[splat]jhanby - Sound

[jhanby]

Upcoming articles:

Why vintage gear - Sir Barton - Have heard from SB - PMed 11/12/09, have not heard back
Desktop Sound: Turning It Up A Notch - Nightelph
Upgrading to an older MP3 player - KonaKona
Review of HD-25 II - KonaKona

Focus areas:

Why we audiophiles pay lots of money for good sound.

How to get the most for your money

Article Contributors (members who have submitted articles to you):

jhanby
EnablingWolf
KonaKona

Forum Experts (people who you can rely on for fact checking):

KonaKona
Aynjyll
Sir Barton
MadMan007

Forum Correspondents (members who help you stay up to date on forum activity):

Established writers (members who have sent you repeated content):

KonaKona
Aynjyll

Published articles:

Audiophiles : A brief introduction - jhanby (http://www.overclockers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4547:audiophiles-a-brief-introduction&catid=54:howto&Itemid=4260)
AD700 vs MS1 - KonaKona (http://www.overclockers.com/athad700-ms1-considered/)
A Review of Audio Technica ATH-AD700 - Aynjell (http://www.overclockers.com/review-audio-technica-athad700/)
A review of the Evo-G HS1 - Enablingwolf (http://www.overclockers.com/evog-hs1-gaming-headset-review/)
Sliding down that slippery slope - A review of the W5000 - jhanby (http://www.overclockers.com/sliding-slope-review-audio-technica-athw5000/)
Review of HD-25 II - KonaKona (http://www.overclockers.com/sennheiser-hd-251-ii-headphones-review/)

Pending articles submitted to editors:

[I.M.O.G.]

Good start, looking forward to some content from this area.

[jhanby]

Added a second article, submitted to IMOG 10/08/09.

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for the submission! I'll look it over and get back to you. Nice sig link by the way.

One more thing - can we use American date formats in support of my sanity? Month/day/year is the way nature intended! :rolleyes:

[jhanby]

Thanks for the submission! I'll look it over and get back to you. Nice sig link by the way.

One more thing - can we use American date formats in support of my sanity? Month/day/year is the way nature intended! :rolleyes:

Thanks.

And Ok then :) I've change all of mine to follow your format.

And on a side note, pretty much every other thread has either yourself or mdcomp at the front of the tittle, except mine. Is there any reason for this ?

John

[I.M.O.G.]

Good question.

No one has officially claimed you yet. We're kinda stepping on eachothers toes as necessary anyways, but we'll put a name in front of it soon - we haven't had much time to talk to eachother lately.

The name in front is just for us to know who we're primarily working with, and for you to know who best to go to when you need something.

[I.M.O.G.]

Your articles been sent to Joe, waiting for an update on that from him.

Any updates on the vintage gear article?

[jhanby]

Your articles been sent to Joe, waiting for an update on that from him.

Any updates on the vintage gear article?

Thanks.

Nothing yet, but have just PMed Sir Barton.

[I.M.O.G.]

Joe had excellent feedback for your article, liked it a lot. Find it on the frontpage now. When you get a chance, can you create the frontpage discussion thread? (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=621277)

[jhanby]

Joe had excellent feedback for your article, liked it a lot. Find it on the frontpage now. When you get a chance, can you create the frontpage discussion thread? (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=621277)

Thats great news ! :D

Sure I'll do one right now.

EDIT : YGPM IMOG

[jhanby]

UPDATE : have spoken to SB. The vintage gear article is taking a bit longer than he first though. No firm ETA.

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for the update!

[I.M.O.G.]

Anything going on bud?

[jhanby]

Unfortunately not.

I will do my weekly kick again, but tbh I'm not getting many (if any !) replies to PMs.

There are several people that have just not replied to any PMs I send, which is pretty dam rude.

But what can I do ...

EDIT : Forgot to add that Aynjell has agreed to start writing weekly reviews on his new gear.

Hes currently writing them with no firm ETA, but soon.

[I.M.O.G.]

That's good news, thanks man. Too bad about the PM's, but not everyone's interested I suppose (and some people don't have notifications turned on for PM's).

[I.M.O.G.]

What's going on with sound bud? Have you followed up with Aynjell lately?

[jhanby]

What's going on with sound bud? Have you followed up with Aynjell lately?

Followed up last night.

He is busy atm, but asked if a review on his new LD 1+ amp would be OK, I said yes of course.

Should be coming along in about a week.

Also have been chasing Sir Barton, but have not heard anything back as of yet.

[Aynjell]

What's going on with sound bud? Have you followed up with Aynjell lately?

hey guys, I've been swamped with new gear, work, and other projects. I've started writing the review on the amplifier, and it's coming out nicely.

What kind of page limit should I put on it, and how should I provide pictures? What resolution should I edit them to, etc?

Stuff to expect a rewiew on within the next 3-5 months:

Audio Technica ATH-AD700
Grado SR80i
Grado SR325i
Grado Pads (Yes, I'm going to go into detail on the pads and the sound effect they seem to provide me as well as comfort!)
Altec Lansing UHP336 (They're functionally identical to Super.Fi 3's by Ultimate Ears)
Sony MDR-V6
Little Dot I+
Chu Moy Based Amplifier
FiiO E5 Amplifier


The rest of my stuff is not really important. The list will also grow as new gear comes in!

[I.M.O.G.]

Images: Whatever you consider reasonable is fine, the site thumbnails them so it's no big deal. We haven't developed a standard resolution/format yet for images.

Articles thus far have been between 1 - 4 pages mostly, single spaced.

Most people have been providing pictures in a zipped archive, and usually they aren't more than 10MB. If you get them in a reasonable format, but they're still much larger than that, you can upload the archive somewhere (rapidshare, etc) and provide the link in the article.

[Aynjell]

I apologize once more for this taking so long, fact of the matter:

Audio equipment is far too subjective to simply say "good or bad".

I'm primarily working on my LD I+ review, and I ran into a problem with a ground loop between it and my X-Fi titanium. Huge points off for that. Again, still working on the setup, and it will probably be some more time. I don't want to write a review until I'm sure it's the definitive article!

I've given very little to this community, but when I give my reviews to it, please understand I've put time, effort, and heart into these reviews, not just writing up an initial impression. The review reflects not just me, but us as a community, so please give me the patience that WE deserve and I promise strong reviews... it just seems like a new thing comes up all the time. I'll submit the review when I get a solid week without learning anything new about it. After that, headphones will be simple and easy.

[I.M.O.G.]

Sounds like something to look forward to bro, that timeline works for me. Appreciate the update, I just don't want it to fall off our radar.

[Aynjell]

Sounds like something to look forward to bro, that timeline works for me. Appreciate the update, I just don't want it to fall off our radar.


I really appreciate teh patience, and I promise not to disappoint. Last night I had to tear apart both my PC's and get them back to their original setups (so I'm back at the helm of my beast!)

And bam, smack in the face wit that ground loop issue. It sounds good, but I'm not sure I can reccomend the product after that due to it being incompatible with the X-Fi cards. Personally, I don't think it's an issue with the amp, but rather with the card, but who knows?

:shrug:

If the only thing in my arsenal that causes is is the X-Fi Titanium fault is probably on Creative for thier design of the X-Fi and where they put ground.

Back to wrok for now, but I'll be working a bit on the review tonite... every second i listen to it I'm working on the review.

:comp:

By the way, the new emoticons are win.

[I.M.O.G.]

Glad you like them - all thanks should go to the mods. If it were my design decision, this site would be stuck on ascii. Fortunately, it isn't my decision, and the mods like frivolous stupid icons. :chair:

:D

[Aynjell]

Glad you like them - all thanks should go to the mods. If it were my design decision, this site would be stuck on ascii. Fortunately, it isn't my decision, and the mods like frivolous stupid icons. :chair:

:D

:blah:

[jhanby]

Its good that you are keeping us informed :).

Don't worry about timescales. Nothing good has ever come to something that has been rushed.

Thank you again.

[I.M.O.G.]

Sir Barton ever get back to you? Might be time for another followup.

[jhanby]

Sir Barton ever get back to you? Might be time for another followup.

I've just PMed him, see if he comes back.

I'm back from my brief time of this week btw :)

Thank you.

[Aynjell]

I will be focusing very strongly on writing the review next week. I have something else in my life right now that demands my attention. Love knows no bounds, and conquers all, as they say. Unfortunately, it conquers writing reviews too.

I'll try and have a review written. It's been very stable since the last revelation so I'm ready to give an impression on the device.

[I.M.O.G.]

Your overclockers.com Editor account has been created. Let me know if you have any trouble logging in, or any questions. A guide explaining how the workflow will work is forthcoming - trying to get everyone handling all content within wordpress as soon as possible.

[I.M.O.G.]

Hear anything back from Sir Barton? I can PM him to check in if not.

