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Soon I will free up about a grand from other headphone sale non sense. In the market for some electrostats because I'm largely done with planars for various reasons. What are my options? I've been seeing quite a few stax 404/lambo pros/l300s. Not sure on amp choices either yet so any input is helpful

>>108055758
QRD for anyone not really in the loop:
>After Bill Gates fired him, Amir opened his own home theatre business where he received expensive Harman speakers in exchange for promoting Harman curve studies and shilling
>at some point he was cut off as Harman no longer needed the promo
>a little bit after this, ASR was suddenly reconfigured to shill high-SINAD gear all from Shenzhen, people have suspected he reached a similar deal with them hence all the pro-TOPPING posts despite their atrocious QC and CS.
>Jump to 2025, Amir reveals that he and his brother have locked down all distro rights on these Korean AsciLab speakers, start promoting them as the next perfect piece of gear
>still barely sell anything because people have worked out Amir's grift by now
>Koreans clearly want out of a bad deal and are just going to indefinitely stall Amir out while selling to other retailers who are moving 5-10x the product.

>>108056384
L300 pads are the raped, even if the sound is good. Probably still your best bet at that price, just be cautious.
Alternative is like an EX-1a, I don't know how brutal tariffs importing from Hong Kong will be though.

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>>108056399
>not wanting to deal with a slimey jeet is delusion
lol, lmao

>>108056444
asr is basically reddit on steroids, I don't even need to go on that thread to know they are seething about big bad rich ceo's
Meanwhile the same people can have 3 dead topping amps in a year and they won't bring up chink qc

Buying three pairs of AsciLabs rn to flex on the ASR goycattle

recommendations on a cable replacement for sundaras? the stock cable has gone to shit and is now a static mess that made me think my amp was dying. i know they are all the same but is there a good cheap one that yall like?

>>108056588
https://www.amazon.com.au/Tirstrup-XIUSHAOT-Replacement-Hifiman-Headphone/dp/B0CJV342KV
I use these, decent and cheap.

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>>108056399
Yeah looks like the Koreans worked out they didn't need to go through Amir's gatekeeping lol

Amazon jews won't help me on my aeons, but their website says to go through the reseller, maybe drop goyim will do something but i highly doubt it. Pretty hilarious how a 0 damage cable kills itself so soon with no external damage
whatever i was going to sell both pairs anyways

>>108056711
Good luck getting anything done through neo-DROP. After CEE TEE left they turned into a trainwreck.

>>108056720
there is no chance i'm getting anything from them. Dan clarks jew website already gives itself a pass on international sales through resellers, and amazon refuses to act as the middle man on post 90 day orders. Drop will just say amazon is gray market. Probably a good psa to anyone not to buy anything from amazon in general unless you plan to scam customer support like i did when i bought them for a discount. Oddly enough this isn't the first time amazon has sold me shit that the manufacturer refuses to warranty, because they claim amazon is gray market, even though amazon website says the manufacturer has x years warranty
i guess neo drop is just onions keyboard slop anyways

Any good headphone yet?

>>108056754
Apos is pretty much the new Drop fwiw. Haven't heard of people having warranty issues there, they're probably the only place people got refunds/replacements on busted Topping stuff.

>>108056608
thanks, looks good enough for me

>>108056779
>apos is pretty much the new Drop fwiw.
Seems like it, i can't imagine drop is very epic for audio companies anymore now that their entire audience are keyboard niggers.

also for other canucks out there, if i was buying one pair of pads and 1 cable from dan clark i'd be out $313 + tip CAD, which is more money than my audio technica ck2000ti's were. I guess i'm a hd 800 and iem nigger now. Although some how with the insane msrp these iems hold they aren't even made in jp

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>>108056399
Holy fucking delusional lmao

What wired earphones would you guys recommend for regular music (pop, rap, sometimes something bassy like Freddie Dredd)? My budget is $25-$30. Should I go for JBL or Sony? I know almost nothing about it

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>>108057532
>$30
Koss KSC75

Anything else worth buying is at least double your budget.

