I created a modified version of the original bass port design, which used a 2.5mm connector. I believe a 3.5mm connector would work as well. Mine have reinforced screw bosses to prevent them from twisting off so easily. (I have also created reinforced versions of the original hirose model and...

What are your recommendations for good quality paint brands, types, & sources? I picked up a pair of AEON RTs, which are now my daily drivers. So I decided to rebuild my Open Alphas with Hirose connectors, set screw bass adjustment, and (hopefully) a better finish quality than I was able to...

Excellent!

I was afraid the volume pot might have been one place they skimped to get to this price point. Is the channel imbalance on all the outputs (balanced, unbalanced, and variable RCA out)? I was thinking of using the variable RCA out to feed my Vali 2, which also has a terrible volume pot.

Here’s a stencil for cutting the felt on the ear side of the driver: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/67PFtjAkzmN Here’s a stencil for cutting the gasket between the ear cup and baffle assembly. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0oTNXVKIY0O

I'm curious about what others have experienced here. Power-wise, the Objective 2 is about halfway between what I've tried: These sound poor plugged directly to mobile devices and other low powered amps, and they sound magnificent with my Vali 2, which has nearly twice the power of the Objective...

It's been a while since I got mine dialed in, but here's my recollection: The midbass was the one band that I couldn't figure out how to dampen, so I loosened things up in other bands: Upper 2 bass ports covered, and the lowest one drilled out slightly. (Not sure why this worked, but it did.)...

Yes, they sound great with the Mk3 drivers. There’s always some tuning to be done with the ports, fill, earpads, etc., but beyond the initial soldering, no driver modification is necessary. The mrSpeakers pads are absolutely worth it. Super comfortable and one less variable in replicating the...

They look great! Those SLA parts seem well worth the cost. Now welcome to the (genuinely) fun stage of tuning them!

I'd love to hear how the open back version turned out. Given how much small changes in the earcup venting changes the sound of the semi/closed version, I'm certainly curious how they behave in an infinite baffle.

At 16/44 over USB, the only advantage of the EL would be the cool looking LED ring on the front and possibly the form factor. (I considered paying the extra for the EL’s wider chassis just so I could stack a Vali 2 on top of it.)

$99 OL DAC is USB only. $139 OL DAC is USB + optical $249 EL DAC is coaxial, optical, and Class 2 USB From the EL DAC website: “EL DAC supports up to 32/384kHz audio using a dedicated 45/49MHz clock pair. While we claim no measurable superiority of high sampling rates, UAC2 and ASIO support...

Or if you prefer to stay with CDs, get a good CD player and connect it directly to the Vali 2.

So you are playing CDs in a computer to a USB DAC to the Vali 2? If so, I think your problem is a combination of 1) the CD-ROM drive being a terrible transport mechanism for audio CDs, and 2) the computer being a really noisy source of USB audio. Laptops and desktops are generally very noises...

Another question: Is the OL DAC (USB) considered asynchronous? I bought it based on the DAC chip and power supply, but it just occured to me to wonder if the USB chip is asynchronous. (I did some googling, but didn't find an answer.)

I was fortunate to get one of the OL DAC's with the DIP switches installed, but I haven't yet started tinkering with them. My understanding is that the differences between settings will be rather subtle, so it made me wonder: Is it OK to change the DIP switches while the DAC is powered on and...

Agreed. They have an open design with little isolation, so they are mostly for use while alone. That being the case, the appearance doesn’t matter that much.

Thanks, @IBJamon; it worked! It was a tiny bit noisy plugged up to AC power, but it seemed to have enough power (volume at 12 o'clock was plenty loud). The sound wasn't stellar, but I wouldn't expect it to be from a $40 plastic amp (especially fed from an ancient iPod with compressed tracks)...

I'm curious about this "beast mode" that everyone's raving about. If I am using T50RP drivers in a dual entry configuration (mono jacks in each cup), can I just use a balanced cable (separate ground conductor for each side) and connect directly to the speaker outputs of a stereo amp? If the...

If you search for “DC” in the main Vali 2 thread, there are definitely some posts that cause concern for using the Vali 2 as a preamp in a speaker rig. If you do decide to use it that way, the good news is that most of the really expensive tubes have more air/extension/detail/resolve/etc...

Correct. He said they stopped including them a few months ago.

Just had a nice chat with Audeze support. This is all probably old news to those who have been on the iSine train for a while, but for any other newbies like me: 1) The iSine tips aren’t supposed to insert all the way in the ear canal, they just rest at the end of it. Instead of using a small...

I swapped out the plain tips for the other style, and—how shall I say this?—the ribbed ones were more pleasurable (to listen to). :darthsmile: Still sounds a little pinched compared to my closed cans (and my car), but the bass is much more present now. Also, I had forgotten that the Audeze HQ...

After 12 long days, my LX’s and cipher cable finally arrived yesterday. I left them breaking in for a few hours today, and put them on to listen tonight. Hrmm, it seems that the bottom two octaves must have gotten lost in shipping. The roll off below 90hz is so sharp that if this were in my car...

Funny story: After months of searching for a bargain, I finally gave in and paid a ridiculous amount of money for a Western Electric JW 2C51 in top shape. It was shipped in an box that was comical large, and as I excitedly opened the package my five year-old asked “What is it Daddy?” Without...