[jhanby]

Hear anything back from Sir Barton? I can PM him to check in if not.

Unfortunately I have not heard anything back from Sir Barton.

If you could, I would be very grateful :)

[I.M.O.G.]

PM sent to sir barton, I'll let you know if I hear anything back. Hopefully nothing in his personal life is going poorly.

Also, I updated the thread title, to reflect that Splat will be checking up with you every so often to see if you need any help or have anything new going on.

[splat]

subscribed!

[splat]

checking in. anything in the works?

[Aynjell]

I want to apologize, I still want to write reviews, but for now I'm still tied up with personal endeavors. No, the i5 is not prohibiting my review, it's another matter that literally takes up my waking hours when I get home, but possibly might be able to finish it by the end of the week. We'll see.

No more timeframes, I'll send 'em when I get 'em done. I promise all my work will be worth the wait, though.

[jhanby]

I want to apologize, I still want to write reviews, but for now I'm still tied up with personal endeavors. No, the i5 is not prohibiting my review, it's another matter that literally takes up my waking hours when I get home, but possibly might be able to finish it by the end of the week. We'll see.

No more timeframes, I'll send 'em when I get 'em done. I promise all my work will be worth the wait, though.

That perfectly alright man :).

Thanks for letting us know.

@Splat : Unfortunately not atm.

[Aynjell]

I'm far less occupied now. I'll try and get the LDI+ review going soon.

[KonaKona]

Hey I didn't know we did sound reviews!

I got some headphones, I'm probably good for doing long term testing for anything I can fit under my hair, since I listen to music all day. Used to go to some other forums for a while, but the mods there aren't as good as the ones here. :D

Ahem, anyway. jhanby if you want anything in the way of headphones, I can try and help you out. Just shoot me up a PM.

[I.M.O.G.]

Glad you guys are interested - our audio features on the frontpage have done well, and more importantly, I enjoyed reading them!

[Aynjell]

Hey I didn't know we did sound reviews!

I got some headphones, I'm probably good for doing long term testing for anything I can fit under my hair, since I listen to music all day. Used to go to some other forums for a while, but the mods there aren't as good as the ones here. :D

Ahem, anyway. jhanby if you want anything in the way of headphones, I can try and help you out. Just shoot me up a PM.

What'd you get banned on head-fi for, furthmore, what do you have headphone wise?

[KonaKona]

What'd you get banned on head-fi for, furthmore, what do you have headphone wise?

Well I got perma banned for making fun of a mod that kept closing a bunch of threads that didn't really need to be closed.

And before that it was because I was trolling some guy that was trolling everyone else. That time it was probably justified...

And before that it was because I started a thread that mentioned that I had hijacked threads, even though those threads that I hijacked were based on a scammer that ripped a guy off and was after he had been banned and the guy who got ripped off had basically gotten his money back after donations.

Like I said, the moderation there is pretty shabby; ban first look into the problem later. But enough of that place.

Right now I have ATH-AD700s and Alessandro MS1s. I also have broken pairs of koss portapros, koss KSC 75s, and yuin PK2s. All of them have broken cables. My MS1s have cables repaired by me, and also a homemade clip on mod, since I need headphones without a headband to use all day at school.

Little extra note, mods can feel free to remove the head-fi bit if they want. Not like I could stop them but I wouldn't hold it against them and all....

EDIT: Gah I can't make that last line sound anywhere near decent, but you get the point.

[Aynjell]

One of the things I'm waiting for is a ground loop isolator I ordered. I ordered the one I did particularly because it appeared to be of higher quality than it's peers, and seemed to be adequate for speakers, so headphone should be fine. What is more, it looks like it has a mounting bracket and would mount flush on the back of my desk, with is a very attractive idea. Though, I confess, it will probably get mounted on the inner portion so that I have easier access. This is important because there is little synergy between my X-Fi and LD I+. In fact, there's a vicious ground loop issue where you hear EVERYTHING. Every single frame being rendered by your video card, every single click of your mouse, scroll, movement, etc. It all comes out as electrical noise in my sound card. I have done a ground lift on the amp and this gave me a perfectly black background, but this is not safe. So I ordered a signal path unit as they are far more affordable. Particularly, this is an experiment if you will. If sq suffers, odds are it will be reviewed very poorly.

Since the ground loop isolator is about 18$ where I got it, and seems to be of decent quality, it's going to be within the realm of affordability for users who would like to use the LD I+, being one of the cheapest amps, let alone tube amps.

Keeping it cheap is important with this device because of it's price point. Once I get this, and decide if it resolves the issue, I'll have a far more informed opinion. Who is to blame is a very important question here, and if I find that the little dot is not, then the product will not be discredited on it's own merit.

HOWEVER, we're a PC users site, so if it's this much of a pain to use with PC hardware... then it's probably not going to get a reccomendation here.

[jhanby]

@KonaKona : YGPM

@Aynjell : Like you say on Head-fi, optical out to a DAC would solve your problem entirely, as it seperates your Computer from Amp. Expensive route to go though.

[Aynjell]

@KonaKona : YGPM

@Aynjell : Like you say on Head-fi, optical out to a DAC would solve your problem entirely, as it seperates your Computer from Amp. Expensive route to go though.

Well, at this point, its far less about my issue, and a great deal about what somebody whod normally buy this amp can afford.

[KonaKona]

Well, at this point, its far less about my issue, and a great deal about what somebody whod normally buy this amp can afford.

I got a nuforce icon mobile to use as an external DAC, and it seems to do the job. Mine has been abused though, and the little metal cover has started to come off from time to time. That's pretty much my fault though. Sound quality seems to be good, nothing fantastic but better than the internal on my UD3R.

[Aynjell]

I got a nuforce icon mobile to use as an external DAC, and it seems to do the job. Mine has been abused though, and the little metal cover has started to come off from time to time. That's pretty much my fault though. Sound quality seems to be good, nothing fantastic but better than the internal on my UD3R.

Everything you said you own is broken to some extent. Please don't take offense but, I wouldn't trust audio equipment reviews from you.

I don't mean to be rude, but, I'd be hurt to read reviews on our site about audio equipment from somebody who, per thier own posts, doesn't seem to keep anything without breaking it.

[jhanby]

Well, at this point, its far less about my issue, and a great deal about what somebody whod normally buy this amp can afford.

That sounds fair enough. You can use all of this in the article :)

I got a nuforce icon mobile to use as an external DAC, and it seems to do the job. Mine has been abused though, and the little metal cover has started to come off from time to time. That's pretty much my fault though. Sound quality seems to be good, nothing fantastic but better than the internal on my UD3R.

Ok, can we keep the general conversation out of this thread please :). You can chat by all means, but this really isn't the place for discussing things. This post is fine, but not anything further please. That is what the sound section is for :D

Everything you said you own is broken to some extent. Please don't take offense but, I wouldn't trust audio equipment reviews from you.

I don't mean to be rude, but, I'd be hurt to read reviews on our site about audio equipment from somebody who, per thier own posts, doesn't seem to keep anything without breaking it.

I don't see any problems with this. It just means that he is a bit more rough on his stuff than other people. This does not mean that his view on things should be swept aside.

It gives you a good insight into how durable and well made something is, without having to destructivly test it yourself :).

If Kona is using his gear everyday, in a busy enviroment, it could very well beome "used".

[Aynjell]

That sounds fair enough. You can use all of this in the article :)



Ok, can we keep the general conversation out of this thread please :). You can chat by all means, but this really isn't the place for discussing things. This post is fine, but not anything further please. That is what the sound section is for :D



I don't see any problems with this. It just means that he is a bit more rough on his stuff than other people. This does not mean that his view on things should be swept aside.

It gives you a good insight into how durable and well made something is, without having to destructivly test it yourself :).

If Kona is using his gear everyday, in a busy enviroment, it could very well beome "used".

I don't know, it just seems that if you can't maintain it, you'd have a bad view on it when it's still good hardware. I mean, I am not gentle, but I'm not rough with my gear, and I was using my sony's for a while as a portable, although they are almost designed for rough environments.

As long as the review isn't conducted on the already abused hardware, then we can assume we'll have an unbiased review. That was my primary concern, and looking back on this it was very rude of me to say so, but I apologize Kona.

I'm just concerned mainly for this site's sake, that if he's doing audio reviews on battered equipment, it may not be reflective of an actual product, and front page stuff would be reflective of us as a whole... if we're posting information that isn't reflective of a product then we're effectively lying, and will be disrespected by the other communities.

[jhanby]

UPDATE : added another article by KonaKona.

This has been saved as a Draft on WP, as it is a first revision.

[KonaKona]

How did I miss this conversation? I have to write a whole nine tenths of a review before I see this? :shrug:

In any case, the only change in sound comes when the cable is being grumpy, and I wouldn't review it without first fixing the cable. All of those issues have been fixed now so there shouldn't be a problem. I haven't noticed any change in sound due to anything else.

