I believe it’s actually the opposite… planar drivers don’t have as much excursion, so they have to be relatively larger than dynamic driver types in order to create equivalent air displacement. If you had a dynamic and planar driver of equal size and same enclosure, it’s the planar that would...

Yeah… if I find an IEM uncomfortable, it’s immediately dead in the water for me. And I’ve tried dozens of IEMs but none have ever truly felt comfortable or disappeared, merely some felt tolerable. I do appreciate that they’re easier to take on the go, and wireless ones are like an adapter where...

Good thing is I can assure you it sounds drastically different from any IEM. I’m a fan of the build quality: they managed to do metal (aluminum or magnesium? 🤷‍♂️) in such a way that it’s still lightweight, but it looks sleek and doesn’t creak. I also appreciate the design touches for replacing...

Aaand that’s a DAC/amp… I don’t really need another DAC/amp, buuuut I used to have the OG Mojo and it sounded really good to me.

Ok, stream of consciousness notes time, featuring Anaconda by Strunz & Farah. First off, the YouTube compression is obvious. I know you shared it that way because I know from @Currawong ‘s server that you are the penultimate nice guy, and you wanted me and everyone else to be able to hear this...

Is there any device that offers both crossfeed and EQ, that isn’t pc software? Sort of like a Schiit Loki + Syn, as an all-in-one.

I hear you… I didn’t get to go to any CanJams until I randomly decided I had enough money to fly from Pennsylvania to the Denver Colorado RMAF CanJam and share a hotel room with a friend. Before that, I had spent 7 years just lurking and talking on Head-Fi, but after that trip suddenly I had a...

I don’t think any other amp in your collection sounds like it. Would be an awesome to hear it on your Woo Audio WA22!! Got a song request that I should test?

I agree, the HD 800S bass is a complex subject. I think I mentioned a little about it earlier, but there’s so much stigma around it being a bright and airy headphone that I was shocked when I actually heard it for the first time (“Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes” by Paul Simon), and felt the...

Ugh! My best friend is visiting Japan right now, with his family, until the end of April. I’m sooooo jealous! What the HD 800 lacks in bass amplitude and wet warmth, it does have very tight and hard hitting bass texture. HD 800S too. And of course, it’s also a headphone that comes to people’s...

Yes! It’s something I always pay attention to. I used to have an AKG with a series of hard bumps in the headband strap, one centered right at that peak, but I was so much happier when I got another one later with the bumps arranged with a gap at the central peak. I also went to Toys “R” Us and...

The reason I’m excited about Stormgate is that the dev team is made up of ex-StarCraft & Warcraft developers from Blizzard. Blizzard, Frost Giant… get it? 😉 They have a lot of ambitions for co-op and multiplayer party modes, I think that will be a lot of fun alongside the competitive stuff (I...

Ok, apparently the PU leather headband is anti-allergic. I was concerned that it didn’t look replaceable, but Axel told me it is: “Take a guitar pick [I’m less cool, so I’d use a spudger] and press it into the seam between the upper and lower part of the headband and turn/move it until the lower...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/axel-grell-headphone.967413/post-18075011 I don’t know the release date… but if this is a pre-production tooling with finalized sound, it’s probably not far off. First runs are almost always a small batch though, so there will probably be a series of runs with...

Reminder: Drop told me some minor cosmetic changes are possible.

The dongle is a good baseline, but I only find it with the qualifier "Good for $9." Honestly, it sounded better and recorded voiceovers better than my iMac's built-in headphone jack, but every other DAC/amp I have sounds better. But I own four of the dongles, because they are so convenient and...

Not yet (I’m working my day job) but when I get home I’ll take out the Panasonic and try to get some good photos for the full review.

Drop just sent me the OAE1 over the weekend! My first impressions are here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/axel-grell-headphone.967413/post-18075011

First listen was playing Helldivers 2 with Sony’s great Temptest 3D Audio live surround processing… that builds on a headphone’s innate soundstage and instrument separation, and in that situation the OAE1 is a great platform for adding spatial recordings or processing. I have the easiest time...

Ok everyone, big news (at least for me)! Drop responded to my inquiry, and shipped me the CanJam NYC sample, grell OAE1 Signature. Some embargoed info (or info I just don’t know): 1. Your guess is as good as mine about the price and release date. 2. This sample has final tuning, but there may...

High End show @xlcans ?

Well, it’s rare that a whole production batch could go wrong, so be careful about assuming a correlation between QC dates and defects. I have no incentive to defend HiFiman, but I am aware that problems may look more common online than are actually statistically true, and we consumers are prey...

Are you able to mark the item as defective as the reason for return? That will help prevent someone else from getting a bad headphone. I know that might seem like it’s not your problem, but in the macro view, it will help both Amazon and HiFiman get a more accurate count of how many defective...

Oh wow, I heard a headphone powered with that Milo amp, it’s an amazing brute! ⚡️

I owned the HD 700 for a bit, for me it had a bit more bass than the AKG K712 I was comparing to at home, a little better imaging/directionality with my surround DSPs, but it had an obvious scoop in the upper mids (like female vocals) and despite the moderate impedance (and modest voltage...