How much are you likely to pay for headphones in the near future?

[Jasonovich]

I got lucky and managed to get a set starting with a £5xx.

New and via Amazon, but it seems like they were the last pair a store up near Edinburgh had in stock. I'm not sure quite how that makes any sense for them financially, but I'm happy to go with it - it's about 20% off RRP and ~£200 less than the Meze 109s that I've auditioned, liked, but remained on the fence about.

When you receive them, give us your thoughts. 😊

 

[RTHerringbone]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.

 

[Shrek]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.View attachment 10096View attachment 10097View attachment 10098

Congrats 🥳nice looking like the Carbon finish 👍

 

[Jasonovich]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.View attachment 10096View attachment 10097View attachment 10098

If Audeze and Hifiman had a love child this is what it looks like, really a nice pair of headphones you got there.
Planars, not all, have a tendency to be a little bright, small thing compare to detail retrieval, three dimensional soundstage none of this low frequency distortion you get from dynamics.
The sound doesn't feel compressed, it's like your belt coming loose around your waist....ah breathe!
I think it's true, it's about the engineering, there are bad planars as there are bad sounding dynamics at the end of the day, it's about the enjoyment of music.
I hope the FiiO's hit the spot and give you lasting enjoyment 🙂 👍

 

[jjbomber]

, it's like your belt coming loose around your waist....ah breathe!

Brilliant description!

 

[RTHerringbone]

I listened to the FT7s for a couple of hours last night. First listening to a selection of tracks from the Nirvana and Pearl Jam Unplugged MTV sessions as I know them like the back of my hand. Next, I switched to a TIDAL playlist "for testing headphones".

They're impressive. Incredibly clean and airy. I can hear small details that I've never heard before - minor stuff like a muttered word as an aside onstage, an extra squeak on a fretboard - that sort of thing. Percussion is exceptional. No fatigue (physical or auditory) after a couple of hours last night and I'm looking forward to getting back into them at points today.

Even though headphone burn-in is clearly an audio myth, I have left them running downstairs with a MASSIVE Spotify "headphone test" playlist running through them. I did start listening to that as my first real test of Spotify lossless and it seems great to my fairly broken ears. I may have to use Spotify a bit now and then to get the algorithm working for me. Presently we have an Android tablet down there which we use as a "remote" for the Node Icon, so my algorithm is utterly ruined as my wife and kids use my account to put their music through the hi-fi 🙄 😬

 

[Jasonovich]

I listened to the FT7s for a couple of hours last night. First listening to a selection of tracks from the Nirvana and Pearl Jam Unplugged MTV sessions as I know them like the back of my hand. Next, I switched to a TIDAL playlist "for testing headphones".

They're impressive. Incredibly clean and airy. I can hear small details that I've never heard before - minor stuff like a muttered word as an aside onstage, an extra squeak on a fretboard - that sort of thing. Percussion is exceptional. No fatigue (physical or auditory) after a couple of hours last night and I'm looking forward to getting back into them at points today.

Even though headphone burn-in is clearly an audio myth, I have left them running downstairs with a MASSIVE Spotify "headphone test" playlist running through them. I did start listening to that as my first real test of Spotify lossless and it seems great to my fairly broken ears. I may have to use Spotify a bit now and then to get the algorithm working for me. Presently we have an Android tablet down there which we use as a "remote" for the Node Icon, so my algorithm is utterly ruined as my wife and kids use my account to put their music through the hi-fi 🙄 😬

Detail retrieval and airiness as you've described are typical strengths of planars. I don't see them replacing dynamic headphones not that, that was ever the intention but they're becoming more affordable.

Shame about the algorithms, on the plus side, it's lovely to share the love 🙂

 

[RTHerringbone]

I could do with your knowledge in this thread below @Jasonovich :

Thread 'Best compact headphone listening solution?'

Yesterday at 5:33 PM

I'm back in the mood for spending money on gadgets.

I'd like to improve my Work From Home office space music consumption. I currently stream TIDAL through a SONOS Era 100 smart speaker. It's *fine*, but it isn't sexy and it isn't true stereo. I feel myself leaning towards a compact desktop headphone oriented setup. The room is a tiny box room so a full speaker setup is completely out of the question.

I really don't know enough about what my options are. A quick Google makes my head turn and look at sexy one-box screened exotica like the FiiO R7 and R9. I quite like the idea of having...

• RTHerringbone
• dap headphones
• Replies: 11
• Forum: Headphones & Audio Accessories

 

[Jasonovich]

I could do with your knowledge in this thread below @Jasonovich :

Thread 'Best compact headphone listening solution?'

Yesterday at 5:33 PM

I'm back in the mood for spending money on gadgets.

I'd like to improve my Work From Home office space music consumption. I currently stream TIDAL through a SONOS Era 100 smart speaker. It's *fine*, but it isn't sexy and it isn't true stereo. I feel myself leaning towards a compact desktop headphone oriented setup. The room is a tiny box room so a full speaker setup is completely out of the question.

I really don't know enough about what my options are. A quick Google makes my head turn and look at sexy one-box screened exotica like the FiiO R7 and R9. I quite like the idea of having...