EDIT: oh all of this has been posted recently. That's why I didn't see it.

But yeah, I made a point to point out that I am a lot more rough on gear than most other people, think I'll go back and stress that a bit more just to make sure.

[Aynjell]

My GLI is gonna be here on the 22nd, I should be able to get a lot more of the review done then.

Once again kona, I apologize. I wasn't so much putting you or your reviewing capability down, as I was concerned about the effect of reviewing damaged gear on our validity.

[jhanby]

My GLI is gonna be here on the 22nd, I should be able to get a lot more of the review done then.

Once again kona, I apologize. I wasn't so much putting you or your reviewing capability down, as I was concerned about the effect of reviewing damaged gear on our validity.

GLI ?

[Aynjell]

GLI ?

Ground Loop Isolator.

[jhanby]

ahhhh how long is that gona be ?

[KonaKona]

Pictures tonight! Finally! :bday:

[Aynjell]

ahhhh how long is that gona be ?

They misshipped some of the cables, so whenever that comes in.

[KonaKona]

Oh hey, I forgot to write part of the review. Have to wait till tomorrow to steal some bad earbuds. :temper:

[KonaKona]

Ready to publish after someone comes in and cleans up the mess I made (I'm guessing the pictures are going to be a different size). :)

[jhanby]

Ready to publish after someone comes in and cleans up the mess I made (I'm guessing the pictures are going to be a different size). :)

Ok, just had a quick look.

The new post guidelines do not make this point very clear as of yet (I made the same mistake). All pictures must be uploaded straight to Wordpress, so that we have direct access and are not relying on other websites for the pictures.

You can right click on the images save them and then upload them via the "insert image" option.

You will need to make sure that 'Lightbox' is ticked, 'Middle' alignment and 800px is chosen for the size.

Other than that, it looks pretty good :).

Thanks

[KonaKona]

Ok, just had a quick look.

The new post guidelines do not make this point very clear as of yet (I made the same mistake). All pictures must be uploaded straight to Wordpress, so that we have direct access and are not relying on other websites for the pictures.

You can right click on the images save them and then upload them via the "insert image" option.

You will need to make sure that 'Lightbox' is ticked, 'Middle' alignment and 800px is chosen for the size.

Other than that, it looks pretty good :).

Thanks

Alright, I gotta work on this MB for a bit but when I get my rig back together I'll fix everything up. Had to bake this little sucker to get it to work, but it seems to be running fine now.

[KonaKona]

Doneskis, or at least I think.

[I.M.O.G.]

I updated the new post guidelines to make that part about images more clear. Sorry for the hassle.

Looks great. The only item I would recommend improving is adherence to this part of the guidelines:

Images:

All pictures must be uploaded so that they are served directly from Overclockers.com - linking to external images is not permitted. Please do not upload any pictures larger than 800px in either height or width. When inserting in to your article, please select "Medium" (300px max), Link to File Url, and Align Center. "Open using Lightbox" will be selected by default. Also, please give your image a caption, even if it is only a few words. If you are using an image from another site, please give credit in a manner similar to "Source: Intel.com" in the caption.

The images you uploaded are larger than 800px in height or width. They aren't using the lightbox plugin, which makes them clickable to enlarge. They also don't have captions - captions place a nice border around the image making it look clean so we are trying to use them with all images for consistencies sake.

Easiest way to fix those issues is resizing the images, uploading them again, then one by one inserting them into the post and removing the original image code.

Would you mind taking care of those items? If so, no biggy, we'll work with it - I just appreciate you writing this up, its real quality stuff. :thup:

[KonaKona]

I updated the new post guidelines to make that part about images more clear. Sorry for the hassle.

Looks great. The only item I would recommend improving is adherence to this part of the guidelines:



The images you uploaded are larger than 800px in height or width. They aren't using the lightbox plugin, which makes them clickable to enlarge. They also don't have captions - captions place a nice border around the image making it look clean so we are trying to use them with all images for consistencies sake.

Easiest way to fix those issues is resizing the images, uploading them again, then one by one inserting them into the post and removing the original image code.

Would you mind taking care of those items? If so, no biggy, we'll work with it - I just appreciate you writing this up, its real quality stuff. :thup:

Is 800px = 800 pixels? The first time I posted them they were 800 max, now they are 300 max or something like that. I'm also pretty sure lightbox was used on all of them as well, I guess I gotta go back and check all that stuff...

Oh and captions. Gotta add captions for sure.

[I.M.O.G.]

Correct, px = pixels.

The images themselves are actually much larger than 800px - the settings within wordpress just determine the size of the thumbnail. The actual full size image when enlarged needs to be 800px or smaller, as any larger than that does not display cleanly.

The first image in your article is an example with a caption and lightbox used, and it also shows how the full size image doesn't look good when enlarged (it doesn't fit on the screen):

<a class="lightbox" title ="ath_ad700" href="http://www.overclockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ath_ad700.jpg"><img src="http://www.overclockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ath_ad700-199x300.jpg" alt="ATH-AD700 Front" title="ath_ad700" width="199" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-6887" /></a>

The second image is an example without a caption and not using lightbox:

<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-6888" src="http://www.overclockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/alessandro_ms1-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />

You can checkout what those look like at this link:
http://www.overclockers.com/?p=6592

[KonaKona]

Oops, I went in and added captions before seeing that, I think I broke some stuff.

Hold on lemme try and fix it first, I'll try not to make it worse.

EDIT: oh nevermind, just that link dosen't work. Lemme run them through imageshack and save off of that, since it's easier than installing photoshop. :)

[I.M.O.G.]

Don't worry, you can't break it too bad. If you try editting the code directly however, things will act wonky. Your best off to do another insert of the image and change everything from the insert image dialog rather than try to change the image html in the post manually.

Thanks for checking it out, I'm done for the night, we'll check it out in the morning. :salute:

[KonaKona]

I always stay away from the code. You remember that big power outage in the north east a few years back? That's what happens when I mess with HTML. Not fun. Bad vibes.

Enjoy your sleep, I got a few more things to take care of before I hit the hay. :comp:

EDIT: Gah, I reuploaded all of them and made extra sure that lightbox was on, but at least in the preview the only one that zooms is the first pic, and it's still full size and not the 800px I uploaded. I'll let someone better at this stuff than me figure out what's going on.

[jhanby]

Ok I've had a look and fixed most of it :).

For your reference, the problem with the lightbox not coming up on all but the first picture, was because you had not clicked "Link to image" in the field "Link URL". When this is not specifed, I think that it overrides the Lightbox tickbox, as it has nothing to link to. So to fix that, I chose "Link to image" and then in the Advanced tab, put "lightbox" in the 'CSS Class' field.

The issue with the first picture being too big is just that the uploaded image is too big (I think). You're going to need to resize the pic and upload it. I could do that for you if you'd like :)

Thank you

[KonaKona]

Ok I've had a look and fixed most of it :).

For your reference, the problem with the lightbox not coming up on all but the first picture, was because you had not clicked "Link to image" in the field "Link URL". When this is not specifed, I think that it overrides the Lightbox tickbox, as it has nothing to link to. So to fix that, I chose "Link to image" and then in the Advanced tab, put "lightbox" in the 'CSS Class' field.

The issue with the first picture being too big is just that the uploaded image is too big (I think). You're going to need to resize the pic and upload it. I could do that for you if you'd like :)

Thank you

That's the thing, I did re-size it and upload it. :sly:

I'll go take another whack at it.

[jhanby]

It looks like you uploaded it successfully.

It all looks great ! :D

If you're happy with it, feel free to "Submit for review" it.

[KonaKona]

It looks like you uploaded it successfully.

It all looks great ! :D

If you're happy with it, feel free to "Submit for review" it.

Submit'd.

[I.M.O.G.]

Looks good, awaiting scheduling now. :)

[Aynjell]

I know I haven't been too good at making up my mind, but I've sort of come to a conclusion. The amp is still on standby, there's just too many tweaks for it that require attention. I'm putting that on standby. The GLI worked, and was a cost effective solution, but since I've bought herbie tube dampers (very pretty, not sure how much gain I got out of it), and I got some op amps coming tuesday. Right now I'm working on reviewing the Audio Technica ATH-AD700.

I'm partly inspired by KonaKona's article, but also because it's one of our most reccomended headphones. It seems anybody who listens to headphones for gaming should have these, and quite frankly we should have a review on it at our site. In word, at this point I'm on 4 pages for the article, but I'd like to think I'm only about halfway done, so I'm expected about 4 to 8 pages before editing. I wouldn't be surprised that once cut down and removing cruft, and adding pictures I'll be at a solid 10 page article on the ATH-AD700. I intend to listen to about 5 to 8 songs or so that I found are really great songs, to show how this can responds to various setups... and I'll comment on and off the amp, since not everybody will have one.

