is to swap to Mode 2 and stay in it...

MODE 1 Standard Mode - The S9c Pro works in the state of fast locking and low latency. The sound is neutral and natural.
MODE 2 Pure Mode - The high-performance PLL provides more precise clock signals. In this mode, the performance of the DAC is improved. Higher sound density. Better soundstage.

I swapped as soon as I got it, and had to swap back again just to explain its effects.
Mode 1 feels claustrophobic in comparison. I couldn't wait to swap back.

Nice to have filters that are actually noticeably different.

 

[Colif]

It doesn't seem too loud but then it needs a few days burn in, and I am only using 6.55mm output. And I am only on half volume

I have heard it up to 75 now, that seems dangerous enough... it was a quiet track. I don't want to break my headphones finding how high this can go.

Don't really need to be that high, 40 is loud enough right now. depends on quality of the song playing really. 40 to 50 is a reasonable range. Could be I only just turned it on and it was on 65 and seemed to much right away

turns on a quiet songs playlist.

I wanted to see what Mode 1 was like and it seemed to be giving me a headache so I swapped back to Mode 2. I want to give them both a chance. The spaciousness of 2 is noticeable. Need better headphones than the HD600 as they have a 3 blob effect, all sound comes from left, right or center, not much in between. People describe a way to see layers in music and I sit here going, right... okay... I don't get that.

I need to check if I can get sound out of Firefox using the DAC, I tried last night and got no sound but then Tidal app has exclusive control of DAC when its running, so might have been it.

I will work it out sometime, no rush. I can still use the Logitech 5.1 speakers until I get my next PC and that won't be for a few years. Worry about sound then. Crazy to me no new motherboards have 5.1 anymore. Just annoying having to watch videos using speakers and music on headphones. Its strange though as I have used other DAC in that mode and they allowed Youtube to run on them... wonder if its cause I installed drivers.

 

[Colif]

Stupid is when you go looking for headphone connections to use the 6.55mm connection and forget both your IEM have 4.4mm balanced connections already and don't need to use it. Amp can accept 4.4mm and actually prefers them.
I couldn't work out why one adjuster wouldn't go onto the cable... figured it was for a 2.5mm adjuster, not that the cable was already outputting to 4.4mm
I had just found a 2.5mm and it hit me I didn't need them. Tried headphones in Aune and it went in...

nice to be able to power one set of IEM as they needed more than DAP can do without being on max volume. They actually sound good given enough power. Only need to go to about 30 volume on IEM over balanced.

Need to get balanced cables for the HD600 so that I don't have to be on 60+ to get enough volume.

 

[red_5ive]

People describe a way to see layers in music and I sit here going, right... okay... I don't get that.

I've never been able to hear any of that with any pair of cans that I've owned (which includes a set of HD600s I no longer have). It's one reason why I don't care much for music with headphones unless it's necessary, although I do get headaches from wearing them too long so that's another factor.

Amps and speakers on the other hand, big time. I'm all for tossing your wallet at 2-channel or dual monoblocks and speakers to find that perfect sound stage.

Spoiler

And I have. And more times than I care to admit.

 

[red_5ive]

Crazy to me no new motherboards have 5.1 anymore. Just annoying having to watch videos using speakers and music on headphones. Its strange though as I have used other DAC in that mode and they allowed Youtube to run on them... wonder if its cause I installed drivers.

I've been using the pass-through via HDMI to my preamp. I also paid the $10 for the DTS:X encoder, which I suspect is just a software based real-time encoder like DTS Interactive, but it sounds excellent with games! Mr. X's foot steps above, around, and down the hall from me while playing RE2 with the lights out is just insane!

 

[anort3]

I wanted to see what Mode 1 was like and it seemed to be giving me a headache so I swapped back to Mode 2. I want to give them both a chance. The spaciousness of 2 is noticeable. Need better headphones than the HD600 as they have a 3 blob effect, all sound comes from left, right or center, not much in between. People describe a way to see layers in music and I sit here going, right... okay... I don't get that.

600s are good enough to reveal layering especially with the new Aune. The soundstage is terrible though. The whole 6xx series ( haven't heard the 660S2 yet ) suffers from that 3 blob effect.

