The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

Any considerations on picking a floorstanding speaker to do dual duty of movies and music? The split will probably be 70% movies 30% music. But I figure if I'm spending $3k+ then I should be able to get something that does both well.

Seperate to that, after my Atmos soundbar and subwoofer breaking I've decided to go back to a 2.0 audio setup for movies. Which I had before and really enjoyed it (after downgrading from a 5.1). I get that some people might want to do a larger Atmos setup or surrounds or a center channel, but imo that stuff isn't for me.

 

My experience is that 2.0 or 2.1 is noticeably worse for movies and TV sports. Dialogue in movies can be harder-to-much harder to hear. Same for hearing announcers, especially football. IMO, you ought to at least have a center speaker.

 

I find that on any sort of speaker setup now adays. What I do with my movie player software is bumb the vocals by a good amount and also enable a dynamic range compression. Even when I had a full atmos setup, I had to turn subtittles on a lot.

 

Need something for my dad (75 y.o.) to listen to youtube and phone calls from his iphone. Must be comfortable enough to be worn in bed. I would like to avoid wireless buds as the chances of him dropping/losing them would be quite high (as regular earbuds tend to fall out of his ears because he can't insert them properly). Something with a neck band or thin headband is probably ok. What would y'all recommend?

 

Koss Porta Pro comes in bluetooth now and has a microphone.

 

Holy crap those are over $200 CAD...

 

I got the Porta Pro wireless coming. If it's as good as the original Porta Pro, but without wires, it would potentially replace every headphone gear I have.

 

Both the wireless Porta Pro and the wireless KSC-35 killed my phone’s battery life. And one of them has a weird cable that’s longer and noticeably heavier on one side. I concluded that some things are not meant to be. But maybe your experience will be different. Hope so!

@Armaegis,
The only sub-$100 on ear headphone my Dad couldn’t break was the regular Porta Pro. (This was before Koss made KPH30i.) If your pops needs a mic, I’d recommend the Drop Porta Pro X, which is even more robust than the regular Porta Pro. KPH30i is even more robust, because the headband is hard plastic. But its fit isn’t so good for me as Porta Pro’s, because KPH30i’s headband has a somewhat wide curve and can’t be bent; whereas you can bend the metal Porta Pro headband to fit your head very well. The only downside to every version of the Porta Pro is that if you want to pack it for travel, you really do need the $15 Porta Pro case because the plastic sides will break, even in a hard suitcase.

 

@Armaegis - maybe E-Mu Walnut? Closed-back for the bed, seem solid enough to fall asleep with. No inline mic/remote though.

If so, PM me. I got a pair when looking for closed-backs to listen in bed and because I wanted to try @Hands 's mods, but I've since gone back to Fostexes. The pads are fresh, @Grattle put new ones on before he put them up for sale.

Yours for shipping cost if you can wait a couple of weeks - I'm in the middle of moving.

Or if you want Porta Pro X, I have a pair of those I bought for some reason (Drop sale or free shipping promo IIRC) and haven't even unboxed...

 

Yea

There's new TWS ones now. I tried the first gen Porta Pros wireless and it was bad.

 

Is the first gen with that wire and module across the neck?

 

Because of Bluetooth (which would be odd)? What other headphones do you use, that don't degrade battery life? It could be your music player app.

 

I wasn’t using it for music; I used it only for phone calls. My guess is that the drivers are hard to drive via bluetooth. But let’s hope the new version works without a hitch. @ColdsnapBry, please keep us posted.

The only bluetooth device I occasionally use are the Airpods Pro 2. I use a Porta Pro X (or KSC-75X) for phone calls, and Mini C for music. No battery issues with any of those.

 

Hey, looking for amp advice. Two years ago, I sold my Jot 2/ Modius V1 combo, which I was happy with, just wanted the funds for other things. Now I'm looking to get a Pietus Maximus, but I want to get something cheaper first to 1) tide me over, and 2) see if I'm content with something cheaper. (I have a second kid on the way and I'm trying to be smart about spending on hobbies.)

Should I just get a Magni Unity or something else? I considered the Pietus, but wasn't sure if it was exactly what I wanted. I have a Magni Plus for now but will eventually get a Modius E or used BF2.


I'll be listening mostly to 1) metal, 2) orchestral/ sound tracks, and 3) rock. I'll also be using it for PC gaming.

Currently, I have a Sound Blaster G6 for gaming, but after not using it for years, I did not enjoy using it as an AIO. I also have an ifi Go Blu, and while it's mostly good enough for me as a BT device, it doesn't work great as a USB DAC as its default gain is too high it's okay for music but the latency introduced by Bluetooth makes it less than ideal for gaming duties.I need to keep the volume under 10 with my HE5XX.

I was considering a Schiit Gunnr but fomo will likely kick in, and I'll want something with a better amp and DAC.

Priorities:
1) speed/ transients/ control
2 macrodynamics
3) clarity
4) soundstage

I figure the Maximus Pietus will get me everything I need, but what cheaper amp will get me ~85-90% there?

I'm currently using the HE5XX, but might get an R70X Refined or a Focal Elear. Or one of the newer, not too bright Grados, as I liked the Grado Hemp when I owned it.

 

The drivers would be a hit on the headphone battery, not the phone battery. Perhaps Apple has a special optimization when communicating with their own AirPods.

 

Is Ken Rad 6sn7 smoked glass a good driver tube for ECBA? What other good 6sn7 that works well with the amp? I am using ECBA primarily as a preamp for 2 channel. I currently have Sylvania 6sn7gta and I find them a bit bright and not as refined with mediocre bass. The driver tunes are the EH 300B.

 

I am going to pick up the Sennheiser HD599. I miss a semi-open/open headphone and AKG and Beyerdynamic do not offer much right now. The low impedance is a plus with the HD599 (phone/tablet as source). These things are becoming very affordable now.

German Maestro is cool but delivery in NL is no longer reliable.

I still have some portable amps left. Does the HD599 benefit from extra gain?

 

I have a pair of passive bookshelf speakers that I’d like to hook up to my TV and use mostly for TV but also for some music, so convenience/integration is more important than sound quality (e.g. HDMI ARC is probably a must and streaming audio is a plus, esp Apple Airplay).

I was looking at the Bluesound Powernode. And I also saw the Sonos Amp and the new Denon Home Amp. I think Wiim might have a product that fits the bill; though, I had heard bad stuff about the company so I didn’t really bother looking into their stuff. Any other considerations? anyone have any experience (good or bad) with any of these products?

I had used an AVR in the past but I don’t actually need most of the features plus my old one was huge and ran very hot. So, that’s why I’ve been looking at the stuff I’ve been looking at.

 

WiiM just released their newly revised streamer amp called the "Amp Pro" that may be worth looking into. I had the WiiM Ultra briefly and really liked it in terms of integrated everything blah blah... but I had some issues with the digital outputs occasionally muting and having to power cycle to get them to work again. I poked around online and didn't see anyone else having a similar issue, so it might have been a bad unit or unique glitch in my case (it was mainly receiving HDMI-ARC from the tv)

 

I'm looking for advice/suggestions on wall-mounted hooks for headphone storage, ideally with some provision for cables as well. This is for my office and I'm open to pretty much anything as long as it looks decent enough. It doesn't need to be the cheapest possible solution, though anything which exceeds the cost of the headphones that'll be hanging on it is a nonstarter.