Put simply, I want to put up the best damned review of the ATH-AD700 out there, and hopefully one with an overclockers.com spin, with special attention to gamers (unfortunately this means jumping into some competitive games like CS and CSS). Though other cans I won't be going to such a length as my other headphones aren't designed well for such things. Either way, working on an ATH-AD700 article. Expect it to be around soon enough! Maybe 2 weeks time, but who knows. I'm getting about a half page done a day, or at least I'm making a point of it anyway.

I'll continue to keep your posted, but I seriously intend to make a splash for my first published article.

[KonaKona]

We kinda had a mini review in that audiophile introduction thingy, and then my review. Seems like the only thing we want to review is the AD700. :shrug:

I'm going to pick me up either a KSC 75 or Yuin G2A, I'll probably review those after I get them.

[Aynjell]

We kinda had a mini review in that audiophile introduction thingy, and then my review. Seems like the only thing we want to review is the AD700. :shrug:

I'm going to pick me up either a KSC 75 or Yuin G2A, I'll probably review those after I get them.

Sounds like fun with the ksc 75's. I'd start with those to be honest, the yuin's I have not heard much about. Personally I don't think a page can do two headphones much good. An almost exhaustive review is required. You can't give a reader an accurate understanding of how a headphone will perform with more or less a few sentences each touching the headphones. Plus, this will be a dedicated review. Nothing else will be considered alongside it.

[KonaKona]

Well I used to have a pair of KSC 75 (god the plural/non plural is driving me crazy, I'm putting an 's' back on everything), but the cord broke. I gave them to my incompetent parents to send back along with the receipt, and they managed to loose both of them. :shrug:

I'm going to try and spring for the G2As if I can afford them. I've been using these MS1s daily for quite a while now and although they hurt like heck, they do sound good. I have a bad feeling I'll go back to the KSC 75s and modded or not, they just wont sound good enough.

Also, I think the thing with the reviews is you are going for a full audiophile details and all review, I'm going for something geared more for people not into headphones and all of that stuff.

[jhanby]

@Aynjell - I am looking forward to having the best review on the web ! :D

@KonaKona - Well the AD700's do have lots of good reviews for a reason :).

On another note, I have just purchased a pair of Audio Technica ATH-W5000 (http://eu.audio-technica.com/en/products/product.asp?catID=5&subID=37&prodID=199). They are coming in about 6-7 days, as they are rather hard to get hold of in the UK.

Once I've had them for a bit, I shall write a review on them.

[Aynjell]

@Aynjell - I am looking forward to having the best review on the web ! :D

@KonaKona - Well the AD700's do have lots of good reviews for a reason :).

On another note, I have just purchased a pair of Audio Technica ATH-W5000 (http://eu.audio-technica.com/en/products/product.asp?catID=5&subID=37&prodID=199). They are coming in about 6-7 days, as they are rather hard to get hold of in the UK.

Once I've had them for a bit, I shall write a review on them.

I am very jealous. I myself amd curious about ATH-AD2000. :\ That being said, I'm looking at the Audio-GD compass successor in about 3 months. Once I finish tuning my LD I+ into how I want it, the next step is a DAC. And the compass would be a high quality dac plus a good amp for high impedance cans.

[jhanby]

I am very jealous. I myself amd curious about ATH-AD2000. :\ That being said, I'm looking at the Audio-GD compass successor in about 3 months. Once I finish tuning my LD I+ into how I want it, the next step is a DAC. And the compass would be a high quality dac plus a good amp for high impedance cans.

Hmm I looked at the AD2000 too, but found the W5000 at not that much more money (I was buying them used off head-fi).

I definatly have to say, that after listening to several Grados at a meet, I am a AT guy.

Next step L3000 :drool: People not familiar with the L3000, click me ! (http://img2.pict.com/52/2c/1d/1840450/0/athl3000c.jpg)

Also, the Audio-gd FUN does indeed look good with its interchangable module things :).

[KonaKona]

You really like the ATs eh? Nothing wrong with that.

I need to pick up some closed headphones sooner or later, anything you guys want reviewed that dosen't cost arm+leg?

[Aynjell]

You really like the ATs eh? Nothing wrong with that.

I need to pick up some closed headphones sooner or later, anything you guys want reviewed that dosen't cost arm+leg?

Something by Denon or Beyer?

[Aynjell]

Hmm I looked at the AD2000 too, but found the W5000 at not that much more money (I was buying them used off head-fi).

I definatly have to say, that after listening to several Grados at a meet, I am a AT guy.

Next step L3000 :drool: People not familiar with the L3000, click me ! (http://img2.pict.com/52/2c/1d/1840450/0/athl3000c.jpg)

Also, the Audio-gd FUN does indeed look good with its interchangable module things :).

When I order it, I'll get every dac and usb part available at the time. The FUN will be an interesting addition to my rig. Thanks to the super mode feature, I can basically set it up as a reciever for optical, have the dac handle the optical stuff, send it to my LD for low impedance cans (AT, and Grado), and then have my amp portion of the FUN handle a pair of HD600's or HD650's, depending on whatever I get. :\

But again, I need to finish tweaking my LD I+. So far I've more or less doubled it's value in opa's, tubes, and dampers. :X

[KonaKona]

Something by Denon or Beyer?

Gah, I was thinking more like those new shures. In fact I think either those or the HD-25s. Something along the lines of those at least. :shrug:

[Aynjell]

Gah, I was thinking more like those new shures. In fact I think either those or the HD-25s. Something along the lines of those at least. :shrug:

I remember reading that the new Shures weren't particularly overwhelming. You might want to offer a contradictory opinion.

[KonaKona]

I remember reading that the new Shures weren't particularly overwhelming. You might want to offer a contradictory opinion.

Hm? I can't remember reading one negative review of them, and that was back when they were still 200$. You can get them for 160$ ish now.

Ah well, anything I get is going to have to wait, plenty of time to decide on what to get.

[jhanby]

UPDATE : I have updated the first post to reflect what is going on.

@KonaKona : I wouldn't mind a review on some of the Beyers (maybe the DT880), but these start to get pricey.

What I really would like though, is more speaker articles to come up.

[KonaKona]

Speakers... now see anyone here who has enough cash to be doing speakers is on the benching team, spending it all on graphics cards and the like. :rolleyes:

Also, DT880s are open, I definitely need something closed.

[splat]

glad to see there are some things in the works

[Aynjell]

My article is nearing completion.

I'm also currently working on acquiring HD580's and the appropriate parts to mod them to HD600's (sort of).

[jhanby]

My article is nearing completion.

I'm also currently working on acquiring HD580's and the appropriate parts to mod them to HD600's (sort of).


That's going to be a very interesting read :clap:

[Aynjell]

That's going to be a very interesting read :clap:

I hope everybody enjoys it. Like I said, it's going to be about 10 solid pages of aynjell's opinionated BS.

[I.M.O.G.]

10 pages? lol

If it's good that's great, but to retain anyone's interest for anything nearing 10 pages, it will need to be very good! ;) I don't mean that to discourage you, but just as a heads up so you can reign in any rambling. :D

[Aynjell]

10 pages? lol

If it's good that's great, but to retain anyone's interest for anything nearing 10 pages, it will need to be very good! ;) I don't mean that to discourage you, but just as a heads up so you can reign in any rambling. :D

I've cut several pages. As a model of what I'm aiming for, see the following sound card review.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/auzentech-xfi-forte-71-soundcard-review-test/

I'll be doing some thing similar, some things not. But basically... wait, who reads articles from front to back? Seriously? Everybody skims, when I'm looking at graphics cards, I skip to the benchmarks I care about. I don't read the blathering about the heat sink art, do you?

that doesn't mean I won't go into detail on the detachable 1/4 adapter that screws on (really nice), or how well it it sounds in various source/amp configurations, or how comfortable it is. These things require description.

Trust me, my review will be worth the wait, and hopefully worth the read. It should definitely be worth posting. :X

[jhanby]

Wow that is quite a few pages. Its going to be a good read :D

I do agree that the detachable 1/4 adapter is a really nice detail.

[Aynjell]

Wow that is quite a few pages. Its going to be a good read :D

I do agree that the detachable 1/4 adapter is a really nice detail.

And should be discussed. One thing I like is how those screw on doo-hicky's almost look like they're stock 1/4 inch. Although, I am not sure it's the best of both worlds. I have heard that if you're using a 1/8 inch jack, you'll get more cross talk. Not even sure what that means or how it occurs, but it's something to the effect of you getting left signal in the right channel and vice versa, but not in a desirable way like crossfeed.