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>>108056367
>currynigger dongle

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>>108056384
>stax 404/lambo pros
These are good but may have developed hidden issues due to age. Like membrane starts hissing or squaling after a few minutes of playback. Checking it out in person and demoing for at least 20 minutes is the best practice to do it.
I use SRM-1 MK2 Pro vintage transistor amp, it worked quite well out of the box, you can probably grab one for like 300-400$. After replacing the electrolytic caps as they age the worst and have a set lifetime usually around 2000h (costs like 30$ in parts, requires very basic soldering skills) and adjusting bias with offset it got pretty much as good as it can get.
I tried out more premium stuff (KGSSHV, HiAmp, Blue Hawaii and other Stax amps) and did not hear much of a difference. I might get some tube amp later on for that sweet coloration they give, but it is mostly a whim.
>>108056428
Agreed, the sound of L300 is really good but the fit is terrible. Maybe one can stitch L700mk2 pads on the L300 somehow.
My favourite STAX headphone overall is the SR-L700mk2 which goes for like 800-1000$ used and 1600$ new, I would pick it over any other even including the 009s and x9000, He1000se and Susvaras.

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Is the Baseus Inspire X1 actually good, or is it just the usual marketing bullshit?

Looking to replace my home headphones. These are the 3 frontrunners.
>AKG K371 - Seen this recommended a lot. Some people say it sounds great but I've seen multiple people say it's super bassy and muddies out everything else.
>Fiio FT1 - Similar price point, also recommended a lot. Seems to be generally better regarded than the K371.
>MDR-M1 - Had some v6's back in the day and liked it a lot, and these just seem like a step up in every way. Notably more expensive than the previous two.
Thoughts? I'm leaning towards the M1's since I liked the v6's a lot but I'm not sure if it's worth the ~40% price jump.

>>108059137
AKG shat the bed and Fiio was never a serious company, so Sony wins by default

>>108059137
MDR-M1 > FT1 > K371 imo, M1 pads will be more aids to replace though maybe.

>AsciLab employees call ASR 'Reddit'
>ASR users start smugging and calling the Koreans retarded for confusing the websites
>they don't realise the Koreans were likening ASR users to redditors
This is genuinely the funniest audio drama since John Yang went into insane damage control when every L30 on ASR exploded.

>>108056367
Do people actually recommend the wiim amp or what, I've seen this thing floating around but dont know shit about it

>Location: The Netherlands

>Budget: 80 - €130. Could go up max to €160 if it's really good value for money.

>Preference: Closed back, something that doesn't make your auricle hurt like a motherfucker after a few hours.

>Previous gear: It's been that long since I've had proper headphones that I don't remember

What can I do if the cable of my headphones is kinda sticky? The headphones are new and the cable isn't dirty or anything, it's not the problem where old plastic leaks softener.

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>fully balanced architecture
>RCA in
>RCA and XLR out
>USB
>optical
>coax
>AES or I2s
>3.5mm headphone out
>4.4mm headphone out
>4 pin XLR headphone out
>on/off button with standby mode
>preamp functionality
>multiple gain levels

If your DAC/AMP combo doesn't have these features I'm not buying.

>>108060796
1/4 instead of a 3.5, but the Jot 3 + mesh does all of this besides non-USB connectors (which is because it's a cheap DAC card shoved in an amp). It's all I need.

>>108060858
>1/4 instead of a 3.5

Well yeah same shit essentially but also schiit is garbage and that DAC is dogshit.

>>108060892
By what measurements? If you mean the ASR review, Amir conceded he didn't measure the Mesh DAC and he had a Unity from like 2023 lmao. Nobody in any space I follow has had issues with the Mesh since launch.

>>108060911
Nah bro I don't mean no gayass ASR review by no gayass paki. I don't know why you guys are obsessed with this shit. It just doesn't have enough digital inputs plus USB-C is garbage. No fucking coax or toslink at least really? God damn it man. Hell nah.

>>108060943
Oh sure I'm assuming we're talking about performance and not features when the term dogshit is used for a plug in and play USB card, lol.
Most people buying AIOs are just using them on a computer anyway, not really surprised there isn't a great market for quality ones with a range of digital inputs.

>>108060796
Balanced headphone out is obsolete for wall plug devices.

>>108061031
Incorrect.
>>108060975
Nah features. That card is guaranteed to randomly die too. At least you can swap it though. What a shittyass product for not having fucking toslink or coax at least. If you wanna hook up a random PS2 or a CD player you have to buy a whole new device.

