Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
First the X1S has some serious power I barley have it on and its loud enough. I'm confident I could destroy my IEMs if I turned this on on high volume so be careful. I can hear each instrument more clearly; they stand out from each other. I can hear some parts of songs that I barley noticed before and there are even some sounds present that I could never previously hear. Even the sound that I always noticed easily before is just on a different level Its so much fuller and clearer. There is simply more of everything that you want to hear.
Im very glad that I purchased this DAC/Amp its incredible! I promise you wont be sorry if you buy this .
Feel free to ask questions.
@MasudRana , I’ve not heard this Aune, but I have three amps I would consider a bit bright and no problem with the HD 650 I have (though the amps are a bit rough with my brighter IEMs). Some people would say that a brighter amp will synergize better with an HD 650, because it highlights the detail the HD 650 produces while the headphone keeps things smooth. When I see people write that an amp is bright, I often find on audition that the amp isn’t so much brighter but actually suffers from a bit of glare. @Jeff-D can clarify better than me on the Aune’s character, but so far he hasn’t pointed out any “glaring issues.” 😁
Regarding balanced amps... I think this 2014 article from Tyll Hertsens (before retiring this weekend) has some interesting things to say about balanced amps in general: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/canjam-rmaf-2014-showstopper-sonys-proposed-new-industry-standard-headphone-plugs
I found it interesting that he found his first balanced amp as something of an attention-grabbing gimmick... but it had real benefits in “the loss of the common ground, effective doubling of slew rate, and slight reduction in harmonic distortion do make it a superior, though more costly, way to drive headphones.“ Fortunately, balanced amps aren’t as expensive anymore, but the race is pretty close.
I can tell you this, every where I have seen people talking about how X1s is bright and how SHP9500 is bright. So when I was pairing those two I was worried about my brain blowing out. It didn't. X1s actually kept SHP9500's extra highs in check within tolerable limits.
Obviously I am no audiophile. I think, for most of us, general home users who just wants to enjoy good music, we really dont need to go into all that clinical debate on which sounds a tad bit that way than others. Am I going to notice the difference between a X1s and Jot? meh, I dont know.
Its funny, there was a period where I loved music while I played in my school orchestra and listened to music on CDs and two iPods, but after that at one point I didn’t enjoy music anymore. Audio took a backseat and I just didn’t enjoy music by itself anymore, always had to have something in addition to music to feel entertained. For gaming, I started to get into better gear again for headphone surround, and I started enjoying music again. In retrospect, I realized the laptop and computer headphone jacks and cheap speakers I had at the time where I was “music meh” were actually meh themselves, or even annoying or fatiguing after a few minutes.
So, on the flip side of you wondering if you’ll even notice a difference between the X1s and a Jotunheim, I’ve decided that there’s a lower threshold that’s not even worth listening to. The middle ground is pretty safe 😉
I have an HD1 in-ear bluetooth, which is interesting on several levels. It’s still got a warm sound, but it’s less boomy/blurred than the EDC, a more articulate sound but still a fair dose of fun. Being Bluetooth, it also comes with it‘s own built-in DAC and amp (Bluetooth is digital, DAC = Digital to Analog Converter, and then an Amp is needed to amplify the Analog signal before it reaches the drivers). It’s Bluetooth is actually a touch more advanced than the Momentum 2 Over Ear (now called the HD1, also), because it natively supports AAC audio without re-encoding it for transmission, which means stuff you might have bought from iTunes or stream from Apple Music will playback natively without quality loss, almost like you still have a wired connection. Nice for me and my iPhone 8+, haha (No headphone jack, sad face) Finally, the neckband is wrapped in comfy black leather with red stitching, and the neckband vibrates if your phone gets a notification and the earpieces not in your ears. Sennheiser also makes a cheaper version in black and blue without the leather or vibration, called the CX 7.00 BT. There’s also the ones without the neckband and just a behind the neck wire, called HD1 Free and CX 6.00 BT respectively.
Long description of the wireless In Ear that can’t be used with the Aune, on a drop for the Aune, I know... but maybe it’ll give you something to think about in general. When I think of In Ears, I think about using them straight out of a nice phone (like an older iPhone or LG), Bluetooth, or for maximum quality connected to a DAP (like an iPod, FiiO, Astell & Kern, etc), not so much with a desktop DAC/Amp. Desktop DAC/Amps ARE GREAT, but usually for less sensitive or harder to drive headphones like the HD 6XX or HE-4XX, but a Desktop DAC/Amp used with In Ears are so much more sensitive that you might hear a background hiss that you wouldn’t hear with less sensitive headphones.
thank you for the advice, I am interested that wireless can be high quality and works well with apple music
I will research all the options we have mentioned.... cheers