10 years later: "Hey guys! Here is my vinyl cartridge collection over the years!"

:P

It's one of those things you wake up at 4am and think about

I loved them so much but the cups were shallow and hurt my ears. Also I guess my head is just too big for them because I had two pairs break (where the plastic part of the inner headband meets the pleather part), and on the second, I had it replaced with a k240 Mk2 instead (which I absolutely love).

Im not trying to argue or be obstinate and i do appreciate the advice (and ill consider the IEMs myself) but $350+ is far too much for even me much less someone whos not into these things. My biggest purchase as a budget hobbyist were sundaras on sale for $275 and that's endgame for a while. I basically just told my dad that the tech is well out of his price range for now. And he can't wear IEMs due to cauliflower ear so that's a bummer.

Do you have any evidence excess group delay at these levels is audible?

Don't ask

18 lol

Good point

You could try re pairing it to the DAC to seee if that fixes it

I think it potentially is as I’ve read the ANC isn’t fantastic, read some similar things people having issue with it Although I know someone who said they didn’t notice it but they had a different problem where the headset would crash/freeze haha. Anyway they also are returning their headsets. Seems odd to have so many problems for such an expensive headset, oh well.

Battery life. Having said that, I really like the way it sounds. But if I leave it sit for a couple of days, I've only got a little under 3 hours of battery life in DAC mode. And since i'm team iOS, I can't charge while using as a DAC. I've updated the firmware and I'm sure that using balanced output isn't helping battery life, either. I've never had 9 hours, as advertised. Mostly, it was 6 or 7-ish. But it's a year old now.

I'm still waiting for the faithful day you trade the budget-fi hoard for some summit-fi stuff. I know it's coming. One day.

Jokes aside, do you find yourself rotating out everything you brought? I actually had to downsize because any time I had more than one headphone or iem, they never got even use.

That’s some old kit there. I had an Indigo and a Bithead, did not expect to see these pop up. Reminder of how much worse the $100-150 options were back then (yet much better than standard laptop out).

Guess they forgot to mention

"Knowingly sold products without proper protection, but made a new product that addresses that, so just give us more money for proper version of a potentially dangerous product"

Also yes, it’s a dac/amp

In terms of long term I would definitely recommend this! I’ve had this set up for about 4 months now and it’s amazing. Not hard to set up either since it’s all really basic stuff. I do recommend reading the manual and looking through it as there’s some really interesting and cool things in there tho! Not sure how to describe it, but the way it’s written is really cool I guess?? I’m not sure how else to describe it. It also comes with a cool little remote.

AM only had the SD version of it but I a/b'd them anyway.

The acoustic guitar you mentioned sounds more natural on the Arya's , the 109's adds a bit more twang as each pluck falls away. That could be the tuning. They both have the same tickle, so they both have what you described. However, because the 109 brings everything in closer to you, it's a lot more enjoyable. I don't want to say musical but that's what it sounds like. lol

His vocals are fairly similar after 1:00, 109's brings out his raspiness slightly more; especially after 1:20 where he strains a bit and does his vibrato thing. Again, that's likely because the soundstage isn't as wide so everything is more intimate. But because the 109's are just warmer, it makes this track more enjoyable. For me personally, it would get a bit fatiguing listening to this on the Arya but that's totally subjective.

All in all, if you're strictly going after the airy top ends with huge soundstage, go with Arya. But if you're willing to sacrifice any of that even a little bit, the 109 should probably be strongly considered (at least from my limited time with it); the cost difference vs performance is kind of too good to ignore. Are you willing to give up a bit of the Arya's soundstage to save $400? I'm kind of leaning towards yes.

My Arctis Nova Pro Wireless did the same. Do you know if this is a common problem?

Is rme hard to set up? This is dac amp? Just looking for some long term option

Why's you switch off the BTR5? I have that and the SE535s as well.

Mine have been fine

Outside of the cup hinges are the X2's honestly even capable of breaking? Those things are built like military grade machinery compared to most headphones lol

Have you had issues with your K371s in terms of the headband peeling? I got mine for Christmas and the next day after I took them out of their bag there were some bits in the headband with the leatherette missing.

Depends, do you really enjoy the X2? If you do then I would just stay satisfied with them for now.

Personally, I always thought they were too heavy and really a muffled mess in the year I that used them (first real headphones after gaming headsets). I primarily upgraded for comfort reasons. But the HD660s and K702 were such a dramatic improvement both objectively and to my tuning preference that I now wish I could just get rid of the X2's if it was even worth it lol

It sounds like you’re just getting used to the sound quality. Try switching back to another pair for a while.