Qobuz is the best audiophile-oriented streaming service I've used, but their library is unfortunately a bit lacking for me - but this is a matter of your music taste, so definitely give them a shot.

Spotify has comfortably the best music recommendation engine, but no lossless. Probably not a big deal, but I'm a paranoid enough audiophile that I just don't want to pay for that.

Apple Music is reasonably nice on iOS, but kind of half-assed if you want to use it on Windows, and not really designed for anal-retentive audiophiles who want their bits perfect.

Amazon Music is very low-rent as a service, but it's affordable (I already used Prime) and does the job I need it to do, so that's what I use.

I also buy stuff from Bandcamp a bunch. This is by far the most profitable avenue for the artist, these streaming apps pay nothing.

Fuck MQA, ergo, fuck Tidal.

Qobuz. Sounds the best imo. I stream but I also buy from them too.

Why do you need a balanced cable for such a sensitive IEM?

Worth it if you want that night club experience.

Sorry for not making this clearer: They're the same phone. Except one is new and the other is refurbished.

Get them!!!

I'm not sure why you are wondering whether you are imagining that it sounds different from your old phone. Its likely to be a different design, made to different standards, with different components and software. If you hear a difference there is one, whatever the reason. Are you certain that it actually sounds worse and not just different? Sometimes when a track you've played hundreds of times before sounds just a little bit different if seems like a fault rather than just different. Try some music that you're less familiar with.

You nailed it!

Sometimes that childish fun is what the doctor ordered!

Glad to see a fellow Crusher enjoyer :)

ok, then yes, fully agree. Crushers are fun, as long as you know what you're in for. Just childish fun. But also nothing wrong with that.

Oh for sure, for sound quality the S12 has that in spades along with bass quality and quantity. It just can't mimic the gimmick (new meme?).

Fair assessment in that regard that the Crusher is not going to compete on this level other than delivering on its gimmick.

jitterbug? isnt that the phone for old people that has like 3 options. call, end call, power off?

tho objectivists have a point, while there are things that make a difference (like cables and usb filters) the question is if its worth the premium and there is "good snake oil" and "crappy snake oil" out there

dont worry about the "nonbelievers", i also heared differences with the ifi isilencer for the better, tho overall it seems that these filters are just a fix for a suboptimal transferformat (usb), many people like AES/SPDIF for that reason

imo you shouldnt believe any people on the ethernet (objectivists or subjectivists so to say), if you are curious make your own test :)

all the basses, am i right fellas? LMAO

Over ear (big) DD bass is a great basshead experience. Don't have the knowledge to top that with an IEM so far for example.

I'd love to be able to use a Sansa if I could add a card up to 1 gb haha

Cool project 😃

Well to my ears the main big difference is bass. However out of the 3, the kbear stellar are probably the brightest. And they're only like $3 or something.

Besides them, I've read the original Monks are bright. A pair I need to get.

Sorry I can't be of more help

Eww, put it back

I forgot to mention, this whole mod is completely reversible. The 3d printed part uses the original screws to hold in place.

And default beyer pads now fit without additional parts.

IME when it comes to audio, if you have to ask whether you could be imagining a difference, you almost certainly are. If you have a computer with line in or some audio interface or something, you could record the output of both and run some tests with RMAA or REW but seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

Nice. Much better then the original response.

I am wanting to use the better balanced output on the schiit Magnius (SE kinda sucks on it), I can always just go back to SE whenever I want with an adapter anyways so I thought why not.

Lovely setup~ I would melt away with this in a nice comfy couch/recliner and some nice warm (orangey) light in the room.