Audiophile Thread!

[at_sunset_blvd]

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These tweeters are already replacing the Yamaha domes I've melted (forgot to lower gain during sweep) and as per my ears... the sound that comes out is already an upgrade, albeit small, even though I haven't adjusted the xover. Almost ruler flat on-axis FR from 3.7k to 19.4k by my own measurements and that's impressive enough for me. Nice sounding upper registers and together with the Yamaha woofers, the timbre and tonality are quite a good match. To be fair, the Yamaha metal domes aren't bad, just average just like other mass produced hifi brands using metal domes. The Yammy woofers though are great because of its graceful roll-off from 4k.

I expect the impulse response won't be that pretty since I'm still using the stock 1st-order xover but I'm very much satisfied sq-wise, so there's that. I still plan to configure it in the following weeks using air coil inductors or maybe just adding an L-pad and a fuse. Also, I tried hooking it up to my SET Elekit tu-8100 and it's heavenly.

Yammy's are good especially the higher models. I have an NS-1000, the best mids I've heard of all the speakers I have the chance to own. these babies will give the HARBETHs a run for their money

[brownie]

Yammy's are good especially the higher models. I have an NS-1000, the best mids I've heard of all the speakers I have the chance to own. these babies will give the HARBETHs a run for their money

Why of course that's their top of the line using Be tweeters. Mine are monitor speakers therefore tiny.

I've already ordered an all Jantzen Audio air-core inductors and film caps all based from the tweeters and woofers' T/S. For the tweeters though, I initially thought of using a steeper roll off however, I'm afraid of the phase matching because I use LR2 for the woofers while for the domes, to cross it where the Yammy woofers start rising its impedance, is 1/4 octave lower than the specs recommended by Fostex. Therefore, it's either go 3khz in congruent with the woofers but use a steeper 4th order slope, OR, use a notch filter for the rising impedance of the tweeters at 3khz crossover point and maintain great phase matching by also using LR2 with polarity inverted and a poly switch to protect it from being overpowered. I decided to pursue the latter because sticking with a phase matched two-way as opposed to asymmetrical crossover is a rather audible matter to me most specially the off-axis response and I am away from the listening position most of the time.

[finepix]

dili ko audiophile pero duha na jud subwoofer.

last month, SVS PB-2000 Pro:
https://i.imgur.com/usWLyOK.jpg

5 years mi-agi, PB12-NSD:
https://i.imgur.com/UvAQN1C.jpg

resulta after gi-level balance ang duha gamit ang miniDSP UMIK-1 calibrated mic:
https://i.imgur.com/tjriuaK.jpg

[brownie]

Why of course that's their top of the line using Be tweeters. Mine are monitor speakers therefore tiny.

I've already ordered an all Jantzen Audio air-core inductors and film caps all based from the tweeters and woofers' T/S. For the tweeters though, I initially thought of using a steeper roll off however, I'm afraid of the phase matching because I use LR2 for the woofers while for the domes, to cross it where the Yammy woofers start rising its impedance, is 1/4 octave lower than the specs recommended by Fostex. Therefore, it's either go 3khz in congruent with the woofers but use a steeper 4th order slope, OR, use a notch filter for the rising impedance of the tweeters at 3khz crossover point and maintain great phase matching by also using LR2 with polarity inverted and a poly switch to protect it from being overpowered. I decided to pursue the latter because sticking with a phase matched two-way as opposed to asymmetrical crossover is a rather audible matter to me most specially the off-axis response and I am away from the listening position most of the time.

After playing around with attenuation, I came up with these sort of resistor values to attenuate the Fostex with approximately 3.5db. The harder question is... can these wire-wound resistors be bought locally? Wa koy sure sa acdc.

[lestat1116]

kinsa nangita og iem, baligya nako akong blon03 and kz zsx all with upgrade cable

[brownie]

So I tried simulating a RLC network to a maximum -3db attenuation from 5444hz - 22khz using this formula:



f1 = First -3db point in Hz

f2 = Second -3db point in Hz

and I end up with this abomination:



I don't know how it's going to sound irl with the notch but the impedance curve sucks.
So I'm sticking with the series-parallel attenuation and be content with a parametric or
graphic equalizer to tune the tweeters to my taste. Active filtering still remains the most
ideal no matter the situation — pro audio or home audio.

Fvck all those purist snake-oil guzzling high cope snobs.

[brownie]

After incorporating the correct inductor values + the series-parallel attenuation, this is my measured raw in-room response at my listening position—no sub connected so ignore the graph below 150hz. The peaks are highlighted by the software using a calibrated imm-6 mic and subsequently, the iPhone mic. To my surprise, both have identical response. Apple have really done a great job with this since the 4s along with their internal DACs. Anyone who says otherwise is either an absolute retard or an uneducated fool. It's a good thing I only borrowed the imm-6 from a friend of mine who is into car audio because it would be a complete waste of money knowing that I already have a great mic built in to my phone.



