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scanfiend

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About scanfiend

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  • Headphones
    Sennheiser HD590, Westone UM2, Creative Auvana, Audio Technica H-CK5
  • Headphone amplifiers
    Xin Super-micro, "Un-named" Korean amp from Jaben :)
  • Sources
    Creative Zen Vision:M
  1. Farle in Funan Centre carries the full range....all the way to the D5000. They also allow auditions. Bring your source and knock yourself out.
  2. Fake UM56's from other forums, and the user concerned apparently does not know? Pray tell, which forum this supposed counterfeit was posted? Inquiring minds want to know Yeah, I saw this supposed announcement from the dealer. I would strongly advise that he checks his facts more thoroughly before posting lest he appears foolish.
  3. DAP= Digital Audio Player (e.g. iPods, iAudio, Creative and other assorted brands of MP3 players) DAC= Digital-to-Analog converter (the circuitry that convert the digital stream from CD's, MP3 players, etc into analogue for playback on headphones and speakers). DAC circuitry can have significant influence on the SQ of the playback.
  4. I have the great pleasure in purchasing ALL 3 of the interconnects. Why? Not because I have too much money, but because the 3 IC's all have distinct sound signatures, which you can use to your advantage to tweak the sound, especially if you have different headphones or amps at home. The cables are just the right length for DAP/amp use, and the terminations looked great. And if a move that warms my heart, it's terminated in L-plugs. L plugs are the most suitable for portable use, IMHO. I know that some prefer straight plugs, but from my experience, straight plugs put a fair bit of strain on the jacks of your DAP / amps, and can cause distortion or static if you brush against them (easy to do, especially if you have them in your bag or pouch). One good accidental whack, and you've got a broken jack (and an expensive repair) L jacks put almost no strain. I also like the wire sleeves, which can apparently change colour if you look at them from different angles - very cool Now, on to the sound signatures - Bear in mind, that these are only my impressions...YMMV My equipment is: ZenVision:M, Govibe, UM2 with customs tips (that's my rig in the glamour shots ) 1. The Viper Just like its namesake, it's fast and transparent, and biased towards the highs. It's a "bright" cable. 2. The Mamba Named after my favourite snake....I would've preferred a black sleeve rather than the original orange one, but hey, you can't have it all Easily my fav IC of the 3, it is a well balanced cable which does well with all genres of music. It paired very well with the Creative ZVM and Govibe. 3. The Python I felt that it's the bassiest of the 3. I didn't like it much with my ZVM, but it worked great with my iAudio X5L, which has well known bass roll-off from the line-out. This cable would probably work great if you listen to lots of bass-heavy music.
  5. Which goes to show how subjective this whole headphone business is. I found the SQ of the Auvana made it poor value at $239. But it represents better value at the current price of $159-169. Sure Creative could do better, but it's not a total failure for a 1st attempt. I would argue that the lower price point should have been the retail price in the first place. That would have garnered it more attention. In addition, the overall packaging, included accessories as well as the build quality made a favourable impression. Some guys (not many, admittedly) liked it at headfi, and it got decent reviews at some mainstream sites & magazines. I myself found the isolation to be excellent. Regarding microphonics, I have experienced it with virtually every IEM I have tried, with the exeption of the UM1/UM2. The thicker wires did accentuate the microphonics somewhat, but l felt that it's no worse than the other IEM's I have tried. If it really bothered you that much, just clip the wire to the front of your shirt or something It's not the most comfortable IEM for me (after the UM2, I doubt any other IEM will be ), but it's not the worst either. The honours of the most uncomfortable IEM goes to the AT CK5 Despite the higher impedance rating of 42 ohm, (kind of a weird rating) I found the Auvana to be almost as sensitive as my UM2, with the same volume settings producing equivalent loudness. And as I've noted in another thread, SQ improved considerably with amping. I have owned the (much reviled) Koss Plugs, Creative EP630, Senn CX300, AT CK5/CK7 & Panasonic HJE50 & the UM1/UM2 (customs). If anything, I found the SQ of the Panasonic HJE50 to be even worse than that of the Auvana, but since it's about 4 times cheaper, I'll cut it some slack
  6. ermm....I'm having problems understanding the subject matter. What does "Unfounded by headfi" mean?
  7. I believe the currency should be stated as USD It was retailing at about USD15,000 before production stopped. Obviously, due to the rarity (only 300 units were ever built), the price would scale up accordingly. A mint condition Orpheus could probably comfortably fetch SGD40,000++ And since when the final price of high-end audio products are determined by the cost of its component parts anyway? The manufacturers charge as high as the market can bear.
  8. You might be right. From the photos in the link above, it does look as if it has a line-in jack beside the USB port, and also a line-out beside the headphone jack. Theoretically, you should be able to hook up a DAP
  9. It looks like a USB DAC with a digital signal processor (DSP). Makes your music better than studio quality? Heh, how can anything be better than the original studio recording? Marketing hyperbole aside, it sounds like an interesting product.
  10. Since you're basically getting the ear molds done at one place, and then planning on utilising 1 of the shops here to send the molds out to the US....I forsee the following problems: 1. Why should the shop concerned (Jaben or Stereo Electronics) want to trouble themselves? What's in it for them? I believe in the US, you may go to any certified ear specialist to get your molds and then send it in to Westone yourselves, essentially cutting out the middleman altogether. If you guys are really hard up to save on the service costs of casting the molds - Psst...I'll let you guys in on a secret....if you ask real nice, you may get a very good discount on the service charge from Jaben 2. And who is going to be responsible for after sales service? I guarantee you that there will be some fitting problems when the customs arrive. Would the ear specialist redo the molds for free? The question is moot if you're getting the whole service from one shop. I believe fongalv had his molds redone FOC by Jaben and Westone when it did not fit properly. And although I'm no certified audiologist, from what I've observed, making the ear impressions is not exactly rocket science...so going to a certified professional may just give you peace of mind, if nothing else
  11. Ignorance is bliss.....at least they don't have to suffer from upgrade fever.....until Apple releases another "must have" iPod design (same insides, prettier case)
  12. It saddens me when I read this, and it saddens me even more when it involves a fellow forumer. Aren't we all part of a helpful, friendly community? Qsilver was under no obligation to agree to a "long term loan" for such a relatively inexpensive item. I think it was extremely nice of him to even agree to this. You abused his trust by not returning the item when he wanted it back - and you apparently topped it all by making flippant excuses. I certainly hope that it was naive cluelessness or an amazing lack of social skills and basic courtesy that made you do what you did. A good reputation is one of the best assets a person could have, and you would be extremely foolish to squander it on such a small matter. Even worse, it only takes a few of such incidents to "spoil the market", so to speak, and that would be unfortunate.
  13. No, it's not simply a matter of grammatical errors, per se. I make stupid grammatical mistakes too It's more a matter of this form of "SMS-speak" that permeates the various Singapore forums that irritates me no end. Deliberate spelling errors & slipshod sentence construction make reading such posts tedious and headache inducing It's one thing to use such shortcuts to SMS your friend, but to bring it into a written forum? A gentle suggestion to use complete, coherent sentences please!
  14. Thanks for the translation, Mackie. Heh, I sure hope that his written work at school (or at work) is more comprehensible and coherent
  15. Thin sounding?! Exactly what music have you been playing through the Orpheus? Or did you mix it up for the HE60 Baby Orpheus?
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