Got my first wage today
I hope u remember me from the last iem post
Suggest me some good DAC+iem for a tight budget. It should be worth every single penny. I must be able to experience the glory of hires flacs and dad.
Suggest shit so good that I should never go back to shitty bluetooth audio.
Optimise the product selection such that the audio profile from the output must be true to its source.
>>316
Imagine listening to Random Access Memories on the right setup and getting to appreciate the high digital audio production standards that daft punk's known for this album!
>>316
oh wow that was fast, okay so for starters what what your previous gear? also maximum budget you can allot for your setup, and of course your whats your system of choice?
>>319
>what what your previous gear?
literally nothing, most I had was a sony mdr zx110a and a smartphone/computer filled with audio files. I used to use wavelet on Android to balance the too overpowered shitty bass on these headphones and tune it to the most neutral profile or the harman target. Even this simple step improved the experience by leaps and bounds.
>maximum budget you can allot for your setup
around 7k as a beginner... for both iem+dac
>>319
I don't care much about it, my phone would be the most common I'd say than my computer. It has a 3.5mm jack too.
>>318
In hand 6
fuck ctc thats always inflated
In hand 30 would be perfect
>>320
>sony mdr zx110a
holy kek I pretty much had a similar journey except I was a tad too autistic about sonic fidelity that I took it up on myself to read and learn about audio tech and how it even works to come up with purchase descisios what would fit my needs, ff to 8 years and several pages long articles and discussion forums and I think I have what can be called the "endgame" setup tho the definition of this term can vary from person to person
but the gist of it is invest in as much good source and drivers that you can afford and stick to that so you can spend time engaging with the most crucial aspect of this hobby; actually listening to and enjoying your music
>IEM's
stick to single DD (dinamic driver) pos for now as they are highly reliable and can produce more than enough (((techs))) and resolution across the FR (frequency response) graph
Make sure you choose a non-metal case IEM since metal shells can introduce condensation issues, something I personally had to deal with the Moondrop Chu's (the black box in the middle) and that shit sucks because they were susceptible to channel imbalance and worst case scenario the filters just kick the bucket, so to avoid that bullshit stick to plastic or resin shells
>Source
or the DAC+AMP in this case since you want a plug n play setup go for a portable one as they can literally drive any IEM on the market infact the tech has evolved so much most discreet dacs are an overkill but I guess that wouldn't hurt in any manner
There are portable USC C dongles for phones and slightly fatter ones for PC's I personally store all my flacs and DSD's on my thonkpad with debian+deadbeef with direct hardware transfer so the signal stays bit-perfect throughout the chain
>recommendations
The OG Kiwi Ears cadenza's are unfortunately discontinued were replaced by its successor Cadenza 2, haven't tried these but looking at the graphs they lean more towards "neutral" profile than the former but I reckon they should still retain the unique texture that the OG's had. I bought them on sale for around ~₹3500 and the newer variant are priced around ~₹5000
The Tangzu Waner SE are also good options but unlike Cadenza's the Wan'er Studio Editions as the name suggests carry a non-colored frequency response so its as neutral or (((flat))) as it gets in this price segment (~₹2000)
Chu and Chu II are metalpos so I wouldn't suggest trying them as your first IEMs
Like I said I keep my music on my PC that is connected to my Kiwi Ears Allegro and have both 3.5mm unbalanced and 4.4mm balanced output, I primarily use the 3.5 and it sounds just perfect with no hiss or audio noise floor, can decode both PCM and DSD upto 32bit/384kHz and DSD256 respectively
just make sure your music player supports DoP for DSF/DFF files so the DAC gets fed with untouched DSD data
>>325
>>326
Thanks for the advice anon
What setup and tech will I need to use my Android as a source? My computer is like a family machine and I want my tunes on me all the time. So what hardware will i need in budget? Is using this Android device a downgrade compared to a computer?
>>329
>What setup and tech will I need to use my Android as a source?
Anything with the CX31993 or KT02H02 chip in it so that would lead you to JCally JM6 or the FiiO JA11. Both should work just fine for your Android and will set you back by ₹1000.
But here's the thing tho, unlike desktop computers phones don't really have "unlimited" power supply, the ampere's in your battery are limited and even though these aforementioned donglels aren't known to be power hogs, if you own an older phone that has smaller capacity cell or is simply ageing then you will notice the battery drain compared to what the lower quality internal DAC used to squeeze out.
But if you're fine with that trade-off in exchange for higher sonic findelity then sure go for it. Either that or you could possibly buy an DSP IEM, its a fancy term for IEM's that come with built in DAC to be used with newer phones that lack 3.5mm jack. And they perform almost as good as standalone donglels apparently whilst being conservative when it comes to power consumption. And you dont have to deal with an extra piece of gear to plug into. And you could potentially turn it into a 3.5 or even 4.4mm terminated IEM by changing its cable, because remember virtually all IEMs come with detachable cables so even if the stock cable fails you can replace it with better one and don't have to throw the entire unit into the bin.
