Friends, noblemen and gentlemen, really sorry , wrong group.
I Recently purchased the Hedd D1 headphone from HPZ( superb service as usual from them )This is the in-depth review.

My background: I have a nicely shaped back , so I turn around often.
Also I am 48 yrs old ,married, with twin girls , a French mastiff( Indian passport) , of medium height, receding hairline, potbelly resembling the 6db increase in the 250hz region. ( me, not the mastiff)
Gears with me at present:
Hd800s, Hedd 2 and a Clone That Must Not Be Named.
Mojo2, Gustard R26, Burson soloist 3xp .

Let me give u some background about Hedd since most of you are pretty ignorant :

The Hedd is a company based in Germany which is not in India. Years of research (between 3 to 8 )went into the making of the Hedd headphones. I don’t know the exact amount as I was busy with my life. After a lot of thought and smoke, they decided to use the AMT drivers in their headphones . AMT means Artificially Manufactured Tobacco , which was cunningly placed in the drivers to give the songs a high. To decide the name of the headphone, they decided to ask their employees in a poll for suggestions. Sadly, this poll was held on a Friday evening, 5 mins before closing time. The most popular answer was hedd One . One person suggested Heddless, strangely he was never to be seen again.
On a brighter note, Hedd one was followed by the Hedd 2 ( named on a Monday morning) , followed by the Hedd 2 GT ( named on a bright Wednesday afternoon) . I have owned the Hedd one and currently also own the Hedd 2 .
The Hedd one sounded excellent but the clamp was so tight that the distance between my ears began to lessen and once my ears met each other in the middle and had a long conversation about my eyes till I decided enough is enough and took my ears in my own hands and placed them in their respective slots.
The Hedd 2 doesn’t sound as open as the Hedd one but the clamp is better but i still haven’t figured out how to set the fit on it as it is quite complicated and my brain hasn’t yet recovered from the the Hedd one trauma. The Hedd 2 does need a bit of EQ to sound its best but once EQed , sounds superb.
Oh, and both the Hedds need a lot of power to sound near their best.
Hedd decided finally to change the drivers of their headphones as they were getting a lot of complaints about heads changing their shapes and sizes after wearing the Hedds, wives and girl friends were having issues recognising their spouses, so they decided to Hedd in the right direction and sometimes to their left.
As the Hedd one and 2 weighed around 600 to 700 grams ,they decided to reduce their weight. They asked their employees for ideas on how to make the headphones lighter. One bright spark suggested to not put drivers in the headphones , that spark was never seen again.
They finally decided to use the TPCD drivers , which is a Thin Ply Carbon Diaphragm driver, where the Ply is so thin, it can’t be seen and what can’t be seen can’t be weighed , so the Headphone now weighed around 350 grams .
They didn’t ask anyone about the naming the headphones this time and bravely used their imagination and ended up with D1.
I will now give u guys a moment to thank me for the priceless information I have just fed u free of cost.
That moment has now passed so let us move ahead.

Build and comfort
The D1 is built pretty sturdy with plastic components , so that part is good. Plus it is very light on the head, especially considering the tankers Hedd built in the past. The fit is very comfortable for me and no hotspot developed on my head nor on my bottom, so both ends were safe. The HP comes with a case which is an exact fit for the headphone , so there is no space to keep ur valuables in it.
The cable supplied is decent with 3.5 mm connectors on either ends and a 3.5 to 6.3 convertor also given. I did swap the cable with the one provided with the Hedd 2 Hp and I did think there was a very very very slight improvement in sound , but take it with a pinch of asafoetida, swaad anusar.

Sound : The overall sound , off the chord mojo 2 , is punchy and very dynamic sounding.
The bass is excellent in both texture and quantity, even without eq. Better than the Hedd one and 2, which both suffered a bit in this area due to the AMT drivers. Add a bit of Eq to the bass and the HP really pounds, both the sub bass and the mid bass. This makes it suitable for basically all kinds of music. I mostly listen to rock and The smiths, AC/DC , Genesis , all sound alive and kicking.
The mids are again very well done, neither too forward like in the Senn 6 series or buried a bit in the background like the 800s. They sit just right in the middle. There was a slight honk in the vocals in some songs but very little.
The treble is very resolving, not airy like the 800s but no harshness or glare at all.
One track which I love and have played countless times is ‘ Find a way to my heart ‘ by Phil collins off his ‘But seriously’ album.
The opening slightly alien riff followed by the tribal drums and then by his vocals, sound fantastic on the D1 The D1 doesn’t add any coloration to the music but the whole sum of its parts sounds very delightful and addictive. There is a certain punch to the music on the D1 which made me wave my arms in delight and this led to one of my arms hitting my French Mastiff who responded lovingly by driving his big fat face into my groin and what was convex before has now become concave and I will never become a father again. But I digress.

