Awesome bass fun time!

Q: What are the holy grail bass headsets? I want to buy a pair of headphones that have awesome bass and make listening to music enjoyable.

A: Holy grail bass (because the first thing you say when you listen to them is "Jesus!") = Sony XB500/700/1000

Ark of the covenant bass (because I'll probably find the freaking ark of the covenant more easily than I find a D7k) = Denon D5000/7000

Antichrist bass (preceded of course by the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse bass, which are obviously Bose, Skullcandy, Monster and the Audio Technica AD900X) = Beats. Any Beats, because that's the brand audiophiles most love to beats up on.

The great pretender bass (it thinks it's a king, but it ain't) = the Audio technica ATHM50X. It has bassm, more bass, and pretgty much nothing but the bass.

The Shadow (because it actually has awesome bass, but no-one knows it exists) = JVC HA-SZ2000 - come on, admit it, how many of you know it's out there as an option: ready, waiting, even yearning for bassheads to pick it up and try it out?

Twins with an attitude (like the girls who picked you up at a bar and showed you what a "fun" time means until you collapsed in exhaustion at 5 am the next morning) = the Philips Fidelio X1/X2

Comparing two Sony bass monsters

Q: What's the difference between the Sony XB500 and the XB700? Why are they so sought after?

A: Sony discontinued the awesome XB500/700/1000 and replaced them with abominations, for reasons that no human, except maybe a couple of folks in a building at 171 Konan Minato-ku, can possibly comprehend.

Since then, obviously due to the fact that [1] they were awesome bass monsters, [2] they were discontinued, and [3] supplies dwindled over time, they have become sought-after collectors items, and have naturally increased in value.

The XB700 has bigger drivers. The memory foam pads are about the size of a CD for comparison, so they are bigger around the ears than the XB500. As a consequence the volume of air that resonates is also greater.

The XB500 has more raw bass. XB700 bass is a little more subtle, and a little tighter. Subbass extension is also better than the 500. Kick drums sound a little crisper, and low end basslines are a little more defined than the 500. 500 bass is more in-your-face, and upper bass rolloff bleeds into the mids audibly, as a consequence of which the mids appear to be a little more recessed than those of the 700.

Soundstage is about the same for both, i.e. not very spectacular. I have convinced myself that 700 soundstage is a little wider than the 500, but IMO that is probably a figment of my imagination than real.

Purely as a bass monster, I would rank the 500 higher, but between the two I end up reaching for the 700 more for EDM. The way I think of the 700 is that it is a more refined version of the 500, i.e. the 500 in a tuxedo.

Is the Bravo Ocean tube headphone amp worth buying?

Q: Is the Bravo Ocean tube headphone amp worth buying?

A: Probably not. Its not a real tube amp, but a class A hybrid. It features a meh design, cheap components, bottom-of-the-barrel stock tube (Shu Guang 12AU7, which is one of the truly god-awful sounding tubes out there), QC issues longer than Lindsay Lohan's arrest record, etc.

But having said this, what are your options if you want a cheap hybrid amp? Well there is the HifiMan EF2A, and it does have a built in USB dac, but that has such a high preset gain and noise floor it is essentially unusable with low impedance headphones.

And the xDuoo TA01, which is more unknown than an uncredited extra in the battle scene in a Peter Jackson movie (but at least it has adjustable gain).

And then there is the Bravo trio -- the v1 (best used as a paperweight), the v2 (which is just as meh as the Ocean, mainly because, well, it is pretty much the Ocean, except naked, which means you are more likely to electrocute yourself on the amp) and the v3, which oddly has an equlaizer which is as useful as a third nipple on a dude.

So where does the enthusiast with a desire for tube sound but no money in their wallet go to get their tube fix?

Well the Little Dot Mk 1+ is probably the best choice, if you can get past the lack of customer support and huge expense shipping it back to LD if you get a lemon.

There's the Hifiman EF3, which is basically the EF2A without the DAC and with a gain switch. But tube rolling paired tubes can be expensive, especially if you go NOS.

Or there is the Bravo v2 or Ocean. The Ocean gives you an enclosure and thus better heat dissipation (Bravo uses the enclosure as a heat sink), and you could get a decent 12AU7 tube for cheaper than a pair of 6AK7s for the EF3.

So in sum, its not very good, but one of the cheapest options for getting into hybrid amps.

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed hybrid tube amp is king.

One of the acrylic guard pieces on my Aune T1 MK2 snapped!

Q: One of the acrylic guard pieces on my Aune T1 MK2 snapped when I was trying to remove them. What do I do?

A: Snapped how? They are supposed to come off easy.

Snapped where? If the little tab at the bottom of the acrylic U snapped, you may have a small piece of acrylic rattling around in your enclosure. It's probably not going to short anything out but you may want to pull it out one day.

If the U shaped arm snapped, well, you should find solace in the fact that the T1 looks even better without the acrylic guards.

You may also want to consider modding a metal cage like I have seen some others do. 

Expensive IEMs when travelling

Q: Are top-of-the-line IEMs worth it when the only use case is in trains while travelling?

A: Two reasons not to use a ToTL pair of headphones for your commute:

[1] I have a nasty habit of losing / breaking / destroying the IEMs I use when on the go. If I lose my $100 IEMs, I don't care. But if I lose a pair of $1000 IEMs, I will cry like a baby. For weeks.

[2] Do you really need that level of audiophile clarity when you are on the go? I mean, are you really trying to critically listen to Wayne Shorter breathing during his saxophone solo in "Aja" when the guy next to you is yelling on his cellphone and the baby two seats behind is screaming at the top of her lungs and the train wheels are going clickety-clack in the background?

And when you are in a restaurant eating dinner and listening to Arne Domnerus' "Jazz At The Pawnshop" do you really want to hear the waiters clearing the table in your song while waiters are clearing the table, well, at your table?

Really?

Headphones that don't let sound out....but let sound in?

Q: I'm looking for a pair of headphones with minimal sound leakage. But I'd also be able to hear when the phone rings or when people are talking to me at work.

