xjazzdummy

If there's treble extension, well recorded music will sound "open", i.e. you'll have this sense that your ears are opened up. Please don't mistake bright sounding or presence boost (2-3kHz) for treble extension. Things sound sibliant, forward, or fast does not necessarily have treble extension.

I suppose you mean that your main speakers are 100Hz - 18kHz? In that case your xover should be higher than 100Hz as your main speakers will drop off quickly below 100Hz. This is what is normally done. 1. Set your subwoofer corssover over to the highest (150Hz in your case). I.e. you are going to use your receiver to control the xover. 2. Set xover on your receiver to desired frequency. In your case, I suggest 120-125Hz. Try not to go higher than that as it'd meddle too much with the low mids. This is assuming your main speakers are connected to your receiver.

EWF is of course the standard fare. Tower of Power is also great (coming to S'pore in March). You can also try Incognito for a newer sound.

I'm looking at my Zu Mobius cable connected to HD650. I'm not sure what you mean by plastic cover over pin socket. A photo would really help. The HD6xx pin connector is a proprietary part. If I'm not wrong, the Zu person (can't remember his name) probably had it fabricated. In other words, you probably can't find help in Singapore. Your best bet is Music By Design, the local agent.

For a low end model you can go for one of those Pioneer multiplayers, about $200+. Check clearly that it plays everything. For something slightly more upmarket, try the Oppo Digital models, about $300+. www.oppodigital.com For more mainstream brands, get the Marantz ones. The normal ones around $1000, low end ones $400-500 can get IIRC.

I prefer to amp from the line-out rather than headphone out of the X5, whether it is with the original subpack or third party products. To my ears the line-out is much cleaner and I don't experience the fabled bass rolloff. That being said, almost all in-ears benefit minimally from amping due to their high efficiency, as mentioned above. It is mostly with headphones that you realise the full potential of amping. For in-ears, most of the time you're benefitting from the tone character of the amp, which you can get with EQ.

I wonder if anyone has tried the new DT880Pro. Looks like it's based on the new DT880 2005. Better still, is the Beyer Headzone accessible in Singapore? The DT880Pro included seems to have an extra enhancer (enhance highs).

Didn't see this track previously. I bought a pair after reading so much about it from Mackie. Yes, it is a very seriously under-rated can. It looks fugly, it sounds anything but. I burned it in for a good full 5 days as it was too bright brand new. For listening purposes, I agree with everyone that it can sound too cruel and critical. Yes, even Jennifer Wearnes can sound bad. But with those Chesky audiophile recordings the DT150 sounds sweet. What can I say? GIGO. However, for music production purposes, this is the best can I've come across. Because of its neutrality plus a bit of presence boost, all flaws become very obvious and can be corrected. That's why it's a studio staple headphone. Incidentally, for some curious reasons, my audio interfaces and sound modules can't drive my other high impedance cans well, including HD650, DT880, but they are ok with the DT150. Incidentally, I wonder if anyone has tried the new Beyer Headzone. It comes with the new DT880Pro, modeled after the DT880 2005.

For anyone who's still looking at the Xmod ... Yesterday I finally collected the Xmod from the Creative Service Centre. The people there were very friendly and helpful. It turned out that there's nothing wrong with the Xmod. The low level zippering noise seems to be from my notebook only. My notebook is an IBM T43, running Win2K. On foobar, winamp, WMP, the zippering noise is always there. The staff suggested that it may be the USB ports. At home I had a PCMCIA card with USB ports. I tried with those and the zippering noise is still there. BUT if I use the notebook onboard soundcard or the M-Audio Transit, there was no noise. I tried with the Creative staff's PCs and there was no noise. I tried with my other notebook, a Dell running WinXP and there was no noise too. Conclusion? Looks like Xmod doesn't like Win2k.

Hi Greg, Thanks for your offer. The amp has already been modded by a very skillful individual, who even went the extra mile to do the diode mod. Anyway, I'm located in Singapore, and shipping the amp to and fro to you would be prohibitively expensive. Thanks anyway for the offer!

