The All Purpose Advice Thread

ER4 variant with custom tips?

 

He can't do IEMs. Only earbuds. I think I will have him get the Yuin PK3s.

 

Have you tried the Etymotic triple flange tips? I have some fussy earholes too, these just go in easy (admittedly, pointing straight upwards). As suggested, ER4 variant.

 

The modded 650 is my daily driver, and I can tell you to steer clear of the SE535. The bass is muddy and it blurs into the lower mids. I know everyone says the mids shine on the shures, and they are fine, but the bass killed it for me. Definitely not "like a 650".

 

Good to know. Now down to the Pinnacle and the IE80.

 

As it happens a friend dropped IE8 and P1 to my hands. I try them out against chong-fi TFZ S5 that I got for 80 $ .

P1 is not ''like HD650'' either. It's really well built and has some good traits, but next to well driven HD650 its a toy.
It lacks dynamics and treble is metallic, tizzy and seriously lacks body. Even modded, HD650 is darkish and next to P1 mid centric, actually it would be more correct to say P1 has sucked out mids, and v-shaped response. The P1 don't seem to scale much.

IE8 (don't know how much these differ from IE80) are a lot closer to the mark, but still quite a bit off. Tonal spectrum highlight is shifted to lower midrange. They at least have some slam, and while tonally not a real mach to HD650(m) and technically giving up in many things they do sound good to me. Proper weight to notes, good resolving ability and the bass is actually quite good to my ears. These do scale in better equipment.

Out of these surprisingly the TZF-s after some modding and probably some burn in are closest to the HD650 and imo outclass P1 and even IE8 by a good margin.
The TZF-s sound like proper full sized hp-s, this is why I even dare to compare them to HD650. They are not without issues though, but I'm beginning to think they belong to hi-fi.
In stock form these chong-dongs are not worthy.
These have shallow fit, even shallower than IE8.

The above listening is out of my desktop rig.
From Chord Mojo differences are much smaller. I can't stomach HD650 from it and lots of things annoy from the iem-s as well.

Many HD650 luvers go for Andromeda, if budget allows you might wanna check these out.

 

Looking for a portable rig that perform as close to the Yggdrasil dac. Is Sony Zx2 + SE846 good?

 

I'm not expecting any portable rig to match up closely to the yggdrasil. But as yggdrasil dac owner, I am looking for a DAP that that has the least amount of Sigma delta harshness and near accurate/natural soundstage. It's a tall order, but that's what this thread is for right?

 

What do people make of Sony Uda 1. I just came across them for nearly half price in my country. Don't really care about the amp section, bit more interested in the dac section.

 

Wow.. I don't think I can justify $1k for some IEMs on my current salary. I think I'll stick to the ie80s. Thanks for the tip though. If I ever feel the need to blow the $1k I might pick them up in the future.

 

Been completely out of the hobby for a while now but I'm more excited than ever to get back into it. I've been looking to put together a new rig for some time now but I can't quite seem to decide. Can anyone help me narrow it down between HD650, HE6, and Elear-based systems? I would like to stay under 1500 and I know this won't get me the best out of any of the headphones, but my budget is somewhat limited. I've owned the 650 before on a crap rig and felt it was too dark, but absolutely adore the 6 even though it is not the most neutral HP out there. However, the 650 on nicer rigs I've very much enjoyed since. The Elear I haven't heard at all yet, and I'm not sure if $500 left over would be enough to make it sing. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Based on your experience, a modded 650 with a nicer rig is most likely to leave enough $ to actually enjoy your (to be purchased?) tunes.

 

Was it a vanilla or modded HD650?

There is a modded HD650 for sale on HF. I can't vouch for that @brencho guy though

http://www.head-fi.org/t/814366/fs-sennheiser-hd650-modded

I have owned/sold a number of other headphones in recent years but always come back to HD650. With simple mods its timbre and midrange tonality is hard to beat. Pair it with a Valhalla 2, Speedballed Crack or Torpedo 3 and you could be under budget and very happy.

It's early days for Elear. So far it has only been heard on largely unfamiliar gear. I would wait for the Messiah/Beelzebub to get his hands on one. There will probably be a heptagon along with HD650 in the not too distant future.

HE-6 is a slightly different beast. Harder to find now and some special needs regarding amplification. I'm sure the HE-6 mafia here could recommend a lower end speaker amp to keep it close to your budget though...

 

Thank you @Lightbulb Sun and @jowls. I sold it before I got into modding so it was vanilla yes. However, I have experience in modding and every pair of headphones since the 650 (D5000, HE-400, T50rp mk3) have been modded but are now gone with the exception of the mk3. The 650 seems my best bet and I'll just have to forget about the HE-6 for a while lol. Should I look into a vintage r2r dac over something like a BF4490? With the 650 I'd like to stay under 1k if possible.

 

Audio-gd 10es3 any good when paired with the hd650? Better than my previous bifrost/valhalla2 setup?

I've always been curious about audio-gd stuff and can get this used at a steep discount.

 

I have no experience with audio-gd stuff, but I do have a bunch of experience buying and selling stuff. If you can buy at a steep discount, it's probably worth a try and see if you like it. Worst case scenario you sell it close for what you bought it for and you have gained experience and know your personal tastes better.

 

Under 1K?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/814366/fs-sennheiser-hd650-modded +
http://www.head-fi.org/t/813170/schiit-valhalla-2-pyst-cables-price-includes-shipping or http://www.head-fi.org/t/814087/schiit-valhalla-2 +
http://www.head-fi.org/t/814151/fs-schiit-bifrost-4490-upgraded-pangea-power-cable (or even brand new http://schiit.com/products/bifrost)

The Valhalla is great with Senns and some Beyers but not so good with your T50RP, so keep that in mind.

Vintage R2R often come with their own caveats; sample rate limited (if you care), lack of USB input (if you care), etc. A SFD (or even a Transdac) would probably blow your budget anyhow. Schiit gear has great price : performance. If you get the burning desire for multibit later on you can always just upgrade the board.

Jason hinted about announcing something new next week so maybe just hold off for now

 

Thank you so much for the help. I'm gonna wait to see what Jason announces but I'm gonna snatch up at least the headphones today. I found a mjolnir 1 for 350 on hf, is this a better pairing for the 650 or should I stay away?

 

You will have to get a balanced cable to use your 650 with it. One recently sold on here for $300, I would offer that.

Can't comment on the sound myself though, never heard it.