A: By default if you want headphones to have minimal sound leakage they must be closed, i.e. the earcups don't allow too much sound to escape into the environment.

But by the same token if sound can't get out, well it can't get in either so closed headphones tend to be quite isolating.

The Sony NWZ-A17SLV: The new face of the Walkman

The A17 is an interesting offering from Sony, obviously throwing down a challenge to the Fiios and the iBassos, and shall I say it...the Ponos of the world?

On the surface this is a great looking DAP. What you are really paying for here is Sony's expertise in the audio industry, with their proprietary hardware and firmware tweaks.

Sony has a great track record, from the original Walkman on. Some super hits (the NWZ series of DAPs), some gear that is absolutely stratospherically good (the PHA2, XB500/700/1000) and even some iconic cult classics (the MDRR10, even the TPS-L2).

But more than any other audio manufacturer (yes, including HiFiman!), Sony has broken my heart. I can forgive them the tizzy MDRZ7 and the surprisingly clunky and redundant UDA1/S, but the internet-connected NW ZX1 really took the cake. I lusted after it for months, couldn't wait to get my hands on it, had dreams about it, and then when I finally nabbed one, it was a huge disappointment, mainly because it had an excessively high noise floor. For the price, it wasn't just a trivial nagging background hiss, it made music literally hard to listen to on some of my more finicky IEMs.

But I didn't learn my lesson (and a very expensive lesson it was too) with the ZX1, I went and checked out the A15. Another gorgeously built device from Sony with all the usual Sony bells and whistles, but no internet connectivity, an interface that made even the crappy Fiio X3 interface bearable, and, wait for it, the dreaded hiss.

You would think I had learned my lesson, but then alas I started lusting after the A17. Third time is a charm, I said to myself, they would surely get it right this time, right?

So what is the A17 all about?

It's not internet enabled, though, like the ZX1 or ZX2 are. And it doesn't run Android but a version of the old Sony firmware that I have become familiar with since my NWZ-S616 days.

It does allow you to play almost every audiophile format you can throw at it, including flac and alac and aac (thankfully no ATRAC!), although it doesn't support DSD. Which is not surprising, because how many DSD songs can you get into that 64GB memory? Four? Five?

You can extend memory with a 128GB SDXC card though, although that adds to the cost. But you have to admit that 192GB is plenty of shelf space even for the most die hard audiophiles (you know the ones that are cybernetically connected to their 1st gen iPod classics).

Battery life is the bane of these devices (except my trusty old Cowon D2, which has the kind of battery life you would expect a nuclear powered aircraft carrier to have) but the A17 manages a healthy theoretical 50 hours. I say theoretical because when I was trying it out, it lasted only about 20 hours or thereabouts. I have no idea if that is par for the course or not.

I'm typically not a fan of the gimmicky digital processing that Sony does, for example DSEE, but its amplification design for the A17, including the so-called HMaster HX digital amplification, is on the money. Check out how Sony implemented the amp topology, its pretty cool, for example they used a POSCAP capacitor as the charge pump.

The interface is more intuitive than the crap on my Fiio X3 (Sorry X3 fanboys, but you know that even with the firmware update, the X3 interface is, well, crap) but it is still somewhat clunky. The screen is tiny but well illuminated (OLED?) but even though you can view video, i wouldn't use the A17 as a video player any more than I would use it as a smartphone.

Overall the sound is remarkably neutral. Highs are crisp (something I found lacking with the ZX1) and detail is superb. The only minuses are that it struggles to power even moderate impedance headphones, and there is an irritating hint of a hiss with exacting IEMs (floor noise is what killed the ZX1 for me as well). Which is frustrating, because if you can't pair audiophile DAPs with something like the Shure SE535 (which is great but nitpicks when it comes to floor noise) then what would you pair it with?

And the A17 struggles even with moderate impedance headphones with its 10mW per channel output, so it's really not an option except for portable use.

I suppose the A17 should be on the shortlist for folks looking at a standalone DAP, and I do prefer it to my Fiio X3 (which is languishing in a drawer somewhere because every time I use it I end up more irritated than happy). And
if you don't have prima donna IEMs that act like divas when it comes to amps, then the A17 may be a great choice. The S-Master HX topology is actually very cool and innovative, Sony DSEE is one of the fre implementations of digital sound enhancement that does not strip the music of its soul, the battery runs for longer than you would expect (around 30 hours by my reckoning), plus it charges quick too, the max of 192 GB storage (64 internal + 128 addon) is enough for any audiophile (at least for now), and the build quality is excellent - it just feels solid and right in your hand.

But the damn hiss makes your mambo sound more like a mamba. It makes me wish that Sony included Riki Tikki Tavi in the box with every DAP they sold to me.

And there are three more compelling reasons to pass on the A17.

First, from a price performance perspective its hard to look beyond the Fiio X1, or even the Sony NWZ-E385, which doesn't allow lossless files but then how many people critically listen to flac files when they are on the go anyway?

Second, the lack of internet access is irritating, because most of my on-the-go music now comes from streaming services. The A17 does have Bluetooth streaming though, but I did not test it.

But third (and probably most tellingly), it still doesn't demonstrate a compelling advantage over my Cowon D2, which has been my DAP workhorse for a long time now, mainly because I can't find anything better
But oh yes, one thing I learned during my time with the A17 is that it has an FM tuner.

Who knew FM radio still existed?

My ear hurts!

Q: I love using my IEMs, but recently my left ear has started hurting with maybe a little blood when the IEM is in there awhile and I take it out. What should I do?

A:  Pain and bleeding could be from a poor fit, rough IEM shell, or even a problem with the external ear itself.

If you have pain or discomfort from your IEM, that's not normal. And certainly bleeding isn't either. Stop using them. Get something else. Consider seeking medical attention. The bleeding is literally a red flag. 

Scratchy Aune

Q:  Whenever I turn on my Aune T1, I get serious distortion/static for the first 20-30 minutes until it fully warms up. I've tried several different headphones, I've tried leaving cans plugged in when I turn it on and I've tried waiting until after the T1 turns on to plug in. 

