You are not using a balanced cable, waifu wants some more juice

> HD600's warmth and relaxed vocals (the mids being farther back, as you said)

What? The 600 has the most forward mids and least warmth of any 6x0 except for maybe some versions of the 580.

I went for the Wooden Green faceplates during the 2020 November 11th sale because I couldn't decide on a custom engraving image (and I wasn't familiar on how to properly format the image for engraving use anyway).

I wished there were a way for me to demo IEMs above $500 where I'm from without having to buy and return them. This is why I'm hesitant to buy IEMs like the Monarch Mk2, U12T, S8, etc.

Sometimes we overestimate the bass amount that we need

> Chu with bass added and the treble smoothed over a little

That's exactly what it is, on top of the build quality improvements. I'm definitely getting this one.

i’ll come back in 5 years and you’ll have all kinds of expensive headphones and electrostatic shit, just watch

i’ll come back in 5 years and you’ll have all kinds of expensive headphones and electrostatic shit, just watch

Thanks for the review! I’ve been wondering if I should buy a pair. I’ll stick with my 660s for now.

My biggest frustration with many online reviewers is that they are primarily influencers, because it gets them more views. They measure success in how successful the unit they reviewed positively was, and they take partial credit for how popular they are. Or they’ll say things in revised versions of a product like “the manufacturer listened to my advice” as if they have that much pull.

What I’m trying to say boils down to this. The reviews you watch on YouTube are hyped up. They want you to buy what they’re reviewing especially using the affiliate link in the description.

I’m painting with a broad stroke here but even the ones who are not paid by the manufacturer ARE still influencers.

Random aside, but I like that painting of a cat on the wall in the background!

you mean open back? yes. Unfortunately I haven't heard the LCD-X

Yay! Congrats! Yeah, dongles are a must, as even KZ stuff shows just how shitty my built-in phone dac is (cheap samsung..). Did you notice those artifacts too? I am using the iBasso dc05, didn't even try to run the S8 out of the phone jack, as my ears would probably bleed. Are you planning to run your dongle balanced?

Lol sorry you had this experience but it is a bit funny. I'm getting a confused, but am I correct in summing up the experience as:

• shop one has good products, but not the ones you like best
• shop two is run by a wanker

In that case, I think you are justified in ordering the products you really want from an online store. You made a good faith effort to reward a brick and mortar retailer and they could not offer what you want. Perhaps you could ask shop one if they are able to order Audeze and Chord products for you? I'm also confused why "because I expressed a disliking for MQA, they could only make one DAC/amp available"? That doesn't make sense to me ... what's wrong with a DAC having this capability? You are not obligated to listen to MQA files just because your DAC can decode them. You could try other DACs that store one offers.

I really want to visit store two though. The owner sounds hilarious!

Curious to know what you think of the Arya’s treble and bass compared to the XS? I’ve always wondered how the two compared to each other.

You lost me at Billie Eilish

TL;DR: Buy online and hope that the reviewers/influencers/etc. are not overselling the products. Past experiences will come in handy and help you avoid future problems.

I'm a fairly minimalist, non-argumentative, et cetera person due to poverty. And so sometimes my fashion senses are way off when I'm not at events needed for networking/socialization/et cetera. This also means I try to avoid conflict because ain't nobody got time for that.

Anyway, so I walk into this audio store to demo and buy a specific headphone, hold let me find that text, I was gonna post it in the "https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/10tibxb/the_headphone_show_cables_can_make_a_difference/" thread as like another anecdote about experiencing things differently IRL or debunking myths/marketing/et cetera.

Wait fml, that rambling of mine is like 6000+ characters long, ain't nobody got time for that too.

> Anyway, long story short, about a decade ago I was going to this store to demo and buy a hyped headphone. I had a let's just say unorthodox outfit because I basically just got out of bed, lol. > > The salesman, old guy with glasses, tucked in shirt with the belt, lol, et cetera then approaches me, looks me up and down and says what can I do for you. > > I'm like I'm here to test headphones (they got a wall of them). He tells me here, have some Grados, lol. And I'm like wtf, that's not what I wanted but ya I didn't specify anything so it was kinda expected. This man literally gives me the cheap Grado stuff and I'm not about them on-ears, we here for over-ears. > > I'm pretty conflict-averse due to poverty and so because of the immediate salesman aggressiveness that the old guy approached me with, I was just going along before obviously ya just directly testing the specific headphone I want. > > So like after a while (I was basically the only customer for the headphone section, this same salesman was watching me stand there with the headphones) he asks me what's my budget. When I start pulling out piles of green $20 bills out of my pocket, totaling half a stack or so, his whole demeanor changed. This guy then shoved an Astell & Kern DAP at me, the $1000+ ones, and I'm like wtf is this guy on about, I don't even listen to whatever rock/etc. music they have stored in the DAP, lmao. > > Eventually I was like whatever, this is clearly how other people get roped into overspending. And so I just tell him to give me a brand new set of the particular headphones everyone back then was praising. So then they start selling me cables, insurance, et cetera. And I was like fam, you see that half a stack already gone and my lazy outfit, does it look like I can spend more. > > Seriously, I saved up so much money (same to this day (as I'm still relatively poor) when it comes to audio/other hobbies) and like people be legit wanting you to overspend for no reason. Sigh. > > --- > > Fml, that was so long and specific (I cut it down from 6000+ characters, could be shorter but I wanted to have a bit more context). But I guess the point is that don't buy headphones IRL as if you don't know salesmen tactics or are easily influenced, you will get scammed by people that already have million dollar houses and so on, like rofl. > > Thankfully I grew up in Asia and helped my relatives in the wet markets (just means raw meat, vegetables, clothes, and lots of haggling) and all that jazz. And I already had previous experience with other local audio stores too. So ya, it was just funny seeing a screenplay straight out of the movies. > > My guy's whole attitude changed as soon as the money appeared. Before he just wanted me to go away (remember, appearance is extremely important as being more attractive means better opportunities), but after that, he wanted me to buy twice my budget plus an unnecessary, overkill, etc. DAP, like wtf man.

