Headphone random conversation

[Zed Clampet]

I signed up to Sirius XM. You can stream to your PC. It's $1/mo for the first three months with hundreds of channels. Listening to 90s grunge right now.

I need to figure out how to improve the sound quality, though. It's pretty bad right now. Going to change to my Fiio DAC and see if that improves things.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Oh wow. There's a free app in the Windows store (or from their website) called FX Sound. It makes a huge difference.

 

[Colif]

There are reviewers of headphones out there who don't tell you anything about the product, but how it makes them feel. It can take time to find people who actually describe headphones and what they sound like.

This isn't either of those types

 

[Colif]

Buy those or more likely buy the Fosi and use my Hifiman Arya Stealth headphones instead, as these are based on a lower quality version of Hifiman headphones

 

[Zed Clampet]

There are reviewers of headphones out there who don't tell you anything about the product, but how it makes them feel. It can take time to find people who actually describe headphones and what they sound like.

This isn't either of those types

He didn't show the part where he downloaded Sonar and spent 20 minutes trying to get the sound to work.

 

[Colif]

Further reviews of Kithara show its better suited to gaming than music... that is its purpose after all

 

[Zed Clampet]

Further reviews of Kithara show its better suited to gaming than music... that is its purpose after all

Can't watch vid at the moment, but they look cool.

 

[Colif]

If I didn't already have a pair of Hifiman headphones that are better than the planar headphones inside those that are also made by Hifiman, I would look at them.

If it was better than them I might have considered them. There is a price difference in their original retail prices though. The Asus ones cost about 300 there, the Hifiman Arya Stealth were 1600 on release. So there should be a difference in sound as well.

The difference between mine and these isn't that big. I have to remember mine are 3 years old now.

It comes with 2 cables, one with a microphone attachment and other is just for listening to music. The second one is actually better than the one that comes with Hifiman headphones. Mainly as the cable has detachable connectors, so one cable can be 3.5, 4.4 or 5.6mm outs. Exactly like IEM do it now.

Uses same cable connectors on headphones end as Hifiman so can use custom cables if you want to. One thing you can't say for hyperX. The custom cables I have for my Arya would work on them too.

 

[Colif]

Since the monitor I am waiting on may not be out until March, I might as well buy the Fosi K7 as then I can use my Arya attached to PC and use it in gaming. Or just watching videos or listening to tidal.

The dongle isn't a complete waste, and only cost 70 so I don't mind having it, it does give one pair of headphones a use now.

NO rush to get it yet as I need to wait for a audio cable connector I ordered 2 weeks ago that will let me plug my Headphones into the Amp. I need 4.4mm balanced connectors, all I have is XLR.
They had a two week order process so I expect they will be made next week. I know not to ask them about order progress or they put you at end of the line.

I had to ask them last time as my order went into week 3 without any word of shipping, and they told me they were waiting on the cable colours I had ordered to come from supplier. I don't think that will happen this time as they have reduced their range, so I hope they have the colour I picked this time. Then my package took a week or so to get here from Texas.

Would have been faster if I hadn't chosen custom.

If I got the K7 now the only headphones that would attach to it are my IEM. I just wait for the package to be shipped for the cables before I order the amp.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I figured out why my sound settings kept changing all the time with Sonar. There was a setting I didn't notice that caused it to switch if a new device became available.

That's probably pretty handy in many cases, but my monitor has speakers in it, and whenever my monitor went to sleep, when I hit spacebar to wake it up, extremely loud low quality sound would start blasting through the monitor. It was so loud because I use the dac for volume, so the windows volume setting stays at max.

 

[Colif]

That seems annoying. It should ask to swap the first time, instead of just assuming.
I have probably run into that one myself as I don't use it for anything but have found it take over in the past

I just disabled Sonar in settings as I don't use it for anything.

 

[Colif]

reluctant to buy the Fosi K7 until I have bought the monitor

Might buy one of these at some stage

its too new for actual reviews.
8gb ram, 128gb storage, 2 SD card slots.
Thats twice what my current one has.

Not actually released until march.

More delays.

 

[Colif]

I think my dap was somehow aware that I was looking to replace it.

As it isn't working at all now. No power light on side showing its alive. It should have a blue or red light on side.

It was working fine just 24 hours ago, I listened to it for a few hours.
It should have charge now.
It was at 100% charge before I started listening last night.

Only idea I have is wait for it to run out of power and try to charge it.

But It should still show something on screen though even if its empty, and plugging it in should show its charging. I get nothing.

So I guess I will buy that new one next month before I get my monitor.


I had asked about it on a hifi forum and someone suggested a key combo that showed the screen... it was on low power but still doesn't explain why it didn't react to any key press

glad I asked as that saved me money

 

[Zed Clampet]

I don't know if I already mentioned this, but I'm back to using my cheap, portable Fiio DAC (K5 Pro) instead of my cheap SteelSeries DAC. It just sounds better. However, it doesn't pass along my microphone, so if I play with someone I'll have to go back to SteelSeries temporarily.

 

[Colif]

Steelseries dacs (series 1 and 2) use Sabre dac chips
Fiio uses AKM

K5PRO

FiiO--Born for Music

www.fiio.com

Difference could be in the amps really. I don't know what output the Steelseries have but the Fiio can output over 1 watt. Expect steelseries built more for headsets, the Fiio is more capable with actual headphones.

the one I may get some time soon does have microphone controls

Fosi Audio K7 Desktop DAC Headphone Amplifier

Versatile DAC Amp: The K7 is designed for both HiFi headphone audiophiles and music lovers. It can serve as a powerful hub for building your desktop audio system. Whether your're enjoying music, gaming or working, the K7 handles it all with ease. Audiophile-Grade Chipset: Equipped with the...

fosiaudio.com

not that I will use them.
It should be enough to power my headphones.

might get one in a week or so. Waiting on a package before its useful to me with anything other than IEM.

Need to keep eye on dap, it was still on the last song I played so not sure how it got so low. It is charged now, I look at it morning.
I noticed it had run out of charge fully a few days before, so I had charged it to full just this week.

The fix I used should have put it in recovery mode but instead the screen just started working again. Guess I had tried a few other button combos. the only one that had shown any life was when I pushed all buttons in at once, and it would flash the makers name on screen and then go black again. So I knew it sort of worked at that stage.