Nothing seems to make a difference, everything is static-y and awful sounding for the first 30 minutes or so, then it'll slowly go away and sound fine.

Am I doing something stupid, or do I have a faulty amp?

A: Try cleaning the tube contacts and rods. Isopropyl alcohol or (even better) Deoxit will work.

If your Aune T1 still sounds scratchy, try swapping the tube.

If still an issue, the finger of suspicion next points towards your PSU brick.

Hifiman HE 560 rattle

Q: I just got the Hifiman HE-560s and I noticed that one of the grills gives in a tiny bit. It barely moves if you apply pressure to it, but I can't push the other one in at all. I don't hear anything wrong but should I be concerned?

A:  A loose grille will only be an issue only if it vibrates. try running a bass shaker test, like the one here.

If the issue persists, you have two options. Option one is to engineer a DIY fix and batten down the grille with some glue or epoxy. Option two, and the one that I would probably pursue if you just got your headphones, is to contact Hifiman customer service, and also the retailer who sold you the headphones, to see if you can swap them for another pair.

Buying used headphones

Q: Should I  be worried about buying used headphones?

A: Veni's 3 rules of used headphone purchasing:

Rule 1: If the seller does not answer questions appropriately, send you decent pictures of said headphones, and overall sounds like he/she has no clue, then pass.

Rule 2: Don't buy modded headphones unless you are absolutely sure that the person who modded them knows what they are doing. It is easier to kill a pair of headphones than Mel Gibson's movie career.

And Rule 3: If you don't smoke, don't buy used headphones from a smoker. It will take more effort than it is worth to get rid of the smell.

Aune T1 tube rolling tips

Q: What tubes should I get for my Aune T1?

A: A common-sense rule of thumb is: don't spend more on your tubes than you did on the amp :-)
in general NOS (new old stock) tubes are better choices than reissues, but some NOS especially Amperex and old Genalex tubes can get plenty expensive very quickly.

Many resissue tubes are manufactured by New Sensor Corporation, and their price may be dramatically marked up by tube stores. When it comes to buying tubes, patience is always a virtue, especially when it comes to deals!

Would you ever buy a first batch of headphones?

Q: Would you ever buy a first batch of headphones? Is it worth it to wait?

A: Buying a first production run of any engineered item, whether it is a car or a pair of headphones, is always associated with a slightly higher likelihood that you'll get a product that has some issues.

Typically large companies manage QC well, so the issues are more likely to be because of design flaws than QC, although anyone assembling anything in a factory can have a bad day and screw up their job (and your product).

And yes, verification & validation testing does not catch every flaw, and since everyone who makes anything iteratively improves design over time as production ramps up, it always makes sense to wait for a product that has had the flaws "shaken out of it", so to speak.

I like to wait before I buy new audio gear, but more for the hype cycle to die down and some credible information to bubble up more than anything else, including reliability.

But I have this inner Klingon in my head who has zero patience and does not listen to reason, and he often jumps out when he sees me looking at desirable stuff and forces me to buy it the moment it is released

Sometimes I regret it later. So I curse the Klingon in my head, and he usually replies with "Hab SoSlI' Quch!"

The Gustard X12

This is a very interesting DAC because of the way it is implemented. At its heart it is a Sabre 9018 DAC with a pretty analog circuit and even prettier components, XMOS USB input just like the big boys, an Altera MAX2 for programmable logic and all the inputs you could possibly want (and some you may never use).

Plus it features all the jargon you can imagine: TXCO? Check. IIS? Check. DOP64? Check. DSD? Check. Sneezy? Check. Grumpy? Check. Dopey? Checkmate.

Massdrop has it at a great price ($440 + shipping) for this once-no-name brand that is making its bid to play in the major leagues. It's relatively futureproof, and may even be the last DAC you buy, until the next tier of teachnology emerges from the vasty deep.

But (as Tom Hnatiw used to say), do you need a DAC like this? Most people won't. As a litmus test, ask yourself these two questions: [1] how many DSD files do you have? and [2] How many devices capable of IIS or AES output do you own?

Do you want a DAC like this? Surprisingly, maybe not. Unless the rest of your chain can keep up (do you have a balanced amp, for a start?) getting an X12 might be like putting Y rated tires on your Yugo.

Equalizing those headphones!

Q: Is it a good idea to use an equalizer to change the way headphones sound?

A: While you can make some tweaks to a headphone's sound profile with EQ, some fundamental characteristics are impossible to alter.

For example, no amount of EQ can make a Grado SR60e sound like a bass monster, similarly no amount of EQ can make a Sony XB500 sound like a Grado.

Neutral headphones are somewhat like tofu -- they can take on a little of the flavor of the amp that drives them, or the DAC that feeds their signal, or EQ in the audio chain, either by using software or hardware. They still taste like tofu, mind you, but flavored.

While you can buy a relatively neutral pair of headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 and tweak the sound with an equalizer, I'm one of those folks who think that if you want a warm fun sound, it's better to get a Philips Fidelio X1 instead of using EQ to tweak a HD600 to make it sound warmer.

And if you want a bright-sounding pair of headphones, check out the Grado SR60e before throwing down money on a HD600 and trying to boost the treble with an equalizer (and you will save a ton of $!)

And while you can use EQ to dial in some of the frequency response you want, you cannot use EQ to dial in your desired level of smoothness, or soundstage, or detail. Plus the more you flog that equalizer, the more the sound gets away from what the artist and recording engineers originally envisaged. That's the main reason why I am so meh to the idea of equalizers.

But to be fair, it's easy to say "I am anti-EQ" if you own a bunch of headphones and can easily pick and choose a pair with the profile you want. But what if you can only afford (or desire) one pair of headphones?

Well in that case, if you are sure you know what kind of sound profile you dig, then the choice is easy (e.g. you want a smooth + forgiving? Then go with the Sennheiser HD650!). But what if you don't know what you want?

Then walk into a B&M store and audition some headphones. But what if you can't?

