I was also thinking of getting one that would work for desktop spotify

I tend to always see photos of Hifiman when they are new or when they are broken. They also have quality control issues (and durability issues) with the Sundara so this isn't a surprise.

Older people tend to enjoy the Grados as they cannot hear treble frequencies like younger people can, so the treble emphasis tends to work out.

This is super helpful. If I wanted to get a PEQ that works for spotify, what app would you recommend?

Oh interesting. I use the stock cable, but it looks way different. I wonder if this one is better than the older one. I also made a cable recently but I need to improve the tension relief on the connectors do the soldering doesn’t break.

"The psychoacoustic model provides for high quality lossy signal compression by describing which parts of a given digital audio signal can be removed (or aggressively compressed) safely—that is, without significant losses in the (consciously) perceived quality of the sound."

Significant and safely are the two words you should be reading there. It's not proven 100% of the original lossless file as its literally lossy and getting it right 'most of the time' as their model does, isn't the same as getting it 'always right'. So lossless is still obviously preferred.

I mean you're really taking the whole work out of context as it's designed to lose less of the recording than the data shrink would suggest, not provide a perfect match for lossless.

Not to mention the factors of the dac and amp portion of a tws, few actually measure 'perfectly' despite sonically transparent dacs and amps (such as topping) being affordable both as portables and desktop set ups. So wireless has a ways to go, that said by someone with both wireless and wired set ups.

The market for out and about listening never really crossed over to full size open backs anyway.

The crossover between IEMs and wireless is real though.....IEMs still seem to be doing pretty well.

The stock right now. It’s ok. I’d like to try a balanced 4.4mm to take full advantage of this amp (and honestly to see if I can tell a difference). You?

Nice combo, I’ve got these cans worth the k5 Pro. What cable are you using??

Haha, yes it is.

At first I wasn’t blown away or anything but they have grown on me. Certain songs do sound great with them, and they’re miles better for gaming compared to the HE4XX.

I think QC plague the cheaper hifimans, I haven’t seen a ton of issues pop up with the sundara’s but I think for my next set, definitely going sennheiser.

I'm sorry. :(

Sundaras are so good for the money.

Give your ears some time to get used to the "grado sound". But pretty much you know right from the get-go whether or not you like the sound though. But they may start to surprise you the longer you use them...

I was thinking of getting those Hifiman's. Not sure now.

The Sundara was my into into planar magnetic headphones too, and from that point on I was hooked. They are still the headphone to get in that budget. I remember being amazed at the clarity, and for me at least they were a definite step up from the HD600, which I know some people will take as sacrilege but they HD600 just lacked the low end I needed.

Ive been using Poweramp since 2017, before that I used the media player on my Samsung phone.

Not for the quality benefit, which btw does not exist. 320kbit high quality spotify is indistinguishable from CD quality even for trained listeners after all.

I use Poweramp because I hate monthly subscriptions and I hate the Spotify interface.

Since Poweramp now even offer parametric EQ, which wasn't always the case, there is now a reason to use it other than preference.

PEQ is the single most powerful tool in audio land.

PEQ is the difference between an abysmally poor tonality and literal heaven.

PEQ has the potential to turn any headphone into one, which sounds just the way YOU like it.

Basically: use PEQ. Does not matter whether it's tied to poweramp or not. I think without EQ one is missing out.

Cans: Grado SR60X and Hifiman HE4XX Amp/dac: Fiio EK10

I got the hifimans as a gift a few years back, and even with great care, the prophecy came true and they broke :(

Not wanting to spend another $100 on a headband, I got the grado’s a few days ago as a replacement, and tbh I don’t get the hype but they are good headphones. I do prefer a wide sound stage and more emphasis on vocals but I have been enjoying them.

Planning on fixing the HE4XX sometime soon with some shoe glue, but happy to have both in my collection.

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It is. That's kind of the point, downloading your music in higher quality.

Well fuck that explains it, mine literally fell apart in the same spot a few days ago.

I pulled out my K-On albums went through them, surprisingly the K701 have a very clear bass and a good enough amount of sub bass with these HTT songs. Honestly, I wouldn't mind rocking these if I were Mio. It's not like my DT 770 Pro but I would say it sounds good for a bass head. I like bass guitars but I don't play them, however I can definitely transcribe what's going on in the bassline with the K701. The soundstage is so wide that the bass doesn't get muddy in with the crazy drum riffs Ritsu was banging out, truly impressive.

The clarity and detail of the Sundara are really so far ahead of anything I've experienced before. The speed and .... quality(?) of the bass is really impressive. I find the K7 (to my ears) to be peak-clinical/clean chi-fi flatness. I'm guessing maybe that's the THX element. I don't know, I'm still learning and training my ears. I know this is the best sound combination I've ever owned. In this picture, I have the pre-out going to an SMSL A18 aux-in, leading to my Q acoustics speakers.

Just thought I'd share!

Very nice purchase, i almost started my journey with the DT770 but went with the M50X and regreted it. Enjoy these very much, and only upgrade by getting an open back.

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For ANC to be most effective the microphones should be at your ear. This makes more sense when everything else is at your ear too.

Also, the varying input power and other processing of audio in your source with an analogue output for IEMs (and if you have detachable cables, differences in frequency response and impedance in different IEMs) all would make the calculations of the inverse waveform much more difficult, if not impossible.

Within Bluetooth, everything is self-contained in the headphone or earbud. The processor knows exactly the impedance of the driver, the frequency response and volume. Any processing is passed to the headphone digitally so it can be accounted for in the digital to analogue conversion. And since everything is self contained the microphones can be placed as close to your ear as possible.

IEM’s are passive, where are you implementing the ANC?