What about the Focals? Both the Elear ( w/both Elear and Elex pads ) and the Clear have 360 immersion. Staging isn't huge but it's holographic. The big HiFiMans do it even better.

Try some well mastered electronica.

 

[Colif]

The Sound stage on the Aune is pretty wide. I was using a pair of planar IEM on it earlier and could be mistaken to think they are open back. Not a lot of depth though.

I can only use active speakers on this Aune and not buying more gear just to run speakers, so might get some next year. Space is a problem in my room.

Space is main reason I use headphones. Don't normally get headaches from them so I might be lucky. Been using them most of my life.
@anort3 I haven't tried the focals yet - will need to use their on board dac so may not get much from attaching them via the 3.5mm connection plugged into a 6.55mm adapter. Can't attach via USB.

 

[anort3]

I've never been able to hear any of that with any pair of cans that I've owned (which includes a set of HD600s I no longer have). It's one reason why I don't care much for music with headphones unless it's necessary, although I do get headaches from wearing them too long so that's another factor.

Amps and speakers on the other hand, big time. I'm all for tossing your wallet at 2-channel or dual monoblocks and speakers to find that perfect sound stage.

Spoiler

And I have. And more times than I care to admit.

You have to spend WAY more money on speakers to get the detail retrieval of good midrange headphones. Also positioning is key so you also have to rearrange your room to get the most out of them. Don't get me wrong I have 2 very nice stereos but for microdynamics and hearing stuff in songs you never heard before you can't beat headphones.

 

[anort3]

The Sound stage on the Aune is pretty wide. I was using a pair of planar IEM on it earlier and could be mistaken to think they are open back. Not a lot of depth though.

I can only use active speakers on this Aune and not buying more gear just to run speakers, so might get some next year. Space is a problem in my room.

Space is main reason I use headphones. Don't normally get headaches from them so I might be lucky. Been using them most of my life.
@anort3 I haven't tried the focals yet - will need to use their on board dac so may not get much from attaching them via the 3.5mm connection plugged into a 6.55mm adapter. Can't attach via USB.

I just meant in general for soundstage and layering. Do the Focals have way better staging than the 600s?

 

[Colif]

I haven't listened to focals enough recently to compare. They get the occasional spin, I listened on them a few days back. They have better bass but that isn't hard.

 

[anort3]

Yeah if the 600s had subbass at all I'd still own them. I can get over the mids being shouty in some songs and the lack of treble air compared to the next tier up in hifi for that beautiful natural timbre and what it does to female voices. But when there's a bass drop in a song.....you just don't get it with the 600s lol. And my Clear is basically a 'super' HD600. Not quite as natural sounding but that visceral slam is there.

 

[Colif]

Yeah if the 600s had subbass at all I'd still own them. I can get over the mids being shouty in some songs and the lack of treble air compared to the next tier up in hifi for that beautiful natural timbre and what it does to female voices

Resolve may have some headphones for you then

 

[anort3]

Nah at this point the only thing I'd consider would be higher end HiFi Man. HE1000SE maybe. Or the Arya Organic maybe. Although that's more of a side grade from my Stealth.

 

[red_5ive]

You have to spend WAY more money on speakers to get the detail retrieval of good midrange headphones. Also positioning is key so you also have to rearrange your room to get the most out of them. Don't get me wrong I have 2 very nice stereos but for microdynamics and hearing stuff in songs you never heard before you can't beat headphones.

I did of indicate it was a "tossing your wallet" at the equipment scenario.

 

[Colif]

Staging isn't huge but it's holographic.

what do you mean by Holographic? Half the way people describe what they hear, is half the problem
Still working it out. Everyone contradicts each other.

I am working to avoid too many rabbit holes. Youtube thinks I produce music now since I was looking at Studio Speakers. No, I don't want a Turntable.

first time since getting DAP it ran out of power. I haven't used it for 3 days so that is why, I never noticed. Charge it now and leave it off until I need it next week. Might buy a Usb A to C cable sometime so I can attach it direct to Aune and use it as a source of music. I hadn't thought of it until I saw how other people use theirs.