[jhanby]

And should be discussed. One thing I like is how those screw on doo-hicky's almost look like they're stock 1/4 inch. Although, I am not sure it's the best of both worlds. I have heard that if you're using a 1/8 inch jack, you'll get more cross talk. Not even sure what that means or how it occurs, but it's something to the effect of you getting left signal in the right channel and vice versa, but not in a desirable way like crossfeed.

Hmm, I'm always very skeptical of people who can hear the difference between connectors..

[Aynjell]

While I'm working on it, is there anything in particular you'd like to see me pay some attention to? I'm doing gaming tests, plan on doing a movie test or two, longtime usage tests, etc. Really want to go in depth. My goal is to make that review that doesn't make me search for further answers. That's one thing I've always hated, reviews that make me have even more questions.

[I.M.O.G.]

Can't wait to read it! Although proofreading it is going to be a PAIN! But well worth it I expect! :D

[jhanby]

While I'm working on it, is there anything in particular you'd like to see me pay some attention to? I'm doing gaming tests, plan on doing a movie test or two, longtime usage tests, etc. Really want to go in depth. My goal is to make that review that doesn't make me search for further answers. That's one thing I've always hated, reviews that make me have even more questions.

No it sounds like you've got everything covered really :).

That reminds me, PM me your email please, so we can get your Wordpress account setup.

I'm really going to enjoy reading a proper review on these :).

[jhanby]

Update : Enablingwolf is currently writing an article on the Evo-G HS1 gaming headset.

Looking to be completed in 1 week.

[jhanby]

Update : EnablingWolf's article is submitted for reviewing.

[KonaKona]

Got in a G2A and a Fiio E3 today. I'll probably be selling the E3 though.

Probably start on a review of the G2A in a few days.

[jhanby]

ooo that G2A looks really nice.

For those that don't know what they are, go here (http://www.head-direct.com/product_detail.php?p=70)

[KonaKona]

Found out something interesting today, I was looking at the G2As and was thinking 'wow the back of those look a lot like the koss 60 ohm...so I opened one up and low and behold, it's the old mylar 60 ohm koss driver staring me dead in the face. That means that the G2As are essentially KSC 35s with a fancy back, felt on the grills, and a different cable. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think anyone else pointed it out.

I'll take some pics tomorrow.

[Aynjell]

Found out something interesting today, I was looking at the G2As and was thinking 'wow the back of those look a lot like the koss 60 ohm...so I opened one up and low and behold, it's the old mylar 60 ohm koss driver staring me dead in the face. That means that the G2As are essentially KSC 35s with a fancy back, felt on the grills, and a different cable. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't think anyone else pointed it out.

I'll take some pics tomorrow.

A cheap chinese company not making their own kit? Get out of here. :D

[splat]

Update : EnablingWolf's article is submitted for reviewing.

great thanks! keep them coming!

[KonaKona]

A cheap chinese company not making their own kit? Get out of here. :D

Hey, I don't like dissing chinese companies, some of them do make good stuff. Of course what's going to be interesting is when I get those speaker cables off of my portapros and compare them to the G2As. Yuin almost seems to be taking a step back by putting felt over the grills, most people drill extra holes in them.

Oh well, I might get a bit of a review done between benching and more benching. That's what 3 day weekends are for, you know!

[Joeteck]

Will you accept reviews on AV receivers?

[Aynjell]

Hey, I don't like dissing chinese companies, some of them do make good stuff. Of course what's going to be interesting is when I get those speaker cables off of my portapros and compare them to the G2As. Yuin almost seems to be taking a step back by putting felt over the grills, most people drill extra holes in them.

Oh well, I might get a bit of a review done between benching and more benching. That's what 3 day weekends are for, you know!

Yeah, but selling what was a 15$ earphone for 50$ just because of some added stuff is just nuts. If they were using different drives, that's one thing, but they're using the cheapest acceptible good drivers out there and selling them for 50$? Yuk.

[KonaKona]

Yeah, but selling what was a 15$ earphone for 50$ just because of some added stuff is just nuts. If they were using different drives, that's one thing, but they're using the cheapest acceptible good drivers out there and selling them for 50$? Yuk.

Well that might have been a valid argument back when you could get KSC 35s for 15$, now they cost 45$ on the koss website. Only other thing with those drivers in that form are the portapros, and those are 40$ ish. The cheap ones you can get now, the KSC 75s, use the titanium version of these drivers. All in all it's not that bad of a mark up IF the modifications they made help.

The only thing I'm kind of disappointed about is not getting something new to listen to, the koss 60 ohm drivers are fantastic pieces of work, especially for the price they usually go for.

[Aynjell]

Well that might have been a valid argument back when you could get KSC 35s for 15$, now they cost 45$ on the koss website. Only other thing with those drivers in that form are the portapros, and those are 40$ ish. The cheap ones you can get now, the KSC 75s, use the titanium version of these drivers. All in all it's not that bad of a mark up IF the modifications they made help.

The only thing I'm kind of disappointed about is not getting something new to listen to, the koss 60 ohm drivers are fantastic pieces of work, especially for the price they usually go for.

Well let us know how it turns out! Tonight, I intend to clean up the apartment, and a few of my commitments. Girlfriend just got me a motorola droid, which is actually a good portable source, especially with grado's.

Anywho, I'm going to test the 5MP camera. :attn:

No gauruntees everything will work, but I'll try!

[Enablingwolf]

The article is up. If anyone is interested in the phones. I can make a thread. To answer questions or whatever.
http://www.overclockers.com/evog-hs1-gaming-headset-review/

[jhanby]

Will you accept reviews on AV receivers?

Sorry about the late reply. Yes I will accept articles on any part of the broad term of 'Sound' :p

You have a login for the WP don't you ? If so, by all means start writing stuff in there and we'll sort it :)

The article is up. If anyone is interested in the phones. I can make a thread. To answer questions or whatever.
http://www.overclockers.com/evog-hs1-gaming-headset-review/

Looks good !

You shouldn't need to create a thread for it, one should have been created when it was published automatically. I've raised why it hasn't with splat.

@splat : YGPM
Well let us know how it turns out! Tonight, I intend to clean up the apartment, and a few of my commitments. Girlfriend just got me a motorola droid, which is actually a good portable source, especially with grado's.

Anywho, I'm going to test the 5MP camera. :attn:

No gauruntees everything will work, but I'll try!

By all means start entering what you've got written so far into WP as a draft, so that I can start going through it :)

[Aynjell]

Man I've kept you guys waiting far too long, haven't I? I'm nearing completion, but it's not done yet, I want to organize it better, and get things into a better looking format. I've always want to do a reviewing job and I want to do this right, if it's getting published, it has to be awesome.

Pictures are done, initial writing and formatting done. I want to edit it, clean it up and organize it better, and implement photography into it. By the end of the week this time, providing I have time.

The trouble with reviewing headphones is you really have to hit all the angles hard. To help give you guys an idea of what I've been through:

hundreds of hours listening on these headphones, in spite of better gear awaiting my enjoyment.

Approximately 10 hours of playing Unreal Tournament 3 against bots.

About 5 hours playing CSS, which I HATE.

Several tube rollings, just to make sure I'm not judging the tubes, and judging the headphones.

Listening off the PC itself and not the amp, to make sure I'm definitely not judging the amp.

Spending time with other cans to make sure I have a strong reference to make assertions from.


Yeah, nearing completion. I'm sure it won't be perfect, but it will be the best possible attempt I can provide. :D

7 pages in word, should be about 10 or so once put onto the site, and pictures added (thumbnailed, preferably).

[I.M.O.G.]

Don't be afraid to let us to it and help you out with getting things right, we'll provide feedback before hitting the publish button and ensure your ok with the final version. ;)

[Aynjell]

Don't be afraid to let us to it and help you out with getting things right, we'll provide feedback before hitting the publish button and ensure your ok with the final version. ;)

Tomorrow I have a function and I need to be hitting the sack here soon, but wednesday I expect I'll be able to put some time into finally wrapping this up. I beat mass effect tonight... so my schedule is very free! (sorry, had to put that ahead of everything, I've waited for what seems like forever)

Anyway, I'll look into getting it into wordpress but I have no idea what I'm doing in there quite yet.

Also, another thing to point out, one of the hurdles here was the open design. It made reviewing and analyzing these when company was around almost impossible without agitating them. In spite of the hurdles, it's almost done!

*EDIT* it's up as a draft. Feel free to ransack it.

**EDIT** I'll go in and clean it up and make it all pretty. I take it this stuff will always come in at one page regardless of amount of content?

[I.M.O.G.]

Correct, always one page - we are considering a plugin for pagination, but there are pros and cons to multiple pages. Most sites do multiple pages to keep their ads in view, game search engines (many pages about one topic increases pagerank), and increase their pageview stats. As a reader, I always hated having to click after every 2 paragraphs to get to the full content. There are pros and cons, and we're considering plugins to enable pages, but by default wordpress puts it all on one page.