Then get a relatively neutral pair of headphones like the HD600 or the Beyerdynamic DT880 and experiment with EQ.

Because they are like, you know, tofu.

I don't always have fond memories of all my exes, but I do for this one....

This is a photo of the Senn PX100 (the original one), and it was my beater pair of headphones for a while. I used to throw them in my backpack and they went with me everywhere without a word of complaint. Now they are retired and have been put to pasture, except once in a while I saddle them up and we go for a ride.

They are terrible headphones for travel because they're open, but they are light, comfortable (for on-ears) because of their gentle clamp force, plus as a bonus they are collapsible and they came with their own hard case and have surprisingly good build quality for the price.

But the reason I love them most is because of their sound. The PX100s (and their successor model, the PX100-II) have a rich warm sound profile with surprisingly prominent bass given that they are lightweight, small and open. They are great all-around headphones for a multitude of musical genres from EDM to classical, with a knack of making vocals (especially female vocals) sound cozy and natural. Soundstage is surprisingly decent, too.

They aren't perfect, for sure. They do lack granular levels of detail, the bass bleeds up the frequency spectrum, and treble rolls off significantly, which has led to them being described as "veiled" or "dark" in some reviews.

The reason I stuck with them for so long (and still listen to them once in a while) is because they made listening sessions just so much fun. In fact, I don't think I owned a pair of headphones that were as much fun as the PX100s until I bought my Philips Fidelio X1, which is high praise indeed for the little Senn.

The original PX100s are getting hard to find, but you can still find them used for cheap. I'm confident mine will be a collector's item one day. I haven't modded them in any way apart from changing the pads, and don't plan to.

The PX100II and IIis are outrageously expensive when compared to the original PX100s -- which were priced at something like $30 since they were marketed as direct competition for the PortaPros -- and don't offer a huge amount of value from a price-performance perspective at MSRP, but the PX100 IIi was recently a deal on Woot for $30, a price that actually puts them back into play as direct competition for the PortaPros.

Ah, there's nothing like an ex you still get along with...

Windows sound vs. ASIO vs. WASAPI

There was a time when windows sound drivers sucked. Big time. That's the reason why ASIO was popularized, to get away from the terrible (and I'm being kind here) Windows Kmixer kernel that mangled sound like a testicular vice.

Steinberg developed ASIO (Audio stream I/O) to bypass the truly terrible Windows NT 5.x Kmixer kernel. When ASIO was released the pro audio community jumped on ASIO not only because it was capable of direct bit perfect delivery, but also because it supported 24 bit sampling (Win only managed a max of 16 bit at the time).

But Windows has come a long way since the days of Kmixer, which was discontinued for the Win Vista release. And people seem to have forgotten how clunky ASIO really is. Current iterations of native windows sound are as robust as ASIO, less clunky in implementation, and perfectly capable of supporting "audiophile" setups.

So what's the huge advantage in running ASIO or WASAPI over native windows drivers? Surely it's not because of remarkable improvements in sound quality as touted by some hypemongers in reviews (please don't take a ride on that hype train!). The only advantage is this: if you don't want irritating system noises to intrude when you are listening to your music why then WASAPI exclusive mode bypasses them.

Some thoughts about the Beyerdynamic A20 amp

The Beyerdynamic A20 is a straightforward headphone amp with RCA in, and 2 1/4 inch Neutrik headphone jacks out. It has a very clean Teutonic design reminiscent of the Beyerdynamic A1, features quality components (with a very smooth Alps pot) and has RCA out that is hot (when the input is active) even when the device is turned off.

It puts out 170 mW at 250 ohms and 100 mW at 600 ohm, so not a slouch powering higher impedance headphones. It is worth noting though that the rated output impedance is a whopping 100 ohms.

Looks wise, it is very pretty, and reminds me a lot of the Burson Soloist (in terms of the quality of construction and the solidly manufactured aluminum enclosure.)

What does it sound like?

Sound wise, it is transparent and neutral. A great pairing with Beyer headphones (after all Beyer designed the amp), but it does struggle with power hungry planars. I did not have the opportunity to hear the A20 with IEMs but from what I have read the pairing is hit-or-miss.

What's the competition?

The Burson Soloist SL has a brighter, more forceful sound overall, and also has gain selection. Keep in mind that the Soloist SL puts out 2W at 16 ohms, so it is much more suited for higher end orthos. In the head-to-head between the two the Soloist SL wins, unless you are looking for a transparent amp.

The Schiit Asgard 2 isn't in the same league, and at its usual $250 price point, is clearly the more value-rich selection from a price-performance perspective.

The most favorable matchup for the A20 is the Violectric V90. Both have pre outs, dual headphone jacks, and similar sound profiles. The V90 does have a price disadvantage, though, compared to the A20 on sale.

The best way to think of the A20 is probably to consider it to be a sophisticated version of the Objective O2 amp. Is it worth the money over the O2? It depends if you have the discretionary income to throw on an amp that isn't feature rich. In sum, if you are assembling a neutral setup you need to take a look at the A20, especially if it is on sale. But from a purely price-performance perspective, you may want to take an equally close look at the O2.

My favorite sub-$1000 setup

Q: What's your personal all-time favorite setup under $1000?

This one.

From a price-performance perspective, the  combination of the Pro-ject Box DAC S FL -> Little Dot Mk 3 with NOS Mullard M8100s -> Sennheiser HD650 really shines. This setup projects an analog-ey gooey tube sound and affords a maximally euphoric listening experience for under $900. It makes every genre I am into sound good, and that is saying something. The best aspect of this combination is that almost anyone can afford this setup, and the only folks who will hate it are those who worship the gods of transparency.

To break the components down:

The Box dac DAC S FL is, in my opinion, the best price-performance NOS dac you can buy. It has a very different sound than typical sigma delta DACs. Its analog-ey distortion makes digital files sound like vinyl. Having said that, I would suggest NOT buying an NOS DAC as your very first DAC, though.