Anyway, I'm having a feast as of this writing. Fostex really do make great drivers specially those that are exclusively made in Japan. It sounds remarkably well and transparent even when the volume knob is at 11 o'clock. The upper registers are actually similar now to my wife's B&W LM1 hooked to the Elekit PCL86 triode.

[brownie]

Apple has really owned the audiophile market this time with crinacle's review of the Airpods Max and there's no denying it. I mean, I used my iPod 6G as my main source for 24/48 lossless files even until now. Used to have a nano 5G for portability until it's clickwheel stopped functioning so I sent it back to Ayala's iStore for recycling in the past and replaced it with the 6G. The 6G is connected to the Apple's line out dock which outputs 1.8Vrms according to my scope. Jitter and SINAD is nearly as good as my Topping A50s despite 6x cheaper. The crosstalk figure is equally the same with the Topping. This is why I'll stick with it until it dies on its own.

With that said, everyone who had been invited to my house for some liquor and chat told me to ditch Apple and I told them that my headphones (HD558 and Sundara) can be powered just as good through my iPhone 8 via the Apple's very cheap dongle without any distortion at high levels. They won't believe me so, what do I care... they're no engineers to begin with. They even thought my rca cables are expensive because it looks and feels high quality to the touch but it was just a diy cable I did in my spare time worth 120php.

I admit I bought a used mid-fi Sony turntable back in 2013 bc... you know... vinyl hipsterino! I even grew beard for a while to suit the vintage aesthetic of the record player, not for the audio fidelity ofc. Something went wrong with the arm, so I sold it and luckily someone was willing to have it repaired. My old Aiwa discman 1-bit built-in DAC (which I still use from time to time) would smoke the turntable I had sq-wise. I am past that stage for a long while now and went back to digital where 0101 bit perfectness cannot be beat and this was the time I finally bought a proper hp amp (A50s) only to be shunned again bc even though it measures really, really well—industrial goodness to be exact, the Apple internals are just as impressive. Hooked to the line out dock into my Yamaha amp to the headphones via phones jack, and the difference is practically imperceptible as far as my ears are concerned.

In comes the Airpod Max.



That construction alone would destroy all high-end stuff. Those strings which serve as a pivot mechanism is a breakthrough in hp assembly. Fvck this gay earth for giving Apple all the good resources for their R&D, lighting a candle again for the hp companies to follow. So, I'm going to sell my Sundara and save the money for this. Crossing my fingers that some delusional audiofool would be attracted to my Sundara's audiophile looks hahaha. Not buying any HiFiMAN ever again.

UPDATE: Here's one Korean review that resembles crinacle's measurements adjusted to the Harman curve target.


And this is the only THD measurement available so far:


With that kind of THD, it's widely accepted already that the drivers will have short decay periods in the low-mids and high-mids and that is amazing by itself provided that only >$600 drivers are capable.

It's funny to see haters seething and getting angry in other forums. I don't understand the automatic hate towards Apple? Maybe bc they can't accept that their niche hobby is easily matched, often times exceeded, by a mass brand? Sure $600 is rather steep for a closed hp but people buy $5,000 cables all the time that don't even make .00001% of improvement to the sonic qualities of any system in existence besides placebo.

[brownie]

Just went to a forum that I emigrated to many years back when both head-fi and sbaf had been swarmed with sponsored reviews and too much circlejerking going around. They flamed me bc I am a Senn fan and hates anything HiFiMAN bc they truly suck and now I praise Apple. I don't do reviews there nor make threads, I just reply to threads.

Anyway, I just stumbled upon a test on my lowly usb sound card that I got from the used market and got amazed at the result:



So I kind of wondered.. can my 800 petot Apple dongle compete against proper outboard DACs?
I coursed through many reviews, objective opinions from "experts" and then finally this: https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro...rw27&gsc.tab=0

LMAO!!!!!!!!!! 800 petot almost completely destroyed both my X-fi HD and Marantz HD-DAC1 ffs!

I believe I'm at the end game now, really. Thinking of selling the Creative X-fi along with my Sundara (god I hate this piece of overpriced junk) and save the money. Wait, no... maybe I'll have some other use for the X-fi hehe the Sundara really has to go.

[brownie]

Just arrived after waiting for a long while. Came from different scheduled freights but showed up together today bc customs took a lengthy holiday break, good for them doe. Anyway, happy new year to you all.

Top is sony pcm-a10. Below is sony mdr-1aBT—my very 1st general purpose bt hp and seemingly good sounding overall and will probably stay with me until it dies on its own. This will finally replace that hifiman crap whose treble is like coming from an untamed piezoelectric. It's up for grabs in carousell already.