Bengineer Posted October 4, 2020 Posted October 4, 2020 Cheap. Good as it needs to be. Bare bones. Does the job sort of thing. No BT or Preamp, no filter stuff, no display, always on, weird micro USB input.
xtiva2000 Posted October 21, 2020 Posted October 21, 2020 On 27/08/2020 at 12:41 PM, Munce31 said: Had Topping A90 headamp but have now moved to Phonitor XE with Focal Clears. Loving the crossfeed with the Phonitor. Still have Focal Elegia's and Hifiman HE-1000 V2's. WOW beautiful setup... also eyeing on the Phonitor E.. how do you find soundstage on these Phonitor compared to A90?
Munce31 Posted October 22, 2020 Posted October 22, 2020 On 21/10/2020 at 2:21 PM, xtiva2000 said: WOW beautiful setup... also eyeing on the Phonitor E.. how do you find soundstage on these Phonitor compared to A90? I no longer have the A90 anymore, so can't really compare anymore.. The soundstage was already very good on the A90 - plenty of separation. I almost exclusively use my Phonitor XE with it's crossfeed enabled. How it affects the sound stage is entirely up for debate. Personally I think it enhances the soundstage as it brings the image more centrally, kind of like a 2 channel stereo where a sound coming from the left can be heard predominantly with the left, as well as the right ears. In the case of the Phonitor XE, it provides more of a binaural experience rather than an emulation of 2 channel stereo as the marketing paraphernalia would have you believe. The centralisation of the sound helps a lot with old recordings (think The Beatles, The Doors and etc), where the sounds are hard-panned left or right. Another benefit is a reduction of listening fatigue. And if you don't like the crossfeed, you can simply flip a switch and turn it off. I don't think the Phonitor E has as many options as the XE.
xtiva2000 Posted October 22, 2020 Posted October 22, 2020 3 hours ago, Munce31 said: I no longer have the A90 anymore, so can't really compare anymore.. The soundstage was already very good on the A90 - plenty of separation. I almost exclusively use my Phonitor XE with it's crossfeed enabled. How it affects the sound stage is entirely up for debate. Personally I think it enhances the soundstage as it brings the image more centrally, kind of like a 2 channel stereo where a sound coming from the left can be heard predominantly with the left, as well as the right ears. In the case of the Phonitor XE, it provides more of a binaural experience rather than an emulation of 2 channel stereo as the marketing paraphernalia would have you believe. The centralisation of the sound helps a lot with old recordings (think The Beatles, The Doors and etc), where the sounds are hard-panned left or right. Another benefit is a reduction of listening fatigue. And if you don't like the crossfeed, you can simply flip a switch and turn it off. I don't think the Phonitor E has as many options as the XE. Oh thanks for your detailed information!!! E only has 2 setting at 30 degree it seems from review...
peppy Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 And thousands of $$$ buying & selling 26+ headphones 11+ Amps 14+ DACs It all came down to this . Sometimes I wonder did the journey bring me here or I could have saved $$$ going straight to these by reading and watching reviews and spend near top $. (simpler?) I kinda incline towards, 'It was the Journey'. 4
muon* Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 Never been a headphone guy, but a friend gave me a pressy! So I thought yeah, these will likely be cool for gaming. But now find my self listening to all the wave albums on my PC while I on it, haven't bothered to in years and normally listen to music on my main system via CD Player and Speakers. I guess now I'm a headphone guy 2
MattyW Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 2 hours ago, muon* said: Never been a headphone guy, but a friend gave me a pressy! So I thought yeah, these will likely be cool for gaming. But now find my self listening to all the wave albums on my PC while I on it, haven't bothered to in years and normally listen to music on my main system via CD Player and Speakers. I guess now I'm a headphone guy The 8x Phillips TDA1387 DAC/headphone amp is pretty nice paired with the Monolith M1060 cans. 1
muon* Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 22 minutes ago, MattyW said: The 8x Phillips TDA1387 DAC/headphone amp is pretty nice paired with the Monolith M1060 cans. Yup! It's a very enjoyable pairing, Matt Makes games very immersive and music is good, and It's somewhat forgiving on some stuff my main system is not forgiving with, very nice 1
Bengineer Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 10 hours ago, peppy said: And thousands of $$$ buying & selling 26+ headphones 11+ Amps 14+ DACs It all came down to this . Sometimes I wonder did the journey bring me here or I could have saved $$$ going straight to these by reading and watching reviews and spend near top $. (simpler?) I kinda incline towards, 'It was the Journey'. Where's the colour?
peppy Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 1 hour ago, Bengineer said: Where's the colour? ?
sly_bastard Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 Just now, peppy said: ? Ben was commenting on all black coloured gear. It is a journey , next thing you may want to look at is a streamer haha
Bengineer Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 8 minutes ago, peppy said: ? All black and grey
peppy Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Isn't 'Not coloured' the holy grail everyone chasing in Audio world ? This is it for me. Edited October 26, 2020 by peppy
peppy Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 15 minutes ago, sly_bastard said: next thing you may want to look at is a streamer got a Cambridge CXN for those duties eith my beloved FPX7. For headphone setup placed on my desk, streamer doesn't present value.
Jsgraha Posted October 27, 2020 Posted October 27, 2020 My current setup since about 5 or 6 years, Schiit Yggdrasil, DNA Stratus and HD800. Still put a smile in my face in every listening sessions. 8
dan-m9 Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Current setup, trying to stop rolling gear, the amount of gear I have been through now in the last 6-8months is getting a bit crazy, even the wife thinks I have a problem now haha.. @Bengineer remember when I just started out here on SNA with little gear and said I wouldn’t go too far/spend too much.. But at least I'm happy right? 6
Bengineer Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Are you happy @dan-m9 . Are you really? Teaser from me. 1
dan-m9 Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 @Bengineer Well music wise yes, $$ wise no! Very nice amp, model #? A keeper this one is?
Bengineer Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Just sussing it out now. Questyle CMA Twelve
bruc3 Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 @Bengineer first... thing.... haha..... I should hopefully be able to do the same thing tomorrow. Will wait for some impressions from you. Unfortunately I think I have GAS now, have not even received my Twelve yet but already reading reviews up on the Flux FA-10 you mentioned in my other thread, and starting to feel like I need that too lol. Also the Ares 2 came up on the classifieds literally after I just paid for the Twelve, just my luck.
Bengineer Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Ares 2 come up on classifieds every second week for $900-1050. Don't sweat that part. And Flux FA-10 has a lot of Head-Fi hype. Need to be careful of that. Whenever Head-Fi and Z Reviews hype something "new", easy to get caught up. If you succomb to them all you'll be sitting in a pile of THX and obscure brands from random european countries. Like the RebelAmp. Questyle is quality. Its compact and weighs a tonne. Only tested on my active speakers so far, but so far so good. Nice clean pre-amp section, which is great, and remote is a bonus. Expecting the Headphone output to be excellent. 1
bruc3 Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Zeos is probably not the most reliable reviewer but hes generally entertaining to watch and really knows how to hype a product up. Hes a good salesman, I give him that. Its ok, I can't buy Ares 2 yet anyway since I told the Mrs I am done shopping for this Year (only 2 Months left till next Year though hehe...).
Bengineer Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Fair to say the CMA Twelve + HD800S is a big step up for you, and really, endgame level for 99%
bruc3 Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Yeah definitely, and I hope it will be end game for me.
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