[jhanby]

@Aynjyll - I read the first couple of paragraphs before going to work this morning and really like it so far. Looks like it shouldn't need that much editing.

@IMOG - Like you say there are pros and cons. One Pro that is quite nice, is that you can give your reviews more structure. For example, Page 1 is introduction, Page 2 is looks etc etc. This way, impatient people can just skip to the bit they want, without having to scroll through Aynjyll's Epic :P

[I.M.O.G.]

I really like the use of well structured text for ease of reading. We encourage the use of lists tags for lists, proper paragraph structure, as well as appropriate use of <h2> tags to indicate headers, and making the headers really descriptive - it makes scrolling to the part you want very quick, without any page loads.

Also, I'm having a hard time finding professional news publications which appear to encourage the use of pagination on their articles, although there are many examples of amateur places using many pages on each article.

[Aynjell]

Best I can figure about no pages, is no load time when I want to read more.

[Aynjell]

I may want to give it another look over, but it's up for your scrutiny, and it's how I would like to see it on the page. Let me know, guys!

**edit, I'll upload photos tonight, if I get time**

[Aynjell]

Just got it done editing for better appearance on wordpress. Where do I send photography?

[jhanby]

Just got it done editing for better appearance on wordpress. Where do I send photography?

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

To add images to WP, you will need to follow the instructions here (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=629930)

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for everyones continued efforts, glad to see you guys helping eachother out. :)

[Aynjell]

Submitted for approval, I'm happy for it.

*Edit, because I'm insane I gave it another final look over, and now I'm finally done with it. You guy can have it. Just let me know when you guys publish it so I can brag to my friends :P *

[KonaKona]

Well I was starting to think the G2As sounded too cold for my tastes, but then I tried using that little fiio E3 that came with them, easily the best improvement from unamped to amped I've ever heard. They have fantastic synergy, since it dosen't sound too good with my icon mobile.

I'll deffinitly do a write up as soon as I pick up some KSC 75s and recable my portapros/KSC 35 stand ins. Unfortunitly that might be a while, FW is sucking all of my funds. :(

[Aynjell]

Is there anything else I need to do to get this article submitted/up and running, or is it done when I hit submit review? Also, I had submitted it and had a few more changes to do so I hit submit review again and it seemed to go through, but I'm not sure how that works out. If you got multiple items, please use the most recent I sent off. Either way, should be good to go at this point from my end, and as far as I'm concerned it's ready for publishing. If there's anything else I didn't do or need to do, please let me know!

[jhanby]

Is there anything else I need to do to get this article submitted/up and running, or is it done when I hit submit review? Also, I had submitted it and had a few more changes to do so I hit submit review again and it seemed to go through, but I'm not sure how that works out. If you got multiple items, please use the most recent I sent off. Either way, should be good to go at this point from my end, and as far as I'm concerned it's ready for publishing. If there's anything else I didn't do or need to do, please let me know!

You've done everything you could possibly do :)

Thank you.

It's our turn now...

[I.M.O.G.]

Aynjell - in the future, please just save as draft then notify the CE. The CE will click submit for review once he's done with it, which will put it forward for scheduling and publishing.

Not a big deal, I went ahead and changed its status to draft. If jhanby thinks its ready, he'll click the submit for review button. I also updated the post template you see when you click "add new post" so hopefully this will be a bit more clear for authors going forward.

Glad you got your stuff worked up, looking forward to reading the final version.

[Aynjell]

If the community is pleased with it, I'll do another. :)

[jhanby]

Update : Aynjell's article submitted for review

[splat]

what's happening in the world of sound?

[Aynjell]

I've got some stuff going on. I think my next review will be Grado SR325i, as in July, they're not going to be SR325i's anymore.

www.symphones.ca

[jhanby]

what's happening in the world of sound?

Unfortunately, not much.

I'm currently writing my review of the W5000's. Havn't been able to do much, as my lifes suddenly got alot busier.

I've got some stuff going on. I think my next review will be Grado SR325i, as in July, they're not going to be SR325i's anymore.

www.symphones.ca

:drool: those look very nice.

A before and after would also be a very interesting read.

[jhanby]

UPDATE : Sliding down that slippery slope - A review of the W5000 - jhanby has been submitted for review

[KonaKona]

Since I finally got off my butt and did the last forumwars article, I can start thinking about another article for the sound section! I recabled my portapros the other day, and I'll probably be ordering a set of KSC 75s this week. After all of those get in I can do a nice review of the G2As.

If no one complains about the portapros being cabled with cat 5E. ;)

[jhanby]

Since I finally got off my butt and did the last forumwars article, I can start thinking about another article for the sound section! I recabled my portapros the other day, and I'll probably be ordering a set of KSC 75s this week. After all of those get in I can do a nice review of the G2As.

If no one complains about the portapros being cabled with cat 5E. ;)

I shall be looking forward to it :)

[splat]

sounds...interesting....to say the least :)

[KonaKona]

sounds...interesting....to say the least :)

The review or the cable?

I really need to get my AD700s back and see what they sound like compared to the G2As, because last I checked they sounded better from the right source. Unfortunately I'll probably have to trade the portapros for the AD700s. :(

[splat]

both sound interesting, the cable will be good to see

[Aynjell]

I just ordered some SRH840's. I'm expecting them to be really good from reviews I've read.

[jhanby]

I just ordered some SRH840's. I'm expecting them to be really good from reviews I've read.

Great !

Two good review coming up then ? :D

[Aynjell]

Great !

Two good review coming up then ? :D
It will be a while coming and here's why:

Some have suggested a 500 hour burn-in time for the Shure SRH840. To accomplish this burn-in time, I'll have to run these headphones for a few months. Even running 24/7, it would take 20 days. So let's say I get maybe 30-35 hours a week, that still evens out to almost a year of burn-in time. I'll be sure to give it a few nights of constant runing, and I can probably get close to 24 hours a day on them if I run them on the server while asleep and at work, but prior to forming an opinion I'll need about a month and a half to break them in, a month to really get to know them, and another month probably to write up a review and hot swap cans.

Also, I won't get them until Monday.

Headphones are very time consuming! :)

I'll do my best, but given my selection, what would y'all wanna' read about first?



Grado SR80i - 100$
Grado SR325i - 300$
Sony MDR-V6 - 70$
Shure SRH840 - 200$


If you can give me a concrete goal, something you'd want to read about most, I could make a point of getting a review up. Shure will take 3 months, so that's probably not a good idea. Grado's, and sony cans are doable, but that too will take time, broken up by bits of my listening to my Shure's...

;)

Plus my girlfriend has started to work from home, and this basically puts a huge damper on my ability to listen to open cans at home.

By the way, if you let me focus strictly on the Shure's, it might help the site the most, google SRH840 reviews. Next to nothing.

[KonaKona]

Bunch of reviews over at head-fi when the 840s came out. Personally I don't believe in headphones needing 500 hours of burn in or anything like that, I do think there is a mental 'burn in' when adjusting from one set of headphones to another, but having to run headphones for 500 hours before they sound their best qualifies as BS in my book. :shrug:

Personally I'd like to hear about the MDR-V6s, but that's just because I might need to buy some.

[jhanby]

hmmmm I think that you've got two quite clear reviews from that list of headphones.

SR80i vs. SR325i and MDR-V6 vs. SRH840

In both reviews you would have the same sort of headphones and the main difference is the price.

"vs" reviews tend to get high hits, as people always want to know whether the next step up is worth the extra amount.

Also, you could write the Grado one now, whilst letting the SRH840's burn-in.

Now, on the subject of burn-in. I believe it exists. However, whether it is mechanical and the headphones are somehow getting "better" or whether it is just your mind getting used to the sound of the new headphones, I couldn't say.

However, I think it's the second personally.

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for working on this guys, looking forward to it. :)

[Aynjell]

Bunch of reviews over at head-fi when the 840s came out. Personally I don't believe in headphones needing 500 hours of burn in or anything like that, I do think there is a mental 'burn in' when adjusting from one set of headphones to another, but having to run headphones for 500 hours before they sound their best qualifies as BS in my book. :shrug:

Personally I'd like to hear about the MDR-V6s, but that's just because I might need to buy some.

Quick and dirty: not great for gaming. Good for bass heavy music, and best on solid state amps.

[KonaKona]

Quick and dirty: not great for gaming. Good for bass heavy music, and best on solid state amps.

How is the isolation?

[Aynjell]

How is the isolation?

Hard for me to say, maybe -10db with my velour pads.

[KonaKona]

Hard for me to say, maybe -10db with my velour pads.

...in real world terms? ;)

[Aynjell]

...in real world terms? ;)

Not very.

[KonaKona]

Not very.

:(

Are the 840s any better?

[Aynjell]

:(

Are the 840s any better?

