Can someone PLEASE tell me how to easily fit ear tips onto IEMs? My left hand is paralyzed so that makes it tough in general, but the circumference of the speaker on the IEM seems to be bigger than that of the ear tip. Also, there’s an inner silicone later thats also smaller than the width of the speaker making it more difficult to stretch. I have tried to use tweezers to stretch the ear tip over the speaker to no avail. Any suggestions would be amazing.

Thank you in advance! (Photo for reference)

I got into the whole headphones hobby about a year ago, and into IEMs a few months ago. Throughout things have been pretty clear to me. How graphing works, the different methods, what they mean. One thing above all has mistified me, amplification.

On one end of the spectrum you have the people that seem to swear by "if it's loud enough, its good enough", meanwhile the other end swears by "it being loud enough isn't good enough, you're missing out on x and y" whether that be bass, high end or whatever inbetween.

I understand that there are more values than just power that indicate the quality of an AMP, but for the sake of this discussion lets assume those are all the same in the following scenario:

Let's say I have a headphone that I hook into AMP A. Amp A is powerful enough to run my headphone as a listenable volume that I enjoy, but not much beyond that. Let's say I have it at like 90%. Now lets take AMP B. AMP B has way, and I mean way more power than AMP A. Orders of magnitudes more power output. But I set AMP B up so it has the exact same volume as AMP A.

What's the difference in output between these two amplifiers? Isn't AMP A in this case putting out the exact same amount of power as AMP B? More power = more volume right? It's not like AMP A is randomly putting out less power at certain frequencies

This question is to lucky owners who own the Edifier Stax Spirit S5.

Now you have had them for a period of time, what do you think of them?

How is the sound for example?

Thanks

I decided to enter the IEM world a few weeks ago, and tried the KZ ZSN Pro X.

Even though the sound signature wasn't exactly what I was hoping (a bit too bassy), I enjoyed the feeling of the IEMs coming with a replacable cable, snug fit, and overall very good in terms of isolation, but all of that came with a big problem: white noise/static noise

After reading about it, came to the conclusion it had to do with the low impedance and sensibility of IEMs, and that I would need a better DAC/sound output to mitigate the problem.

I use a behringer umx22 audio interface on my PC, and anytime I used the KZ on it, I couldn't notice the white noise, but that defeated the whole purpose of having them, because they were meant to be for portable use, so I ended up selling them

My question is: is this a common problem with most IEMs? The low sensitivity, I mean. Because I was thinking about getting the moondrop chu or the truthear gate, or something along that price point, because I'm on a budget, but that is pointless if the white noise problem continues

Do I really need to buy a DAC to be able to enjoy good IEMs? Isn't there a way to just... "plug and play" them on my phone? I apologise for the dumb question

Thanks in advance

Hello everyone,

This post is a sum of two subjects I wanted to consult you about.

The first one is the cost of this pre-owned setup from a single owner (first owner of both items).

I got the Fiio Q7 DAC/AMP is mint condition, with its box and all the accessories, most dust plugs are still there, and all the cables were still in their original plastic bags.

Although the unit looks and feels brand new, the USB C port and the 3.5mm jack port feels a bit loose, I can't say if this was intentional from Fiio to avoid accidental wire pulling or its just they loosened up due to regular use, which doesn't really look like it! I know because I used to repair all kinds of old personal music devices, and some items made in the 90s still have to this day a really stiff jack, I can't believe that this Fiio loosened up in a single year. Any thoughts on this from Fiio portable DAC owners?

(+)

Hifiman Arya Stealth magnet edition (32 Ohm 94db) in ok condition, showing some wear in the headband (paint has flaked off in some areas) and the pads (the leather also started falling appart), as for sound, its PERFECT, no problems whatsoever (this coming from someone who never owned quality headphones before). I also got the box and everything that came with it (original cables).

I offered the seller USD610.85 for both, and he accepted.

From your experience, did I score a good deal for these? (see images of the products attached).

Second subject is about restoring the Arya to a better state.

I didn't like how the metal bands looked with all those scratches and flaked paint, so I disassembled the headphones, sanded off the damaged parts using fine sand paper, then applied black metal acrylic spray paint and it seems they come up pretty good, not perfect, but better than their original state (I almost painted them in yellow, just to try making them look personalized, but I ditched the idea, it felt a bit silly).

I also went ahead and ordered two pairs of cushions from AE. The first one is generic, looks exactly like the OEM ones, and the second is Perforated Sheepskin, both still in transit, didn't receive them yet.

Please don't hesitate to offer any advice about headphones restoration/improvement.

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Cables/Accessories

I just bought Seinheisser HD 6XX's and the top volume is like half from other headphones. What headphone cable can I get to increase the volume? I wouldn't like to spend over like 30 on a headphone cable. I will use on my desktop pc through a scarlette 2i2 and on my macbook for producing.

Hi!

I was given a pair of akg k240 studio with broken cable (it should be replaceable without soldering, right?) and I think it would be nice to replace the pads to make them feel like new again.