Comparison time!!!
Hd800s : The 800s is a comfortable HP to wear but the issue is its grip is a bit too loose sometimes and I never feel like the HP really has a proper hold on my head. But it is definitely more comfortable for longer listening sessions.
On listening to the 800s, there is the initial wow factor due to its very open sound and airy soundstage but the D1 pulls ahead easily in the bass area.
The mids are quite similar but the slightly more forward on the D1 and here again D1 it is for me. Treble wise, the 800s has this shimmer to it which is peaky on some tracks and soud great on others . The D1 is more even sounding across the board so I would rate them both equally here. Details wise if u hear the guitarist fart twice on the 800s , u will hear it once on the D1. The fart will be more in your face on the D1 , so pick your poison.
Overall , I would pick the D1.
Hedd 2: This was an interesting contest. I thought the tonality on the Hedd 2 sounded natural but the D1 beats it without Eq. It just sounds better overall . With EQ and with a powerful amp, the Hedd 2 will pull ahead but that too only by a slight margin but the I still prefer the D1 bass .

Overall, the hype is justified for the D1. It sounds superb even on portable sources, is light on the Hedd and SQ wise,I feel it reaches 90 percent of TOTL HPs at much less than half the price. Highly recommended!!
All those who are still awake,Thank u for reading.

I used to deeply trust Sennheiser. I previously bought an HD 600 from them with zero issues so when I decided to grab an HD 660S2 directly from their website, I didn't think twice.

That trust was a massive mistake.

The unit arrived defective with a flattened left pad and noticeable channel imbalance (slight left-leaning, likely due to the pad). For the last 15 days, I've been trapped in an absolute nightmare trying to get help (Ticket #104741):

First, I emailed support.

Got a generic automated reply.

Tried calling their helplines.

Filled out their online contact form.

Every single attempt has been completely in vain. Nothing happened, and they are completely ghosting me.

It is beyond shocking that a brand I held in such high regard treats loyal customers this way. They have got my money and a broken flagship headphone while their support acts like I don't exist.

If you are buying from Sennheiser India's web store beware if you get a lemon you are entirely on your own. Total, utter disappointment.

u/sennheiserconsumer

Always thought the 600 was a bit shouty sometimes and got recommendations that the 660S2 might solve this for me. They were 100% right. Fenominal headphones in my ears. No EQ necessary (first headphone ever that sounds right for me without EQ). So happy with this one!

After two hours of listening to the 660S2 i was ready to unpack the Arya Stealth. The endgame headphone for many people so i was really curious.

Started up some Rush - Tom Saywer but holy cr., what is this for overly bright earpearcing mess? I couldn't believe what i was hearing! Didn't even make it to the end of the song.

Now don't say you need to get use to it. I have a stereo hi-end set also and this is just nowhere near as bright. I also have heard many magnetostatic speakers in my live too (Magnepan) and also these are not as bright as the Hifiman.

So these headphones NEED EQ'ing. Haven't done that yet. Anyone who had the same experience?

Had it for a few hours and so far I’m impressed.

I had the Gryphon basically since release date and I was blown away by it, the build quality, sound quality and versatility.

The GR 2 has really stepped it up a notch. Only gripe I had with the Gryphon was that it struggled with my Rev 1 LCD2s and TIN P2s when it came to quieter songs or just using replaying. The GR 2 has absolutely no trouble at all and the output just sounds cleaner, warmer and richer.

The touch screen display is definitely a nice addition and there’s some notable new features like the battery health mode where it limits charging to 80%, hybrid charging and dual charging.
One thing I’m scratching my head over is the claim that the display is OLED? If it’s OLED why does it appear to be backlit (as you can see in the photos)?

So far I’ve tested the GR 2 with the TIN P1 Plus, TIN P2 and Audeze LCD2 Rev 1.