>>108061145
>Incorrect
Balancels can never explain their position in electrical terms because they have none. Why do you need balanced out on an amp that can provide 4W single ended? Do you have a 60ft cord? Pure mental illness.

>>108061189
Do you want me to tell you for real? If I give you the answer will you start understanding and stop being a sperg anon?

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this nigga is getting senile if he thinks this is a good explanation of why he is unbiased

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>>108061306
Remembering when he got salty with Olive in a thread because Harman cut him off despite him dedicating early-ASR to mass shilling them.

Charged up my ESL57s last night and have been listening all day after having used my LS50 Metas for a few weeks now.
It is incredible how much of a difference transient response makes, this 70 year old design is in many ways superior to very well regarded modern speakers.
It was especially obvious when listening to Bobby Hutcherson's album Linger Lane. The marimba sounds cupped and boomy on the KEFs, lots of ear fatigue even just from that one album. Sounds totally transparent on the Quads.
They are ugly as sin though...
I'll report back with listenin impressions once I've corrected their in room response with Dirac and properly mixed in my subwoofers.

>>108061330
Extremely based

>>108061232
As much as you spend your time on 'you dont understand i need it' you probably should explain yourself. I already know it's going to be some bullshit argument assuming a broken se amp, but go ahead.

>>108061360
First of all, no common ground. Second of all, I have different equipment and I'm not gonna be changing cables all the time when I can just use XLR. Third, lil bro, it's just a much better connector than 3.5. More secure and way more pleasant to use. Considering it's essentially fucking free to implement, why would I not want to have it just to have it, especially when I'm spending a good amount of money on an amp? I have headphones and IEMs with different connectors. I use all of these outs.

>>108060796
None of these are features. Keep buying trash I guess, behringer probably makes something for you.

>>108061442
I'd never spend money on your mother don't you worry.

>>108061393
>I use all of these outs
Buy a DX5II and plug them all in, do a science experiment for us.

>>108061501
Buy yourself some swag and some rizz.

>>108061393
>more secure
are you 12? do you think the pins are any different than just sticking a SE in? there's no actual difference here lol

>>108061533
Are you 12 tons? You're just talking shit just to talk shit. Bro trying to sell his idea that I should be like him as hard as he can. Like don't use it if you don't like it dumbass lmao. I will.

>>108061565
>bro
>lil bro
it's bed time Lil' Zoom, pack it in before mommy gets mad with you

>>108061575
Damn lil bro mad as hell over headphone connectors lmaoooooooo

>>108061232
Are you running Tungstens?

>>108061330
I can arrange a demo of of ESL57 locally
At which frequency they are no longer capable of proper sound reppoduction and sub needs to overtake? Either way I am waiting for your impressions, as currenly I run a Neumann studio setup with a sub which is quite good for what it is, but the soundstage is not that great due to direct sound dominance

>>108061780
Yeah

>>108061843
Feel like that's the only answer you'd need to give and people would understand why you want XLRs, lol.

>>108061849
Could also say I'm white.

How do people deal with open-back headphones while also having central air and heating? Isn’t the unit loud? It costs too much to upgrade to a quieter unit. Why do people expect us to pay $10,000+ for clean audio? (All closed back headphones suck and are almost universally despised)

>>108061849
I have an XLR, 4.4 and 6.3mm outputs on my amp
The only one I ever use is 6.3mm on headphones
I tried out my IEMs with an interchangeable termination to 4.4 and then to 6.3mm and didnt hear any difference
Dunno whats the the sperging is all about, I do not see any point in balanced connection with headphones because it sounds the same but apparently some chuds want to be special bois because they use pRoFeSsIoNaL TeRmiNaTiOn or smthing

>>108061891
>an interchangeable termination to 4.4 and then to 6.3mm

fucking retard

>>108060943
>>108060975
Spdif solutions are unique to dac chips, so schiit cuts out the engineering of the legacy digital inputs that schiit will never be cost competitive in. Schiit is about rca inputs from analog legacy sources and a single usb input chipset that they tell you they deliberately don't read whitepapers on to use superior solutions from other suppliers.
Dual USB inputs begs for mixing, and sidetone, which is the domain of the interface.

