What is going on with the personal audio nowadays???

[dxmurky66]

i suppose OE : open ears, IE : IEM, whats AE?

Edit: found the research paper. Wont argue too much, lets agree to disagree

Artificial Ears

 

[InfiniteJester]

Artificial Ears

AE = Around Ears.
OE = Over Ears.
IE = Inside Ears.

 

[Jiraya369]

Can you recommend a $300pr speaker set that will out-perform a decent set of sub $50 iems or sub $200 headphones please?

idk about a 300 dollar speaker in your region but i got my Adam T5V for 315 dollars and due to my room mode i get a strong peak at 41 hz, after equalizing for other room modes and making the response flatter (by ear and based on amir's high shelf compensation), i genuinely prefer this to my Hifiman HE1000 Stealth (it was 4x the price) and would find it tough to choose between this and the LCD-5, a 5000 dollar headphone.

I use mine in the nearfield, 0.8m, so the loudness is more than good enough for me. I actually can't stand to listen more than around 86 db for more than a minute or two without lowering the volume, so loudness performance is no issue. The directivity is highly controlled so imaging is precise.

My Moondrop x Crinacle DUSK costed 364 usd, i prefer my HE1K far more to the DUSK and i prefer my T5V FAR more to the HE1K.... the cheapest product gives me the most joy haha. One can get a Truthear Zero Red and a T5V and call it a day, truthear zero for full range personal listening and T5V for everything else.

If you can't find the T5V, you can get the JBL 308P, if you cant find that then the JBL 306P. If not that then the Kali LP-6 V2

 

[Palladium]

You don't need anything beyond an Apple dongle to listen to the GATEs.

The 7Hz G1 (107dB/V) is almost unbearably loud on a Apple dongle paired to my Samsung S23 Ultra with the digital volume at 90%.
That is also without using UAPP to unlock the dongle output from the nerfed 0.5V to 1V!

The Gate specced at 122dB/V is gonna bleed ears at equivalent volume.

 

[winsome]

AE = Around Ears.

Dont see this type much anymore nowadays. Or probably I dont look enough

idk about a 300 dollar speaker in your region but i got my Adam T5V for 315 dollars

I have Elac debut connex , those active speaker. Can be had for around 400 or even less now. It's great speaker plus no need amp or other component.

 

[audiogeek]

You don't need anything beyond an Apple dongle to listen to the GATEs.

I do not use Apple products. I never have and never will. I use Android phone and Windows 11 for my pc.

 

[Mort]

I do not use Apple products. I never have and never will. I use Android phone and Windows 11 for my pc.

Don't let the secret out!

 

[InfiniteJester]

I do not use Apple products. I never have and never will. I use Android phone and Windows 11 for my pc.

It's a good dongle, sir.

 

[audiogeek]

It's a good dongle, sir.

What chip(s) does the Apple Dongle use and what is GATEs? I already know that the Apple Dongle is only compatible with Apple devices ‍

 

[Mort]

I already know that the Apple Dongle is only compatible with Apple devices ‍

Incorrect.

 

[dasherzx]

prices are through the roof now but the dca e3 is endgame sound for hd800s prices. nothing else other than good sound and measurements really matter and treat the snake oil products and peddlers as unnecessary noise.

 

[winsome]

heard a lot of good things about this headphone. price still relatively sane. Going to try to audition it whenever i have the chance. Funny enough, DCA website consider this as mid-range collection

 

[EliseX]

DCA headphones actually measure great, and they sound pretty good too(at least my stealth sounds good). It's rare to find one that satisfies both the ASR reviewers and the audiophiles LOL

 

[TonioRoffo]

Hi all

I came back to the headphone hobby just recently. Was in this hobby around 13 years ago (I mentioned it on my other thread). Sold all my gears/rig because of its being redundant most of the time due to work commitment just dont really listen to it anymore. I used to own pretty much TOTL electrostat rigs back in the days. Been through some high-end DAC such as Electrocompaniet and Baldelius.

Now 13 years later, I'm back to this hobby at much more modest setup. What I found is that for a lot more less money I can get a much better sound vs in the past, especially with Chi-fi offerings.

However, once I entered a higher end region especially with more exotic brand, I'm shocked to see the prices of headphones, amp and DAC really shoot up through the roof. Headphones with price of 2-3-4- even 10k seems to be a norm now. Amp costing 2k and above is deemed to be somewhat in the middle of area of high-end. When I see thread at headfi, people were discussing amp that cost 15, 30k. Still fresh in my mind back in the days HD800 is pretty much the holy grail for dynamics, SR009 with stat and some other exotic brand like Abyss and Audeze is just starting their company. Those headphones only cost in the region of 1500 to 5k with SR009. For around 10-12k one can get a TOTL stat rigs with BHSE, SR009 and some brand name DAC. But now? for the same of the money, ones can only buy middle of the road high end rigs.

Another one that is even more preposterous is portable market. IEM costing 5-10k? Portable amp for 3k? And not to mention cable. WTF, this is bordering snake oil territory already

What is going on with this industry? Is it greed? Snake oil? Inflation (surely not) or a real improvement in the technology that warrant this kidney selling act? in which I really doubt its the case.

Would like comments from users here on this phenomenon. Thanks

The rich got richer? The "high-end" market became smaller?

80's and 90's, everyone loved having at least "good hifi" at home. None of my parents family or friends were without a stack of seperates and huge loudspeakers in their living rooms. Nowadays a JBL Charge 5 is considered "good sound at home". I think the midfield kinda disappeared until chinese manufacturers came in with solid design based on affordable gear.

Speakers also became really good at affordable prices - so high-end boutique stuff became super expensive & super inflated.

A pair of B&W nautilus 805 ($2K per pair) were great speakers - but compare their cost against the current 805D4 ($10K per pair) - that isn't just 25 years of inflation.

 

[Palladium]

The rich got richer? The "high-end" market became smaller?

80's and 90's, everyone loved having at least "good hifi" at home. None of my parents family or friends were without a stack of seperates and huge loudspeakers in their living rooms. Nowadays a JBL Charge 5 is considered "good sound at home". I think the midfield kinda disappeared until chinese manufacturers came in with solid design based on affordable gear.

Speakers also became really good at affordable prices - so high-end boutique stuff became super expensive & super inflated.

A pair of B&W nautilus 805 ($2K per pair) were great speakers - but compare their cost against the current 805D4 ($10K per pair) - that isn't just 25 years of inflation.

From my POV after hitting a rather comically low price threshold for all sorts of audio gear, everything above that just feels like "huh, that's it?" unless you want to give yourself hearing damage (or you already have).