Best compact headphone listening solution?

[RTHerringbone]

Ha! The LED lighting changes based on the sampling rate of the track. Yellow when it's >48kHz 🤓 😎

And (fortunately) I've figured out how to drop the brightness of all the LEDs.

 

[Jasonovich]

The stock cable with the FT7 is a bit overkill though. I don't notice it when sat on the sofa downstairs beside the main Hi-Fi, but it's more noticeably weighty here.

View attachment 10145

Yes those cables do look a little OTT! 🙂

I think your FiiO cables have dual 35mm headphone connection, which have wide compatibility, same as my Hifimans, Amirons and FiiO FT1's; customised ones from cxnnected will transform the aesthetics as well as the sound quality. Little pricy though; I highly recommend them 🙂

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/934153314/hifiman-focal-balanced-cable-dual-35mm?ls=r&ref=pla_similar_listing_bot-1&content_source=3490d020ea710e58ea6f3e06a9417cc8%253ALTde4791a6dcc29ef49f1ba35395ac2a285fa354d5&logging_key=3490d020ea710e58ea6f3e06a9417cc8%3ALTde4791a6dcc29ef49f1ba35395ac2a285fa354d5

 

[Jasonovich]

Ha! The LED lighting changes based on the sampling rate of the track. Yellow when it's >48kHz 🤓 😎

And (fortunately) I've figured out how to drop the brightness of all the LEDs.

View attachment 10147

Looks like the K11 on steroids. Nicely uniform with the WiiM Ultra 😎. Congrats on your purchase really nice.

 

[RTHerringbone]

I've taken a brief look at the NOS / OS decoding modes and they're certainly different. NOS is probably a little more "fun" in the mids but really I think for now I'm happy to stick on OS.

One thing FiiO don't do brilliantly is apps / websites / UI. To access PEQ I can use the app fairly easily to pick from a standard set of PEQ options (Jazz, Classical etc.) or I can create my own. There's a partner website which you can only use if physically connecting the device to your laptop which is cumbersome but the only way to select from preloaded PEQ settings for your specific headphones.

It's clumsy. The apps is just about fine, but for functionality to not be consistent across both feels like bad design and scalability. And the prerequisite of a wired connection to control settings that the app is managing over Bluetooth also feels inconsistent and sub-par.

Excellent hardware; poor software consistency. The core functionality is there and it works, but the UX is not up to what you'd expect these days.

 

[RTHerringbone]

Oh. PEQ is really quite a thing, isn't it? To my mild annoyance, I connected the K13 to my Chromebook via USB just to see what the fuss is about.

I found the FT7 headphones in their database of headphones and used the 2018 Harman Over-Ear target profile and it makes a wild difference. I *do* prefer the overall balance but in the same way as the NOS / OS decoding sounds different, I have just gone back to OS with no EQ because I don't understand *why* it sounds better 🤦‍♂️ 😆

Definitely something for me to look at when I actually understand things. When I was a kid I didn't use EQ at all but can remember having an old "ghetto blaster" with manual equaliser sliders. Always left them dead centre 😁

 

[RTHerringbone]

This was a good decision 😎

I felt a bit impulsive just assuming that the Ultra would need a boost to get the most out of headphones but honestly, the difference with / without external amplification is monumentally large. Sounds great, works well, looks fantastic. And I have actually put batteries in the FiiO remote as it means I don't have to stretch to change the volume now.

I'm also using the NOS decoding as it just feels and sounds "nicer" - warm. Graph lickers can do one.

 

[Jasonovich]

This was a good decision 😎

I felt a bit impulsive just assuming that the Ultra would need a boost to get the most out of headphones but honestly, the difference with / without external amplification is monumentally large. Sounds great, works well, looks fantastic. And I have actually put batteries in the FiiO remote as it means I don't have to stretch to change the volume now.

I'm also using the NOS decoding as it just feels and sounds "nicer" - warm. Graph lickers can do one.

I have my K11 set to NOS, maybe slightly more detail on OS. Nice fatty sound on NOS.
Flac is the basic standard but do try DSD/SACD and this will take you on another level 😊
My Pro-ject Maia S3 is being delivered today. It's Class D, replacing another Class D SMSL A300.

 

[RTHerringbone]

My Pro-ject Maia S3 is being delivered today. It's Class D, replacing another Class D SMSL A300.

Nice! I assume the car service was kind to you.

 

[RTHerringbone]

@Jasonovich how stiff is the cable that you ordered from https://cxnnected.co.uk/?

I do like the amount you can alter their cables and the prices seem fair. I can order a much shorter one from them but just wondered if the braiding means they don't hang and are fairly stiff? Ideally I'd like some "flop" 😆

I'm also assuming that dual 3.5mm to 4.4mm is pretty much a standard on headphones. There's nothing at the headphone end of the FT7s that suggests 3.5mm plugs of any design wouldn't fit.

 

[Jasonovich]

Nice! I assume the car service was kind to you.

Thanks, wasn't too bad. 👍
I got part of the job done and next month, the garage has booked me in to change the cams belt (has a slight crack on the belt) and replace part that's causing the small oil leak.

My Pro-ject Maia S3 has arrived, still in the box, I will finish working from home in an hour.....then I need to find my Stanley knife to open the parcel 😉

 

[Jasonovich]

@Jasonovich how stiff is the cable that you ordered from https://cxnnected.co.uk/?