The Little Dot Mk 3 is probably the best price-performance OTL tube amp you can buy, especially ebcause your choice for the tube amp selection is determined to a considerable extent by the degree of synergy between amp + headphones.  I would suggest that you NOT get an OTL tube amp (or any tube amp, for that matter) as your first amp.

Mullard NOS M8100 tubes have a super warm profile with gooey tube distortion, and if I had to describe Mullard sound in one word I would say "treacle", to borrow a word from my friends across the pond. They are a wonderful representation of what tube sound is all about. I would suggest NOT getting reissue Mullards, they are not the same as the real deal.

The Sennheiser HD650 has a wonderfully dark and comfortable sound. They are not neutral, sure, but their forgiving nature sets them apart. They excel at representing instruments realistically, add intimacy to vocals, and work for every genre from EDM to classical. Some have described them as "laid back", but they are certainly not boring. Their pairing with OTL tube amps is magical. I would suggest that you NOT get them if you want a neutral or bright sound profile, or if you plan to run them off portable devices.

And did I mention, the best part of this combination is the sub $1k budget? That leaves plenty of change left over to subscribe to Spotify or Tidal.

 And that should make you smile for a long time.

Again, I do want to emphasize, a NOS DAC + tube amp combo probably isn't the best idea if you are new to the world of personal audio and just getting your toes wet with the hobby. You will probably be better off in the long run easing into tube sound / vintage DACs gradually rather than starting with them.

Will a 20 foot extension cable lower the sound quality from my amp to my headphones?

Q: Will a 20 foot extension cable lower the sound quality from my amp to my headphones?

A: If you run really long cable, you have to watch out for two things: [1] the cable may pick up noise, particularly a hum, and [2] the signal may degrade if you run lengthy stretches of cable, usually because the voltage drops over long distances. And by long distances, I mean long distances, not 20 feet.

You can fix #1 by using with better shielding, and #2 by using XLR out instead of RCA.

But in your case, you aren't running cable through the entire neighborhood, just 20 feet, which is well within the tolerances for RCA unless there is a significant EMI transmitter between the your amp and your headphones.

In sum, you will be fine.

PS: Veni's Trivia of the Day: the term "RCA" in RCA cables comes from the Radio Corporation of America, who first used the format to connect their Victrola record players to their radios in the late 40s or early 50s. Prior to that they were using RCA cables to connect their record player pickups to the chassis, but not as interconnects.

Some thoughts about the Fiio E18

The E18 Kunlun (whats with Fiio naming products after mountains, eh?) works as a headphone amp that pairs to android phones via USB using an OTG cable, a 24/96 USB DAC (it has a Tenor TE7022L chip to receive USB and a Burr Brown PCM1798 DAC chip), as a standalone headphone amp, as an external DAC for your computer, and even as a coax out source.

The coolest (if spotty) feature it offers is the ability to play/pause the song on your phone using a button on the E18.

Plus it has a volume potentiometer! And in a pinch it can charge your phone.

It's regular price of $150-160 is a bit steep, but when it's on sale at the $120-130 price point it looks very attractive from a price-performance perspective.

A criticism that has been leveled against the E18 on more than one occasion is that it exhibits electromagnetic interference (EMI) when paired with a GSM smartphone. GSM buzz is an issue with most electronic equipment. It is an unfortunate side effect of the frequencies GSM uses and fact that GSM phones use the TDMA channel access protocol to sync to towers. Usually EMI is worst when the phone uses the EDGE data system. Since newer GSM technologies are less prone to GSM buzz, it may be worth disabling EDGE service on your phone if possible. Of course your mileage maay vary because there are other causes for interference too.

Of course we could eliminate GSM buzz altogether if everyone switched to verizon, but that would be a pretty terrible solution too.

Some thoughts about the Soundmagic HP200

Soundmagic are better known for their IEMs, and also do OEM and ODM for others, but came up with a few full sized models to enhance the range of their offerings. There was a little bit of hype after launch but it seems to have evaporated since then.

The Soundmagic HP200 are open, full size and exhibit a warm V shaped sound profile characterized by floppy loose bass. They are a competent pair of open headphones for $150 but at the $200-250 they retail for (at full price), they get blown away by the likes of the competition, for example the Philips Fidelio X1.

Are certain headphones better for different genres of music?

Q: Are certain headphones better for different genres of music?

A: In general, yes, absolutely. Some headphone sound profiles particularly complement specific genres (for example the Sony XB700 and DnB, or Grados and rock). The general nature of the sound can affect music substantially, for example "fun" headphones color the sound in a way that is very different than "balanced" headphones.

Neutral or analytical headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 or HD800 may be useful for critical listening.

And finally, some headphones just bring out the natural splendor of specific instruments, for example the Sennheiser HD650 really makes stringed instruments shine.

The most underrated headphone you can buy

Q: In your opinion, what is the most underrated headphone you can buy?

A: Personally, I think the most underrated headphone today is the Fostex T50RP. I'll explain why.

First, they are planar magnetic headphones, and at $100 an incredible value at a time when most planars are priced at 8-10x as much (or more). Of course planars used to be super common in the 70s and early 80s, but today they occupy a more high-end niche.

Second, T50s can be modded to become something that is way beyond what the stock T50 is. It's like they are Tony Stark when they are stock -- lovable but with specific idiosyncrasies, and then you mod them and they become Iron Man - incredibly powerful and capable of delivering truly stellar sound.

Now I agree that most headphone mods are hit-or-miss, because they are described by amateurs (often badly), and variations in methods between one modder and another means that no 2 mods sound the same. So if someone does the Kramer mod on their Koss KSC75s and you try to emulate them, you will never get exactly the same sound that Kramer got, because Kramer never detailed where specifically to drill the damned holes to make the modded KSC75 sound the sweetest.

But there are some mods that can clearly be replicated, and everyone doing the mods will have exactly the same effects as the original modder intended. For example the Sennheiser HD555 foam mod (all you do is take out the foam pad, that's the same mod no matter who does it) or the AKG Q701 bass mod (ditto with the little circular tape thingy) but standardized mods aren't just for mid fi headphones, they exist even for endgame setups, for example the Anaxilus mod for the Sennheiser HD800 (which I would argue is almost mandatory if you own a HD800).