I too match cans to purpose, not music. General listening:HD650/Zu + X-Can v3 modded Music production: DT150 + Headroom Micro Music production: DT880 + Headroom Micro Movies: DT770 + Creative Dolby HP thingy Portable: UE SF5Pro or K81DJ+LDM+ Dust trap: HD201, PX100, PortaPro, many earphones ...

I use the Eleectro-Harmonix 6922 with good results. If you can find Russian 6N1P or 6N1P-EB also good. If you have more cash can use Telefunken 6922. I've tried Mullards. They are nice, but too dark to pair with HD650. I've also used Siemens, which I find colours the mids a bit. No offence to scottiebabie, but I think what goes well with HD600 will probably not go well with HD650 cuz their sonic signature qutie different. HD600 doesn't have problem with fatter bottom end. HD650 too much lows but sounds more refined. In case you're wondering, I did use HD600 for a while before HD650 was released.

The thing is the X-CAN needs brighter tubes to sound good with HD650, in my opinion. A lot has to do with the tubes in the X-CAN you tried. X-CAN can do cap mod too, which improves it tremendously. The threads on headfi seem to say that Little Dot a bit lower resolution compared to X-CAN, although those are referring to the Little Dot 2 generation. A lot also depends on what you're looking for. If you associate the Grado-ish piercing, bright, compressed sound with hi-fi, you'll probably never get it with a HD650.

Hi, I'm sure that by now you've realised that the HD650 has a bigger bottom than usual. I pair mine with brighter amps to compensate. Note that HD650 is pretty picky with amps. I have good results with both X-CAN v3 (brighter tubes) and Corda amps (Aria, HA1 mk 1). Corda amps aren't really bright, but seems to go well with H650. Actually even the OBH-21SE sounds not bad. However, none of those mentioned above seems to be within your budget. Stereo Elec Aron is willing to consider selling his Corda HA1, so you can check with him. Someone was trying to selling the Corda Headfive in Classifieds section too, so you might wanna try that. The Little Dot stuff supposed to be able to pair well too, but a bit lower resolution. Don't bother using portable amps. HD650 sounds anemic on my Go Vibe 5 and LDM+ sounds, and fuller but too dark on PA2V2 and Total Airhead. Whether SS or tube, again very much depends on the music. Some music go well with tube (typically vocals, acoustic), some better with SS. There's no one-size-fit-all. If you're still using the stock cable, you should first change it to Zu Mobius or Cardas. I prefer the Zu, but some prefer the Cardas. Zu is available from Stereo Elec and MBD, Cardas is from that corner shop near Jaben on Adelphi 4th floor. I CONSIDER THE CABLE CHANGE TO BE MUCH HIGHER PRIORITY AND BENEFICIAL THAN A NEW AMP.

They are easily available at any good CD shop. Gramophone, That CD Shop, HMV all have them.

This is an update to the above review. EXPERIENCE WITH CLOSED CANS AND IEMS I used the DT770 2005 80ohms and SF5pros for this. On closed cans, the processing effect definitely sounds more obvious. Now I can better hear what they are doing to the sound. There's enhancement of both high and low frequencies, but the resultant sound is also rounder at the same time. There seems to be a slight compression as well. In fact, it sounds like gentle tube amplification. There's also a mild reverb going on, I thought. Finally, the sound stage is a bit less wide and more speaker like. It's like a gentle crossfeed, perhaps good news for us headphone users. On IEMs however, the effect is even more pronounced but now less enjoyable. I'll like to correct myself. There are many levels of Crystalizer and CMSS, not just three. You turn the knob and the related LED flashes faster or slower to show what's the level of the Crystalizer and CMSS. It's a very imprecise way of adjusting the levels. It's very much guesswork and approximation trying to change settings. PROBLEMS Now that I hear things more clearly with closed cans and IEMs, I also hear the faults. Here's the BAD NEWS. In USB DAC mode, there's a low level zippering noise on the Xmod when music is playing. This is true for both OGG files and audio CDs. It's not very obvious, for it is disturbing enough for me if I wanna do some serious listening. In standalone processor mode, the zippering noise is not there but the hiss and noise is higher. And like I said in the original review, standalone mode doesn't sound as good as USB mode. The zippering noise may be due to problems with handling the lower digital bits. Sounds like bad dither when they're doing the bit conversion thingy. Not good news at all. On my Transit, the zippering noise is gone, so it's not a problem from my system. I'll try to write to Creative and see what they say. There's someone here who knows some Creative staff right? Please tell them too.

