The Audio (Audio Gear)
I’m somewhat of an audiophile, (sort of, without deep pockets so I buy my gear only on sale or second hand 😬)
| Component | Product | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Cans | 2 x Sony MDR-100AAP | Current favorites, fun sounding without being too bassy. One for home, one for work. |
| Cans | Sony MDR-100ABN | More feature packed than 100MDR, but less comfortable (too tight on the head). Was hoping for a pure bluetooth version of the 100AAP but it actually sounds different–a lot worse if not powered. |
| Cans | HiFi-Man 4xx | From Drop.com, not impressed by Planar Magnetic technology, not too analytical but not particularly fun or interesting to listen to. |
| Cans | Ultrasones DJ1 Pro | Retired, still worked after four years, and I was a fan of it but I wanted something new. These were a bit too analytical and required EQ from me. |
| Cans | Sennheiser 555 | Retired, I liked them but I botched them attempting to do a cable mod. 😔 |
| Cans | Sennheiser 598 | One of my favorites, just an overall pleasure to listen to, but lost them during a move. |
| Cans | Bose QC25 | Gave to fiancée for Travel. These are solid, great ANC and not bad sound quality. Unfortunately my ears don’t like overear cans during plane rides (they get sweaty…) |
| IEM | Sony WI-1000X | My personal go to travel choice, excellent ANC wireless Earbuds with decent sound quality, fun sound stage. My only gripe is the neck band, it kind of sucks. Nevertheless, the size footprint is pretty small so thats a plus. |
| IEM | Xiaomi Pistons v2.0 | First step into Chi-Fi |
| IEM | Xiaomi Pistons v3.0 | Retired, replaced by 1More Triple Driver |
| IEM | Tin Audio T2 | Picked these up because of the rave reviews–honestly, I found these to sound awful. They are not bassy, but not clean analytical–it sounds congested. The best way I can describe it, is that the sound is much too bright, doesn’t have any “body“. It just doesn’t sound good. |
| IEM | 1More Triple Driver | Attempted to mod cable to be shorter, failed because the wires wouldn’t solder 😔 |
| IEM | 2 x MH755 with MMCX Mod | I had 3 but I failed modding the first one (used gorilla glue and it expanded in the casing…) |
| IEM | Sabbat E12 Ultra | Cheap, picked up during my Hong Kong trip. Bass is disgustingly muddy, but TWS for $50 and decent battery life. On the flip side the bass was so bad I go back into looking at headphones in HK and discovered the MH755’s |
| IEM | Samsung Icon X 2018 | Constant cut-outs, sold to colleague for cheap 😬 |
| IEM | RHA MA750i | While great sounding, a bit fatiguing. Gave up on them due to being unable to stay in my ears reliably regardless of the earbud tips |
| IEM | Beats Tours | Eventually fell apart, not particular good sounding–more of a fashion statement if anything. |
| IEM | BeatsX | Picked up on sale, great overall product, sound is lackluster, bad battery life |
| BT Adapter | FiiO BTR-1 | First foray into bluetooth audio for the headphone jack-less phone.. |
| BT Adapter | FiiO BTR-3 | I did it for the LDAC.. bit of a side grade from the BTR-1 |
| DAC | Smakn x5 | Some cheap no-name from God knows where, picked up for the hardware: PCM2706 + CS4344 |
| DAC/Player | FiiO x3 | Might look into setting it up as a Permanent Desktop DAC, currently collecting dust. |
| Earbuds | OSTRY KC08 | My favorite proper set of e a r b u d s. Yes, actual earbuds, IEM’s are not actually earbuds and it is such a PITA that people use the terms “IEM” and “earbuds” interchangeably. It makes it hard to research or search for actual EARBUDS. Rant aside, these are my favorite earbuds of all time, very similar sound signature to the MDR-100AAP without the full-size foot print. On the flip side these earbuds hurt my ears, so no good for long term listening. Unfortunately one channel stopped working and I completely ruined them trying to pop it open to re-solder (not repair friendly) |
| Monitors | 2 x JBL LSR305 | My favorites, clean and punchy. Relegated to TV Speakers along with a Polk Audio 10in. Subwoofer driven by a Chromecast Ultra |
| Monitors | 2 x Alesis M1 MK3 | Picked up to try to get surround using Google Audio Cast, these don’t sound particularly good. These are hooked up to two Chromecast Audios, was hoping I could leverage them as Surround speakers in the future (Google please). |
Sidenotes
- Bolded are daily drivers
- Currently eyeing at Pixel Buds 2 and Cambridge Melomania
- I like warm or mild V shaped signatures