>>108061908
You never had an IEM where you can switch balanced and SE or what? Get less brown

>>108061921
you are insanely stupid

>>108061929
You do not have a toilet

>>108061811
I've had these ELS57s for a couple years now so I can give you my impressions now. Mine are in excellent condition and unmodified, mid 38000s serials so manufactured around 1976. They're finicky and fragile, so many specimens are in bad shape. I was very lucky to get these from an audiophile who was obsessed with this model and reluctantly had to sell his favourite pair (out of 14 pairs total) because he was leaving the country.
When in the right position and a decent room, they can play down to 40 Hz, but not very loudly. The bass is "tight" in the sense that there is no box resonance and the dipolar radiation (from four bass panels) tends to not excite as many room modes. IMO subs should take care of anything down below 100 Hz anyway just due to physics. Something people forget to mention is the treble rolloff. These roll off pretty sharply above 16kHz. I can barely hear shit above that these days anyway so I don't care, you may though.
The soundstage is artificially deepened by the rear wave like with all dipoles, but these speakers have terrible dispersion characteristics. The mids and highs come out like a laser beam from the panel so positioning can be tricky. Once you get it right then they have very precise imaging, but you cannot move your head much without breaking the illusion.
To be perfectly honest, I would not recommend you buy these speakers. Definitely go listen to them if you have the chance, they are incredible particularly for vocals. But they have so many limitations that have been discussed elsewhere many times: very narrow sweet spot, panel degradation, humidity dependence, ugliness, weird impedance curve, not loud. Did I mention you cannot listen to them very loud?
However the "magic" that people talk about is totally real, there's an effortless and extremely natural quality to vocals and strings.
The successors to the ESL57 are far superior, and they're all better than magnetic planars.

>>108061936
your open skull

>>108061941
What do you think is a fair price for them? I have seen offers ranging from like 1300$ in an unknown condition up to 4000$ freshly serviced.
I am not a loud listener anyways, according to my UMIK-1 speaker readings and TWS app reports I rarely if ever go beyond 80dB SPL. Either way, I will organize ESL57 demo then.
>The successors to the ESL57 are far superior
Can you give me a few models please?
Also I am well aware that estats come with a lot of side issues, but at least with headphones it was worth it, I am never looking back at dynamic and planar drivers again.

>>108061393
>no common ground
Pleading broken equipment right off the bat.
>muh xlr muh 3.5 boogeyman
1/4" is the white man's connector

>>108062357
>1/4"

That's your dick size.

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>>108062087
I paid about $1800 USD for these. I think lower than that is reasonable of ones in decent working condition with a reputable service history. Refurb costs are listed online so you can check. $4000 refurbished isn't bad when you consider how much it would cost to pay an experienced technician to do it. Also check out picrel for how much they cost brand new from Germany (made with original tools imported from England)
>a few models
>never looking back
Okay well you know that electrostatics are superior and I'll spare you the gospel.
I haven't heard many electrostatics but have heard two of the Quad successors, and I own a refurbished pair of ESL63s. Everything is just better about the segmented panel design. There is a delay circuit that distributes the signal across the panels and approximates a point source that radiates forward and backward like a sphere. It sounds extremely natural and works with every genre and is forgiving to the room. But they suffer from a similar temperamental nature as the old ESL57 design (Mylar diaphragm, dust covers, flimsy frames, arcing). I find sound is superior to other common ESLs like Martin Logan or small electrostatic tweeters on a hybrid system because their dispersion in the room is so bad while having an overly bright and IME fatiguing character.
Quads are fairly common and repairs (DIY or professional) are available for decent prices.
One of my friends is also a Quad fan and was a fan of Acoustat speakers too. But they are huge. Those approximate a line source, but I haven't heard them.

Honestly you will know if the ESL57 is the right speaker for you. I won't be getting rid of mine and will probably refurbish them down the line. For some music they are mesmerizing.

Lately I've been enjoying my old Tannoys a lot more though for what it's worth

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>>108062399 (Me)
If I had $30k I would purchase the new Quad 2912X or the Sanders Model 10 "ultrastat" speaker system (picrel with amplification and DSP).
My shitty house with my shitty salary is not suited for these however lol

>>108056711
update
drop says they don't warranty headsets anymore, and that's their wording
"Hello,

This is Jeanie from DROP community support. Thank you for contacting us.
I am here to assist you with your inquiry.

