Raimei Templar

Lucky with extreme persistence I have managed to get it real close to 2.2, so its good enough, but man I hate turning on a monitor and having everything be epic washed out, I hate that every "gaming" monitor I have tried has done this.

TBH I won't tolerate a VA panel at all at this point. Though that basically leaves me @ 28" or < 4k ips or 43+" oled for "good" panels.

Good being 144hz+ and not awful ghosting / ovedrive settings. Though I guess I haven't looked in a few months.

I like VA contrast, though the gamma shift is annoying. I am not that sensitive to ghosting though as long as its got a decent overdrive, doesnt bother me. This one is 240hz which more than makes up for VA slowness.

I hate IPS glow which is why I am reluctant to get one again, I managed to find one 5 years ago that had almost none of it but that is rare. Will be nice when OLED is actually affordable.

All I find is, sounds clean, transparent, definitely not any different from any other amps, PLZ NO BULLY REDDIT/ASR. It never ceases to make me sad that people get chewed out for saying how an audio device, a thing designed to produce sound actually sounds to them.

I continue to maintain that the K612 is still the best headphone in the AKG K-lineup.

Oh yeah, I used to be quite a fan of it. I wrote about it in the K712 thread.

I remember getting downvoted on Reddit like mad for saying that the drop to 32ohms impedance and the comments about NOW ITS GONNA HAVE MORE BASS were real bad signs, with everyone telling me I was a dumbass and it was gonna sound amazing. Feel quite vindicated!

I have tickets and a tour (elderly parents will be joining me) booked for Japan this Fall (rolling the dice that they will actually let us into the country by then). I have some free time in both Osaka and Tokyo at the end of the tour so maybe I can sneak away for a bit to check out E-Earphone. Might have to settle for the headphone section of a Yodabaishi since there was actually family interest in seeing one.

Yodabashi Umeda (Osaka) used to have a quite big section for listening actually, but I havent been for awhile. Had a lot of stuff you usually dont see in Japan like Dan Clark/Mr.Speakers and the Audioquest Nighthawks at one time. Its massive and has everything including restaurants in it, so I imagine your family could find something they are into.

Just realized I butchered Yodobashi...oops. Last time I visited the Akihabara one in 2016, it was an OK selection, but mostly budget to mid tier headphones (at least to someone here). But still cool to see so many in one location. I also saw a refrigerator that was swipe to open and it blew my mind. Can't wait to go again.

Thank you very much! It is very good, might get some standard pads to try on it, but even with these Geekria pads its stunningly good. Seems like people really like the black silk version so think I lucked out!

Hard to believe this headphone is as old as it is, this thing must have been top tier endgame at release, even most the stuff coming out today doesnt sound this good.

The Black Paper version, aka BP580, apparently comes across as even more clear and resolving in the mids. due to even less of a hump in the bass. But apparently, it is also drier in the mids and rougher in the treble. Some of my friends prefer the BP, while the others prefer the BS.

That's the very short production black plastic screen version just before the silver one came out and after the paper ones.

Lovely sounding. Nice tonal balance. Arguably my favorite 6x0 stock!

$699? Zeos finally justifies his existence.

Are these any good even for $700 ? Always wanted a pair. Easy mods ?

@HotRatSalad That's nearly no brainer to me (roughly the same level steal as he6se being sold at 600-700 usd). But it highly depends on what you really hate, what you can tolerate, and to what extent you can mess with them..

I think the average non-audiophile would actually prefer the X2 because its got the bigger bass oomph that consumers like. Most people just want DAT BASS. X3s bass drops off much earlier, not as well extended. The DT880 even beats it quite handily in Bass extension. But X3 has some fantastic mids/upper mids, that I really enjoy, sounds a LOT like the porta pro in mids but with better detail and nuance.

I am curious as to how it would scale, my impression is that it will never reach DT880 600ohm or 650 levels, it certainly sounds better off my Erish 2 than the Creative G6, but I dont know if it will get much better. Main issue it will have with high end amps is that 30 ohm impedance will prevent synergy with high end tube amps. Wish they had a higher impedance, they were targeting audiophiles with this kind of sound

At least with Amps and Sound, the newer amps have at least a low Z and high Z. My Kenzie Ovation has 5 taps from 8 ohms to 300 ohms.

If you go to the pages to buy the headphones, they mention they are SR80x...

If you go by the Grado line, their cheapest wood headphone is the RS2e for $495 and the aluminum headphone is $295. The pokemon 'phones match that

Interesting, sounds like the Hemp were a dry run for their new house sound?

Yeah I am pretty sure these are either the Hemp drivers or are certainly heavily based on them. They have 38 ohm impedance now and similar sensitivity to hemp. it is a smart move to have the Prestige series offer this kind of sound as its very friendly and will hook people on the brand.

The F pads make a big difference too!

J2 makes live albums sound more like studio albums, its a little TOO clear and vivid of a presentation. Incredible with actual studio stuff though, loads of detail, improved dynamics vs original, sharper/biter transients without the ear murder found from bad ESS dacs. Got some more slam to it too. Very fun dac, I like it a lot.

Any idea what was wrong/fixed?

Yeah mine was made with likely counterfeit power regulators. They have actually suspended sales after they realized that they had gotten burned by some fakes. They realized early so only a few bad ones in the wild. They are waiting a shipment of good ones which is why you can't buy one atm.

I’m not gonna say it’s better than Yggdrasil A2, but since the J2 went into the system, I haven’t been tempted to switch the source to Yggdrasil A2. I have a feeling A2 might be like stable, attractive wife material, and J2 might be the crazy hot chic.