I absolutely love how these cans sound, easily one of if not the most enjoyable closed-back cans I own. But they are loaded with QC issues. First to go are the earpads. They rip from the seam. Then the headband starts to flake after about half a year of use. But the biggest problem is that...

Seems there are two revisions of the X16 out in the wild. On the left you have one with 2 caps in front of the RCA on the right a relay.

I love how they tout no MQA as a feature. The industry needs more middle fingers to MQA

Do they have independent volume control? I've never seen anyone mention the new acoustone single anywhere.

I still remember your review on the atrox amp. Almost bought one myself. Do you still own it?

It's not a one-off issue though. Ever since I posted the driver pictures 3 users in the loaner group have told me that they've faced the same issue on their own units, 2 Para and 1 Venus. One member sent me this picture and it's the Para they just bought last month. They sent the headphones back...

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm leaning towards it being more of a QC issue rather than rough handling. The driver housing of this headphone is very sturdy. Quite unlikely that someone before me puts enough pressure on the housing to actually deform the driver. On the other hand if you drop the...

Wrinkled driver aside, the Venus sounds pretty good on my system. I demoed it when it first came out and was unimpressed. This time I was able to test it more thoroughly on my own system. The overall sound is cohesive and inoffensive. Good detail retrieval, okay soundstage, great...

My loaner unit Venus arrived yesterday and the left driver is winkled. The right driver looks fine. The wrinkled driver has better bass output. I tried swapping the L/R channel and result is consistent: every time I hear more bass from the wrinkled driver.

It's not. The op-amps are SMT parts, not thru-hole. Unless you're willing to go through the effort of desoldering them with a heat gun, they're not going to be replaceable.

Nice review Polky! Mirrors my feelings when I first got them. I've had them for 9 months now. They are the first dongle to feature the 4493S, and what's funny is that it wouldn't be a year and a half later until another 4493S dongle hit the market. Actually two dongles not one. both colorfly and...

We need more AK4493S dongles and AK gave us one! Will be testing these once my dealer gets a hold of them.

They ain't gonna do crap. You expect a company that releases 5 products every month to update a 2-yr old product?

Design looking clean! But will there be another AKM based dongle like the UA3?

Took delivery of a signature studio today. It's my 2nd pair and it definitely sounds very, very different from the first pair that I sold off. I love ultrasones but they always have crazy unit variation, e.g. the SN #663 sig pro I have on hand also sounds noticably different from a SN#2981 I...

Really curious about the fusion. Any more detail? Is it gonna use mylar drivers like the Pure does or will it be a metal one?

The natural is indeed a great headphone but I prefer their predecessor, the signature studio. To me the studio is even tighter sounding, and the sound as a whole is extremely clean and precise.

That's not what I'm asking. I'm not just trying to control volume I want to make sure that the volume is being controlled in the hardware domain. Earlier you replied that there is no way for the computer to control hardware volume, so does that mean if I max out the internal volume control on...

So you mean the internal volume control is the a hardware-based volume control? Does that mean to be bit-perfect I have to always set windows volume at 100% and control the dongle's volume by pressing the middle button?

The thing is this dongle has an internal volume control which is independent from system volume, or what you'd call hardware volume when you engage exclusive mode on UAPP. Usually when you engage ASIO or WASAPI on the computer or exclusive mode on your phone they take direct control of hardware...

Took delivery of this little beast 3 days ago and I'm loving it so far. One question though: for it to be bit-perfect, do you always have to set windows volume at 100 and control the volume via EddictPlayer or by pressing the physical volume buttons? All other dongles I've tried would sync...

And now they're poking their claws into the estats territory. At $399 the pricing is worth an orgasm or two but given how most of their amps sound (compressed and lifeless, at least to me), I have my doubts.

This is huge. Hee-yuuuuuu-dge.

Tried the VENUS at a local store yesterday. On the FIIO K7 it sounds flat and unengaging, same story with the QLS QA390. Moving on to the K9PRO really opens up the sound though, bass seems to gain much more presence and the sound becomes more focused. One issue I have with this headphone though...

I've always wanted to do that. I find the L700's treble a bit too hot for my liking and was wondering if the OFC cable on the L500 can help tone it down.