The Audiophiles' Lounge

Brian

Braiding some Cat5 to use as cheap speaker cables... 4 pairs per terminal.



Just for use with some throwaway bookshelf speakers and a cheap amp, hopefully won't impact performance!

Braiding diagram: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/files/2009/01/img_8114.JPG

Edit: and done. Working great

emo72

Lads just had a listen to 24 bit chesky recording on a fiio x3 and e12 amp driving hd800 headphones. Was mightily impressed. I own hd650 and e12 amp. Thinking of getting the x3 player. I'm just wondering how much of a downgrade would the 650s be over the 800s? I think the 24bit recordings are where it's at. Didn't realise how much of an improvement over CD recordings they were.

LesIsMore

limnam wrote: »

Wow, Awful.

I didn't get them done in the end but I had a really nice long and friendly chat with a guy from http://www.hearing.ie/ who really knew is stuff and was reasonably priced IIRC.

Based on this I made an appointment at this place and had my impressions made this morning.Would highly recommend , very nice guy and very reasonably priced.

Brian

Finally got my ear impressions done and send to Piotr @ Custom Art. Had a hearing test done as well, was told "you can hear the grass growing" :cool:
Got them done at Amplifon on Abbey St. They thought I was absolutely barmy for requesting "just impressions" but they did them nonetheless, for €45. No bite-block was supplied so kind of left my mouth open a bit. Hopefully they turn out OK. I expect silicone CIEMs will be more forgiving of impressions than acrylic ones for fit since they are flexible.

emo72 wrote: »

Lads just had a listen to 24 bit chesky recording on a fiio x3 and e12 amp driving hd800 headphones. Was mightily impressed. I own hd650 and e12 amp. Thinking of getting the x3 player. I'm just wondering how much of a downgrade would the 650s be over the 800s? I think the 24bit recordings are where it's at. Didn't realise how much of an improvement over CD recordings they were.

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

tl;dr : it's not the bit depth that sounds better, it's the mastering

marko93

Brian wrote: »

Finally got my ear impressions done and send to Piotr @ Custom Art. Had a hearing test done as well, was told "you can hear the grass growing" :cool:

How much did it cost, what CIEMS are you going with?

Brian

marko93 wrote: »

How much did it cost, what CIEMS are you going with?

Haven't got a full quote yet for my options ... I'm guessing around €400 inc. delivery.

https://www.facebook.com/thecustomart/posts/482608021860024

marko93

Brian wrote: »

Haven't got a full quote yet for my options ... I'm guessing around €400 inc. delivery.

https://www.facebook.com/thecustomart/posts/482608021860024

They look pretty sweet!

emo72

Brian wrote: »

Braiding some Cat5 to use as cheap speaker cables... 4 pairs per terminal.



Just for use with some throwaway bookshelf speakers and a cheap amp, hopefully won't impact performance!

Braiding diagram: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/files/2009/01/img_8114.JPG

Edit: and done. Working great

hi brian do you know anywhere that sells bulk cable for making rca cables, or headphone cables?

docentore

emo72 wrote: »

hi brian do you know anywhere that sells bulk cable for making rca cables, or headphone cables?

for headphone cables use qables.com

emo72

docentore wrote: »

for headphone cables use qables.com

what are you upgrading your X3 to? an X5 perhaps?

docentore

emo72 wrote: »

what are you upgrading your X3 to? an X5 perhaps?

thats correct need to sell the X3 first though.

marko93

docentore wrote: »

thats correct need to sell the X3 first though.

How much will you be shifting it for?



After my GFX card pooping out and being returned, instead of buying a new one I bought Fidelio X1s Now just trying to pick an amp/dac

Gheadphone

Wow, when is the X5 out?

I loved the mod on your X3 docentore, sounds great.

HifiHut: Daniel

Gheadphone wrote: »

Wow, when is the X5 out?

I loved the mod on your X3 docentore, sounds great.

FiiO are doing a phased rollout of the X5 but we've been promised our first batch in March - so not long.

We'll keep boardsies up to date and might arrange some kind of a launch offer/event once we know they're on the way

Gheadphone

Great stuff Daniel, it would be excellent to be able to come in and check the X5 out!

