[atechreviews]

I saw a sale on the SA6 MkII and I am interested in purchasing it but I would like to know first its ability in terms of detail retrieval. I have read mixed reviews regarding this so can anyone confirm?

I have the SA6 MK II and use it frequently alongside other IEMs. Its detail retrieval is among the best under $1,000—significantly better than the SA6 Ultra, Moondrop Variations, Blessing 3 DUSK, Sennheiser IE600, and XENNS UP, in my experience. However, it's slightly less detailed than the Elysian DIVA 2023 when compared side by side.

 

[atechreviews]

Sounds like Hifigo is waiting on their next batch of DaVinci and I will have to wait for it to happen. From one wait (Dusk) into the next
Oh well that is on me for waiting for impressions and not buying on day 1, I would not change it though. Hopefully they get new product again soon.

I think waiting for sound impressions from others is a smart move. Hopefully, you'll get your DaVinci soon.

 

[droid23]

I saw a sale on the SA6 MkII and I am interested in purchasing it but I would like to know first its ability in terms of detail retrieval. I have read mixed reviews regarding this so can anyone confirm?

Details and separation are amazing in the SA6 MkII, especially in the mids... I try to explain why I think so:

The SA6 MkII are a special treat in my opinion and they play in a very special class of IEMs. DUNU doubled down on a modern approach of a mids centric tuning curve. But be aware, that doesn't mean at all that the mids gain is just pushed up, no, they are much more psychoacoustically fine tuned. If you look at the FQ response of the MkII, you see that lower mids are slightly recessed below typical target curves, then, they "compensate" for that by ramping up steeper till 2 kHz, only to be flattened out again well below target until nearly 5 kHz (looks weird when you see it, but works tremendously well when you hear it). This special tuning gives the SA6 MkII one of the best mids centric vocal and instrument timbres and note weight I ever heard so far. It's a mindf**k actually because the mids are all still very clear and don't lack in precision, but are thick sweetly represented in a way that e.g. string instruments have a natural tonality and heft, which you very rarely will hear in IEMs.

When you now look at the higher frequencies, they have a nice gain in the mid treble (~8 kHz) and air region (~13 kHz). This gives the MkII still heaps of performance in separation and clarity, also because in the end, it's technically a 6BA IEM.

But IMHO there is one slight downside with this tuning, I personally was missing a better soundstage, and with theat I mean the depth aspect of headroom. Overall soundstage is wide, not super wide, but pleasantly wide. When it comes to depth sensing, the MkII are not the best player on the field. That said, you can still fiddle around with that by using wide bore tips or, as I said in a previous post, with cables with a higher silver proportion to bring out more treble details which results in a slightly better depth perception, slightly only of course, because cables alone won't ever change the basic tuning of an IEM too much, but they can change nuances... in a good way, if you know about which cable materials do what in a frequency domain.

I'd say, if the MkII are on offer, give them a chance, but especially if your music preferences are Classic, Jazz, Vocals, and in general, everything acoustic. Here, the MkII are one of the best price/performance IEMs on the market right now, to my ears of course. ...But I catch myself also enjoying Ambient Electronica a lot with these IEMs.
Of all the IEMs I have, they are still my #1, truly.

 

[MaxBass]

There is a significant problem with Tidal and many players; MQA is not supported by hardware codecs such as the CS43198, and when you decode music using software codecs, it results in mathematical artifacts and battery drain.

Tidal has better dynamics and it feels like the bass is also deeper or Boosted ?, while Deezer has a very clean, balanced sound that most times sounds better. I was a heavy Deezer user and I still use Deezer a lot and many times I prefer it over Tidal. Yes I have noticed some issues with Tidal lately especially when i was using the Hiby FC6 with my smartphone. From the first day I used Tidal, from noise, to search engine, to recommendations, to music discovery, everything about this App feels like one big bug and also isn’t random why it ranks last.

By the way I hit the next track button accidentally when I pick up the DX260 all the time so annoying is like companies do never test before release.

Now I'm writing this message while listening to the DX260 and the Glacier and I still come back to what I was talking about. Deezer has more clarity in the upper frequencies and is more balanced ,it colors the mids a bit and the shoutiness that was noticeable with Tidal is now less and less and less using your recommended filters and short wide bore eartips to make treble more forward and have even more treble presence but still is mid volume IEM .

Thank you for reminding me to use Deezer as I was only using Tidal recently.
Now it feels much better and more transparent and now im way happier.

 

[Argha]

Tidal has better dynamics and it feels like the bass is also deeper or Boosted ?, while Deezer has a very clean, balanced sound that most times sounds better. I was a heavy Deezer user and I still use Deezer a lot and many times I prefer it over Tidal. Yes I have noticed some issues with Tidal lately especially when i was using the Hiby FC6 with my smartphone. From the first day I used Tidal, from noise, to search engine, to recommendations, to music discovery, everything about this App feels like one big bug and also isn’t random why it ranks last.

By the way I hit the next track button accidentally when I pick up the DX260 all the time so annoying is like companies do never test before release.

Now I'm writing this message while listening to the DX260 and the Glacier and I still come back to what I was talking about. Deezer has more clarity in the upper frequencies and is more balanced ,it colors the mids a bit and the shoutiness that was noticeable with Tidal is now less and less and less using your recommended filters and short wide bore eartips to make treble more forward and have even more treble presence but still is mid volume IEM .

Thank you for reminding me to use Deezer as I was only using Tidal recently.
Now it feels much better and more transparent and now im way happier.

Any comparison of Qobuz with Deezer?

 

[MaxBass]

Any comparison of Qobuz with Deezer?

I have only used Qobuz once and never again. I will never use it again as it has no music comparable to other services and the UI and UX are terrible.

Example:
The differences between services with higher bitrates like Tidal or Qobuz lie in the dynamics rather than sheer resolution as the most important factor is how well the track is recorded to get detailed sound. 16bit = 96DB, 24 Bit = 144DB dynamic range, the range from very quiet to very loud, increased headroom and lower noise floor that’s why Tidal also feels deaper and dynamic and sharper or let’s say more aggressive.
For example the Dunu Glacier with Deezer colors the mids by a lot and has more treble and way smoother and leading to less aggressive sound compared to Tidal.
As I understand, with what I know, this difference is due to the dynamic range as the Glacier emphasizes the 3kHz range and with Tidal and higher Bit-Rates this certain frequency is over emphasized and highlighted due the Dynamic range and can get shouty and some sounds in the midrange can come more forward, also depending the DAC/AMP used. However because Deezer is limited to 16-bit/41.1kHz due it’s lower dynamic range it doesn't fully reveal this peak and the treble balances this peak resulting in midrange coloration and also Deezer can be perceived as a smoother and cleaner sounding service, less aggressive for most audio gear. Only when the gear is very high-end and capable we can take advantage of the higher bitrates and notice more nuances, lower noise flor and higher dynamic range.

Also the mastering consistency can be different across various music services leading to differences in clarity and detail. For example, Deezer might have the same track as Qobuz and Tidal but while Deezer offers it at 16-bit/44.1kHz, Tidal and Qobuz provide it at 24-bit/96kHz However the same track might sound worse on Qobuz and Tidal.

Trust your ears.