Thanks! From the marketing hoola, the Crystalizer in the Xmod is supposed to the same as the one in X-Fi modules. I do agree that compared to without processing, the Crystalizer can add some artificiality. But I think any "restoration" DSPs would do this. On the compressed files played through USB, I thought the artificiality was acceptable. Sounds reasonably natural, unless you overdo it of course. Then again, I was testing using open cans and a pretty neutral setup. I suspect if you use IEMs, closed cans, or bright cans, the response might be different. I'll find time to test with IEMs and closed cans.

Thanks Mackie. Btw I'm looking for the DT150 cuz you recommended it so much ... :-) I'm looking for an analytical can for music production work so I guess DT150 fits the bill. Of course, it is one of the common studio tracking cans as well.

Thanks Aron. I checked out QED too. Looks like IX20 or TS20 may fulfill my needs partially. Rameish's solution looks like its superb quality. The price, however, was more than what I was prepared. Thanks anyway! Will keep this in mind for the future. From my search, I found out that the ultimate switcher is probably the Manley Skipjack. But the price is is USD900! Looks like I may settle for the Mackie Big Knob. It is a pro studio monitor controller, and has nothing to do with any of our mod Mackie's "knobs" Any other suggestions anyone?

Here's my take on the Xmod. I bought it today at Creative in Marina Square $139. Both the unit and the packaging are pretty. I don't think I need to post any pictures since you can see them on the Creative website. PHYSICAL FEATURES Connections on top: - USB (the small type), functions to hook up to computer or for USB power supply (more on this later) - 1/8" stereo mini line out Connections on bottom: - 1/8" stereo mini line in - 1/8" stereo mini phones out Controls: - Left side: X-Fi Crystalizer On-Off switch - Right side: X-Fi CMSS 3D On-Off switch - On face: Big knob for volume control and setting levels of Crystalizer and CMSS - Top half of face panel: functions as select switch to set levels for Crystalizer and CMSS FUNCTIONS USB Soundcard or DAC - the Xmod functions as a USB DAC or USB soundcard - the line-in jack can be used to connect a mic but without Crystalizer and CMSS effects Standalone Processing Unit - this is for connecting to your portable player or CDP - *IMPORTANT* to use the Xmod for this function, you must connect it to an external USB power supply. If it is connected to a computer, it will only output sound from the computer, not the line-in! I use my PDA phone's USB charger to do this QUALITY OF DAC I tested the quality of the DAC with my other USB DAC, the M-Audio Transit. The Transit is reputable to be a pretty good DAC, so I feel that this is a good comparison. Moreover, they are both at the same price point. I connected both the Xmod and the Transit to my notebook. I used Foobar playing CDs for this test, without any DSP effects. The difference is discernible. The Transit sounds more transparent. The Xmod sounds like there's a thin veil in front of it (note that I said thin veil, not heavy curtain). The Xmod highs are not as extended, and the stereo positioning isn't as precise. This usually indicates digital jitter problems or poor digital clock. I'm not saying that the Xmod doesn't sound good, but compared to the Transit it doesn't do as well (then again, few DACs at this price point can beat the Transit). For resolution, the Xmod is a tad lower resolution, making solo voices sound a little rougher than the Transit. QUALITY OF PROCESSING IN DIGITAL DOMAIN CAN IT MAKE A COMPRESSED FILE SOUND AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL CD? This is what the marketing hype claim, so I wanted to test this. For this test, I continue to use Foobar. I encode a CD to OGG Quality 10 and compare it with the original CD. Since I'm testing the processing and not the DAC quality, I only use the Xmod for this test. Playing the the OGG files and the CD with all processing turned off, it is pretty obvious that the audio CD sounds better, even though a Q10 OGG is already very high quality. The audio CD sounds less compressed (more dynamics) and has more extended frequency response. I then turned on the Crystalizer. Did it make a difference? YES IT DID! I don't know what they did, but it did make the OGG files sound more like the CD. All the faults from the comparison with the Transit disappeared. The main improvement is in the high frequencies, where it approaches the CD. The improvements on mids and lows are more ambiguous. The processing made the OGG files slightly louder, which is not good news because they usually use compression to make it sound louder, or the louder level will clip and distort the DACs. My suspicions were correct, as I heard digital clipping on the louder tracks. Turning down the volume a little solved the digital clipping. I feel that the Crystalizer did make the OGG files sound more like the CD. They don't sound exactly like the CD, but it's pretty close. There are three levels on the Crystalizer. To me, the lowest level sounds gentle, the mid level sounds best, and the highest level sounds over-processed. I compared the Crystalizer processing to a Winamp plugin, the infamous izotope Ozone MP. For those who don't know, izotope is a very reputable company in the pro audio circles. Their Ozone mastering software (not the Ozone MP) is one of the current industry standards. Sure enough, the Ozone MP sounds better, albeit a bit too processed at times. Worst part is that the Ozone MP has a free version ... QUALITY OF PROCESSING IN ANALOGUE DOMAIN USING THE XMOD ON PORTABLES I tested the Xmod with my iaudio X5 for this. As mentioned above, the Xmod needs to be connected to a USB power supply, not a computer, for it to process the analogue line-in signals. I used the same OGG files as the previous test. First off, the Crystalizer on the line-in from the X5 sounds not as good as processing in the digital domain through USB. The improvement isn't as great. For this, I find that the lowest level of Crystalizer processing sounds the best. Any higher than that the singers sound too sibliant. It still works, but not as good as off the USB playing the same files from a computer. I also compared the Crystalizer to the X5 onboard DSP. The X5 contains the BBE MP, which is supposed to do exactly what the Xmod does, i.e. restore compressed audio to CD quality. The result? The BBE MP produces less extended highs than the Xmod, but is way more transparent and less intrusive in its processing. CONCLUSION I think it probably sounds like I don't really like the Xmod. On the contrary, I do. For using it as a USB DAC, I feel that the improvement is significant enough to justify buying one. Of course, other DSPs such as the Ozone MP and BBE MP can outperform it. But it is a pretty neat and good-looking hardware solution to restoring the quality of compressed audio. For using it to process your portable, I feel that the improvement isn't as great, but still not too bad. Of course, if you have a player that supports BBE MP, you should use that instead. But most players do not have BBE MP, so the Xmod may be your only choice. Also, please remember to factor in a USB power supply to use it with portables. Just in case you're wondering, the quality of the headphone out is pretty good, better than my X5. However, it doesn't have enough juice to drive higher impedance cans. It can't even drive my 80ohms DT770 properly. I didn't even bother to test the CMSS, 'cuz it sounds major C-R-A-P. OTHER TEST INFO Headphone setup: DT880 2005 with Headroom Micro with desktop module (my most neutral setup) Interconnects: all Cardas HPIs Music: various Chesky CDs

