Headphones IEM

[bayerische]

Having two Dachshunds, a 3,5 month old kid, and a Wife... Listening time with my Beolab 5's isn't much these days.

I have several good headphones, many Bang&Olufsen, a pair of Sennheisers, a pair of AKG. However I've never owned a headphone amp. A bit daft I must say. Being an audiophile and all....

Well, today I received my set of RHA gear.

IEH, or headphones, as I prefer to call them, the RHA "CL1".

Headphone amp/DAC, RHA DACAMP1.

[bayerische]

Where do I start...? Build quality perhaps. Just Amazing.

First time I see balanced outputs on a headphone amp... XLR's.

Headphones are Injection moulded Ceramics!

[perpetualman88]

haha balanced outlets for headphones!!! thats insane and so cool!!!! congrats! how do they sound

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by perpetualman88

haha balanced outlets for headphones!!! thats insane and so cool!!!! congrats! how do they sound

Absolutely wonderful.

For the 700 euro or so they cost with the AMP/DAC it is a steal!

[bayerische]

The Amp is a bit of a fiddly thing, with several dials and selectors. Feels very robust in the hand. Is battery driven so excellent on the run too!

Quite heavy at around 200grams.

Sound quality is amazing. Settings for gain, treble, bass, volume. Option to use the XLR or regular 3,5mm. I've found it best to leave the T&B settings on zero and turn off all iTunes EQ.

[enjoythemusic]

Nice and congratulations. Once you go custom in ear monitors all those universals kind of fade away.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

Nice and congratulations. Once you go custom in ear monitors all those universals kind of fade away.

Perhaps, but my point is, what are they connected to? iPhone straight on? Rubbish.

The AMP/DAC does the work here.

Custom IEM aren't much better than what is driving them/and the innards of them. I'm sure the moulding of the earpiece to your ear is great, but expensive headphones to a smartphone will never be great. You need some power behind it.

[enjoythemusic]

Originally Posted by bayerische

Perhaps, but my point is, what are they connected to? iPhone straight on? Rubbish.

100% agree iPhone is rubbish. Just met with many headamp guys this past weekend at RMAF about their upcoming stuff... and yes, have true balanced amps and cables here (hope pure silver wire balanced meets your requirements ).

Wish more people took a bit of time and effort like you to investigate higher sound quality for both portable and home music systems.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

100% agree iPhone is rubbish. Just met with many headamp guys this past weekend at RMAF about their upcoming stuff... and yes, have true balanced amps and cables here (hope pure silver wire balanced meets your requirements ).

Wish more people took a bit of time and effort like you to investigate higher sound quality for both portable and home music systems.

Sounds very interesting!

In my older setup (many years ago) I had Nordost silver cables... Before silver got seriously expensive.

[superdog]

Wow!!

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by superdog

Wow!!

They sound phenomenal Seth!

Not like a headphone, never really liked the sound of them. These sound like an awesome high-end floor standing speaker.

[bayerische]

The Bass control on these are just crazy, Listening to Jackson Brownes "Everywhere I go" right now and that excellent bass guitar which is pulling the song along is amazing!

[uscmatt99]

Originally Posted by bayerische

The Bass control on these are just crazy, Listening to Jackson Brownes "Everywhere I go" right now and that excellent bass guitar which is pulling the song along is amazing!

Dang, I haven't been able to get this thread out of my head. I had a pair of Fiio F9 Pro that I lost after a week of ownership, and my Chi-Fi pair of VSonic GR07 have finally frayed through a cable. It had been awhile since I fell into the cesspool of Head-Fi forums, but I couldn't stop once I started....

Reading about the set you got, it seems like the driver set-up necessitates using an amp, and they designed the amp to match. That's awesome!

I decided to bit the bullet and move up the ladder a bit. I'm trying out a brand called Campfire Audio out of Oregon, just put in an order for the Polaris model. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up using a desktop amp vs a portable amp vs the easily losable iPhone lightning to 3.5mm DAC/Amp widget. If they need an amp, I'll probably get another Radsone Ear Studio too.

Hope you're still enjoying your rig

[PJ S]

Forgive me Andreas, but an audiophile you are not.
B&O?
4-pole non-balanced XLR?
Analog tone controls?

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by PJ S

Forgive me Andreas, but an audiophile you are not.
B&O?
4-pole non-balanced XLR?
Analog tone controls?

Oh no?

Ever cared to read up on Bang & Olufsens Beolab 5's? Or have a listen?

Non balanced XLR's? What are you talking about? They are balanced.

Why the negativity?

[PJ S]

Originally Posted by bayerische

Oh no?

Ever cared to read up on Bang & Olufsens Beolab 5's? Or have a listen?

Non balanced XLR's? What are you talking about? They are balanced.

Why the negativity?

Don’t need to read up on anything B&O has done – critical listening is all that’s required.
If Class D amplification was audiophile grade, you can bet various high end manufacturers would’ve long since adopted it. That they haven’t speaks volumes.
Don’t get me wrong, it has its place, just not when it comes to audiophile equipment.

The XLR is doing nothing more than your LR RCAs — if it where true diffential balanced, it’d be twin 3-pole or a 6-pole single for space restriction/convenience.
In order to be balanced, your positive and negative voltages must be referenced to a common ground, which isn’t connected to the shield of the cable or the body of the connector.

As a true audiophile, you’d know the negative impact of multiple connections along the signal path — the IEMs really should be hardwired to the DAC box, if you’re going to use it between the iPhone and them.
I presume your files are 320kbps m4a/mp3 rather than FLAC, which will mean a certain amount of data has been discarded compared to the original AIF.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by PJ S

Don’t need to read up on anything B&O has done – critical listening is all that’s required.
If Class D amplification was audiophile grade, you can bet various high end manufacturers would’ve long since adopted it. That they haven’t speaks volumes.
Don’t get me wrong, it has its place, just not when it comes to audiophile equipment.

