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cyberfrog

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Posts posted by cyberfrog

  3. Posted · Report reply

    :))

     

    funny you shd ask this question, coz i asked myself exactly that many times over the past few weeks.

     

    Firstly, I must admit that on its own, the ESW10 is quite a fantastic sounding pair of cans already. :thumbup:

     

    Like most audio products, if you do not compare and contrast, they are fine on their own. Unfortunately, i have a desktop integrated amp that I use to drive my ESW10 when i'm at home...and sadly, i've been unable to reproduce the sound quality on any of the portables i've tested. I'm looking for that extra oomph to drive it to its full potential (which i know it has becoz of my home rig).

     

     

     

    Actually, is there anything that you found lacking with the ESW10?

     

  4. Posted · Report reply

    I audtioned the D10 and the iQube (& the Earmax, which isnt really a portable) just 2 days ago.

     

    D10 initially sounded quite dynamic and punchy. However, eventually discovered vocals dun come out right...sounded grainy and rather harsh. :no:

     

    iQube i must admit is pretty good. Good all round in fact. Am pleasantly surprised coz it's a Class D amp...which is well-known to be bright. The designer must have tweaked it somewhat.

     

    I listened to the Earmax (normal ed), and was pretty wowed by the tube sound. Not only do vocals sound ultra smooth and warm, instrumentals also came out "right". Overall quite impressed with this little guy. :thumbup:

     

    Incidentally, i borrowed my bro's Hornet for some serious listening again. All it does is to add a little weight and depth to the bass and low-mids. Again nothing to shout about.

     

    After testing so many portable examples, my gut feel is...the answer to my problem cannot be solved by portable amps. The cheaper ones dun make the cut...while the more expensive ones only sounded like nothing more than playing around with the equaliser. This is with reference to the ESW10 and my ears of course, not a general sweeping statement.

     

    The search continues... ;)

     

     

    HAHA, ya, iQube is great, but you need to be able to afford. People say IBasso is a good shot for a budget yet decent amp, but never tried. Interested?

     

     

    I would love to try a Pico...but it aint available in the shops...nor do i know anyone with one. ;)

     

    It would be a leap of faith into the darkness if i went ahead to buy the one someone is currently selling.

     

    I can subscribe to the DAC being good, since half the battle is won by using a top-notch Wolfsen DAC...however, what the amp stage can do for the ESW10...tats still to be heard.

     

    I heartily recommend the Pico for your genres. Smooth sound, excellent midrange and balanced sound overall. It does need burn in so YMMV.

     

    I'm going to be boring and recommend the iQube too. It will never surprise you on first listen, but if it clicks you won't find anything else like it. :) I personally use the iQube+ESW10 combo very often and I listen to a lot of vocals and a tad of jazz.

     

    Both are fantastic amps and I don't think you would go wrong with either. Frankly I would pick the Pico if you're looking to use it with a laptop/computer as well because the DAC section is really good.

     

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Thx for the detailed writeup!

     

    I was indeed puzzled by what i heard. :think: I could tink of several explanations : amps not runned in, my ears not sensitive enough, cable quality, efficiency of ESW10... My wife who's also an enthusiast, came to the same conclusion w/o any influence on my part during the testing.

     

    However, i find it hard to believe tat from brand-new to runned-in, the sound is going to improve SO significantly; we're talking about electronic components here, not a mechanical device. Whilst I can still accept that SQ will improve a little, i simply fell off my chair when i plug my ESW10 into the Novo and heard no discernible improvement to SQ. :rclxub:

     

    Nevertheless, i'm willing to give those amps another chance, provided i can somehow hear a "runned-in" set.

     

    I listen mostly to jazz (Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Eddie Higgins, Larry Carlton...you get the drift) and vocals (CaiQin, Emi Fujita etc). No classical and hard-rock.

     

    I travel a lot, hence my reqmt for a portable amp. Source will be from the notebook, playing back lossless files and CDs. At this point, i'm tinking perhaps portable amp is not my answer, since their performance will invariably be limited by size and pwr reqmt.

