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I wonder where there’s any other hobby where people actively seek out placebo effects.

I thought Chord at least made clean-sounding gear, even if it’s too expensive. This is just sad.

But, you know, if you have a DAC that’s not as good as a Topping DAC that you can buy for like 700 bucks, and you have 4000 bucks that you can spend to fix the problem with your DAC, the smart thing to do is spend the 700 on a new DAC and the remainder on hookers and blow.

I legit have no idea what a reclocker is. Even after reading the “what’s it for?” part at the beginning of the review. At first I thought it was like the Chord Hugo M Scaler, but that’s apparently not it. I guess it’s supposed to de-jitter the signal chain? But if so, what DAC could you...

Personally, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a headphone worth $5000. But this is a travesty at any price over $100. Hifiman just doesn’t seem to know how to make closed headphones. I’m a little surprised that they released this into the wild at all, since they DO know what good...

I have the S9, and most of the time I wish I had less power. With most of my IEMs, I have to run at about 20% volume.

Also, I don’t think “is not the Holy Grail” is much of a criticism at $300. If you bought that thirsty a transducer, you knew going in that you were committing yourself to spending more on amplification than you would have if you had been sensible.

Are there any DAC/amps that are set up to run off high wattage USB/Thunderbolt?

I think the answer is that not all distortion is created equal. Some of it gives the listener a warm fuzzy feeling, and some of it doesn’t. Personally, I have no use for warm-sounding gear. But some people like it. And if you like it, e.g., when you listen to old blues or jazz, but not...

I thought SMSL’s published numbers must’ve been exaggerated. So I was hoping to see this test before I got one. I’m amazed by the complaints about various missing features at this price point. It’s not that long ago this would have been an impressive device even at $500. At $300, this seems...

Back before companies started making purpose-built DJ headphones, these were the most commonly used headphones for the job. And they were...okay. So I've got a soft spot in my heart for them, because they were what I had when I was learning. But my nostalgia isn't remotely strong enough to get...

DACs shouldn't have a "sound signature." What you really (should) want to know about a DAC is how much it alters the sound (less is better), and how much that level of proficiency costs (again, less is better). These are questions much better answered with numbers than words. Personally, I...

The new Aeon RT/Asgard combo is a heckuva deal. Neither of these products is what I'm looking for. But if this had been around a few years ago, when I was just starting to get serious about headphones, this would definitely have been a good way to go.

I'm very happy with the M11S. I wanted a Roon Ready DAP, and it's by far the best value among that group. I don't know how it stacks up against other pure DAPs for value, but FiiO generally gets good marks for bang-for-the-buck.

I know. But look at that FR graph! They've done it! (Not the Harman curve, obv. But the diffuse field.)

It wasn't long ago at all that IEMs approximating one of the target curves were rare as hen's teeth. And expensive. Moondrop, more than any other manufacturer, helped to change that situation. I was frankly surprised that their first couple headphone offerings were not similarly disruptive to...

I don't see how that can be true. Can you have a wide-open sound stage if the instruments all collide with each other? I think this is more a question of the "air" that people attribute to R2R DACS; it's like the soundstage you get when you put a shell to your ear at the beach.

The recent DACs that have the 9038 Pro chip going to new heights of transparency are apparently doing so by using all of the eight cores in parallel and summing at the end. This is just doing the same with eight mono chips.

What's the power draw like?

What you really want is a digital volume control, but one that's implemented by way of a 64-bit DSP, rather than the DAC chip.