Ricardus
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Buckeye amp for my studio nearfields. I'll probably put one in my hifi rig also, as soon as I have some spare cash.
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What items have you purchased as a result of ASR?
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Yes! The Qudelix 5k is absolutely the best bang-for-the-buck purchase I made as a result of ASR. Second place would go to the first item I purchased as a result of this site... the HE400se. Of course, considering what I had prior to joining, the bar was pretty low. My main headphones prior to the HiFiMans was a pair of Sony noise-canceling headphones that are probably close to 15 years old by now.
Lräk
Member
I actually found out about ASR when my friend pointed me to a review of my new Lavaudio DS600. I've since bought a Topping PA5, E50, Aiyima A07, SMSL C200, and WiiM mini and pro due to reviews (good and bad) here on ASR.
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KEF R3 (on sale), Loxjie A30, Umik-2 (twice, bad decision, like having two watches). This place is expensive!
topping D70 a couple of years ago and recently a pair of Kef LSX-II
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
I might get some Synergistic Research cables to go with my Shakti Stones.
And I'm thinking of buying a new flame suit.
And I'm thinking of buying a new flame suit.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
Don't buy the ones from Ali-express or fleabay.
Dan Clark Aeon Closed, Topping D30 pro and Topping BC3. Topping D30 pro was a dissapointment however since it can’t handle the digital signal from my CD player. The most important aspect for me is what I do NOT buy due to ASR.
A RME ADI-2 DAC fs v.2 where statements here and other places made me upgrade. All other stuff is puchased with reference to other sources of information. The RME used with the possible setting of DSD Direct, made me blown away using external computerized re-sampler software.
I will be with you along the way.. I will also buy some Shunyatta AC Power Cables, some Furutech cryogenically treated AC outlets, . Of course you know I will use Cable Elevators and put all my equipment in a Townsend Audio, vibration control system .. You won't be alone.
Please provide me with the link to a good (Audiophile grade preferably) Flame Suit?
Peace.
Revel M106 - got an amazing deal on unopened pair for $1050 by a local seller.
MiniDSP Flex to add Dirac Live.
Darlington Labs MP-7 (based on MM-5 review)
Far more importantly it has showed me what I DONT need to replace. Have held onto my Cambridge Audio DACMagic 100, Apple TV 2nd gen for streaming, Amazon Basics interconnects and home made speaker cables, stock power cables, and haven’t added any tubes.
MiniDSP Flex to add Dirac Live.
Darlington Labs MP-7 (based on MM-5 review)
Far more importantly it has showed me what I DONT need to replace. Have held onto my Cambridge Audio DACMagic 100, Apple TV 2nd gen for streaming, Amazon Basics interconnects and home made speaker cables, stock power cables, and haven’t added any tubes.
I bought quite a lot of my gear based on ASR reviews directly or indirectly. Chronologically follows....
SoundblasterX G6 DAC/amp: bought in 2019 after reading the review, perfect DAC for gamer & audiophile!
JDS Labs Atom Amp: bought in 2020 after seeing review, thought it might "jazz up" my SoundblasterX G6 DAC, and theoretically it does (SINAD & power if required which I don't need), subjectively I felt like I liked the sound better, at the time I felt like there was more "attack" in the sound and felt cleaner, but very subjective & not controlled and early in my ASR life, (I'm listing them chronologically).
JBL 308p Mkii, bought in 2020 them before they were measured here because of a ridiculous £300 per pair offer here in the UK back in 2020 - but the 305p Mkii had already been measured here and was recommended so I figured the 308p wasn't going to be worse, and at that insane deal it was only like £30 more to get the 308p vs 305p - turned out the 308p measured very well apart from distortion, I used Amir's anechoic measurements to do an Anechoic EQ for perfectly flat anechoic.
Topping E30 DAC: bought in 2020, after reading ASR review, the idea being to provide 2V to my JBL 308p rather than the 1V I had previously from an old Xonar DAC. Bought for 2V and also the fact it measured excellently and the fact it had remote volume control.
NAD HP50 closed back headphone: bought in 2020, influenced by @mitchco 's post and link to his experience with this headphone vs his fully sorted out speaker sound system. This was before they were measured on ASR. Not a disappointing purchase, they sounded great with an Oratory EQ. They're a bit unreliable from reseat to reseat as very had to fit properly over your ears without leakage. Years later I bought a miniDSP EARS headphone measurement rig and found out these have quite bad channel matching, and I also found out they were very hard to measure to get consistent results, just like Amir found when he reviewed/measured them. They're not my favourite headphone, but they're good when you can wear them right.
Sennheiser HD600 headphone: bought in 2020 after reading so many forum posts here on ASR about them, in terms of them being a reference. Very positive initial experience when using at stock, and it didn't respond well to an Oratory EQ - it bloated the bass and removed the finesse of the headphone, it's the only headphone (apart from my HD560s & Truthear Crinacle Zero IEM that I would entertain using at stock, although I almost never use my headphones at stock). But the HD600 stood out as being best used without any EQ or just a small 3dB bass boost at 75Hz - which is contrary to how I use all my other headphones, something about the ability & charm of the HD600 apart from the fact that it doesn't handle big bass boost. Even though I'm impressed with it at stock this is my least used headphone because of the poor soundstage, and often characterised 3-blob effect.