     

    I do not have a particular budget at this time, coz i do not want to limit my search by budget. I'd rather hear what's "out there" and decide if my ears deserve what i'm paying. :grin:

     

     

    As Promised,

     

    Actually those amps you tried at Jaben aren't burned in yet. The Predator as some stated takes nearly a 1000 hours. My Black Bird gave me a good impression after 400 hours. You can always ask the person at the table if the units were burned in.

     

    I am using both the amps stated above on my ESW10 I just love teh RSA house sound the aggresiveness and the controlled bass on both the BB and Pred. The BB gives more Soundstage and a FEEL of air on the closed ESW10. =)

     

    The Novo you tested is also NOT burned in. The last time I tried my ESW10 on a 3 month old and very used novo the ESW10 had a very sweet Mid on it w/ the right amount of bass to keep you going.

     

    Actually the ESW10 ran great with several portables I have auditioned with the ESW10. Please note I'm rellying on sonic memory but a very good one as I only have the Pred and BB at the moment. Listening to the ESW10 paired to a BB from an IMOD. :thumbup:

    P-51 (Nice Mids and very smooth), iQube (good details and the amp tames the bass on the ESW10 pretty well), Diablo (Bass heaven), Voyager on contour (is exceptional clear on the ESW10) but I didn't like the coutour off though, Pico (VERY sweet mids) but I personally don't really like the Pico's sound signature

     

    Can't remember some other portables. But the ESW10 also does well with desk amps like my Yamamoto. The Little Country 3, Earmax standard. My least favorite was the Cross road edge. lol!

     

    Btw, what genre are you listening to? Do you have a price point in mind?

     

    Some very long threads on the ESW10 on another forum.

    http://tinyurl.com/df299e

     

  6. Posted · Report reply

    I was at Jaben to audition the Novo with my ESW10. Suffice to say I was quite disappointed. I wasnt expecting anything great, but it was almost as if the amp did nothing other than become a volume controller for my ipod!

     

    At this point, i'm not sure what to comment on, coz it could be a simple case of synergy, or that the ESW10 is already a very efficient set of cans, or the Jaben Novo isnt runned in (which i doubt).

     

    And since i was already there, i tried other amps...the Crossroad Edge, RSA Predator, Blackbird and finally the Beyerdyn A1. I must admit that the Edge actually smoothed out the vocals and was pretty nice, considering the price. The Pred and Blackbird were pretty disappointing too. The only star was A1. I wouldnt mind having that amp, but at that price point, it BETTER be good!

     

    At this point, i'm opened to any sugggestions for a good amp (preferably portable) for my ESW10... :think:

  8. Posted · Report reply

    I tink u guys need to understand why there exist specifications which exceed our human hearing capabilities.

     

    If you look at the frequency response curves of audio equipment, you should see where the curve starts falling steeply (be it low end or high end). A lot of the specs are based on a 1dB or 2dB roll-off. Hence if you see 20-20kHz specs, the 20kHz point may be at -2dB already. However, if you see a 30 or 40kHz rating, it should mean that at the still-audible 20kHz, there shouldnt be any significant roll off.

     

    As an analogy, you can look at cars. For daily use, the driver is prob using 50-100bhp. So why need a 500bhp car?? It means that, at 120kph, the CherryQQ will be struggling to accelerate further, while the GTR is not even breaking a sweat yet.

     

    Hope this helps!

     

     

     

    I believe most high end audiophile headphones/speakers or components go beyond human hearing range...take for example some sacd players which gives the response of 2 - 50Khz some at 2 - 20Khz..wonder if u can hear the difference in higher freq exceeding 20Khz..mayb ur dog can enjoy it LOL..for lower freq with a subwoofer or a good floorstanding speakers..we can usually feel the diff...the punch of the bass (the earthshaking effect LOL) on you..

     

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Juz dug up a little trivia, it would seem the EW9 uses Hokkaido Cherry while the ESW9 uses African Paddock. (http://www.luxurylaunches.com/gadgets/audiotechnicas_hot_wooden_headphones.php)

     

    On my ESW10JPN box it says "Black Cherry"... :))

     

    So whats the wood used on the W5000? :think:

     

     

     

    ~snip~

     

    I just noticed something..

    It says that the wooden housing made from the Japanese Hokkaido cherry tree...

    But the back of the box states: "The housings are made of 100% African Paddock wood."