The T50 has the advantage that it has been extensively modded, so there is a lot of stuff out there on what various mods do. But until a dude called bluemonkeyflyer posted his mod, these were hit-or-miss (or trade secrets, for those folks who modded T50s for a living). What bluemonkeyflyer did was to quantify everything he did, from posting FR curves associated with each specific alteration, to objective evaluations of alternatives, and specific results. In short, he took the "art" of T50 modding and made it into a "science".

Which means that anyone can mod the T50RP in a consistent fashion. From the materials used to the amounts of stuff you have to use, everything is well described on the Internet. My T50 is the only headphones that I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to -- by using an iterative, step-wise approach to modding them I tuned them to fit my musical tastes like a glove -- but more importantly, so can you.

Keep in mind that commercial headphones like the Mad Dogs and Alpha Dogs are T50 mods, so you know what you can achieve if you mod your T50 well.

Plus, what a wonderful way to spend time, making small sequential changes in how a pair of headphones sound, listening, modding, listening, modding some more, tweaking the SQ to match your desire.

In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind In The Willows", the Water Rat says: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Just substitute "in boats" with "with headphones".

The coolest looking headphones

Q: What do you think the coolest looking headphones are?

A: From a "look ma, I'm in a sci-fi movie" perspective, the Sennheiser HD800, which is certainly the most distinctive headphone out there today.

from an "old world cool" perspective, the Audio Technica ATH-ESW9 has always reminded me of the New Yankee Workshop, except for headphones.

From a "wow that craftsmanship is incredible" perspective = the Fostex TH900. Unless you have seen it IRL you will not fully realize how awesome the urushi is.

But for sheer luxury, you have to go with the Ultrasone Edition 10, with its zebrano wood and lambskin it looks like something you would find in an art deco museum in Miami.

Some thoughts about the 600 ohm version of the Beyerdynamic DT880

Who needs a Beyerdynamic DT880?

If you are looking to build a neutral rig for critical listening, the usual price-performance king is the Sennheiser HD600. Of course, you could also go with a T90 or a Stax, but then you would be paying more for the privilege. The 600 ohm DT 880 hovers around the same price range as a HD600, and can often be found for cheaper.

Why do I call this "endgame for some"?

If you are looking to build a really transparent, neutral setup, of course you can spend thousands of dollars, but you don't have to. The transparent setup that makes the most sense from the price-performance perspective is ODAC > O2 > HD600.  The 600 ohm DT880 offers a viable alternative, especially since Beyerdynamic retail prices tend to fluctuate much more wildly than Sennheiser, therfore if you time your purchase right you can get a critical listening setup for less, which is not too shabby.

And what you get will be very close to something that is 3 or 4 x the price. There's a reason the 600 ohm 880 gets compared so often to electrostatic s especially Stax, in reviews.

Who needs 600 ohm headphones?

Well, not folks who want to run their headphones using their phone, that's for sure. High impedance headphones make the most sense for folks who can power them appropriately. Now you don't need the power output of a nuclear reactor to run 600 ohm DT880s at top efficiency, but you don't want to pair them with something with anemic output either. With high impedance headphones you don't have to worry about damping factor that much either, no matter what you plug them into.

How bright are they? How fatiguing is the treble?

Brightness and easy fatigability are the two most common criticisms leveled against Beyerdynamic headphones. All Beyers sound a little bright. The most neutral of their product range is probably the 600 ohm DT880, followed by the T90. What you are getting with the 880 is a relatively neutral pair of headphones that veers modestly towards brightness. Unlike the DT990, the treble is not super forward at all. And it is not bright like the Grado SR60 is, so it is not really hugely fatiguing.

How does the soundstage of the DT880 compare to the AKG K701?

Of the two, the K701 has wider soundstage. Technically Beyer calls the 880 "semi closed". IMO that's, well, neither here nor there - either a headphone is open or it is not. The 880 is open. Maybe not as much as the 990, but its soundstage behaves like those of open headphones.

How does the Beyerdynamic DT770 compare to the 880?

I keep hearing about how DT770 bass is huge compared to 880. To some degree, this is true. But not so much for the 600 ohm versions as for the rest. Having heard both, I will tell you that the comparisons by many are not accurate.

Why do I say this? Here is a graph comparing the 600 ohm 770 (in blue) with the 880 (red) and 990 (green). You will see that the 880 and 990 follow a very similar FR, except for the 100-700 Hz bump that the 990 has, as well as the high frequency peak. This is what gives the 600Hz 990 the "V" prominent sound that is characteristic.

Now look at the 770 bass, particularly the sub-bass, in comparison to the 880. Yes, it is weaker. The closed cups increases resonance and boominess, but the 600 Hz 770 is not as bassy as its lower impedance siblings.

Now check out this graph of the 32 ohm 770 (in blue) vs the 32 ohm 880 (in red). This is the "bass heavy" 770 that folks talk about all the time.

And finally, here is the graph of the 600 ohm 770 vs the 32 ohm 770. You can see that they have very different lower end profiles.

What do they sound like?

Lots of reviews out there, so I won't get into minute details. In sum, if I had to describe 880s in one word I would call them "clean". They are not warm at all, and not colored. They work great for critical listening, and can bring out flaws of inferior recordings just like HD600s can.

Troubleshooting volume imbalance in an OTL tube amp

Q: After months of waiting, I finally got my Little Dot Mk IV SE tube amp. However, my left side is like 40% higher then my right side in volume. It's been burned in maybe 20-30 hours now and have yet to solve itself out. What can I do? I'd hate to send it back to China.

A: First make sure your tubes are well seated.

Actually even before that play the same source on different headphones so that you know it's not your headphones, check your DAC to make sure it isn't the cause of imbalance, change the RCA cables, make sure your volume is balanced on your computer, and that your source file isn't the problem.

Next wiggle the headphone jack and make sure it's not a loose jack.