Anyway, with that random unnecessary story out of the way, just buy from Amazon UK (Amazon USA, Amazon Japan, et cetera also ships there), lol.

If you're in Europe, with Amazon UK I can usually find stuff there available to shipping for a lot of international places. There's also Amazon Germany, Thomann (German audio place), etc. that some people like to use in Europe/elsewhere. And IIRC there was also that Scandinavian/etc. site that some people used.

Wait let me add the beginning of the cut down post:

> Sometimes when I browse Head-Fi and other dedicated audio forums, people be talking about the setups or configurations they use. And then I also have some of those gear and test it. And it's like wtf, is the universe experience really that relative, different. > > Then I remember that a lot of the people there are older people that don't want to use (parametric) EQ for whatever reason. Or visit an ENT doctor or audiologist for hearing tests, ear cleanings, et cetera despite it being covered by the regional/national/etc. government if over or under a certain age. And like some of them be really do flexing for the sake of collection/prestige/etc. > > Like a lot of us got many Pokemons, KZ Pokemons (they just got a new bullet style IEM called KZ LingLong, lol), et cetera, but those folks be legit spending only $500/1000+ and nothing less. They even have them paired with the velvety watch boxes, lol. It's wild out there.

> Thankfully some of us have access to local audio retailers that carry a few of those kilobuck and so on IEMs/headphones and sometimes they're often really quiet too (barely any customers, lol) if the separate isolated booth is not available for better hearing experience. There's also the audiophile groups that often do trades, switches, tours, or demos with each other. > > And so we can kinda gauge for a while if something is worth the diminishing returns and so on. Seriously, some of the local audio stores will often let you use your own gear and so you can do whatever you want, oftentimes they will even let you stay there for hours as there's like barely any customers and like people are just chill, lmao. > > Some audio stores be legit pushy af though. But from experience those are usually the ones that have a separate speakers or home theater section.

Sigh, this reached 6000 characters again already, fml.

What I'm trying to say is that a lot of those physical (audio) stores have older salesmen that are really pushy. And so unless you have the patience to deal with that, don't bother and just buy online after demoing the products. It feels bad to do that, which is why sometimes I buy cheap products (say $20 or so for Comply foam ear tips, etc.) for their time.

I'm privileged enough to have a few places here that don't have those types of old people and so they are amazing resources if you don't want to fully blind buy based on the reviews on the internet from influencers, hype people, et cetera. This is mostly applicable to headphones and speakers btw, not so much for IEMs, but it'll different in Asia/elsewhere.

Lmao, let's put this post to the max of 10000 characters.

Thank God now we have $10 dongles (lol) that can do the job. Or $50-100 dongles (with physical volume control) if you still want more volume, Bluetooth, and so on options. Dongles can be legit overkill, no need to really spend more unless you want those extra features like the volume knob, microphone/speakers/etc. ports, et cetera.

Oh and Amazon also offers financing for certain popular (Sennheiser) headphones (legit free, no interest rates/etc.), over 5 months or 12 months, and so on. It'll depend on your account history with them though, as in you will probably get that offer if you buy a lot from Amazon and don't return as much items.

Basically barely any of us have local audio stores like e-earphones.

Everything is unfortunately pretty much a blind buy unless there's like an e-earphone (Akihabara, Tokyo) equivalent near your area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUbeBBh2guM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GMP8cjAEq0

Some people also abuse (some people get 5/10+ IEMs/headphones all at once and demo them for 30 days, lol smh) the generous Amazon return system because we can't really test out IEMs/headphones, especially TWS earbuds as the best value are often exclusive to China/etc.

Btw, there's the October to January (some people apparently demo a lot of IEMs/headphones/etc. around this time as it's 4 months of free trial with the product, lol) extended holiday return period.

