The All Purpose Advice Thread

Btw, sorry I never "Liked" anyone's comments before. I just liked everyone who replied since I started up till now to make up for it.

I just don't use any social media - this is the first time I've pressed a "Like" button anywhere on the internet since I quit FB in 2011 (after just one year of using it, too). Sorry that it just didn't cross my mind, didn't mean to seem ungrateful.

 

In a subsequent post, you mentioned death metal. If you don't live alone, perhaps closed might be better. Around your price range, the NAD HP50 and Senn HD598Cs would be good choices. Neither will scale as well as the 6X0 but I see you say that's not important for you. While I own the HD598Cses, I think the NADs are the better of the two - but it's recommended you try those before buying them, as they've been reported as uncomfortable by people with larger heads and/or ears.

Both are easy to drive, so will be fine with the Fulla.

 

Sounds like a solid plan. I have the floor wart for modi multibit and eitr. Limited to 8 plugs on my furman PST-8D. As for cables, I swear by Blue Jeans Cables. The belden cable they use with the Canare plugs is fantastic. You can order custom lengths as well. For Eitr to Modi I ordered a 12" Belden 1505f coax cable with Canare plugs from them. You could probably get away with shorter, like 6"-8". For pc to Eitr and Modi to SYS I use Schiit Pyst, and from SYS to Jotunheim I use Blue Jeans RCA.

 

I tried my Fulla 2 again earlier this week using the HD6XX. Midrange was good. Can't speak as to bass (which I'm not that interested in). Driving wasn't an issue, though the Fulla 2 lacked some detail against amps 4 and 10 times the price (which would is completely reasonable).

Some of the questions are good, some of them can be answered with a little more background reading. For example, it is not surprising that the first 6 series Sennheiser to come out in decades has it's own thread: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/senneheiser-hd660s-impressions.5297/

 

I was thinking of going with open cans 'cause I want to remain aware of my surroundings, so that I can hear for example the phone ringing or someone calling me; that said, I will also look into the NAD Viso, since I have small ears.

 

If you don't think of upgrading in the future and since bass is significantly relevant to you, buy the X2. If you pretend to upgrade in the future buy the HD600/650, maybe in your case the 650 (i prefer the 600 myself).

 

DAC comparisons... Most people do it wrong.

I cringe when reading how someone on Head-fi or wherever did a DAC comparison by rapidly switching between two DACs and then declaring they basically sound the same. Yeah, it doesn't normally work that way unless one is really bad. You've got to savor the flavor for a while. Listen to one for a few days or weeks with a lot of material, and then go to the other one and do the same. I find that this is how you get a sense of the personality of the DAC.

I like SBAF because when people seriously audition a DAC, they almost always spend some real time with it to learn what it's really doing.

 

Ok, time for "name that tube".

This tube:



I think it's a Phillips EC88/6DJ, like this:

https://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?ID=5093

The reason I'm not sure is that some of the markings have rubbed off. Happy to take more/better pics. @Changeling very generously gave me this tube- if you read this, do you remember?

It says "made in Holland" on the side- so probably Phillips

Right now, I don't want to stop the music and pull it out, though, as it sounds bloody gorgeous in my office chain. Almost exactly what I needed for it- and I'd quite like to buy a small stock of them.

(Also, thanks for the tube, dude. Seriously. While I liked it initially, it has found its niche and is providing fairly extended and very clear but totally un-fatiguing sound. I can literally listen to this config all day. Even the bass is snappy and not one-note. Amazingly enjoyable.)

 

If driving is not an issue, that's a huge plus for the HD6xx. Since there's a guy selling his pair near to where I live, I'll ask him if I can audition it.

What is concerning to me about the X2 is the elevated treble, which doesn't go very well with lo-fi metal recordings with loud as hell cymbals. If trade offs are to be made, I think that treble smoothness is more important to me than bass quantity (as long as it doesn't sound thin).

 

AndreaR_94 I'd actually recommend you try the Sennheiser HD579 with your Fulla 2. This is pretty close to HD650 and the Fulla in tone. Slightly warmer, slightly more bass, easier to drive, nice soundstage. The 579s treble sounds a bit elevated when the earpads are new but after a few hours it's smooth.

 

I fear that by buying entry level headphones like the 579s or the aforementioned 598s I will get only marginal improvements compared to my current cans (ATH-M40x), and ultimately feel underwhelmed.

 

The 6XX isn’t much more money for top of the line sound. I like it so much I have 3 of them. One modded 650, one unmodded 6XX for guests and an unopened 6XX in case Senn stops making them.

 

I replaced ATH-M50s with the '598s and liked the Sennheisers a great deal more. Although I ultimately sold them and went to '650s. Just go to 650s or Massdrop 6XX and be done with it.

 

You're using a Fulla 2. You won't be actually whelmed without a substantial upgrade before the transducers, anyway. It's not going to sound amazing with fancy headphones- it's great for the price, but not actual magic. The cans that people suggest are a sensible pairing for you. That said, if you do spring for 650s, and are using them somewhere where open-backed is fine, they're great. They will keep on scaling as you improve your gear, so money well spent.