We do apologize, when it comes to the Dan Clark headphones the warranty and if any issues would now go-to Dan Clark as our policy for this headset changed around a year ago.

Best regards,

Jeanie"
which is ironic considering dan clarks website says you have to go through the resellers for warranty, and neither amazon nor drop do that now.
I guess drop is just a dead company at this point, aside from 1 headphone thats $100 more than it use to be, and a bunch of slop keyboard shit
>>108059876
holy kek
gooks hate indians as much as us

>>108063130
Yeah wouldn't shock me if Drop lost all their headphone contacts/goodwill post-CEE TEE. It's just Corsair's corpse trying to get sales off people who used it a decade ago.
Sorry you got done dirty like this though, pretty fucking gay.

>>108063390
i imagine the second drop loses the 6xx, which has to happen eventually their audio division is just over, even then the 6xx use to be $120 now it's 200-229.
>>108063390
>Sorry you got done dirty like this though, pretty fucking gay.
Honestly at this point i just assume no one warranties anything, or makes it too hard or annoying if they do. Dan clark charging $120 usd for a cable that fails with no damage is the impressive part, of his piece of shit pads that fold and peel for no reason. I guess he wants people to be put on a subscription service for overpriced parts endlessly

>>108061306
He isn't unbiased, but the measurement data he provides is valuable regardless, unlike the random word salad generated by the vast majority of other reviewers.

>>108064026
Until he fucks up the seal and refuses to concede despite 10 other people, including from his own forum, providing measurements which all match and contradict his.
Or when he starts inducing jitter in a Yggy because he's mad Jason and Jude wouldn't let him schizo out on Head-Fi.

>>108064026
>*listens at 120dB*
jokes aside I know even Tyll went up to 110dB etc to test for peaks but Amir is completely unreasonable with his distortion methodology

>>108064064
The OSHA limit for momentary peaks is 140dB.

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Anything else I should buy at this price point instead?

Linsoul Kiwi Ears Altruva for $69

>>108064331
Wonder if they fixed their QC on headphones, they fucked up their Zeos collab bad with the driver crinkle

>>108057524
>>108061306
He has worse social skills/buisness sense than an eroge MC
Trying to boss around a company like they're children who can't into buisness can be received as very disrespectful...
I wonder if the weird unilateral relationship between him and Harman is rooted in similar causes.

>>108064564
It's funnier when you remember he mismanaged audio/video at Microsoft so badly he was personally fired by Bill Gates and they abandoned any sort of pro-audio projects afterwards. You can still find gems like this: https://www.techemails.com/p/microsoft-exec-on-the-ipod
He's still banned on AV forums he used to post on to this day because he crashed out after they laughed at him for how hard everything he used to brag about flopped.

>>108064949
Paywalled but even the intro gives enough context, Amir has been a laughing stock since the 2000s: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/2007-01-20-microsoft-made-the-zune-because-partner-hardware-sucks.html?guccounter=1
Any google combo of Amir, Hydrogen Audio and Arnie Kruger will also bring up the time he failed an ABX test in controlled conditions, manipulated/gamed it to pass the second attempt, and proceeded to get caught and banned from HA.

>>108064975
https://audioinvestigations.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-great-debate-amir-vs-arny.html good write up since it's scattered over like 100 broken threads

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>based Arny, the ultimate objectivist, even thought the jitter shit Amir pushed was bullshit back then

>>108065003
>What is Best Forum (where Amir is a moderator)
Amir was a moderator of WBF? How? WBF is *the* forum for audiophiles who actually believe in snake oil products working. Man, maybe his bullshit-peddling just simply shifted over the years

Are height channels a meme? I'm kinda tempted to get Wharfedale 12 3Ds on clearance sale. I can't install them on the ceiling but they'd be on the wall at a 45 degree+ angle from my listening position.

>>108056367
is there a simple way to make a frequency response graph with like a phone or mic on my pc something i did the bill p mod to my dt770 but unsure how much of a difference its made other than it being a bit quieter. i know it wont be accurate compared to proper equipment but i should be able to atleast see the difference between the left and right sides if i remove the extra layers of material on one side