If all that checks out OK, now onward:

Next swap the driver tubes and listen. If the right side is now louder than the left, then its a defective driver tube. If no change, then...

...Swap the power tubes (careful, they are hot! although you haven't been properly baptized to tube amps until a power tube burns off a piece of your skin). If the volume imbalance swaps sides, then it's crap power tubes.

If swapping both pairs of tubes does not change the imbalance, it may be a bad potentiometer. Typically (though not always) the imbalance from a cheap pot is best appreciated at low volumes, as you increase the gain the imbalance may get less.

Regret, by definition, comes too late

Q: I bought my Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro two days ago because there was an offer for $135, I was satisfied with what I got but I was told that the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (32ohm) performed better than the COP, should I go back to the store and ask for an exchange ? Or should I just be happy with my purchase?

A: To quote my favorite author, "regret, by definition comes too late".

The key to buying stuff is to be happy. If you love the Custom One Pro, don't second guess yourself. But if you hate how it sounds, then swap it out.

The problem with audiophilia is that there is always something Harder Better Faster Stronger just around the corner, so the trick is to be happy with what you have, at least for a little while.

What are your top 3 headphones over $1000?

Q: What would you consider to be the top 3 headphones that cost over $1000?

A: Personally, I would consider the Sennheiser HD800, the Audeze LCD3 and the Fostex TH900 my top 3 (open, planar, closed). HD800 wins on design, TH900 wins on craftsmanship (urushi!) and LCD3 wins on its materials.

But there is a second tier of headphones that are cheaper and provide almost as much performance, so from a price-performance perspective these headphones make much more sense to aspire to than my top 3.

Two disclaimers: I'm not into electrostatic headphones, so haven't considered them in the ranking.

Second, I'm not going to rank headphones that cost well over $2000, because I wouldn't spend over $2000 on headphones. At that price point (and above) speakers reign supreme, and you will never get the best $2000 headphones to sound as good as above-average $2000 speakers, and the best $3000 speakers will end up blowing the best $3000 headphones away.

In sum, it doesn't make sense from a price performance perspective to spend over $2000 for headphones, since above that price point you are probably better off getting speakers.

Purchase advice: cheap closed on-ear headphones

Q: My budget is small - $30-$80, and I am looking for closed on ear headphones that I can use when out and about. Help! Bonus points for looking good.

A: At your budget, its hard to find closed on ears. In the US the Martin Logan Mikros 90 is being discounted for $80-90, and would fit your needs perfectly,and is worth trying to find on sale.

Alternatively, consider the JVC HAS160 Flats. They are closed, on ear, in your budget, don't look terrible, and sound reasonably good for the price.

What is the actual cost to manufacture headphones?

Ascertaining the true cost to manufacture headphones is complicated because there are multiple factors to consider, and this is the type of business intelligence every company keeps very close to its chest.

To break things down in simple terms, essentially there are 4 aspects to the cost of any product [1] R&D [2] materials [3] manufacturing and [4] marketing.

R&D is variable, so calculating the cost of R&D for an individual headphone model is difficult, especially because R&D costs may be capitalized or expensed even before production begins. In general, newer models still haven't seen a return on ROI costs, while older models (for example the Sennheiser HD600) have probably recouped their R&D costs, and then some.

Material costs vary over time, often wildly, and are subject to supply and demand constraints.

Production costs also vary, for example AKG Q701s were made in Austria, but AKG wanted to save costs and moved production to China. But moving production to China does not necessarily make things cheaper, for example some Audio-Gd amps probably cost more to make than equivalent Schiit amps, even though Schiit makes its stuff in the US and Audio-Gd in China.

Material and manufacturing costs may be variable (materials, packaging, etc.) or fixed (labor, storage, personnel salaries, etc.). To make things even more complicated, many companies OEM some or all of production, which again affects costs depending on who they OEM to. And it's not just a case of folks using cheap Chinese OEMs to save money aall around -- some Denon headphones for example were OEMd by Fostex, another Japanese company.

And keep in mind that OEM companies typically conduct their own R&D, have their own design costs, have to retool equipment for specific products, etc, which changes cost calculations.

And finally marketing: some companies spend more on marketing (e.g. Beats) and make huge profits, while others spend very little on traditional marketing and still manage to do very well for themselves (e.g. Schiit).

In sum, good luck finding this info out unless you are an industry insider, and even then you will have issues trying to calculate the true product cost of your competitors.

My RHA MA350 IEMs are electrocuting me...help!

Q: I bought a pair of RHA MA350 IEMs when they first got released around 2 years ago and they've been fine ever since.

Recently however, whenever I connect them to a PC or a Laptop I feel an electric shock (along with an electricity sound), which as you might imagine is a tad annoying. When connected to my phone it's fine. Any ideas what's causing this?

A: Watt? I find it shocking that you still continue to use them despite being electrocuted.

While some folks may get a charge out of your predicament, I for one must strongly suggest that you do not try to swim against the current of prevailing wisdom and stop using them in any capacity. It you meet with any resistance to this suggestion, then ignore it.

But seriously, it's not right to be electrocuted by your headphones. First, make sure that it isn't a grounding issue with your equipment, to be safe. If not, it is most likely to be static.

Apple has a great support post about static and Apple earbuds which is worth reading.

Some thoughts about the Little Dot Mk IV SE, and how it compares to the Mk III

How does the Little Dot Mk IV SE differ from the Little Dot Mk III? 

Well, both are OTL (output transformer-less) tube amps, made by Little Dot in China. The Mk IV SE is supposed to be an upgraded version of the Mk III, with a premium price. So what are the differences?

[1] upgraded tubes - instead of stock GE5654s, you get a pair of Mullard M8100s, and also updated 6H30P-i power tubes. It should be noted that my LD Mk III came with stock RCA EF95 tubes (which was a pleasant surprise, because they were 70s vintage. I might have lucked out).