Hell, my office setup is HD598Cs fed from Eitr, Modi Multibit and Vali 2, and it sounds phenomenal for what it cost, with the headphones being the cheapest part of it. It's not just price, again, it's synergy. The chain is only as strong as the weakest part- that's the important thing.

 

Hi there!

I'm a new member here (joined last week), been lurking around since then. The main reason that brought me here was because I was doing some research to get an upgrade from my m50x's. I'm relatively new to the world of audio since I only got them about 3-4 years ago when heard from quite a few people that they are quite good for a pair of starters, and I got hooked cuz I've only been listening to music on the default earphones that come with my phone (and wow I've been missing out on a lot).

After a few years, I'm quite eager to explore a bit more and try out different stuff. However, I never really met someone who's much of an audio enthusiast, so my knowledge is basically limited to the only pair I own . The place I'm living at doesn't have a local audio shop that sells any high-end headphones as well so I'm kinda just stuck with reading up on posts and articles of people describing how their headphones sound like with their rigs. I was about to post a question asking if I should go for Massdrop's HD 6XX since it seems that quite a few posts here seemed to vouch for their quality. However, the recent discussion in this thread regarding @Alexander 's new setup was actually quite informative and answer a lot of my questions. Thanks btw

What I've learned about the m50x is that it has a heavier bass than the m40x (but I'm guessing it's because the m40x sounds more neutral in general?), a narrow soundstage - for this I think do notice it sometimes but I'm no veteran so I can't tell if it's there or it's just my imagination. I've also read in a few reviews that there seems to be a trouble with a high treble(?), because one of the current issues I'm having is that when I listen to songs on my computer which has a stronger audio driver than my phone - which is how I usually listen to music, listening to long periods on my pc tend to give my headaches. I can't tell if this is caused by the high frequencies of the treble or some other issue, any other owners of the m50x who can shed some light on this?

Anyway, the point of this post is that I'm looking to get a new pair of headphones. I'm thinking of the HD6XX (I'm in no hurry so I'm just waiting for Massdrop to reopen it) but I'm still up for any suggestions in headphones at the range of around $200 (I'm a student so my budget is really tight, I'm thinking of getting a part-time job over summer so I hope that works out).

I've never owned an amp before so honestly I have no experience in it. I read up on a few threads here and I feel that the Fulla 2 is a safe bet on getting to learn how much of a difference it can do compare to just regular listening on pc/phones. However, I'll be really grateful if anyone has any suggestions or explanations for a beginner .

As for music tastes, I listen to alternative rock and indie pop regularly, some pop if my friends recommend them to me, electro house and electro pop if I'm feeling creative (I'm majoring in architecture so I draw and make models a lot), jazz or classical on late nights at 3-4am while I'm slaving away in the studio trying to get things done for the incoming deadline.

This ended up wayy longer than it should be
*whispers* im sorry

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On a side note, since I'm quite new to this. I currently living in North-East England and will be going back to Malaysia in about a week for summer vacation (yay!) If anyone is doing any meetups in these areas in the future please let me know cuz I really want to learn more about things.



Edit:
While typing this out I didn't realize that the discussion actually just veered towards what I was about to ask ._.
but still, I'm just gonna leave this here in case anyone has any input.

 

Then if you can, try both hd600 and 650 although for your type of music i think i would vier to the later, although I prefer the former.

 

@Kattefjaes - while awaiting the definitive answer from @Changeling , here's an educated guess: Philips or an associated/licenced brand ECC88/6DJ8, probably late 60s or early 70s from the internal geometry (although I can't see the getter or its stand in the photo). Look around the side of the tube near the bottom for the acid-etched factory & date code. If it's the Philips Holland-Heerlen factory the first character will be a sheared triangle like this /|. See the pages below for more details:

http://www.tubemaze.info/deciphering-european-tube-date-codes/

http://www.audiotubes.com/6dj8.htm

 

I think it was a Philips.

 

I'm asking my question here, because it is quite off-topic for the original thread. But not pm, because some other noobs like myself may have the same confusions..

My understanding is that Gungnir Multibit is r2r multibit. But its r-2r ladder is not implemented with discrete parts, but on-chip (2 AD chips per channel; assuming internal structure might be almost the same as r2r discrete). Is this not correct? Googled a bit, but definitions and explanations varied slightly. Distinction was rather unclear.

 

Hello guys, I have a little question and I don't think I should start a new thread, I hope I get some help in here.

Currently I use the rotel RC-1570 DAC with my bluesound node to stream tidal (I found the Rv dac to sound much better than the node). And currently I'm thinking about buying an yggdrasil, but I dont know what to expect from it (or how big will be the jump in quality).

The Wolfson chip inside my preamp is comparable to any dac of the schiit line? or a comparison can't be made?

Thank you!