 

[JarlBSoD]

Problem with audio is that it is so individual that 2 people can precieve the same thing in 2 compleetly different ways. I have a sevear hearingloss on my right ear in the midrange due to an accident when i was young and I have 20% loss of hearing on my left ear because of loud music and gunfire so I often have a hard time finding headphones that works good for me, most decent headphones do a decent job but i have to look at a bit of a different soundstage than many other people and that is why I, for example, like the Beyer Dynamic dt900 pro X where many other people disslike them (though many others allso like them).

Now i have for the past week started using Truthear HEXA IEM for gaming and music, mainly for 2 resons, just testing and it is easyer on my head when i wear glasses. Now i realy realy like the sound from the HEXAs but i have started noticing that due to my (probably anyway) injury i get annoying vibrations inside my right ear. We will see if I manage do ignore that and hopefully i will because i realy realy like them.

Edit: and that last part that is kinda specific to me is not something anyone testing them on the interwebbs would probably have an issue with so

 

[red_5ive]

what do you mean by Holographic? Half the way people describe what they hear, is half the problem
Still working it out. Everyone contradicts each other.

"Crisp". That's the one that gets me. I don't want my music sounding like a delicacy from the U.K.

 

[Colif]

Now i have for the past week started using Truthear HEXA IEM for gaming and music, mainly for 2 resons, just testing and it is easyer on my head when i wear glasses. Now i realy realy like the sound from the HEXAs but i have started noticing that due to my (probably anyway) injury i get annoying vibrations inside my right ear. We will see if I manage do ignore that and hopefully i will because i realy realy like them.

have you tried tip rolling (in other words, tried different tips) as that can improve experience. Naturally it helps to have spares and most reviewers assume everyone has an entire box full of them. I might pick up a few packs of some types next year.
Or just get them with another set of IEM. Not really finished buying them, just other things get in the way. All the ones I am interested in aren't cheap. That is the problem.

10 years of Heavy Metal concerts from 1987 to 1997 probably didn't help my hearing either
Trying to be deaf before you leave concert was part of the adventure. Muffled noises for a few hours after was normal.

I have been using these last 2 days

LETSHUOER S12 PRO- Magnetic planar earphones Hi-Fi planar in ear monitors for audiopiles and music lovers

LETSHUOER S12 PRO utilizes a custom 14.8mm large-diaphragm driver with great details retrieval, punchy bass and clear trebles. LETSHUOER S12 PRO comes with a stock cable that is constructed with silver-plated monocrystalline copper and a swappable jack with 2.5mm / 3.5mm /4.4mm.

letshuoer.net

as they need more power than my DAP could give but seem happy on my Aune. They were too quiet before... now I need to be careful.
Only thing I don't like about them is their cable is too short. Not buying a new cable for them as they not expensive enough to make it worth it. But I don't have much room to move around with them on.

"Crisp". That's the one that gets me. I don't want my music sounding like a delicacy from the U.K.

I think Crisp is like Snappy. Its got a clean break to the sound. I am just guessing
Word has many meanings:

A crisp sound or image is very clear

crisp

1. hard enough to be broken easily 2. used to describe cooked foods, such as…

dictionary.cambridge.org

Hardly call Crisps a delicacy, its their name for potato chips.

Potato chip - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Being Australian, I can translate UK to USA as I been doing it all my life. Then we throw our own words in to confuse everyone

 

[anort3]

what do you mean by Holographic? Half the way people describe what they hear, is half the problem
Still working it out. Everyone contradicts each other.

I am working to avoid too many rabbit holes. Youtube thinks I produce music now since I was looking at Studio Speakers. No, I don't want a Turntable.

first time since getting DAP it ran out of power. I haven't used it for 3 days so that is why, I never noticed. Charge it now and leave it off until I need it next week. Might buy a Usb A to C cable sometime so I can attach it direct to Aune and use it as a source of music. I hadn't thought of it until I saw how other people use theirs.

Holographic as in the sound is literally 360 degree immersive. And you can point to where sounds originate. Excellent for gaming. Although to be 'great' for gaming you also need a good soundstage.

I didn't find anything I liked as much as the AKG K712 Pro for gaming until I got the Arya which does everything well.