Blitz17

Recieved DT990 Pros 250Ω today with Fiio E09k + E07k . First time venturing into audio territory. Was a nightmare for quite some time regarding drivers and stuff but all good now

spiritcrusher

Anyone have any experience with aliexpress? Just came across this apparent fire sale on FiiO x5s: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fiio-x5-top-hd-hifi-player-mp3/1652618772.html
I'm assuming it's a scam? But at the same time I've heard it's a a pretty huge and well known site... Still an x5 for €11...?? Gotta be a scam?

PPC

spiritcrusher wrote: »

Anyone have any experience with aliexpress? Just came across this apparent fire sale on FiiO x5s: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fiio-x5-top-hd-hifi-player-mp3/1652618772.html
I'm assuming it's a scam? But at the same time I've heard it's a a pretty huge and well known site... Still an x5 for €11...?? Gotta be a scam?

If its too good to be true then it usually is.
Aliexpress is just a market place for sellers like ebay.
Still, worth a punt at that price.

HifiHut: Daniel

spiritcrusher wrote: »

Anyone have any experience with aliexpress? Just came across this apparent fire sale on FiiO x5s: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fiio-x5-top-hd-hifi-player-mp3/1652618772.html
I'm assuming it's a scam? But at the same time I've heard it's a a pretty huge and well known site... Still an x5 for €11...?? Gotta be a scam?

100% definitely a scam

Brian

Pretty much - http://www.head-fi.org/t/629454/pono-neil-youngs-portable-hi-res-music-player/225#post_10355361

marko93

Brian wrote: »

Pretty much - http://www.head-fi.org/t/629454/pono-neil-youngs-portable-hi-res-music-player/225#post_10355361

Still a sucker for burning the CDs I have in ALAC.

Brian

I did a listening test recently comparing some audio codecs. In a casual portable setup (phone and earphones), I had transparency at > 64 kbps AAC. It was unfamiliar material, but still, I was pretty impressed.

marko93

Brian wrote: »

I did a listening test recently comparing some audio codecs. In a casual portable setup (phone and earphones), I had transparency at > 64 kbps AAC. It was unfamiliar material, but still, I was pretty impressed.

Isn't AAC, supposed to be the next best thing after MP3? Never really tried it. Always just went with ALAC were possible, even though I knew I couldn't tell the difference.

pleasant Co.

Brian wrote: »

I did a listening test recently comparing some audio codecs. In a casual portable setup (phone and earphones), I had transparency at > 64 kbps AAC. It was unfamiliar material, but still, I was pretty impressed.

I'm a little shocked by that if I'm being completely honest, 160kbs was my minimum with AAC, ~112kbs with ogg vorbis (but that was hit and miss so I upped it for convenience) with a setup of a decent set of earphones and just an ipod or a sansa, but then the type of music you listen to will have a major effect - i'm pretty much all metal for instance.

---

AAC is a technically superior format to MP3, although with LAME's optimisations the audible gap isn't massive (read as "is negligible", although you will notice is at extremes like 64kbps and below) and neither can match vorbis in terms of fidelity@tiny bitrates, it's really amazing what that codec can do.

Gheadphone

Im looking at buying the Hifiman HE500s as they have dropped in price on the US sites to 599, what is the cheapest way of buying in Ireland? I assume that through Amazon US the customs is pretty big, but buying from http://hifilounge.co.uk/hifiman-he-500-headphones costs 699 GBP ($1160 vs 599)!!

Brian

Perhaps preowned on head-fi?

Gheadphone

Thats a possibility Brian, im a bit nervous buying second hand with no comeback though

marko93

Take the risk with these guys?

http://head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=102

Gheadphone

marko93 wrote: »

Take the risk with these guys?

http://head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=102

Will I have to pay duty on these though? Will it be a lot I wonder?

Morf

Gheadphone wrote: »

Will I have to pay duty on these though? Will it be a lot I wonder?

You might not pay duty but VAT is 23% + fees I think.

Almost impossible to find out if duty will be charged but quite possible.

marko93

Gheadphone wrote: »

Will I have to pay duty on these though? Will it be a lot I wonder?

Not sure to be honest, could get lucky and miss it. Never dealt with them, justt know them from when i was considering HE-400s

Johnny_Fontane

Took delivery today of a pair of Xiaomi Pistons direct from ibuygou.com.
I think they were €20 and they pack quite a punch.