If you wanna sell or know when I can buy, please let me know. sorry, I mean WHERE I can buy ...

Yes, I'm a musician. Not much other people would look into it so much. In my opinion it's still worth it to buy SACD cuz sooner or later you will buy a SACD player. Most SACDs double up as regular CDs too. To my knowledge there are no portable SACD players. What are you referring to when you ask about favourite?

The famous ones I know are the two rounds by Herbert von Karajan with the Berliner Philharmonic (but of course...). I'm a Karajan fan, so I'd wholeheartedly recommend them. Karajan did three rounds of the 9 Beethoven symphonies with Berlin Philharmonic, one round in the 1960s, one round in the 1970s, and one round in 1980s. The 1960s and 1980s are better acclaimed. Between the 1960s and 1990s rounds, they are not better than each other but have a different interpretation and taste, sort of like a different view of life as Karajan ages. These are all issued by DG (Deutsche Gramaphone). Look on the behind of CD cover to see which round it is. These have also been reissued as SACDs, so it's more worthwhile to pick up the SACD versions. I even bought the DVDs for some (yes even the 1960s round). Watching Karajan conduct the same orchestra over different periods is both inspirational and instructional.

That'd be great! Thanks Aron!

Hi, Does anyone know where I can get high quality (at least pro audio if not audiophile standard) input-output switchers? I'm looking for something that can switch between say 3 inputs and 3 outputs. Ideally it should be passive and totally neutral.