Hi all,
I would really appreciate some help now that I understand better to explain what I am looking for. I am looking for advice from people who themselves listen to Ambient and Techno music.
I am putting those genres as a reference because of the sound characteristics I want the DAP to handle well.
Here is a comparison to acoustic music & why:
Acoustic music: Has limited width and depth determined by room and instrument acoustic possibilities. Pretty good reference point for highs though (think violins).
But I don't want to compare to Acoustic music because what I am looking for is:
Electronic: Has unlimited possibilites of creating synthetic depth and width. Can create sounds that sound infinitely wide. I guess you could also say high demand on the stereo imaging that goes beyond what is required of simulating a live acoustic concert with front seat & back seat terminology.
Here are two examples that excellently demonstrate the point:
Techno
Artefakt
Ambient
Track is extremelly wide and deep (binural), easily shows when sound gear can't handle well made binural mastering.
https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/track/slow-dissolve
Budget: $200. Maybe higher but I would like to stick to up to $200.
My headphones can represent higher end sound:
FLC8n
Sensitivity: 107dB/mW @1Khz Impedance: 11Ω
Here is a list of gear I have tried so far with FLC8n:
My reference point for DAP is my mobile LG G5 with music apps LG Music & Neutron Music Player. It's quite unknown Qualcomm WSA8815 Audio Codec surprisingly still beats anything I have thrown at is so far in terms of width and depth & resolving highs:
Cyrus Soundkey DAC
bad dirty/muddies highs. Too much gain for my sensetive IEMs.
Hifime Sabre 9018 DAC
Same here but much worse. Health risk even, high on 3% volume already (on PC)
Hidizs dh1000 DAC also known as Tempotec sonata
Soundstage is too narrow and far away sounding. Does not surround you.
Fiio M3K DAP
The crystal clear fidelity in the highs is not there and can not handle the wide stereo imaging required for above tracks.
My Scarlett 2i2 beats all of the above, but that's a USB powered desktop DAC.
I would really appreciate some help now that I understand better to explain what I am looking for. I am looking for advice from people who themselves listen to Ambient and Techno music.
I am putting those genres as a reference because of the sound characteristics I want the DAP to handle well.
Here is a comparison to acoustic music & why:
Acoustic music: Has limited width and depth determined by room and instrument acoustic possibilities. Pretty good reference point for highs though (think violins).
But I don't want to compare to Acoustic music because what I am looking for is:
Electronic: Has unlimited possibilites of creating synthetic depth and width. Can create sounds that sound infinitely wide. I guess you could also say high demand on the stereo imaging that goes beyond what is required of simulating a live acoustic concert with front seat & back seat terminology.
Here are two examples that excellently demonstrate the point:
Techno
Artefakt
Track is extremelly wide and deep (binural), easily shows when sound gear can't handle well made binural mastering.
https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/track/slow-dissolve
Budget: $200. Maybe higher but I would like to stick to up to $200.
My headphones can represent higher end sound:
FLC8n
Sensitivity: 107dB/mW @1Khz Impedance: 11Ω
Here is a list of gear I have tried so far with FLC8n:
My reference point for DAP is my mobile LG G5 with music apps LG Music & Neutron Music Player. It's quite unknown Qualcomm WSA8815 Audio Codec surprisingly still beats anything I have thrown at is so far in terms of width and depth & resolving highs:
Cyrus Soundkey DAC
bad dirty/muddies highs. Too much gain for my sensetive IEMs.
Hifime Sabre 9018 DAC
Same here but much worse. Health risk even, high on 3% volume already (on PC)
Hidizs dh1000 DAC also known as Tempotec sonata
Soundstage is too narrow and far away sounding. Does not surround you.
Fiio M3K DAP
The crystal clear fidelity in the highs is not there and can not handle the wide stereo imaging required for above tracks.
My Scarlett 2i2 beats all of the above, but that's a USB powered desktop DAC.
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