Wouldn't recommend you do that often as Amazon do ban people's accounts if they abuse it too much. Make sure you bought a lot of (expensive) stuff from Amazon if you're going to test IEMs/TWS earbuds/headphones/etc. as I heard they give more chances if you do that.

Thankfully now we also have squig.link, AutoEQ, et cetera for the more informed resources.

See here for more info about Qudelix 5K, parametric EQ, squig.link comparison graphs, AutoEQ, et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/109meb5/eq/j40cy1n/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11ahxu1/just_picked_up_the_dt990s_250ohm_for_my_pc_sound/j9s5sht/

Look up oratory1990 (check the subreddit, /r/oratory1990, don't forget the preset parametric EQ list (mainly for headphones but there's some IEMs there): https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets) and crinacle's articles on what amps/DACs/etc. are and what they do.

Extra info on wired IEMs/headphones/Bluetooth/et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/11a550d/how_can_i_learn_the_basics_about_soundheadphones/j9r9r48/

As for the question on how to appear that you're a serious buyer IRL, just make sure to not be like me, lol. Don't go with casual clothing, and try to speak in say a more fancy accent/dialect, usually they'll see you as coming from the upper class and treat you better, lmao. I don't wear jewelry or anything, so maybe try that too, like an expensive watch.

Phew, this reached 10000 characters, I apologize for that.

Yeah, those are some of the tips I had lying around, they work best for me at the moment, but still I'm waiting to get some spinfits. I also cut up one spare eartip to make a ring that serves as a bushing that doesn't let an eartip go too deep on the nozzle to better fit my right ear (not on the photo, as it looks janky)

Haven't tried the b2, but also am very curious to try, especially now that they have these crazy new wooden faceplates! There must be diminishing returns, so yeah, I'd expect 80-90% performance out of b2. I hope one of my friends gets it so that we can properly demo them head to head. Another difference between the two is that the S8 is unvented, and I was curious to experience that isolation. I love it

Not sure what you are reading. That was exactly my statement: "Sony (consumer grade)".

Not really. Dan Clark Aeon Open X are $429 at Drop. Audeze LCD-X can be purchased new on Black Friday for $450 and used for $450-500 year-round.

Yeah or you could just buy them online and like he would never know and it would never come up again in your lifetime. Either way.

I have a Sony MDR-EX650AP it only has one button for pausing songs. I bought a Baseus Type-C convertor to use it. The thing is whenever I move cable in some way it just sends random signals to phone to stop song or increase volume etc.

Maybe this isn't exactly the right place to ask this but is there any app out there to at least override controlling songs through headphone?

Ha ha - your post did make me giggle! Etiquette and civility probably are excessively valued in British culture, but I wonder if it is an ingrained expectation that I would struggle to psychologically escape from.

I did think about ignoring my dented pride and going cap-in-hand to Ball Scratcher, but it would take a lot of swallowing (the pride, not the balls).

🍒

So a few things of note.

1. This is undoubtedly the most British post and dilemma I've ever come across, well done.

2. ballscratcher did ultimately sell you on a product quickly and effectively while the first shop took a long time to get back to you and seemed to act as if you were wasting their time. If you don't like interacting with people you may not find agreeable, you should just shop online. No hard feelings and just make sure you have a good return policy from whoever you purchase from. But since you're already here I would go back to Mr. Ballscratcher and make the purchase that you preferred the best.

I have to reiterate my opinion on amps/DACs which is that, to date, nobody I’m aware of has ever been able to tell the difference between two well measuring solid state chains in a blind test.

The only reason I have a Mojo instead of a cheaper portable amp is because at the time, it was the only portable amp powerful enough to run a Susvara and I live at work half the year. (Now there’s the Ifi Diablo but that thing just looks ridiculous).

It’s nice to not have to buy a whole separate setup and just place it on my desk if I need to.

In fact, its pretty cool to carry a full hifi chain with you in a Mojo. You can leave it on your desk, take it outside, take it to work, take it on vacation, etc etc.

As far as the look. The full aluminum body is pretty solid imo. And the tiny rubber feet are surprisingly grippy. But yes they did change the buttons in the Mojo 2. I complained directly to Rob Watts about that one. The Mojo 1 has beautiful glass spheres for buttons. The Mojo 2’s buttons are much less satisfying to handle.

And yes, the whole input side of the DAC is a nightmare. I think Chord knows this. When I asked about this, Rob said he had too many USB-C connectors fail on him. I think the reason is entirely because they wanted it to be backwards compatible with the Poly.

As far as the headphones- LCD2 is great. Have you tried the LCDX yet?

Out of curiosity, would/have you used the Mojo 1 as a DAC only, and fed the output to a headphone amplifier? This configuration in the demonstration system seemed odd to me, as the Mojos (both 1 and 2) can drive headphones directly.

I assume the analogue amp I was presented with was just regarded as being able to drive the cans better than the integrated DAC/amp.