I'll know tomorrow, Kona. I'll tell ya' though, my MDR-V6's are unbearable compared to my SR325i. Gosh these things are amazing, but I know for a fact they're limited by my sound system. I'm opposed to buying another signal path ground loop isolator, but there might actually be a signal path ground loop isolator of sorts that is worth paying for, and won't degrade the signal, in fact improve it.

An external dac with optical input. ;)

next month I'll be ordering a Little Dot DAC I due to it's small size, my ability to stack my amp on it, and the fact that I'm happy with my LD amp. :)

I'll be doing homework in the office wearing the SRH840's tomorrow, and I'll give a preliminary update on them.

http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=814&sid=c3d5b336f46865ff522526cbb3021b73

[KonaKona]

I happen to know exactly what DAC I am getting next....

http://techtools.myshopify.com/products/audio-2-dj

Yep. Probably not the best in SQ but I need twin outputs. :shrug:

[KonaKona]

Boombox project is moving again, might do a write up if/when it gets complete.

[splat]

im troubleshooting a problem with my klipsch promedia ultra 5.1 amp, hopefully i can figure it out and write a short article on it.

anything else going on in the audio world?

[jhanby]

im troubleshooting a problem with my klipsch promedia ultra 5.1 amp, hopefully i can figure it out and write a short article on it.

anything else going on in the audio world?

That sounds good.

Unfortunately not. All seems quite quiet at the moment.

[Aynjell]

I realized I have a unique opportunity here. I can write my impressions from CanJam 2010 and post it as an article here. :D

[jhanby]

I realized I have a unique opportunity here. I can write my impressions from CanJam 2010 and post it as an article here. :D

That is a wonderful idea !

Maybe we can steal a few readers from head-fi !

[splat]

certainly sounds good. keep us posted. :thup:

[KonaKona]

Go up and review everything you can get your hands on!

Just try not to bring any of the head-fi moderation team here. ;)

[Aynjell]

Go up and review everything you can get your hands on!

Just try not to bring any of the head-fi moderation team here. ;)

I dunno. It might do this forum some good. ;);););)

[KonaKona]

I dunno. It might do this forum some good. ;);););)

I don't think you added enough winks to justify the amount of sarcasm needed, bro.

Seriously, the moderation team over at HF are a bunch of half witted dingbats that all go about their own separate interpretation of the rules based on what they personally think should be done, with no regard to established or unwritten rules at all. What is and isn't allowed basically depends on which mod happens to be strolling around, and where they happen to be on the menstrual cycle at the time. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/images/smilies/SNEMOTICON13.gif

A stark contrast to the moderation we have here, to say the least.

[jhanby]

I don't think you added enough winks to justify the amount of sarcasm needed, bro.

Seriously, the moderation team over at HF are a bunch of half witted dingbats that all go about their own separate interpretation of the rules based on what they personally think should be done, with no regard to established or unwritten rules at all. What is and isn't allowed basically depends on which mod happens to be strolling around, and where they happen to be on the menstrual cycle at the time. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/images/smilies/SNEMOTICON13.gif

A stark contrast to the moderation we have here, to say the least.

I think somebody had a bad experience.

[KonaKona]

I think somebody had a bad experience.

Bingo. :)

[nightelph]

I've been wicked busy lately, so I haven't made any progress on the audio review, but still very interested. The setup sounds great, I'll try to make some progress this memorial day weekend.

[KonaKona]

If I ever get around to writing more reviews, I just got in a little DAC for mixing and low and behold it blows the pants off of my old nuforce icon mobile, and it's at the same price point! With two separate outputs! :eek:

[jhanby]

If I ever get around to writing more reviews, I just got in a little DAC for mixing and low and behold it blows the pants off of my old nuforce icon mobile, and it's at the same price point! With two separate outputs! :eek:

Sounds like another great article :D.

Nightelph,YGPM.

[jhanby]

Added pending article from Nightelph, entittled "Desktop Sound: Turning It Up A Notch"

[KonaKona]

Added pending article from Nightelph, entittled "Desktop Sound: Turning It Up A Notch"

Time to use my content editor status to go read it! :)

EDIT: ARrrr where is it!? :p

[KonaKona]

Got an X5L in today, that needs to be reviewed. Tons of stuff needs to be reviewed. :rain:

What I need to do is buy some KSC 75s. I can compare those to the G2As, use the clips on the G2A since it's clips have long since been broke and fixed about 10 times, and use all of those to review the DAC and X5L. Time to go find 15$!

[Aynjell]

Got an X5L in today, that needs to be reviewed. Tons of stuff needs to be reviewed. :rain:

What I need to do is buy some KSC 75s. I can compare those to the G2As, use the clips on the G2A since it's clips have long since been broke and fixed about 10 times, and use all of those to review the DAC and X5L. Time to go find 15$!

Headroom gifted me a Headroom Bithead at canjam (the guy knew I wanted one and found me in the crowd and handed it to me after cleanup) so that's gonna get reviewed, but will need burning in. SRH840 is nearing completion of burnin, and I'm pretty much done figuring out my lil' tube amp. Found a tube/chip combo that makes this thing sing. :)

I had it right all along!

So, two reviews coming down the pipe, and I have 2 other pairs of cans I'm comfortable with enough to write about... should get back into writing again. Sorry for the lull on my end. :(

[jhanby]

Got an X5L in today, that needs to be reviewed. Tons of stuff needs to be reviewed. :rain:

What I need to do is buy some KSC 75s. I can compare those to the G2As, use the clips on the G2A since it's clips have long since been broke and fixed about 10 times, and use all of those to review the DAC and X5L. Time to go find 15$!

sounds good :)

Headroom gifted me a Headroom Bithead at canjam (the guy knew I wanted one and found me in the crowd and handed it to me after cleanup) so that's gonna get reviewed, but will need burning in. SRH840 is nearing completion of burnin, and I'm pretty much done figuring out my lil' tube amp. Found a tube/chip combo that makes this thing sing. :)

I had it right all along!

So, two reviews coming down the pipe, and I have 2 other pairs of cans I'm comfortable with enough to write about... should get back into writing again. Sorry for the lull on my end. :(

That's alright, don't worry about it.

Are you going to do a writeup of CanJam as well ?

[Aynjell]

sounds good :)



That's alright, don't worry about it.

Are you going to do a writeup of CanJam as well ?

I don't have anything really major to write about it, since I didn't have any time to really take notes, but I can definitely write up something and show some pictures of me sitting listening to gear. My fatass trying to put headphones on my fat head would be at least worth a laugh.

[jhanby]

I don't have anything really major to write about it, since I didn't have any time to really take notes, but I can definitely write up something and show some pictures of me sitting listening to gear. My fatass trying to put headphones on my fat head would be at least worth a laugh.

I can't blame you for not taking notes, as I wouldn't have either really.

It would good to have a short piece on it explaining it and showing a few pics.

[KonaKona]

I think I'm gonna go ahead and get started a little bit on the X5L review. It probably won't be done to terribly soon but hey, at least I can say I did something. :D

EDIT: started.

[mdcomp]

Saw several sound-related articles in wordpress, both are listed as draft. Can you give us an update on the status?

If I remember correctly, one of them looked like it was finished.

Keep up the good work!
:)

Matt

[KonaKona]

Saw several sound-related articles in wordpress, both are listed as draft. Can you give us an update on the status?

If I remember correctly, one of them looked like it was finished.

Keep up the good work!
:)

Matt

Mine? Mine is currently a WIP, need to do some sound testing on it, still got a way to go.

[jhanby]

On a completely unrelated note, I love the signature KonaKona :D

The two that are in WP are one from Nightelph, on upgrading his desktop sound system (first speaker article from this section !).

Second is an article from KonaKona on his new MP3 player.

Added both of these to Pending articles on the first page.

[KonaKona]

I should have those KSC 75s in sometime next week, when they get in I'll finish up the X5L article and start on... 2 more I guess. One for the G2A/KSC 75s and one for the soundcard.

[splat]

let us know when they are ready to go and we'll put them in our schedule to post.

[KonaKona]

Right now my G2As are kinda... not working. I knew that silly cable was gonna give out on them. Maybe I'll find out how to recable them, but I won't need them until school starts back up.

I do, however, have a brand new set of senn HD-25 1-IIs, and they are fantastic. I might start writing a review after I have some more time with them.

[splat]

o yeah, i'm reviewing these psyko 5.1 headphones now. http://www.psykoaudio.com/ probably do the writeup next week

[jhanby]

Back off holiday now, so lets go.

Right now my G2As are kinda... not working. I knew that silly cable was gonna give out on them. Maybe I'll find out how to recable them, but I won't need them until school starts back up.

I do, however, have a brand new set of senn HD-25 1-IIs, and they are fantastic. I might start writing a review after I have some more time with them.