• RTHerringbone
• dap headphones
• Replies: 11
• Forum: Headphones & Audio Accessories

This is what I have in my bedroom, Vovofox AP05S. I use it as a digital transport but it is also a fully blown media player and the sound quality from the DAC is excellent and the cherry on the top, it has a headphone socket.
You can store your NVME M2 SSD inside the case (like Eversolo) and you don't need a PC, you can get it for £335 from AliExpress.
It's a little gem, you're not going to find so easily. It does Roon / DLNA but haven't tried it. The manufacturer is always updating the firmware via ethernet.

VOVOFOX AP05S HiFi-Musik-Player basierend auf FPGA-Audiosystem, verlustfreie HiFi-Audio-Netzwerk-Player, unterstützt HDD/NAS/Roon Sound Amplifier - AliExpress 44

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

It simply works out of the box, add your hard drive USB or SSD, have your headphones ready and you're good to go!
Hope this helps, you can eventually build around it, such as get a better DAC or Headamp/Integrated Amp (speakers) or Streamer etc.


Ps. Here's some pics - you need to set the Chinese menu to English! Oh did I mention it's touch screen, it comes with a remote (photo below) 🙂

 

[Rui]

In 2017 i was needing some headphones as my Senheiser from 85, maybe, were getting destroyd like bits falling and bought some new ones from the same brand as they were good sounding to me,

they look beautifull but at the time i didn´t knew that amplifiers were needed for headphones and casually i hear music with headphones not because it´s 3 in the morning and your speakers sound too loud.

Only wanted to know why are there complex machines to hear music with headphones a HD 630 vb also Senheiser that i insert on the phones hole in the a control or just amplifier ,integrated one and they sound good to me,

so what is happening that i even saw a tube amplifier for headphones, why are they needed now, what am i missing, also have to say that have from my father maybe 10, 70´s headphones and he was a perfect sound or nothing kind of guy,

the reason why ,he sometimes entered in my room when i was a kid and asked me , do you want a amplifier? and i being still a teenager would reply , YES and somehow i got a good sounding system very young, normally each component from a diferent brand,

but my first was a Pioneer receiver, turntable, Philips speakers, Grundig reel to reel deck and had some black leather headphones and caqui colour box that sounded nice to me, brand i don´t really know but were good, only were huge, metal things above my head

 

[Rui]

Brilliant description!

i would have to agree i incresead size in 5 years from 73 kg to 125 kg, my belt as all others are not enough long to surround bellow my waist, but my new red belt bought in Spain in a fair , isn´t tight just enough to not feel it when i seat down, my hi-fi system still fits but i kept a car from 1972 and spent money with it, the other day i put it to work but when going inside of it, i tried diferent ways but not possible to seat and drive, i have to loose weight, i loved it for so many years, a Lotus Europa, what a machine, it turns at very high speeds, the top is bellow my waist, i guess i shouldn´t had stopped drinking alcohol and all other bad things to our health, but most of the medicines are made with them, at least the ones that are worth taken, now i hear music again like i used to, and worry about the sound

 

[Jasonovich]

so what is happening that i even saw a tube amplifier for headphones, why are they needed now, what am i missing, also have to say that have from my father maybe 10, 70´s headphones and he was a perfect sound or nothing kind of guy,

Think of tube head amps as a different musical instrument, when I want to listen to jazzy bluesy stuff, they really scratch that itch.

When I plug into my tubes I use my Beyerdynamic Amiron's. These are 250 Ohms and the TA-66 tubes prefer >66 Ohms up to 600 Ohms. I believe the Sennheiser's HD6XX with high Ohms will work well with tubes.

My planars have reasonable sensitivity and don't require driving hard but low Ohms, may not be best for tubes, I have these plugged into my SingXer SA1 class A headamp, and sound fab on solid state.

If you like vocals, the tubes will enrich every sinew of the sound, particularly females and string instruments really come across well.

 

[Rui]

Think of tube head amps as a different musical instrument, when I want to listen to jazzy bluesy stuff, they really scratch that itch.

When I plug into my tubes I use my Beyerdynamic Amiron's. These are 250 Ohms and the TA-66 tubes prefer >66 Ohms up to 600 Ohms. I believe the Sennheiser's HD6XX with high Ohms will work well with tubes.

My planars have reasonable sensitivity and don't require driving hard but low Ohms, may not be best for tubes, I have these plugged into my SingXer SA1 class A headamp, and sound fab on solid state.

If you like vocals, the tubes will enrich every sinew of the sound, particularly females and string instruments really come across well.


View attachment 10110
View attachment 10111

looks good and i fully understand what you´ve writen , maybe i´ll buy a exclusive amplifier with all specifications to meet my headphones, 114db and more than 20 ohms impedance, that i know. maybe i´ll look for new ones to increase the sound quality

 

[RTHerringbone]

Only wanted to know why are there complex machines to hear music with headphones

I think a lot of it is manufacturers exploiting the fact that many people who enjoy this hobby are guilty of always looking at the next new thing or upgrade.

But there's also a lot of genuine evolution in technology and some of this new kit helps to solve problems. I want to listen to headphones at my desk in a small room. I don't have space for a full size integrated Hi-Fi amp in that room, so these tiny DACs, amps, streamers are very interesting for my use case.

Presently I can only use a SONOS speaker in here or stick headphones in a Chromebook. Those aren't great options.