Now I want to refurbish them and maybe do some nice mods if available :) that’s why I came here, to get suggestion from someone who knows way more than me :)

I have a lot of tools at home, including soldering station, hot air etc and I know how to repair stuff.

Any suggestions?

Hi, I have meze 99 classics and Grado sr60x with nyczaj pads and they sound both very good. The Grado's are way more bassy and do have more treble but the mezes sound warm and cosy with good but not that much bass. What other headphones can you recommend that are not neutral.

As per the title, beginner here with a pair of hifiman edition xs and fiio k11 arriving tomorrow. I ordered a 3.5mm to 6.5mm converter too as I think I’ll need it, already have a usb-a to usb-c. Anything else I might be missing please? I would like to stream from Tidal on my Acer Chromebook and would like to avoid having some element missing on exciting new headphone day.

I’ll listen for at least a few days before thinking of EQ but if I want to try that would that be on the Chromebook and are any decent ones free? Finally is there a setting or anything I’d need to change to for example bypass the Chromebook’s DAC (don’t know if it even has one but just thinking ahead as to possible requirements).

Any thoughts, advice appreciated!

Ordered an edition xs as a first set (had a 599 shortly, felt okay. previously only bose apple sony etc). Am i missing out for not trying the HD 6xx first? everyone seems to be recommending the 6xx, but they're basically same price :hd 6xx 199+tax, Xs 269

I don't know how I listened to lower tier headphones without it. Things sound terrible now without EQ

Anyway, HD 600 worth it? Or am I going to suddenly want 800S after I buy them?

Can anyone help me reduce the vocal harshness?

One of the screws fell out and disappeared and I have no idea how to go about finding a replacement. Contacted customer support but they weren't able to help since this model is discontinued. Should I try going to either a generic hardware or a headphone store and asking?

Also need a new velour pad but I guess I can just buy it off amazon and superglue it on? Love these headphones though I've had em 10 years so far.

Is it against the rules somewhere to have your cake and eat it too lol. I love my Hifiman Anandas and the accuracy,speed and detail retrieveal of planar drivers is so seductive but I will admit I have enjoyed some dynamic cans over the years, Shure-SRH 840s, Grado SR-60s,Sony MDR-600? ( Not sure of the exact model). I really enjoyed my Shures alot but after I got my first planar headphones (Fostex T-50 RPs) and after breaking in my ears to their sound, the first time I put my Shures back on a few months later I literally thought they were broken. If anyone is in the Houston area DM me.

I have been looking up for different cleaning advices and tried them out but I still can’t get rid of the yellowish stains on the handband nor the black stains on the cushions. I think the black stains are from the metal frame of my glasses. Do you guys have any tips for me? I would highly appreciate it!

As the title suggests, what are your thoughts on Dynamic and Planar drivers? As someone who haven't used any planars yet and no experience with high-end headphones (by which I mean anything at or above level of Maxwell, Sundara, TYGR 300R), can this difference be seen as a main point when looking for headphones?

Of course there is a reason different kinds exist and that its the main component of headphones so they could be a main point when searching something that fits your taste. What I wonder is that the sound generated by different driver types unique to them or with tuning by manufacturers and using a DAC/AMP is it possible to achieve an audio similar to another driver type in this context Dynamic or Planar?

Also do they interact differently with open/closed back designs? Such as one driver type benefiting more from the soundstage of an open back.

I've heard of other types like Electrostatic but that will be a topic of a future post. I'll need to learn more about them before asking for comparison.

I’ve stumbled across a review of this Tube Amp earlier today and thought it sounds like the perfect fit for Sennheiser’s HD800s. Micro dynamics and bass with soundstage improvements and airiness to voices etc

Do any of you have experience pairing these two?

Photo for attention

Is it a good solution? Or any other ways? Don't wanna spend money

I hate EQ. I understand it's purpose, but I don't wanna fiddle around with squiggly lines. I use multiple headphones, and I don't like having to change the EQ each time.

So whare are some higher end (>$500) cans that sound their best out of the box without EQ? I've heard conflicting opinions on Audeze stuff, DCA, AKG, maybe Grado?

From my collection, the portapros, Arya Stealth sounded great without EQ (so did my Gallajorn JM edition, but that was more or less customed tuned)

thanks!

Hi there! I wanted to try out building a tube amp on output transformers, as my headphones are 16 ohm (Hifiman Ananda stealth).

Sadly, it looks like the Bottlehead S.E.X kit is unavailable since the longest time, and i cant find any other well tested, compelling designs. Does anyone here have a schematic for SEX or other nice amp of similar kind they would be willing to share, so i could try my hand at building one on my own and to try to understand principles behind them? I can make a proper case and source my own parts easily, i could also rewind transformers if the designs use some weird turn ratios. I wanted to try reverse-engineering the manual to get the full schematic (unless they actually give you full schematics in those kits, that would save a lot of work), and design a nice, smaller footprint PCB for it, along with my own case, so it will actually fit on my desk, the kit is gargantuan in size and i think with multilayer high voltage pcb and custom case i could optimize the hell out of necessary space to build it.

Can't wait to try these out! I am a very happy person today!

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