     

    Just to clarify.. Is the African Paddock wood the Hokkaido cherry tree? :?

     

  11. Posted · Report reply

    I have nothing against Rotel (in fact i like their design a lot), but i feel Rotel can be a tad too bright...be it their normal Class A/AB or their Class D amps. Even their CDP sounds bright. Very characteristic solid-state sound.

     

    I've not heard the CM1 but they are rated at 84dB...which is kind of low. So the more power you have the better. It'll be better to pay a little more now, than to settle for something less only to find it insufficient to power your speakers.

     

    Perhaps you wanna consider NAD M3 (2x 180W). Not sure what is the price but shd be close or a tad more than yr 2k budget.

    http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-am...Amplifier/specs

     

    Another product you can try is Cambridge Audio Azur 740A (2x100W).

    http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?...740A+amplifier+

     

    There arent many hi powered intg amps out there. Another is the 250W Musical Fidelity A5.5 (i got the A5)...but this is a little more beyond yr budget.

     

    Regardless what amp you get, system synergy is important. Dun forget to budget for decent interconnects and speaker cables.

     

    Hope this helps!

     

    B&W more than often sound good with Rotel amps, not surprising coz they're sister brands under the same family.

     

    this one will fit your budget nicely:

     

    http://www.rotel.com/UK/products/ProductDetails.htm?Id=49

     

    IPB Image

     

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Hi there. I'm looking at buying a decent cable to connect my Creative Xdock to my home system.(upgrading from run-of-the-mill one which i'm using now :yuck: ). However, i'm not sure where to start. I'm sure some of the bros out there have extensive experience with the above.

     

    On the internet, there are offerings by Wireworld, Cardas, QED, Audioquest, Kimber and even Monster. Any recommendations which to check out?

     

    Any info is much appreciated!

     

     

  17. Posted · Report reply

    PS Audio has always been about good, clean power.

     

    Wait till you see their PPP....Premier Power Plant. It's like having your own hifi-grade electrical generator...

     

    I've not heard the Xindak 5 DAC. I have tested their Tube Pre-amp tho (XA3250... http://www.xindak.com/english/products/sho...ail.asp?id=271). I must say Xindak makes very nice (as in aesthetics) components. However, their technological aspects i feel still fall short of Western stds. The pre-amp sounded nice and smooth and warm...typical of what you would expect of tubes. However, you lose out in dynamic range, clarity and soundstage.

     

    If you can get them at a cheap price, then worthwhile (they are much more affordable in HKG)...but at local prices, they are over-priced for their level of performance.

     

     

    edit: just went to check out Cyberfrog - PS Audio Digital link III DAC. The transformer size totally trash the dac-3 2 twin transformer combined. lol

     

  19. Posted · Report reply

    I beg to differ.

     

    I did quite extensive testing, using an old CD63SE, a new Rotel RCD-1072 HDCD and a Marantz SA11-S1 with the PS Audio DL-III ext DAC.

     

    The 3 players give a fairly representation of the range of transports across a certain price range. The CD63SE uses a fairly common tpt Phillips CDM 12.1 (now called the VAM-1202/12...original $20 at Sim Lim Tower). The RCD1072 is rotel's top of the range HDCD player, using a modified Sony tpt (KSS-213). The SA11-S1 uses a proprietry SACDM-1.

     

    I used the same digital coax during testing.

     

    On my humble system, the difference is so obvious it makes you wanna go get the best tpt your wallet can allow.

     

    I cannot explain whats the difference and how each tpt affects the sound quality. Suffice to say, the tpt makes a significant enough impact to the overall design of the CDP, regardless which end your system is.

     

     

     

    Personally, I feel you will only be able to tell the difference if your entire audio setup is really high-end (assuming you are using an above-average quality CD transport).

     

  22. Posted · Report reply

    altho i'm risking a bombing by fellow headfi enthusiasts here, i would say get a wireless one since he's nt an audiophile per se. This way he can move abt, sit wherever he wants, and even use it for watching tv or fall asleep in bed using it.

     

    I think wireless headsets hv come a long way in terms of sound quality and design...so it shd more than suffice for his kind of usage, w/o the associated high cost of audiophile sets..

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