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Poor Lachy filmed this excellent 10:25 review with a cold. Nevertheless, his work is as clear and concise as it is free of distractions. It is also the first review of the XBA-H3 that I personally endorse.
Check out Lachlan's YouTube channel, and his webpage.
Four days ago, headfi moderator, warrenpchi, published the beginning of what looks to be a legendary Astell & Kern shootout in the already legendary AK120/100ii thread. He went to great lengths to volume match each device by ear.
Yes, by ear.
“This actually took MUCH longer than I anticipated. It seems simple, but you’d be amazed how long it can take to subjectively match levels between five devices using 6 different tracks of varying genres and file qualities.
I began by going through all of the test tracks above to find a comfortable volume level on the AK120 - the device that I am most familiar with. It had to be loud enough that I felt confident in hearing the most intricate of details, but not loud enough that I would be subjected to too much discomfort.”
Warren, it IS simple. Calibrate each device to a single, pre-recorded frequency-neutral tone. Use a split cable, not your ears. And by all means, don't bring out a bunch of songs to do it.
Matching volumes by ear is cognitive dissonance. Not only is it not possible, it is wasteful of effort, time, and, when published, wasteful of headfi bandwidth. At worst, it is deceptive.
Myriad problems ensue even when matching via line outputs. The most insidious is current variability between devices, which can render differences in volume between tracks normalised to the same mean volume levels.
Why? When not fed ample enough current, headphones will return various anomalies, including the loss of contrast, and sound pressure in certain frequencies, all of which affect perceived volume levels.
Hire the best ears in the world. Give them the rest of their lives to match volumes. They will fail. It is neither possible - nor an expedient use of someone's life. It is far quicker and accurate to simply split the output between a single pair of earphones and a sound card. Match the volumes against a frequency-neutral calibration signal. Voila!
Subsequent volume differences indicate output defaults. They cannot be normalised across devices. I won't even get into the problems of various stimuli that trick the ear to thinking it hears one thing when it hears another.
I wish you luck Warren, but your test has already begun on the wrong foot.
Source: Mini Astell&Kern DAP Shoot-Out
Wish Wizard a happy 42nd Happy Birthday by hitting up Noble Audio for a 20% savings on their high-end custom and universal inner ear monitors. Sale ends in ~21 hours from this post. (Sorry, I found out about this a bit late.)
You can keep up with the sale at Noble Audio's Facebook page.
And while you're waiting for your customs, be sure to check out Ω's take on the earphone that launched their brand, the awesome IEM 5,0.
portafes's entryway was anything but geeky
Everyone likes a good Fujiya Avic headphone show. But not everyone is in it for the geekiness. Some of us prefer the iPod shuffle to the giant pancake-sized audiophile stack. Some geeks are in it for the love, not the game. They're the type that hit up e-earphone after work, looking for something that makes their music sound good. They wear backpacks and button-down plaid tees, not office blazers and briefcases. Some of them may even ride bicycles. When or if they go bald, they shave, not comb.
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Grado fans, and fans of portable and home headphone audio everywhere, you owe it to yourself to get acquainted with Grado. Thanks to Headfonics' interview with Jonathan Grado, vice president of Grado's marketing department, you can. As many of you know, Grado aren't the typical commodity headphone maker. In their own words:
“We don’t come out with new headphones every 6 months, every year, etc. We don’t have a set revision timeframe. We found a way to make the sound better so we started expanding on that, and a few years later we had The e Series. We’d only come out with something new when we think it’s a worthy improvement and produces a sound we’re proud of.”
Alas, this modus operandi is practically nonexistent in the general headphone world. It is, in fact, anathema to the spam method employed by companies like Audio Technica and Sony, that make dozens upon dozens of models a year in order to keep a good display section up at Yodobashi.
Full article: Grado goes “e” – An Interview with Jonathan Grado
Not Really a fair fight is it? But then again, iBasso's take no prisoners when it comes to raw performance.