>Is using this Android device a downgrade compared to a computer?
Let me get this straight. The OS you are using has nothing to do with sound quality. All it does is work as a mediator and handle all the 1s and 0s. Thats it. What determines audio quality is the source (DAC&) and the transducer which in our case is the Dynamic Driver. As long as these two components are well engineered and designed to execute their job you could literally use a toaster to play music and still get away with it. Its just that a PC is more convenient for oblivious reasons. If you protest otherwise then thats completely fine and dandy, the exact same setup wouldn't sound any different on either systems.
And to add a bit more to the previous post. I'm pretty sure the OG allegro is phased out and is succeeded by the Allegro Mini which sports a more phone friendly design and still retains DSD (upto 128) support whilst consting half of that the original so there's that.
>Where to Buy
So far I've purchased my gear from HeadphoneZone and Linsoul. With the former you get to enjoy some nicities that it brings by being based in Bharat itself so domestic cards, faster deliveries, free shipping and far better customer support I guess? Linsoul on the other hand is international and is based in China so they'll courier your pos straight to your nearest post office from Manchuria which could possibly take around a week or two. Standard shipping costs around 900 unfortunately, it used to be 500 a few years back kek absolute state. And keep a MasterCard or Visa ready of course. So depending on what you're lusting after you'll have to use either of the platforms because HeadphoneZone doesnt always have the most complete collection. There are a few others like TheAudioStore but I'm yet to use their services so can't vouch for them I'm afraid.
OP here
Finally got tangzu wanker sg2 and a snowsky echo mini. This iem+dap combo sounds the best compared to all the silly headphones I used till now. This thing blows eq'd mdr zx110 out of the water with no extra eq or settings.
Got 2 weeks of usage so that I can judge better. Thriller, RAM and dark side of the moon sound completely new, all this time I was deaf to rattles and all the other instruments that played in the background, now I can actually follow through every instrument. The separation and soundstage is amazing, you can hear depth in the music, perceive different layers of sounds and instruments laid together precisely.
There's not much difference between well produced cd quality audio and fully lossless ones, unless the lossless one's like 192kHz I feel a negligible difference in separation that too in very few tracks and small segments. But I'll continue to hoard music at the highest quality I can get, won't miss out on the potential.
Thriller has that extra sparkle with a whole lot of extra sounds which I never noticed. This child diddler made undeniably made some good music.
>>558
>CS43131
Should serve you well for many years.
>wanker sg2
kek good one, Tangzu's tuning on 1DD are phenomenal, my Wanker SE's still amaze me with hidden details and faint instruments.
After several years worth of experimentation and research I've concluded that anything above 88.2kHz is overkill for most music genres especially if the engineers didn't utilise the DR to its fullest during the mastering. Only in select few legacy albums and classical recordings you can actually perceive a noticeable improvement. This applies for 192kHz vinyl rips as well, literally doesn't makes any sense to choose that over the CD release which is always superior by the virtue of being digital. One exception I can think of is if the red book mastering was so horrendous that the vinyl release proves to be a viable alternative. But that's rare of course.
>>559
>dentcans
Brother, I simply cannot in any good faith implore you to waste any amount of money on headphones, let alone 10K
Just redeem the Tanchjjmmy Bunnies, they come in DSP TypeC connection as well if you don't want to bother with a separate DAC. These little bunnies got great staging in them, tuning's sweet too so they work well for ASMR. Purchased them for ₹2300 over a month ago for my new phone, and mog overy dentcans out there to oblivion and back.
>>560
interesting desu, I already have salnotes zero so not really looking for another iem in that price range
are headphones really that bad? I thot they provide better soundstage and don't cause tinnitus
>>565
dentcans sit between a very weird spot between desktop monitors and in ear monitors, you don't really hear with just your ears but with your entire head and torso plus waist down to a certain extent, so a set of reality good speakers is yout endgame when it comes to hifi audiofoolery as your entire body "hears" it just like you would in real life scenario
where as in ear monitors bypass all the HTRF and transduces the signal into amplitude directly inside your ear canals, which means its literally the only way to listen to the "clearest" audio physically possible since it doesn't get altered by rest of your body
a properly sealed iem should provide you with the most consistent frequency response throughout your listening session
headphones on the other hand sit on or over your pinna and are inherently susceptible to FR imbalance due to more wiggle room between cup fit and unit variation, its fundamentally an antithesis as to how you hear sound in the first place, a little wiggle and the entire sound profile shapeshifts
You either listen with your whole HRTF with desktop speakers or skip all of that and let your ear canal and eardrum do its thing, there shouldn't be any inbetween
>>569
A bunch of everything, 4chin's /g/ board, various audio related forums, soyentific research paper excerpts and literature. Don't limit yourself to one source or viewpoint, test out things for yourself and make up your conclusion.
>>572
>Whats wrong eith chu ii
metal pos + humid climate is a recipe for channel imbalance and filter failure, maybe it can work if you keep your aircon running 24/7 but I would still suggest against investing in metal shell iem's here