Go for it. I've heard a lot about them at head-fi.

o yeah, i'm reviewing these psyko 5.1 headphones now. http://www.psykoaudio.com/ probably do the writeup next week

It will be interesting to read about those. Always been very skeptical about surround sound headphones.

[KonaKona]

I'm gonna go find that X5L review and see if I can finish it up, I just did a bunch of work looking up various codecs, and I think it would make a nice little review.

EDIT: Er, the HD 25 review. God I need to keep track of this stuff better. Anyway, that's done sans pictures, I'll see if I can get those later today. I'll go ahead and make a new article and post what information I have for the codec review, we'll find out what else should be done with it and I'll get all of it sorted out on a later date.

[nightelph]

No new progress on my review of the Mackie monitors and PreSonus DAC. Getting married kinda took some of time. ;)

[jhanby]

No new progress on my review of the Mackie monitors and PreSonus DAC. Getting married kinda took some of time. ;)


Congratulations to you and the lucky lady!

Edit : hang on, where was my invite? :P

[Aynjell]

Congratulations to you and the lucky lady!

Edit : hang on, where was my invite? :P

Who the hell would invite you to a wedding? :chair:

[Aynjell]

My hand is a bit forced in this once, but about a month after receipt, I will be posting a review on the Westone UM1's. Expect a very appreciative and favorable review, not because of the generosity of Westone, but because they were my favorite IEM at Can Jam Chicago.

They are free, and mine to keep for the purposes of reviewing these wonderful IEM's. (Yes, I really do like them... I was going to get a pair for my birthday but my girlfriend couldn't afford them. But all things work out for the good)

[Aynjell]

Review of westone UM1 is near completion. Will probably load to the site soon (definitely before the end of the week).

[Aynjell]

Currently post-poning review of UM1 until I can build a custom amp.

[KonaKona]

I've got some cash money burning a serious hole in my pocket right now, I'm gonna wait until tomorrow to check prices but I'll probably end up ordering a pair of M50s and HDJ-1000s for reviewable. Not sure how much use a HD 25 v HDJ review would do on this site, but I'll defiantly be doing a write up on the HD 25 v M50.

But first I need to go find out all those reviews I've had sitting around for years. :rain:

EDIT: Phones on the way, need to finish up some articles...

EDIT 2: Clip+ on the way as well, guess some fodder to finish the old mp3 article as well.

[KonaKona]

M50s got in today.

Going to be very fun to compare these two, the M50s are a lot better than I expected. I expected them to be pretty good as well.

I might end up keeping them. :cry:

[KonaKona]

Clip+ in, going to start on the M50 review and get pictures in for the HD 25-1 II today.

Really, today.

I swear!

Probably have to send a PM to jhanby to make sure he knows I'm acutally doing something.

[jhanby]

Clip+ in, going to start on the M50 review and get pictures in for the HD 25-1 II today.

Really, today.

I swear!

Probably have to send a PM to jhanby to make sure he knows I'm acutally doing something.

Yeah, I know I haven't been that active recently. Sorry. I'm still monitoring this post actively.

Work's been so very busy.

let me know when you've got stuff.

[KonaKona]

Actually Just now got photos uploaded, I'll have to take a look at the rest of the article tomorrow and probably make a few more changes to it, but that shouldn't be hard at all. Should be ready to go tomorrow.

After that I'll probably use the clip+ in the X5L review along with my crappy fuze... I'm pretty impressed with the clip+ so far. I'll also see if I can get the M50 review started then.

[KonaKona]

HD 25-1 II article looks good from here, passing it on to you while I look at the X5L article.

EDIT: not very related at all, but I GOT THE Q5W WORKING OH MY GOD AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

No battery but who cares, I'm building a shrine.

[jhanby]

HD 25-1 II article looks good from here, passing it on to you while I look at the X5L article.

EDIT: not very related at all, but I GOT THE Q5W WORKING OH MY GOD AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

No battery but who cares, I'm building a shrine.

looks very good.

The only thing if I'm being picky is that you talk about there being drawbacks of closed headphones just before the pics and say more on that later. I couldn't see anywhere else later on which actually said the drawbacks between open and closed.

I suppose you could assume that since the AD700s are open and the HDs are closed, the comparison shows the drawbacks of closed.

I might have missed it as I am pretty tired right now. Point it out if you think I'm wrong !

[KonaKona]

Oh shoot, I remembered looking over that and going "HMM I need to add that don't I?" but forgot to do it. :(

Gonna go fix it up now.

EDIT: Fix'd

[jhanby]

Hmm, can't find the extra bit ...

When I did version comparison on the one I reviewed and the current on, I get the message "These versions are identical".

Did you save the changes ?

[KonaKona]

Hmm, can't find the extra bit ...

When I did version comparison on the one I reviewed and the current on, I get the message "These versions are identical".

Did you save the changes ?

I thought I did... I think the problem is I had two tabs with it open and saved it in one tab, the second tab had the earlier version and autosaved over it. That's my best guess.

Now I have to go write it again. :(

Sure there isn't some version history thing for every autosave?

[jhanby]

Hmmm. I don't think so. have a look at the attached picture.

If I go any further back for the old one, it goes too far.

[KonaKona]

Poo.

Oh well, going to re-write it now. Woulda done it last night but I was tired after work. Today is the first day I've had off since Tuesday, might not sound like much but that's a lot for me.

[KonaKona]

All done. :)

[jhanby]

All done. :)

article submitted for review

[KonaKona]

Oh god, look what I've just found...

http://www.head-direct.com/product_detail.php?p=98

Next paycheck should cover it, and it should be resealable for at least 200...

EDIT: Or if I could get my hands on an X7...

EDIT 2: Bought those mackie monitors from my dad so I didn't spend any more cash I might not need to... everyone needs monitors.

Just enough cash out of the paycheck to keep me out of the PMP market.

[jhanby]

I'm right in thinking that that player has balanced output ? :O

[KonaKona]

I know one of the head direct players has an option for that, might be the 602. It's done in a 4 cable plug like one for a headset, 3 rings and a tip.

I'm hoping I come up a bit short for it after this paycheck and part of the cost of the monitors, because if I don't then I'll probably end up getting it or the X7. :(

[Aynjell]

That device might actually be what the doctor ordered for me, but the problem there is I can't afford it. :O

[KonaKona]

That device might actually be what the doctor ordered for me, but the problem there is I can't afford it. :O

260$ with a free set of IEMs seems like a pretty good deal considering the cost of the 602/801. Should have good resale as well.

[KonaKona]

Alright time for some editorial help.

In a few days I'm going to have the following sources:

X5L
Clip+
Fuze (see: junk)
Sony D2
Sony D33
Some old PS1 that is a good source depending on who you ask

On top of the usual computer related bits.

Now at first I was thinking of including some of these in the X5L review, but I'm starting to think this is too much for one article, even less in a review just for the X5L. I'm also questioning putting the clip+ in it's own article, or positioning the X5L review as more of a X5L v clip+ kind of thing. I could probably put all of the CD sources in the same article.

And on top of all of that, it's cold. I think a tube amp would warm things up. Problem is, tube amps are mostly expensive. Only thing reasonably priced I can think of is the starving student, and that's got these wee little tiny tubes on it. I want me some big ol suckers on there. :)

Maybe I'll go PM dolk or something.

[jhanby]

If the X5L and the Clip are comparable, I'd say that you go for a X5L vs Clip review. Better to have one longer article discussing the merits of both and then a conclusion as to which one to buy, rather than two articles which do not compare. After all, if they are comparable, the majority of readers will be looking to get one of them and want to know which is better.

Surely, if these are portable sources (X5L and Clip+) then a tube amp really isn't applicable because of the lack of portability ? By all means you could mention that they do sound better with a tube amp, but the main focus should be on either unamped or portably amped (fiio amps, for example).

[KonaKona]

Was thinking of the amp more for the CD players. Mostly because I have a PS1 that makes a great CDP but I have no volume control for it.

I need to go over to the rockbox forums and ask them about the issues I've been having with my clip+ though. Some songs have some issues with the highs cutting out during heavy bass, and it doesn't happen in the default firmware. Doesn't happen on my X5L but it's on an older version.

[KonaKona]

Darn it, the X7 is out now.

http://www.amazon.com/COWON-160-MP3-Player-Black/dp/B0048BPI7C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1294450577&sr=1-1

Maybe we should shoot cowon an email and try to get a review sample?

[jhanby]

Darn it, the X7 is out now.

http://www.amazon.com/COWON-160-MP3-Player-Black/dp/B0048BPI7C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1294450577&sr=1-1

Maybe we should shoot cowon an email and try to get a review sample?

That's a good idea. As that player looks really nice.

I'll PM splat about this.

[splat]

sennheiser review published

[jhanby]

sennheiser review published

Thanks :)