NOTE: never should RMAA results from different sources be directly compared. Anomalies are returned due to myriad variations in setup and test methodology. Data trends, however, reflect actual performance. And in this case, the AK240 isn't able to best the much less expensive DX90.
All tests were volume matched to within 0,1 dB using the same cables and input device, an Edirol FA-66. NL stands for no load; SM2 stands for the Earsonics SM2. Trust me, the SM2 is a bugger of an earphone to drive for all but the cleverest of equipment.
Lachlan, conductor of some of YouTube's finest video reviews of audio (and other) gear, essays the evils of the current review system...
“there is a subtle, industry wide bias towards saying positive things about a product and a brand. Reviewers who tend to say more positive things (within reason) are rewarded with increased exposure because they have access to more things to review. There is strong incentive to moderate negative opinions, but no real incentive to moderate positive ones.”
and what can be done to fix it. According to him, crowd sourcing is the best option:
“We tip staff in restaurants for a night’s service - why should we not be willing to tip people who are providing a service to the community time and time again with their reviews?
I started my campaign on Patreon and I think that is the best model because it is a crowdfunding website which supports small ongoing contributions to any person who produces any sort of content on a regular basis. Consistency and stable revenue is important if you want to keep the shark swimming.
But if ljokerl had a Kickstarter, I would pledge. If Tyll Hertsens had an Indiegogo, I would pledge. If ClieOS or Shigzeo or Tomscy2000 or any of the wonderful members of this community simply gave others a chance to support them, I would do it because I owe them for teaching me so much, and I want to see a situation where the people who spend so much time and effort giving to the community are paid not by external parties, but by the very people that enjoy their content.”
And with that, Lachlan kicks off what I think could be the start to a viable and more honest review system. Support him on patreon. I did.
Sharp MD-DR7 acting as a DAC for the Astell & Kern AK120
The next instalment of Headfonia's monthly Back to the Future Friday column features my familiar rambling:
“we have come a long way from the elegance and simplicity of the removable optical media world. My memories of MD are bittersweet. I miss it, yet I know that what I listen through today is higher fidelity even if it isn’t as enjoyable an experience. But I will always pine for the elegance and simplicity of the minidisc.”
as well as a small decade-later user essay from Headfonia's kingpin: Lieven.
“If all the review samples I received sounded like this I would be a very happy guy. I’m kidding, I’m quite happy as it is thank you, but I’m just trying to say that the SQ of this 15 year old device beats a lot of players out there. Sony did that good of a job and I’m lucky to own one of these classic units. I actually saw new old stock versions of my exact unit being offered online for over $500 USD. (Back in the day, the MZR70 sold for around $250 USD.)”
The above is a summary for the RMAA tests of the following devices:
Astell & Kern AK240
iBasso DX90
Sharp MD-DR7
iPod shuffle 512
All tests were performed with the same input hardware, a lowly Edirol FA-66. Volume outputs were matched to within 0,5 dB. These are unloaded scores.
(BTW, I like the AK240 more than I care to admit.)
Three M&D lads, two in plaid, one in navy
Two Fridays ago, Scott, Matt, and Drew of Master & Dynamic sat down to answer a few questions I had regarding their line of headphones including the MH40, which I rather dig. Key to their design/engineering strategy is focus. I digs it.
“M&D: As we move into a society where work spaces open up, we think that creative people will most enjoy our stuff. Our headphones help them tune out sundry conversations in collaborative work spaces around them and tune into their work. We designed our headphones to meet our needs. We are creating something for people like us. We are our demographic. And we think that everyone wants to be creative. And we want our phones to be part of the toolset that enables their creativity.
The other thing is that focus is paramount. If you start with intent, you can focus. By targeting a demographic, we were able to storyboard what we want, and sift out the stuff that we didn’t. We could really hone in on the problems we wanted to solve. And we want to make stuff that really connects to our customers. We want customers to return. It is kind of a Leica approach, where relationship and focusing on the long-term trumps a lot of other stuff.”
Tsukuba, Japan
