Recent content by abm0

It's like I'm just talking to myself here. Didn't I just link you to the example of the Verum 1? With the stock cable those have crosstalk at -20 dB due to their very low impedance drivers, high impedance wires (1.8 ohm round-trip) and long common return wire. The voltage divider that forms...

Since electronic music exists that is under no obligation to reproduce or simulate instruments as if playing in a physical space, captured with 2 microphones, leading to inherent crosstalk etc. etc., there is always an expectation that arbitrary numbers of samples per track could be 100% L-R...

Sounds like a sloppy test I would expect to hear recommended by subjectivists. Even for THD+N the most lenient threshold considered acceptable by most people who evaluate audio gear based on science and measurements is -85 dB. It's completely ridiculous to me that there are still people on here...

This^. No streaming. Death to streaming-only services. :P Only local files of known quality that never varies with the stability of my Internet connection. Also, only DRM-free files that I can copy to other devices and play with whatever player I want. BTW...

For critical listening I use my phone as a source, as my PC makes too much noise, and on the phone I use Neutron Player with the following enabled: * 32-bit Output * Direct USB Access (to bypass Android's resampler and allow the next option to work) * Oversampling 4x (to make sure my DAC's...

No, yeah, I just reacted to the most striking thing I saw on the topic since others had already answered your main issue correctly: considering the gear you already have, what you can improve are #1 your headphones, #2 your frequency tuning via EQ. For #1 I can recommend the same thing I did...

If you're adamant that you need to change your source gear to get better sound, at least don't get hung up on MQA support as the thing that won't let you pick the gear you want based on other criteria. MQA is not lossless, but that's the minimum it should be when it calls itself "master...

Maybe the A21s is already audiophile-grade since it's a pretty new (2020) model, but this doesn't mean the Meizu wouldn't make a difference vs. a 10yo smartphone picked at random, or even a 10yo Samsung.

The silver lining with that is a lot of people will take measures to stay away from the very bottom of the digital scale just because the perceptual volume differences per step become too large when you're in that region, and most people like some granularity on their volume control. :)

It seems delta-sigma DAC architecture also provides some arguments for preferring software/digital volume control: https://www.itsonlyaudio.com/audio-hardware/the-case-for-digital-volume-control/ (0 dBFS signals apparently force the DAC designer to choose between increased noise or increased...

Sure, if you mean it's like every other scam technology that's been promoted based on promising things it doesn't deliver (i.e. lossless reproduction). And just like every other scam technology it should bring shame and public condemnation on everyone promoting it, especially those who are also...

Wait no more, it seems they're releasing a major redesign of the BHD non-Pro, with BAL and SE outputs (not just BAL and not 2.5mm), same SNR and max power as the Pro, advertised THD+N=0.0004% (better than what Amir measured for the Pro), no MQA (thank you!), added 3-gain button and lower price...

Too bad they're still shying away from specifying max power at a reasonable THD like 0.005%, but I guess they would lose the marketing battle vs. everyone else pushing inflated mW specs.

They're planars, they don't get colored by impedance adapters. I always used them with a Fengru 30-ohm simple inline-resistor adapter after I noticed how hot they were making my Oppo HA-2. Impedance is not a serious reason to skip these.

Might be the best I've heard to date, albeit I haven't listened to other devices having practically nothing added after the DAC chip. HiBy also added buttons for 30 volume steps when they built the FC3 around this chip, it also has its own auto high/low-gain mode based on a threshold of 150 ohms...