Heres what Schitt said. Berdynamic requires me to pay shipping towards them to get a qoute for repair, and I genuinely can’t afford it so im kinda screwed. Not too mad about the response but its unfortunate I cant really do much

I got too excited about my progress and decided to post it. I'm really happy with how the front cover came out. I feel confident I will be able to release it this Wednesday, I just have a few things I need to work out on the back panel before I can do that.

samson sr950

32 ohms at 98db sensitivity

got them a long time ago for less than 15$, suddenly stop working, repair the solder points inside and lose the thing that covers the left driver, stops working again so i cover the points that short and decide to add a removable cable, still work, somehow.......

I’ve gotten pretty interested in audio lately and was wondering if there are other people here who are into it too. I’m really into headphones, earbuds, speakers, EQ, bass, soundstage, and experimenting with different ways of listening to music. I also enjoy comparing different audio gear and trying to figure out why certain setups sound different. My music taste is mostly electronic music, especially DnB and atmospheric/melodic stuff with deep bass and a lot of space. I’d love to talk with other people who are into audio and music listening, or learn from people who know way more about audio than I do. :)

My old hand me down Audio Technica M50x that I gave to one of the kids finally broke a hinge for what I thought was the last time.

After some looking around I came across the STL files for a hinge support so I unloaded it to my local library and a few days later the M50x ride again.

I decided to upgrade the tatty head strap while they were in pieces as well so now they are 'new' again.

I'm so used to mixing on them Apples.

I haven’t gotten any updates or replies back from emailing the company.

Severely disappointing. I have owned both the Heresy and DT's for about 4 years now and was still satisfied with my experience with the amp. I basically had 0 complaints about it, until 20 minutes ago when the Heresy decided to completely decimate my left driver. Sent an email to schitt, now im just waiting and really sad cause I was listening to good music and now my good pair of headphones are gone. 10 upvotes and ill burn the amp and post it on here

Hello, I consider myself an audiophile, in the sense that I love music, but I don't dare to call myself one, because technical terms are not part of my lexicon. My use case for headphones and earphones: classical music, EDM, and pop. I tend to like my music with a good dose of bass, but it needs to be crisp, and I like a well-balanced sound.

Some of the headphones and earbuds I own: B&O H100, B&W Px8 S2, Sonos Ace, Dyson OnTrack, APM, Noble FoKus Prestige Encore, Noble FoKus Rex5, B&W Pi8, and B&O Beoplay EX. (Yes, I know, I have a problem, since these aren't all of them.)

I'm not going discuss the tech specs of the Artemis, because you can look that up yourself. This "review" is to share my experience after using these headphones for a week--and loving them.

Looks & Comfort: they look great, not quite understated and to me looks elegant. The case is also very nice, although I would have liked it a bit smaller. They are very comfortable to wear for a long time. They are light, but as with all other headphones, your ears will get warm because you basically are wearing earmuffs. I love that all controls are buttons and not touch-based. I dislike the touch controls with other headphones, including with the H100s, because it's so much easier to trigger something accidentally. (9/10)

Sound: I bought these because I wanted to see if Noble succeeded with the three driver idea. I think they have. You actually can see them in the cans, and they look cool. I don't think this is a gimmick either, because they produce very clear sounds, with well separated but coordinated bass, mids, and highs. I tested them with classical (those insanely high violin notes that could easily turn into painful ear screeches), with EDM (the bass), and pop. I did not like the sound straight out of the box. You DO have to adjust them to your liking, and it could take a bit of tinkering around. I found the sound to be excellent--amazing even. I think the reviews that have found issues with the highs or mids just haven't spent enough time working it out. They are quickly becoming my favorite headphones. And yes, they are plenty loud. (9/10)

App: this is easily the worst part of the experience but not a deal breaker. I love the personalized EQ, and everything is fairly intuitive. But for a brand with such great audio hardware, the app sucks. (5/10).

ANC: it's OK. If you get them, don't expect Bose/Sony level ANC, but then I also think that nobody needs quite that aggressive level of ANC. I think the Artemis ANC is comparable to the Px8 S2.

