My headphone rig - pictures

matengawhat

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IMG_0744.jpg


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Onkyo ND S1, Firestone Audio Supplier and Fubar IV, Ipod Classic, Sennheiser HD650s, Sennheiser HD280 Pro, Goldring NS1000s (re ordered)

One picture with flash, one without
 

matengawhat

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its all in silver! - will take a pic of the back but all looks messy, at moment connected with an optical cable as need to go routing around in the loft for my spare coaxial cable as must have left it in a box
 

SpiceWeasel

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Ooooo, very nice. Has the supplier made much of a difference to the Fubar?

Out of interest how do you find the sound quality via headphones? Compared to running my Grado SR80i's straight from the pc I found the Fubar to be slightly lacking in bass power and the top end was quiet bright, maybe a bit hard if that makes any sense. I have about 40 hrs on it now and the top end has calmed down a bit from new but I still think it is a bit too bright for my tastes, maybe the Grados are not a 100% match for the Fubar.

The Fubar is a big improvement over my pc soundcard especially in the detail department, I can hear little details that my soundcard used to ignore. If I could tweak the sound with an opamp swap that would calm the top end down a bit while adding a small amount of bass power I think my phones would really sing. Don't get me wrong the bass is there but drums for instance don't sound as punchy as it did straight from the pc, slightly lacking in bass power is the best way I can describe it. Another 10% or so would really get my foot taping along.
 

matengawhat

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it could be that your soundcard was to bassy and that the sound you have got used to also the hf could be down to detail - i have never heard cybmals and snare drums sound so clear - counting crows august and everything after an album i know really well sound great and noticed things not picked up on before

i've not really compared it with and with out the supplier yet as only arrived yesterday and just plugged straight in, its just playing away to itself. I changed my headphones from the 650s to the 280s at the same time as its on my bed side cabinet and got the closed cans so not to upset the gf when shes watching tv.

So will try swapping around at the weekend and doing some comparisons as want to swap some cables over as well - not noticed any problems with bass though and found it a very enjoyable listen, changing from the 650s which i find quite mellow to the 280s has been a massive change as to me the 280s seem a lot more forward think mainly down to the hf but not an unpleasent sound - what i have noticed its the subtleties in some tracks that never noticed before
 

JoelSim

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idc:That is seriously cool all in white! What a brilliantly simple and small system. Can you take a picture from the back to see how it is all wired together?

I think I've heard everything now!
 

idc

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JoelSim:
idc:That is seriously cool all in white! What a brilliantly simple and small system. Can you take a picture from the back to see how it is all wired together?

I think I've heard everything now!

But you are the chief cable fan on the forum with more cable purchases to you name than any other.
 

matengawhat

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its not very exciting from the back - one figure of 8 mains cable to supplier and a link from the supplier to the fubar IV and a silver QED optical cable between the onkyo and fubar soon to be replaced by a coaxil cable and then the mains lead to the onkyo - all needs tidying up but difficult to move as need to still be able to get to the power switches on the back that are a bit fiddly
 

idc

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The reason why I asked was because that setup is the best small, simple head-fi I have ever seen. I just think it could well appeal to many as a high quality way to access head-fi. I thought I had the smallest system on the forum, but no longer!
 

matengawhat

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the fubar and supplier are a little deeper than the onkyo when placed as above but only by about a cm - the reason for the onkyo is i wanted a simple setup to listen to my music without the need for the computer on all the time so just bought the biggest classic i could 160gb and the onkyo dock to get me the digital out -so could get a decent sound from the ipod through the fubar dac and pretty pleased with it.

looking forward to getting the goldrings even though i slated them initially to try again as not sure on the 280s i'm enjoying the listen but sometimes a bit forward not sure if some of the midrange is missing a little so will be could to compare

need to spend sometime filling my ipod as deleted my old albums to redo in lossless and only about 40gb in to it now seems to take for ever!
 

JoelSim

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idc:JoelSim:
idc:That is seriously cool all in white! What a brilliantly simple and small system. Can you take a picture from the back to see how it is all wired together?

I think I've heard everything now!

But you are the chief cable fan on the forum with more cable purchases to you name than any other.

I shall take a picture of my (recently vastly reduced) cable spaghetti. Or maybe I won't.
 

JoelSim

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JohnDuncan:I was tempted to use the word 'unsightly' in my response, but I can talk now that I'm using Arcam again...
emotion-5.gif


Unsightly would be a slight understatement.

Arcam?
 

SpiceWeasel

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matengawhat:
it could be that your soundcard was to bassy and that the sound you have got used to also the hf could be down to detail - i have never heard cybmals and snare drums sound so clear - counting crows august and everything after an album i know really well sound great and noticed things not picked up on before

You might have a good point there, the level of detail is in a completely different league to my pc's soundcard. I heard lots of little details on American Beauty soundtrack that I have never heard before, sounds fantastic with all those different instruments dancing around your head.

It could just be that my ears need a few more hours to get used to the sound, although I swear that it was initially quiet bright when it was brand new. Sounded better after running the Fubar over night though from brand new. I have around 10-15hrs ish of listening to the Fubar with the rest by leaving it on overnight, probably a good 50hrs ish on the Fubar now. The bass is deffinately there it's just that I expect kick drums for instance to sound slightly more punchy and powerfull, I don't know if this is down to the track,my personal preference or the combination of phones and Fubar.

I am really impressed with the little Fubar so far though, I need some more hours to really find out whats what. I am going to leave it for another month or so and then maybe start playing around with some opamp rolling.
 

John Duncan

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JoelSim:
JohnDuncan:I was tempted to use the word 'unsightly' in my response, but I can talk now that I'm using Arcam again...
emotion-5.gif


Unsightly would be a slight understatement.

Arcam?

Do keep up Joel.
 

ID.

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Ooh, thanks for the timely link back from the FUBAR thread. I was eyeing off a fubar and thinking the store loyalty points from my amp should just about cover an new 160gb iPod, onkyo digital transort and a fubar to help me get the most out of my HD595s.

Something tells me that for the safety of my bank balance I might need to stop reading forums like this once I've set myself up with a stereo and headfi set up
 

SnowyJohn

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ID.:
Something tells me that for the safety of my bank balance I might need to stop reading forums like this once I've set myself up with a stereo and headfi set up

Hear hear!

*Ponders to self* Maybe the bookmark should go.
 

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