Super Best Audio Friends

The CFA Fathom is a 6BA (2 tweeter, 2 midrange, 2 woofer) IEM housed in a black anodized body with rainbow shiny nipple ring things. Like all other CFA IEMS, it features MMCX connectors and comes stock with Time Stream cables in both 3.5mm and 4.4mm terminations. 11.7 Ohms at 1kHz impedance, 94 dB SPL at 1kHz: 6.75 mVrms, claimed.

Per popular request, context here. I have to say that I was curious too, as some readers mentioned, it has been "Wiim, Wiim, Wiim, Wiim" seemingly everywhere on the Internet.



I was a bit shocked that Lindsay, who is hardly an audiophile, came out so quickly against the Wiim in the video. I thought she'd save it for later....

Campfire revamped their limited release Black Star IEM as a collab with Drop, keeping the same driver configuration (1 10mm dual magnet DD for bass, 1 Sonion BA for mids, 2 Knowles BAs for highs), but replacing the DD driver from the Black Star with a new biocellulose version. The Black Star was around $1k and the Darkstar sells for $799, but is currently on sale for $699 at the time of writing.
I got a silly good deal on the CFA Cascara recently, which has the same dual magnet DD as the Black Star and I really liked the bass on it, so when Drop priced the Darkstar down to $599 for Black Friday curiosity got the better of me. I got it yesterday and stayed up way too late listening to it.

TLDR:
A tastefully tuned neutral-dark IEM that is smooth, forgiving, with sweet mids, secretly killer bass, and is a great all rounder that sounds good without just about anything.

Design:
The Darkstar uses the same shell as the Solaris Stellar Horizon, but instead of the two tone color way and awesome etching on the faceplate of the Solaris, we get a sleek all black shell and faceplate with the CFA and Drop logos embedded onto them. There are vents on the top and bottom of each shell. Isolation is average. Fit is decent, not as secure as the Astrolith for my ears, and every so often I have to give them a little nudge further into my ear but overall I can wear these for hours without discomfort or annoyance.

Back then, the problem I wanted to solve was how do I send a digital output from the Apple TV (next to the projector on the back wall) to the DAC and audio setup at the front wall. This time around, I had a slightly different problem to solve: how do I get an analog L/R signal from the surround processor (at the front wall where the screen is) to the surround speakers at the back wall. Also the secondary issue: would another 1Mii doodad work along with the existing 1Mii doodad? The answer is yes and this is how I did it.

I drew up this diagram for noobs. Also pictures make things much easier to understand.

It's about time. I really had trouble for words with this one. The last bit of the video (funny and inappropriate for younger kids) explains more than anything IMO.



The S+ Tier thing is kind of tongue in cheek because you guys know how much I dislike ranking things. However, in a sense it's true. I have been enamored with the Astrolith, taking them with me everywhere. Maybe I will make a radar chart that grades its sonic attributes. I'll reach out to Ken to pay for a loaner if there is enough interest.

@schiit makes a lot of good products over the years. I notice that they sell the Schiit branded Toilet Paper, so I picked up two rolls. I was very curious on their performance to other toilet paper in the market, since we all use toilet paper one way or another. From easy stools to hot pot diarrhea, we need toilet paper in our life.

Some of people’s best time of their lives are on the toilet. So let it flow!

What many of you have been waiting for. Holo Audio Red be going on loaner soon.



The small little rectangle on the desk next to the streamers is an SMSL PO100 USB to coaxial / optical digital out. It sounds like ass, very "digital" with nasty highs compared to both the Holo Audio Re and Pi2 Design Mercury 3. I forgot to mention it in the video.

This is going to be a pretty stream of consciousness type thread. also, yes I know all of these pics will have huge r/malelivingspace energy, you're gonna have to get over it.

This video covers a lot of stuff asked of me on SBAF, and more. Also, Lindsay got a lot of time with the Sennheiser guys.

Not really a review. It's more of use case thing - using gear I had lying around to put together something I am actually very happy with respect to gaming / precise sound localization with headphones.



I was inspired to do this because I remarked to some friends how YT videos today are just so shilly (is that a word?) and that I wished reviewers out there would discuss the how and why they purchased and put gear together stuff. I questioned how people can truly be passionate about stuff if they just run through gear review after gear review and never talk about context of how they would actually use it themselves. The answer is that it would be up to me to do it.

Don't forgot to subscribe. I want to be able to livestream in the future so I need the subs.

After a change in my WFH setup, I ended up with a pair of Klipsch RP-160Ms that I wasn't using. I've had a Rekkr on my personal computer desk for some time, but it wasn't ever used for very much, and most recently it was driving a pair of Klipsch R-41Ms that I had sitting around for random YouTube duty. I figured that since there's no kill like overkill, I might as well put the RP-160Ms on the desk and set it up for listening in near-field.

I've been using a Soekris dac1421 as preamp, and that's running into a Schiit SYS that I carefully tweaked so that 0dB on the dac1421 was attenuated to 866mV on the output of the SYS, corresponding to 3W into 4Ω. After using this setup for about a week, I can say that the Rekkr just doesn't have enough power for me for listening duty. Hotter genres like electronic music are just fine, but on some classical recordings I found myself itching to turn the dac1421 up past 0dB, or past 3dB for SACD rips. (While SACD "0dBFS" is technically -6dB, the Scarlet Book allows instantaneous peaks of -3.5dB, which is where a 1-bit modulator tends to become unstable.)

While I'd considered getting a Gjallarhorn, this also established pretty well that another 7dB is still going to leave me setting the preamp at the top of its range at times, and I'd prefer to have a few dB left even when listening to quieter recordings at higher volumes. It's a shame as it's a cute little amplifier, and I definitely see how those with different listening tastes or higher impedance speakers could get away with it.

On the plus side, the Rekkr is an extremely clean sounding amplifier in near field. It's very unpicky about cables and it doesn't bring out any of the harshness from the RP-160Ms that I've heard with certain class D amps.