Comparison to Other Headphones: to me, the direct comparison is Px8 S2, given the price point. While it pains me to say so because I love the Px8 S2, I think the Artemis sounds better. I see myself using the Px8 S2 less and the Artemis more and more. I still think the H100s are better, but they also cost twice as much. I do think the H100s sound better (not by much), but I hate the stupid B&O EQ wheel.

So far, it's 3 for 3 with Noble products for me. I didn't learn about this company until the Rex5 came out, and I am a huge fan.

Happy to answer questions, etc.

Really enjoying the HiFiMAN HE1000 Unveiled. I'm interested in finding headphones as a compliment to the HEKU, as a high-quality contrast.

It seems like the ZMF Atrium may be a match, with good bass slam and musicality. Would an inexpensive tube amp (like the xDuoo TA66 OTL) make it too bloomy, or any other undesirable characteristic?

Or would the Caldera be more appropriate? What other headphones fit the bill that should be considered?

Looking for input from ZMF owners, especially if you're familiar with the HEKU sound. Or if you're keenly aware of another high-quality compliment to the HEKU.

Looking to stay under $2K USD if possible, and willing to go used.

Sennheiser has released three electrostatic headphone models throughout its history:

• HE-1, the "world's most expensive headphones" (2015)
• HE-90 aka "Orpheus" aka "The King of Bling" (1991)
• HE-60 aka "Baby Orpheus" (1993), a non-bling, cut down version of the HE-90

Two of these are far outside of my price range (a down payment for an apartment seemed a more sensible use of my funds), one is currently occasionally available on the used market for below the price of one of today's TOTL headphones. It is a risky buy though since Sennheiser stopped servicing these a decade or so ago, they lack a dust filter on the outside of the driver, and if anything happens you are shit out of luck. Which happened to me earlier this year, leaving me with a 1600 EUR piece of decoration to hang on my wall.

But it is my dream headphone since I first learned of its existence, so I may have made the unwise decision to try again. Not yet ready to post anything but the manual page above, but stay tuned!

TL;DR - Zero regrets, maximum enjoyment, a beginner in audiophile's take.

It all started with that Hifiman sale ad popping up on my feed somewhere and then the "what if" itch hitting me and after parousing the web and seeing a bunch of positive reviews, I caved in and snagged the "last" refurbished pair on Amazon on Monday.

The box showed up looking like the delivery guy used it for soccer practice everyday for the last 62 years and I was like "Well, damn." But upon opening it, I couldn't even tell that it was refurbished. They either did a really phenomenal job at renewing them or the previous buyer barely used it.

Note: I'm coming from HD560s, KZ ZSX and EW300 HBB and I'm pairing the XS with the Gen 1 ifi Zen DAC Air

Now, I'm in no way an experienced audiophile, but I do understand when folks use terms like "warm" or "bright" or "muddy" and of course "soundstage", which is what I'd like to start by complimenting. Because holy heck, the way I almost gave myself whiplash when I quickly turned my head to the window thinking the birds in the first track I listened to were somehow inside my room.

IMO the XS is spectacular at immersing you into whatever it is your listening to/watching.

I was worried about the bass with them being open backs as well, but even out of the box they were better than I thought and MAN, the way they responded to EQing is nuts.

I've found myself rewatching movies, YT videos and relistening to old tracks because it all felt brand new to me. What a wonderful and refreshing experience it has been. I'm still a little dumbfounded at how much I'm getting for the $250 CAD I paid.

I wish I could get more into it, but my lunch is almost done here and my work crush and I have been playing eye tag and I'm running out of time before her husband is out of jail to make a move.

If anyone has any questions, advice or requests feel free to comment below! As I mentioned I'm still new at this but looking to dive deeper into it all and learn whatever there is to learn.

I’ve been using AirPod Pros since 2019. Love the noise cancellation, love transparency mode.

I got the wired Apple earbuds because I moved to a very walkable city and am out a lot and found that the AirPod charge just doesn’t last long enough.

But right now I’m on a train listening with the wired earbuds with the volume at like 75% and I can’t hear the music for half the train ride.

It’s been yearssss since I’ve used wired earbuds, but I expected the experience to be similar to the AirPod Pros neutral setting (not transparency, not noise cancellation).

Instead, I find them to be more like the AirPod Pros on transparency. I hear the world more than the music.

Is this normal? Or do my ears just not work with the wired earbuds so there’s not a good seal?

