dalethorn

I bought the Amperior from the Apple store yesterday, and while the price seemed high for a small on-ear headphone, the sound is very rich and detailed. Based on test curves I've seen I didn't expect it to sound this good, but I got confirmation of my impressions from a second set of expert ears. Both of us had a first impression of "wow", and it hasn't diminished since.

I decided to do a full review, and added comments about hearing losses.... http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/forum/head...w.html#post5568 And the youtube review: http://youtu.be/cImnB7QI-e4

I sympathize with this, but after owning several mini-DAC's now, I don't feel any need to buy a big box, or worse yet two boxes. Soon enough the mini-DAC's will get even better and the big DAC's will be bought by (I don't know actually).

This is great to hear. Someone else has my O2 now, so maybe next time I will get the O2 plus ODAC in one box.

Burned in plenty now. No change.

I received the Philips Fidelio M1 today, and I am astounded at the sound. Whereas the L1 has a high fidelity treble response (despite a rather emphasized bass), the M1 has essentially no treble. I compared the M1 to the L1, and then I compared the M1 to the v-moda M-80 which has a recessed treble compared to all of my best headphones. The M1 sounds like its treble is 20 db down compared to the M80, and far worse compared to the L1 and Shure 1840, to name a couple of hi-fi headphones. I've seen a couple of frequency response curves on the M1 that suggest the treble isn't that bad, so perhaps this is a quality control issue? The drivers are perfectly matched in output and there's no indication that they're not working correctly.

http://youtu.be/BGoOiKWxs4g Here's the video review...

I compared the white M80 to 3 other white headphones I have. The ATH M50 and Bose OE2 both look cheap plasticy. The B&W P3 looks pretty good, but still looks bland and like a kiddie-phone compared to the M80. The white M80 is the best looking stereo component I ever had.

I wrote this from scratch and didn't use anything from the prior reviews, since it really is new and improved somewhat. http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/forum/head...one-review.html Here's a couple photos I took with the iPhone4s: http://dalethorn.com/Photos/iPhone4s/Headp...moda_M80_01.jpg http://dalethorn.com/Photos/iPhone4s/Headp...moda_M80_02.jpg

I first started noticing the automation in the late 70's when reggae was becoming very popular, and many artists were using automated percussion and instrumentation.

It's very true. The automation of a lot of music is like the automation of cartoon making for TV. Older people who watched cartoons in the early 60's remember the live animation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/26/...E8IOE3320120726 I found this reference in an Association of Computing Machinery article - the first definitive study showing the decline of music quality and increase in loudness.

I think it's a good idea to make audiophiles aware of the many things that affect sound quality. That way maybe the designers will pay more attention to those things in the future, and figure out how to minimize them.

Yes, that's exactly it.

The Stereophile main site reviewed this, and the last paragraph contains a good theory about how this actually makes a small improvement in the sound. http://www.stereophile.com/content/cardas-...#comment-515633

There were a bunch of comments on the thread at headfi that got removed. You can imagine what they said.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/619911/cardas-aud...fier-iphone-app I bought this for .99 USD at Apple's App store. It worked, but how well I can't say.

My wife uses the P5 now, not me. Here's my thought for you: If you could get a P5 and a P3 side by side, and (this is critical BTW - if you don't do like this suggestion, just forget it, it won't work at all) then use ipod Treble Booster EQ on the P3 and play the P5 flat without EQ, and give it a month, you would find the P3 a much better headphone. The only comments I've heard that question this are, "Why not use EQ on the P5 to make it more fair?" And the answer is, "I tried it, but could not find a i-device EQ that would make the P5's sound better." Treble boost makes it way too bright, and no EQ is way too dull. I tried the other EQ settings too - didn't help. With Foobar2000 and the default equalizer and the P3, I set the levers at plus one db at 1.2 khz, and increase each lever above that to plus 8 db at 14 khz, then plus 7 at 20 khz. Then when using a good DAC and headphone amp, the sound is really great and the bass excellent.

If the earcups were large it could be done different ways, but since they are very small and proprietary it's like fixing a watch with jeweler tools.

I'm not so sure. The covering over the large center hole in the pads is a very thin cloth, so there's nothing much in the pads to block highs. But when you remove the pad you see a metallic fabric fixed over the driver, and you can see through that fabric (almost transparent), so maybe if that fabric were removed the highs would improve. But the big risk is that metallic fabric may not be easy or possible to replace, and the highs may be peaky with it removed, so it's a risk.

That Incipio looks pretty good! Similar to a ATH M50. Let us know here how the quality holds up, and how the sound is after you play it for awhile. If they are reliable and the sound is consistent with each headphone they make, it could be a big hit.

I don't see any way to do that because it's not a "pad" like other headphones. It's more like a wooden block with embedded magnets and a thin soft cover that sits away from the driver quite far, and with the pad block removed the sound is very treble, harsh, unlistenable. If you wanted to take a chance at brain surgery you could cut off the soft cover and grind down the "block" or whatever it is, then reattach the cover and maybe by being 3 or 4 mm closer to the driver, improve the treble just enough.

You can pull the earpads off, but the metal surrounding part with magnets is a permanent part of the pads so I guess they would be very expensive to replace.

I did another mass review, since several of the last one's headphones have been replaced. Here we have the Shure 1840, ATH M50, Philips L1, B&W P5, B&W P3 in white and black, and Sennheiser PX200ii in white and black. http://youtu.be/Em6NqwcWVqs

Just in case I didn't mention it to the other guys, if I could get what I want I would want to get the exact same oval pads they had in 1974, and then I would try out some simple EQ curves to suppress the midrange very slightly, which I think would result in better sound with less resonance than the current DT48 oval pads gives. That's because the DT48 has the best and clearest midrange tonality in the world.