Excellent for scooting around town with, cable is shortish, but very happy with the purchase....

check them out!

Gheadphone

marko93 wrote: »

Not sure to be honest, could get lucky and miss it. Never dealt with them, justt know them from when i was considering HE-400s

Cool, thanks Marko, did you get the 400s?

PPC

I bought my HE400s from http://www.madooma.com/shopHP/neu_hifiman.html
Looks like they have the 500s for €599

Gheadphone

Thanks PCC. I think it would be cheaper to get them from the US and pay the VAT.

marko93

Gheadphone wrote: »

Cool, thanks Marko, did you get the 400s?

In the end I didn't. I went for the RE400s because I would of got more use out of them. I do regret not getting them or Mad Dogs.

pleasant Co.

Finally getting around to this "manually adding album art" bullshit, this is actually going to take me all day...good thing there are sports matches on to kill the monotony somewhat, sorta, not really...nearly at "E" though, fuck Dream Theater for having so many albums!

Custardpi

pleasant Co. wrote: »

Finally getting around to this "manually adding album art" bullshit, this is actually going to take me all day...good thing there are sports matches on to kill the monotony somewhat, sorta, not really...nearly at "E" though, fuck Dream Theater for having so many albums!

How are you adding it? There's programmes that can help you do it quicker than just going into file properties.

Morf

pleasant Co. wrote: »

Finally getting around to this "manually adding album art" bullshit, this is actually going to take me all day...good thing there are sports matches on to kill the monotony somewhat, sorta, not really...nearly at "E" though, fuck Dream Theater for having so many albums!

This on foobar?

pleasant Co.

Custardpi wrote: »

How are you adding it? There's programmes that can help you do it quicker than just going into file properties.

There is nothing that can do it quicker than i'm currently doing it.

pleasant Co.

Morf wrote: »

This on foobar?

No it's itunes with alac, fixing unembedded album art so that all tracks have their artwork embedded, loads of albums, old albums and the obscure throwing a big spanner in the works too.

marko93

Now, I'm not saying I'm easily swayed with my money.... but I did just buy these

http://v-moda.com/crossfade-m-80-shadow-on-ear/

Morf

Due to the unsupervised access of my nieces/nephews to my stuff recently the jack adaptor for my Audio Technica Ath M50s has disappeared.

The one for the AD ATH 700s was found in the garden.

What would be the best way to go about finding a replacement?

Without there being a huge rush on it as I only generally use it for the stereo rather than the PC.

I'll try the AT facebook page too.

Edit: Found, crisis over.

BofaDeezNuhtz

8 bleedin' grand...I ask ye lol

http://www.head-fi.org/t/712890/final-audio-design-muramasa-viii-only-5-in-the-world

BofaDeezNuhtz

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

Took delivery today of a pair of Xiaomi Pistons direct from ibuygou.com.
I think they were €20 and they pack quite a punch.

Excellent for scooting around town with, cable is shortish, but very happy with the purchase....

check them out!

+1

marko93 wrote: »

Now, I'm not saying I'm easily swayed with my money.... but I did just buy these

http://v-moda.com/crossfade-m-80-shadow-on-ear/

Great lil set

marko93

Suzuki_TL1000R wrote: »

Great lil set

They certainly are, but after a bit of time with them, they are not for me. Along with the X1s, they just sit in their box.


Would anyone be interested in these? If anyone is, PM me so I can make an official advert for it.

Gheadphone

Does anybody know if there is somebody who recables earbuds in Ireland?

pleasant Co.

My 5th gen (30gb) iPod has died, after 8 or so years of service. Thank you for the music.

I thought it was simply the battery, but after replacing it (twice) it seems the problem is rooted deeper and no longer is it feasible to repair, one of my Sansa Clip+'s will no be promoted/demoted to "car audio device", it'll be a seamless transition, although I am going to have to buy a new microSD for my other clip+ so I can store all my music on that one too.

beauf

Gheadphone wrote: »

Does anybody know if there is somebody who recables earbuds in Ireland?

I'd say most audio repair places would. I got quoted €60~80 so I didn't bother.

Gheadphone

60-80 is pretty expensive alright