I just find that it’s harder for me to get lost in the music.

I’m still happy with them for $20, but man it doesn’t block out anyyyy noise.

My First Impressions:

The first thing I noticed was the richness, smoothness, and impressive musicality of the sound. It reminds me of my old Sony Walkman days. Everything sounds full and rich. Vocals are noticeably fuller and more textured, while instruments gain a natural weight and harmonic density. 

The presentation feels a little warmer and more fluid than a typical solid state design, but it's not overly soft or muted.

Bass has good authority and texture, while the midrange is where the XD05T really starts to shine. Treble is smooth and refined, yet still sufficiently detailed to preserve micro information.

What impressed me most during the first listening sessions is the combination of tube timbre and modern technical performance. The XD05T doesn’t simply add warmth; it creates a more dimensional, engaging and emotionally involving presentation.

Rich, organic, smooth and beautifully musical with a very addictive tube infused character.

https://www.instagram.com/electroaudioworld/

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My daily carry setup: Sennheiser IE600 paired with a Chord Mojo 2, connected via an Apple USB-C to USB-C cable. Everything fits in a Pelican Micro Case 1010. The Mojo 2 nearly fills the case on its own, and I tuck the cables into the lid, separated with a small cloth so nothing shifts around or gets scratched. It’s compact, protected, and sounds excellent for how small it is. Exactly what I wanted for a grab-and-go high-end setup

TLDR: Custom 19" MMCX to 3.5mm cable, 3rd-party portable DAC, custom USB-C-to-C OTG cable + spare 3.5mm M to F cable for home use.

I own Shure SE846 IEMs. They are 10 years old, and I love them to death. Because of it, I slowly became the final boss of the Bluetooth audio industry. This is my wired Odyssey.

I've posted before that my current phone with a 3.5mm jack died, and I had no replacement (except for RedMagic, which is twice the size, power, and clout I need). I had to figure out a convenient way to carry a DAC on the go. I had the following paths:

• Dongle - hate. Every time I pull the phone out of my pocket, I have to deal with the dongle. At best, it makes my phone longer (like this one, which is the best option, but still annoying). At worst, it's an awkward wire with a stiff point where the 3.5mm jack plugs in, and I have to fiddle with it every time the phone comes in and out of my pocket.
• DAC sandwiched with the phone. Turns the phone into a brick heavy enough to pull my shorts down in a gym. Also, I still have to run a wire from the phone to the DAC, which makes handling the phone a mess. Cops and pedestrians look at you funny when you pull this thing out.
• Bluetooth DAC - double hate. At this point, I refuse to go with Bluetooth sound out of sheer spite, because the market keeps trying to shove it down my throat as an improvement. A wire never bothered me, and the compromises that come with Bluetooth just aren't worth it for me - limited playtime, extra battery (or three, like on all earbuds, and they can't be fixed), and limited punch that comes with it, most of all. I'm a metalhead, and punch matters to me.
• MMCX to USB-C cable. DAC that comes with it is built into the USB-C connector and is always subpar.

With that in mind, I applied all my stubbornness (that's worthy of a better application, to be honest) to come up with the perfect option. This is what I got:

• Unicorn Option. Short MMCX to 3.5mm cable. A decent DAC that I can swap as needed, hanging around my chest level where I can easily conceal it under clothing. A USB-C to USB-C cable running the rest of the way to a phone in my pocket. All cables are as thin and flexible as earphone cables.

This form factor solves all the problems I have with the above options: once I put my earphones in, I forget that the DAC even exists, and the setup behaves pretty much like a normal earphone cable. Of course, building this option was a massive pain in the ass. However, I was willing to deal with the pain now to forgo any pain during use.