[2] The 1/4 plug on the SE is a Neutrik

[3] The SE has "upgraded" RCA connectors

[4] The SE has pretty gold tube protectors

[5] The SE has a different volume knob

In theory the Mk IV SE is supposed to have a different ALPS pot than the Mk III, but every internal shot I have seen of the SE has the same pot as my Mk III.

David ZheZhe (Little Dot seller) claims the SE has "premium circuit component upgrades in key signal path locations". As to what these upgrades actually are (apart from the ones I noted above), your guess is as good as mine.

So are the differences worth the extra money?

As you start going up the Little Dot product ladder, you begin to slowly start losing the price-performance advantage you have with the Mk III.

You can get M8100s in abundance on ebay for $20-40 for the pair. The upgrade to the Elektro-harmonix 6H30P-i isn't really a deal unless you get a NOS Elektro-harmonix, since the new "reissued" EH 6H30P from the Reflektor plant are, well, reissues.

If you are upgrading power tubes you might as well get a couple of Novosibirsk Gold Grid 6N6P-i from the 70s/80s (before the Wall came down!) for $10-15 for a pair (keep in mind that driver tubes typically last longer than power tubes, and the Gold Grids with the "OTK" quality symbol were engineered to last a while).

Who should get this? 

Those that want to experience OTL tube sound, and don't have the money to get a Woo Audio WA3, a Woo Audio WA2 or an Eddie Current Zana Deux.

Also those who own a Sennheiser HD600 or HD650, the pairing is excellent.

Keep in mind that the Little Dot Mk III is a better bang for your buck than the Mk IV SE. Also keep some money aside for tube rolling.

Who should not get this? 

Folks getting their first amp (get a solid state amp!) or those who run orthodynamic headphones as their primary headphone (bad pairing, as are the Beyerdynamic T90 and T1).

Also folks whose budget will not extend to tube rolling.

And this certainly isn't "endgame" material, if that is your goal.

Folks wanting the ultimate price performance ratio should probably look at the Little Dot Mk III. And those who want a transparent amp without coloration or distortion should not touch this with a 10 foot pole.

Who are the competitors? 

The Bottlehead Crack, of course, although the Crack is a DIY OTL tube amp. And the Valhalla 2 is a serious competitor (gain switch, preamp out) especially if you are looking for a more transparent sound, as is the Woo Audio WA3 (although that costs about 2x the cose of the Mk IV SE).

Is the Aune T1 Mk2 worth it?

The Aune T1 Mk1 was constantly dropping on Massdrop for $130. Recently, it has been supplanted by the Aune T1 Mk2 with a sale price of $170. So what changed, apart from $40?

It's hard to find information about the T1 Mk2. The Shenzen Audio website says "T1 MK2 amp can bar the use of an enlarged portion of the gain OP + BUF". Um OK..... Maybe Google Translate was having a bad day when it did that particular translation.

In sum, the T1 Mk 2 got a new power supply and a new USB chip to allow asynchronous transfer and reduce jitter (from pictures of the internals, it looks like a SA9027 Savi controller, which is pretty much a bottom-of-the-barrel chip).

Is that worth $40 more? Probably not. At $170 I can't really recommend this as a price-performance steal anymore.

But then Massdrop threw in a Genalex Gold Lion tube too, for free. Sounds tempting, right? But before you pull the trigger, consider this:

This isn't the old Genalex Gold Lion from the 40s and 50s made by the Marconi-Osram Valve Company (they have long gone the way of the dodo and the great auk) but the "reissue" Genalex, which is made by New Sensor corp, who took over the old Reflektor plant and is now churning out OEM tubes under the ElectroHarmonix, Genalex, TungSol, Sovtek, Tesla, and even [shudder] the Mullard brand names. The 6922 versions of these tubes are essentially the same design, merely with different brand names printed on them. So the stock ElectroHarmonix tubes that come with the Aune T1 Mk1 are made in the same Reflektor plant that these Genalex tubes are made in.

So you may ask, how is it that some reviewers try a reissue Genalex or a rebadged Sovtek 6922 and report such a vast difference in sound quality in comparison to whatever they had before, if all these tubes are OEM? Unless they are getting the original NOS tubes, your guess is as good as mine.

If you want to roll tubes for Aune T1, IMO do it properly. Get the Mk1 for $130 (even though it does not have asynchronous data transfer) and with the $40 you save, get some real NOS tubes. You can get genuine Mullard ECC88/6922 tubes for $15-20 each, or a genuine cold war-era Russian Voskhod for $10 or thereabouts. Or spring for a NOS Amperex Bugle Boy which should cost you less than $40 if you are patient. Heck, you could even get a genuine Genalex from the 50s for under $40.

Modding the Fostex T50RP

There is probably more out there about how to mod the T50 than any other headphone. Yes, if done right you will have an awesome sounding pair of headphones. Keep in mind that the mad dogs are in essence modded T50 RP, so you have a sense of what a good mod can achieve.

Many headphone mods are one-offs and hard to reproduce but IMO the T50 can be modded in a consistent way to sound good. All you need is time, patience, and a steady hand.

In essence the mods for the T50 consist of the following

1) mass load the baffles inside the cup with something like blu-tac (I used uhu-tac)

2) create a bass port by closing off the vent with something like electricians tape. The size of the bass port determines the level of bass you want from the T50s.

3) use sound baffling material to line the inside of the cups (I used acoustimat that I got from an auto repair place. How I got my hands on the stuff is an interesting story, but probably not for this post)

4) Fill the cups with cotton wool / fiberglass insulation etc just like a speaker (I used cotton wool. Be sure to weigh the wool and use the same amount for both cups!)

5) create a reflex dot for the driver with transpore or paper tape, or add layers of transpore over the driver to redirect sound (I used two layers, it worked best for me. Others have used more or less)

6) change the pads (I used shure 840 pads but there are other options)

A good place to start might be to search for " bluemonkeyflyer T50RP mod". Do your research, make incremental changes and tune your T50 to just the way you want it to sound like!

My T50 is the only headphones I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to. It took me a while to get there, and some steps were hit and miss and required undoing, but in the end it has turned out to be a fun and enjoyable activity.