I’ve been an audio enthusiast for, about 2 years now, but one thing I noticed a lot of people (at least on Discord) tend to be using the same/similar setups (or chains as people call it), but I never could ask why they have it, since the servers… Were kinda bad in a lot of ways…
But I digress, I wanted to know what people use daily, just out of curiosity sake, and why do they use it. For me it’s AKG K701 (doesn’t matter that it’s made in Austria they’re the same thing as the Chinese ones) in Zen DAC. Speakers wise I plan to go with Kali Audio LP-6, and porta-fi (portable stuff) uhh, potentially Tin Hifi T3+ or Fearless S8Z In-Ears + Shanling M3X DAP.
Now, don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to spend too much on audio (like certain individuals tell you ). But I digress, I wanna hear from others, what do you daily drive? ^^;
Where looking for an Harman tuning for not a lot of money and these fit the bill very nicely. The 2.5mm cable is neede because I’m getting some RF in the cable + the DAC outputs more power over the 2.5mm output so drives them a bit better in my opinion.
The FiiO K3 is simple, has a volume knob, it’s flat on the response and the bass boost toggle is nice for when I want THICCC base without destroying the music I’m listening to.
Agree. I spent 100$ for the Moondrop + 100$ for the FiiO K3 + 35$ for the cable. 235$ all it. 240$ if you want to include the filters I had to buy from Shenzenaudio.
I find that a lot of headphones squeezes my ears against my glasses so the back of my ears hurt after a couple of hours. So I use headphones that don’t squeezes. On top of that I have tinnitus and I’m older so a pair of $100 headphones are really just wasted on me. Oh, and I’m cheap.
So at home I use Koss Porta Pro, might been called iPro because it have a microphone on the cord. When I’m out and about I use Monk Plus or [Headroom MS16] (Review: Headroom MS16 - AudioBudget).
Now I saw that Venture Electronics who make Monk Plus has a new pair of headphones called Supernova out so I might have to give them a try.
Main signal chain for music is ProJect DAC Box S2+ → Mackie Mix12FX → FMR Audio RNC1773 → LakePeople G103-S
Headphones depend on the music I listen to.
Headphones I have:
AKG K-712
AudioTechnica ATH-AD500x (in dire needs of new earpads)
AudioTechnica ATH-M40x (recently put new earpads on these)
Koss Porta Pro
Panasonic RP-HD10 (very comfy, sound signature has issues)
Magnat LZR-980 (plasticy, head-clamp with sound issues, but the bass is tight!)
Fostex T50RP (with HPAEC1540 Earpads and AKG foamdisks to slightly tame the treble)
Teenage Engineering M-1 (I thought they could be PortaPro alternatives, they are not!)
Why?
Because listening to music is fun, and all that effort the artist, recording and mastering engineer put in needs to be appreciated.
Plus twiddeling knobs is fun (hence the kitchen counter setup)
Depending on budget, you can get either “It’s solid for the price” or “God help me I just spent 40000$ on McIntosh” Wish you best luckin Chewb adventures
For me I use the onboard audio (ALC1220) with a Logitech Z906 setup. I am no audiophile but even I was able to appreciate the Z906 upgrade over my aging X530 speakers.
I don’t really like to use headphones but I do own one which is probably the cheapest Logitech headset available. It’s used primarily for work related zoom sessions and occasionally for coop gaming communication via discord.
At home Sennheiser 650’s with a Fiio Olympus 2 amp. Have had the headphones for years now and the build quality is much nicer than my old 555’s, which are coming up on their 10th birthday sometime soon. Both still work but the plastic has cracked all over the 555’s and they are held together with tape. Other than worn pads the 650’s are like new. I can see myself using these 650’s in 20 years time if they keep working they are great.
For out an about, WF-1000M3’s. The volume, battery and quality of these is fine. The noise cancellation is excellent which helps as I fly very often. But they stick out quite far and the tips you get with them aren’t very grippy so they slip out a lot, not great for the gym, or even eating if you have them in. I’ve got some new tips on the way that have tons of great reviews saying they fix this but I’ll see. failing that I’ll just get some of those plastic hooks that go over your ear to hold them in place.
Also I bought some Moondrop Chu’s, wired IEM’s, because they had rave reviews and are crazy cheap, like $20 so I figured why not. They are truly remarkable for their price point. There’s apparently some QC issues with the drivers so you might get unlucky, but they are so cheap and sound so incredibly good vs anything else I’ve ever heard in that price range, even beyond it in a a lot of cases. if you have a bit of coin to drop and need something new to listen to I highly recommended them.
). But I digress, I wanna hear from others, what do you daily drive? ^^;
