But I think crin's fine because he doesn't actually review or rank the collabs he's done. It's like a 50-50 thing, he does his collab thing on the side and he also rates/reviews other IEMs that he didn't collab on

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Okay, thank you will try that.

If you have a low impedence headphone or IEM and used high gain you would probably get distortion.

However, if you used high gain and an EQ and reduced the gain output on the EQ side you might get better results.

When I get anything new I start at a low gain setting and adjust from there. Once I find the sweet spot, I just leave it.

Almost all my IEMs use low gain. High Gain I only use for headphones that require extra power.

Zeos and Josh exaggerate A TON.

But give the XS a solid chance before passing judgement. Use them exclusively for a week or so and then try the Grados.

How common or audible are distortions? I heard high gain may have more likeliness to cause distortions

The AirPods Max also have AutoEQ you have to account for. They automatically EQ depending on the seal of the pads and same goes for AirPods Pro’s. The EQ turns off when you set the AirPods to “Off” in the ANC section

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For an over-ear like the HD600 with a dongle, I would tend to use high gain.

For IEMs, I would stick to low gain.

Using the wrong unit has nothing to do with translation tho?

Welcome to ChiFi, they are actually a lot better at making this stuff than writing English marketing materials.

Would you trust companies like Apple, Mercedes-Benz, Coke or Pepsi? They have made similar mistakes translating for the Chinese market.

>1) Pepsi “Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation” Mistranslated into “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Dead”
>2) KFC “Finger Lickin” Good Mistranslated into “Eat Your Fingers Off”
>3) Mercedes Benz Used The Name Bensi Which Means “Rush to Die”
>4) Apple’s iPhone 7 Was Translated as a Sex Organ in Cantonese
>5) Coca-Cola’s Band Name Translates “Bite the Wax Tadpole” Initially

https://limpid-translations.com/2022/02/08/when-chinese-translations-gone/

Thats just dumb then, isn't it?

If they can't even label their spec sheet correctly, how can I trust them to do anything else right?

Imagine intel saying their CPU clocks to about 3.8 Gigabyte lmao ...

They are actually voltage figures, and they are accurate. It even says "voltage". Someone added on the mW by mistake, it should be mV, it's a typo. On the device it says 1.8V / 3.8V.

These are typical numbers for a high power dongle, these typically do up to 1V low power SE, 2V high power SE, 2V low power balanced, 4V high power balanced. Max power will typically top out around 200-240mW in high power balanced, they are current limited into low impedances and won't do anywhere near the full 4V. They will do full voltage into higher impedances, 3.8V into 300Ω is only 48mW.

These numbers are just below that, 900mV, 1.8V, 1.8V, 3.8V. That's right for a dual CS43131 dongle.

I use equalizer apo and peace gui on windows (its free)

For me its easy, since I like Harman as is, I just look up oratory1990s preset and go with that.

If you don't even know what you are looking for I'd suggest starting with his preset (if available) and the just start playing with bass and treble adjustments

If there is no preset available, you gotta fiddle about with it by ear.

You cna reas up on thing in this FAQ:

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/faq/

The build is decent, probably a soild 7/10, I don't feel like going full whistling diesel on them but they don't feel like they'll crumble like particle board. But if I drop them on a hard floor from about 5ft its mostly likely gonna be game over.

Anyways.. When it comes to EQ'ing how do you go about that?

​

P.S I also forgot to mention when I first got them. They arrived before the amp so I plugged them into my pc and listen to a few songs. And for a split second I got this crazy imaging/sound stage phenomena of the symbols of a drum moving away from me in every time they were struck. I thought that this was surely a sign of things to come but I have yet to hear it again. Quite vexxing.

Use whichever works best for you. I know, that doesn’t really answer anything. Rule of thumb is low gain has less distortion than high gain. Some headphones require a bit more juice, so the high gain option would work better if you’re not getting enough volume. In my experience, it can also help increase the bass and slam a tad bit. So if they’re sufficiently powered on low gain, stick to low gain. It really depends on the headphones.

Not 3.8V but 3.8W

Volt =/= Watt. big difference

But: even low gain single ended should be powerful enough to rattle your skull, if the specs are to be trusted.

Edit: Looked up the device, those manufacturer claimed numbers sound like a load of horseshit to me! Even big desktop amps dont have these ridiculous power figures, let alone any 50 buck mobile dac...

Well if Grado aint your benchmark it sounds to me as though you have yet to find a sound signature that leaves you not wanting anything more.

Thus Id like to propose once again the use of EQ.

Tune away what you don't like and add what you feel is missing. The Hifiman take EQ really well.

But are you impressed with the Hifiman build? I found even the HE 1000 to feel like a mere toy when compared to many cheaper headphones. Hifiman also has a bad rep regarding durability, deservedly so.

Lets hope your pair survives beyond the warranty period, should you decide to keep em :)

Gotcha, I've heard whispers of Zeos being a spastic sellout but that's why I went to DMS, Josh, and a few others who also raved about it being the deal of a decade.

So I figured there has to be something to this; and after a week of waiting, total disappointment. It really ruined my day. I was expecting a surreal experience akin to a mini Dolby surround sound system on my head but alas...

This is the best advice, just using the new headphones will automatically make you pick up on details on songs you have heard many times. Use them for a while until they become your baseline and then going back to the Grados will allow you to see if there is a big difference between them.

To further answer your question, how do the XS sound not compared to anything. If they sound good with great clarity, it means there are no defective parts. I'm pretty sure you already tried both headphones with and without the FiiO to make sure that's not playing a part in this. There should be an obvious boost in bass compared to the grados. Try using a different omit source to make sure there wasn't an issue with that.

I'm the opposite I want to throw them away as soon as possible because even though I only use them a few times a year one of the yolks holding the drive has just broken off.

To be honest, you need to be careful about listening to the two reviewers you mentioned. They aren't total shills, and they do introduce many people to audio, but they have a tendency to overhype and to emphasize small (sometimes imperceptible) differences.

Unless it sounds very wrong, your headphones are probably not broken. I suggest learning how to use parametric EQ to find out what kind of sound you like.

I have those too. I haven't heard the XS, so can't comment on those. I have Beyer dt1990's as well as the Grados. The Beyers are technically "better" in terms of sq, but I wouldn't want to get rid of the Grados, I just really enjoy them (with the larger G pads).

I never said I think Grados are the zenith of headphone technology. I just simply have been out of the headphone scene for a while and never got around upgrading as I don't really use headphones that much so I couldn't justify the purchase.

Also, I wasn't that impressed with the Grados either when I first got them. The sound is just Okay but the Ergonomics and build quality are straight out of the 1940s.

I have a set of 225e's from 2015