The XLR is doing nothing more than your LR RCAs — if it where true diffential balanced, it’d be twin 3-pole or a 6-pole single for space restriction/convenience.
In order to be balanced, your positive and negative voltages must be referenced to a common ground, which isn’t connected to the shield of the cable or the body of the connector.

As a true audiophile, you’d know the negative impact of multiple connections along the signal path — the IEMs really should be hardwired to the DAC box, if you’re going to use it between the iPhone and them.
I presume your files are 320kbps m4a/mp3 rather than FLAC, which will mean a certain amount of data has been discarded compared to the original AIF.

You assume too much, people like you are best to ignore.

I would suggest you take a quick guide about the 4-pin XLR. It’s not snake oil. It’s simple electronics.

Meanwhile, I'm having a blast with my new gear, and also with my "Old" gear my Beolab 5's. Which I love.

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by bayerische

You assume too much, people like you are best to ignore.

I would suggest you take a quick guide about the 4-pin XLR. It’s not snake oil. It’s simple electronics.

Meanwhile, I'm having a blast with my new gear, and also with my "Old" gear my Beolab 5's. Which I love.

Andreas is correct, at least about the XLR (can’t say about the other connectors or components). How do I know? Well, I was Director of Engineering for 12 years for that small company... what was the name of it again? Oh yeah...

SONY

[SearChart]

Nice setup Andreas

I have a pair of Shure Se215 IEM, not as high end as your setup but I love the sound that they produce, definitely a lot better than any of my Bose headphones.

[cruise_bone]

Originally Posted by searchart

nice setup andreas

i have a pair of shure se215 iem, not as high end as your setup but i love the sound that they produce, definitely a lot better than any of my bose headphones.

+1 !!!

But I would surely love to hear this new setup.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by SearChart

Nice setup Andreas

I have a pair of Shure Se215 IEM, not as high end as your setup but I love the sound that they produce, definitely a lot better than any of my Bose headphones.

Nice pair, heard a lot of good stuff about these.

[Burlington]

Originally Posted by SearChart

Nice setup Andreas

I have a pair of Shure Se215 IEM, not as high end as your setup but I love the sound that they produce, definitely a lot better than any of my Bose headphones.

Likewise, shure user here too. Very happy with them indeed. I use foam tips which block almost all ambient sound so perfect for flying

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by Burlington

Likewise, shure user here too. Very happy with them indeed. I use foam tips which block almost all ambient sound so perfect for flying

I've used the foam as well, but for day to day using I prefer silicone

[uscmatt99]

Looks like a pretty sweet rig! I recently lost my best set of IEM's so looking to get another pair. How is the comfort? I have weird shaped small ear canals that tend to push out the tips over time, and after a long search I've settled on Spin-Fit extra small tips. I give up some low-end compared to the memory foam tips, but the mids and highs sound better.

I know you've got some great amplification there, but something to consider for trips where you don't want to carry it.... I had a Radsone Ear Studio ES100 that was lost with my last IEM's. It's a tiny Bluetooth amp that supports the higher resolution codecs, and can run balanced or with the standard stereo jack. The app that goes with it is very slick, it's tiny, cheap, and lasts for around 8 hours. That way I could play music from my iPhone without having it cabled to the lightning jack, but still enjoy my favorite IEMs rather than some Beats workout IEMS. I didn't think it gave anything up to my wired Fiio amp. Then again a certain contributor on the thread would not consider me an audiophile either, but I'm okay with that!

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by uscmatt99

Looks like a pretty sweet rig! I recently lost my best set of IEM's so looking to get another pair. How is the comfort? I have weird shaped small ear canals that tend to push out the tips over time, and after a long search I've settled on Spin-Fit extra small tips. I give up some low-end compared to the memory foam tips, but the mids and highs sound better.

I must say the comfort is excellent. They also block out background sound nicely. Lot's of different tips come along with the set. I changed the ones pre-installed as they where too big. I also have narrow ear canals, so I opted for the Small size made of rubber. Foam-tips are also provided.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

100% agree iPhone is rubbish. Just met with many headamp guys this past weekend at RMAF about their upcoming stuff... and yes, have true balanced amps and cables here (hope pure silver wire balanced meets your requirements ).

Wish more people took a bit of time and effort like you to investigate higher sound quality for both portable and home music systems.

Originally Posted by bayerische

Having two Dachshunds, a 3,5 month old kid, and a Wife... Listening time with my Beolab 5's isn't much these days.

I have several good headphones, many Bang&Olufsen, a pair of Sennheisers, a pair of AKG. However I've never owned a headphone amp. A bit daft I must say. Being an audiophile and all....

Well, today I received my set of RHA gear.

IEH, or headphones, as I prefer to call them, the RHA "CL1".

Headphone amp/DAC, RHA DACAMP1.

You guys are going to cost me money...

Congrats on thr new gear!

[bdex75]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

You guys are going to cost me money...

Congrats on thr new gear!

Exactly. Was just thinking how good my wireless Bluetooth Bose sounded, and then Andreas started this thread. And I had to subscribe. Dammit internet.


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[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by bdex75

Exactly. Was just thinking how good my wireless Bluetooth Bose sounded, and then Andreas started this thread. And I had to subscribe. Dammit internet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

X 3! Thanks a lot Andreas!

[Alexwwjd]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

X 3! Thanks a lot Andreas!

X4 Yes! Thanks a lot!

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by bdex75

Exactly. Was just thinking how good my wireless Bluetooth Bose sounded, and then Andreas started this thread. And I had to subscribe. Dammit internet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

IBTL.