Drop Hifiman HE4XX (planar): bought in 2020 after reading many posts here on ASR about this headphone (still not been reviewed by ASR), as well as specific individuals here that own this headphone. Wonderful tonality after EQ with Oratory's EQ, in fact the best EQ he's done for any of my headphones, in terms of nothing needing to be changed. However, when switching between this headphone and some of my best EQ optimised headphones (HD560s & K702 (yet to be mentioned)) then I feel they lack in "resolving detail", albeit they sound tonally perfect with Oratory EQ and resolving enough when not directly compared immediately with "some of your best headphones". EQ'd bass on this headphone is top tier and remains fantastic even after comparing immediately with other headphones. Soundstage good.
Sennheiser HD560s open back headphone: bought in 2021 I think, before they were measured here, and before they garnered much attention here on ASR, I'd seen them measured by @Resolve and also by Crinacle & Oratory. I liked the look of the frequency response and they weren't expensive. I bought them and EQ'd them based on an average of those previous 3 guys measurements - their measurements were very similar indicating a low unit to unit variation headphone. I liked the EQ result, and it is a good soundstage headphone, and the bass detail was fantastic too, whilst still resolving the rest of the frequency range with great detail. These have proven to be a very reliable headphone, praps my favourite headphone, and I bought another 2 units (so 3 units altogether) & measured them on my miniDSP EARS rig - almost zero unit to unit variation for my 3 units (as well as really good channel matching, which is gonna be related), ridiculously impressive from that point of view. Also very very low distortion headphones from Oratory's measurement of a unit I sent him (my distortion measurements on my miniDSP EARS were a little higher, but still good).
SVS SB 1000 Pro Subwoofer: bought in 2022 after reading a few forum posts here on ASR to gain an impression of subs. Think I bought these on a good deal, but can't remember the specifics. Bought on the promise of hitting 20Hz and freeing my 308p Mkii speakers of having to play deep bass. Positive impression after manual room integration using REW and UMIK-1 measurement mic along with miniDSP 2x4 (again this little EQ box bought as a result of ASR forums & members) to handle crossover and EQ. Indeed it plays deeper & subjectively a cleaner music experience, but ideally I need another one of these subs (to make it 2 subs to aid room integration and also relieve stress from the lone subwoofer), but they're not cheap at nearly £600 which costs more than my speakers! (Certainly not a value purchase in comparison, but we're optimising here!)
Truthear Crinacle X Zero IEM (blue): bought completely on back of perfect ASR review in 2022. Don't like sticking stuff in my ears but wanted to try them. Fantastic both for music & gaming, no EQ really required, but slightly better with EQ. Seriously impressive, but don't like sticking stuff in my ears as upsets the the natural conveyor belt process of skin growth and natural wax removal from the ear.....did cause some irritation (probably also not perfect fit, nossle a tad wide probably). Fantastic IEM almost eclipsing need for anything else, but not gonna wear IEM's!
(AKG K702 open backed headphone: bought in 2015 years before I knew about ASR, very interesting soundstage, good detail, EQ required using a variation on Oratory's EQ, I have 4 of these units (crazy), measured them all on my miniDSP EARS rig after sending one unit to Oratory to be measured, so can create a valid miniDSP EARS to GRAS conversion curve - created my own EQ based off measuring my 4 units, which ended up with a lot darker EQ'd headphone than Oratory's latest measurements of this headphone, I can't explain why Oratory's latest measurements of this headphone have been so different in comparison to my 4 units which is ultimately based on his initial measurement of one of my units - for my 4 units my EQ is definitely more fitting than Oratory's latest for this headphone.) (all in brackets, because zero influence from ASR for this headphone as my first proper headphone purchase). Although miniDSP EARS rig & desire to buy 4 units of this headphone all stimulated through the general scientific approach of ASR along with my own curiosity and like of this particular headphone. Biggest obvious advantage of having miniDSP EARS measurement rig is so you can create a perfectly matched channel matching EQ for your headphone throughout the whole frequency range - essentially you end up turning each of your headphones into a perfectly channel matched headphone all the way from 20Hz to 20kHz - it's rare to expect that from a headphone manufacturer, so you're really taking your headphones to the best possible position in terms of channel matching (not a beginners level to measure headphones properly as well as creating channel matching EQ's - quite advanced, but doable).
The Future: I feel like I'm slowing down with my audio purchases (probably because I realise there's not that much to be gained vs my current), praps want to buy another SVS SB 1000 Pro sub before they stop making them (so I have two), and praps want to buy a DCA high end headphone if their "Stealth tech" permeates to some more affordable lines in the future, although I'm not sure it will be ultimately better than a properly EQ'd HD560s!
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restorer-john
Grand Contributor
How do you know they don't work?
I should add a pair of used Revel F228Be and a used NAD c298 to my list, the latter from an ASR member.
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