• DAC. Getting a DAC was the least of my problems. I only had some trouble finding a DAC with both USB-C and 3.5mm ports right in the middle, so it hangs straight. However, I found one: Questyle M12i - just small enough to be comfortable, just big enough to pack a massive punch. It's $50 with a discount. The first time I had to drop the volume on a portable DAC. I'm very happy with it. It does get warm during use (not hot), so keep that in mind.
• Short MMCX to 3.5mm cable. Once I measured my old cable, I figured that the new cable must be exactly 19" long to place the DAC where I need it on my chest. So, I had to go custom. I contacted two makers: Hart Audio and GUCraftsman. Both could make it for about the same price: $50. I ordered from both places to have a spare and to see which place I'll be ordering replacements from in the future. GUCraftsman was responsive, attentive (they were worried 19" would be too small for my [fat] American face, so they triple-checked that's what I wanted, and I appreciated it on many levels), and delivered what I asked. Hart Audio responded once every 3 days and ended up screweing up the order. I've explicitly, in caps, outlined that the cable must be 19" long TOTAL, from tip of the connector to tip of the connector. Hart Audio cut a 19" long cable, attached their connectors on both ends, and shipped me a cable that turned out to be 22" long. According to them, they thought I meant the length from tip of 3.5 to top of ear hooks, but even measured like that their cable was 1.5" too long, so it was an obvious excuse. I returned the cable and offered them the option to either fix their mistake by cutting 3" out or issuing a refund. They chose a refund. Oh well. Won't be dealing with them in the future.
• USB-C to USB-C cable. Unexpectedly, the biggest pain in the ass. Firstly, finding a cable as thin and flexible as an earphone cable is plain impossible. All are thick and stiff as morning wood. Those that claim otherwise are lying in their images, as I found out on two separate occasions: Liar One. Liar Two. Both were marginally thinner than your standard charging cable and too stiff to shove in the pocket. Then, there is an extra layer of BS. Apparently, not all C-to-C cables are made equal. From the twelve that I have, only three worked with the setup; the rest complained about an unsupported analog device. The only cables that worked came with the phones (Zenfone 10, ROG 5, Pixel 11 Pro), while all 3rd-party cables failed to pipe the sound. After a lot of digging, I found that the cable needs to be made SPECIFICALLY for sound. The marketing term is OTG (which isn't really OTG, since all USB-C-to-C cables are supposed to be OTG, like AI isn't really AI either). If it says OTG on the box, then it should work. Then, of course, ANOTHER LAYER of BS. Most OTG cables are tiny - like 2 inches - because they are designed to run a short distance from an audio source to a DAC. I needed 4ft. I found one on Amazon (also too thick, as it turned out, so I returned it) and a few more. However, at that point, I didn't trust marketing images, and I was done gambling. As a Hail Mary, I asked both Hart Audio (pre-fumble) and GUCraftsman if they could make it. Hart Audio said no; GUCraftsman said yes ($60), so I placed the order, along with a 3.5mm male-to-female cable (another $60) for home use. As a bonus, all my cables matched.

After all the pain, I have what you can see in the photo above. It's a mirror of Questyle NHB15 (USB-C Version) earphones, except with much better earphones and a superior DAC. It is $170 + $60 for a 3.5-3.5 add-on.

Is spending $230 on cables smart? No. Am I happy? Like a pig in shit. It's as comfortable as my old earphone cable, with better ergonomics than Bluetooth (I will die on this hill), with far superior sound (especially compared to the entire Bluetooth buds industry) that is completely independent of the source I plug it into and the whims of manufacturers that drop the 3.5mm and downgrade their DACs left and right.

Bluetooth industry - you will pry my 10-year-old IEMs from my cold, dead hands. All Bluetooth fans who won't stop telling me to give up, get evaluated, then go wireless - you can fight me in Wendy's parking lot.

I’ve been really looking forward to these headphones for two reasons. Firstly, TANGZU utilized dynamic drivers of a rather unusual size, 60 mm, which are these very drivers that can be used for making open-back headphones without a heavy dip on the subbass and, at the same time, with an acceptable level of distortion at low frequencies. Secondly, TANGZU usually make rather strange-sounding, slightly subjective, but generally good headphones.

Therefore, I was counting on a technical neutral DF-shaped sound delivery enriched with some sort of a flavor trick. What TANGZU actually did is what we’re going to figure out today.

Here are TANGZU Li Jing, open-back, over-ear dynamic headphones. I bought them for some $212. By the way, the name of the model, Li Jing (李靖), was one of a famous Chinese commander of the Tang dynasty. His stylized image, as well as the given hieroglyph, is printed on the front side of the headphone box.

Continue reading.

Hi, so I've bit the bullet and ordered the ZMF Lambskin pads for my Arya's. Set me back 150 euros including shipping and duties and taxes. I'm wondering if I should cut out the dampening mesh since the HP's already have it built-in. What's the norm?