I do like the amount you can alter their cables and the prices seem fair. I can order a much shorter one from them but just wondered if the braiding means they don't hang and are fairly stiff? Ideally I'd like some "flop" 😆

I'm also assuming that dual 3.5mm to 4.4mm is pretty much a standard on headphones. There's nothing at the headphone end of the FT7s that suggests 3.5mm plugs of any design wouldn't fit.

Ha Ha Ha Flop!
My wife gave me a strange look 🤣

It certainly has sufficient floppiness. Really excellent quality, you can customise the cable to suit your needs - go to town on the choice of colours and patterns. Nice to have that personal touch.

Yep all standard, only Meze 35mm is a longer plug than the standard 35mm but still works fine with my FiiO FT1. 2.5cm, 3.5cm, 4.4cm, 6.3cm and 4 pin XLR are all standard.

 

[RTHerringbone]

Right, I'm all aboard the custom cable train; should arrive next week.

It's just nice to be able to choose an exact length and termination types. Colour-wise I've been very extravagant and gone all-black - I don't need colour on my cable if my bloody headphone amp has a backlit porthole 😆 The key for me is getting it down to 1.5m; half the length of the current monstrosity which makes sense for the downstairs setup, but not in the office.

They do seem decent value. Maybe £25 more than Amazon equivalents where the plastic casing sealing the cable to the connector looks a bit rough and ready.

Linsoul Tripowin GranVia Upgraded OFC Headphone Replacement Cable, Dual 3.5mm Connector to 4.4mm TRRRS Stereo Headphone Cable,for HE4XX/HE-400i/HE400se/Goldplanar/Focal ELEGIA(Purple, 1.5m) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Linsoul Tripowin GranVia Upgraded OFC Headphone Replacement Cable, Dual 3.5mm Connector to 4.4mm TRRRS Stereo Headphone Cable,for HE4XX/HE-400i/HE400se/Goldplanar/Focal ELEGIA(Purple, 1.5m) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Jasonovich]

Right, I'm all aboard the custom cable train; should arrive next week.

It's just nice to be able to choose an exact length and termination types. Colour-wise I've been very extravagant and gone all-black - I don't need colour on my cable if my bloody headphone amp has a backlit porthole 😆 The key for me is getting it down to 1.5m; half the length of the current monstrosity which makes sense for the downstairs setup, but not in the office.

They do seem decent value. Maybe £25 more than Amazon equivalents where the plastic casing sealing the cable to the connector looks a bit rough and ready.

Linsoul Tripowin GranVia Upgraded OFC Headphone Replacement Cable, Dual 3.5mm Connector to 4.4mm TRRRS Stereo Headphone Cable,for HE4XX/HE-400i/HE400se/Goldplanar/Focal ELEGIA(Purple, 1.5m) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Linsoul Tripowin GranVia Upgraded OFC Headphone Replacement Cable, Dual 3.5mm Connector to 4.4mm TRRRS Stereo Headphone Cable,for HE4XX/HE-400i/HE400se/Goldplanar/Focal ELEGIA(Purple, 1.5m) : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

www.amazon.co.uk

The plugs on cxnnected cables are from Amphanol and Neutrik, those from Amazon look a bit suspect.
You're going to love them. ☺️

 

[Jasonovich]

Ha! The LED lighting changes based on the sampling rate of the track. Yellow when it's >48kHz 🤓 😎

And (fortunately) I've figured out how to drop the brightness of all the LEDs.

View attachment 10147

Fix it up today, gave it a gentle run in.
The SW seems to come alive, I may need to realign the volume so it matches the amp.
So heavy, comes with a meaty power supply.
Only 23 watts in 8 ohms but sounds pretty loud. The Klipsch RM50s are highly sensitive speakers, so these are a good match.
Decent built quality and on limited listening, it sounds fab.
Comparing the old SMSL to the Proj-ject Maia S3 feels like a cardboard cutout.
The motorised volume dial is a nice touch.

 

[RTHerringbone]

This trio of things (WiiM Ultra, FiiO K13 R2R and FiiO FT7) is giving me a lot of satisfaction.

Having proper music in the room where I spend most of my time is absolutely fantastic 😍

I don't tend to go overboard with impressions of quality, but I'm listening to Hania Rani at the moment and you can almost hear her fingers on the keys of the piano; it's very impressive.

 

[Jasonovich]

This trio of things (WiiM Ultra, FiiO K13 R2R and FiiO FT7) is giving me a lot of satisfaction.

Having proper music in the room where I spend most of my time is absolutely fantastic 😍

I don't tend to go overboard with impressions of quality, but I'm listening to Hania Rani at the moment and you can almost hear her fingers on the keys of the piano; it's very impressive.

View attachment 10169

I'm sort of thinking about adding portable CD to my Diner-Fi setup, the one from Shanling ticks all the boxes, it even allows you to play DSD256 via USB.
If you were thinking of a trio, the Shanglin is probably a good fit for your setup, shame they don't do grey 🙂

SHANLING EC MINI CD-Player Tragbarer CD-Player Hi-Fi Hi-Res Audio Bluetooth DAC 2x ESS ES9219 2 Ricore RT6863 Kopfhörerverstärker - AliExpress 44

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[RTHerringbone]

One thing I can be absolutely certain of is not getting a CD player. I donated all my CDs (~1,400 of them!) to a charity shop about a decade ago after I'd ripped them all losslessly to a NAS drive, which itself has been unplugged and gathering dust in a cupboard for at least five years.