What's Going On Up There- The Headphone Thread

I’m in the process of falling down an IEM rabbit hole. I have some traveling planned for the spring and summer and want to bring a nice sounding setup with me, but don’t want to bring any of my over the ear headphones like I have in the past. I picked up a set of Sennheiser IE200s ($99 on Amazon) earlier this week and have been listening to them via an Earmen Eagle dongle DAC and at my desk though a JDS Labs Element II. I also listened with the venerable Apple dongle DAC and it sounds fine, but it’s not as good as the Eagle or Element II and it shouldn’t be given the price difference. IMO spending extra on quality amplification and source is worth it once you start investing in good headphones and IEMs. But I digress.

The quick review is that the IE200 are a nice sounding IEM. Slightly V shaped, but not too much treble energy with good bass and mids. The large foam tips provided the best fit and sound for me. The medium silicon tips are also good, but I prefer the sense of airiness I perceive with the foam tips vs the silicone. The soundstage is decent for an IEM and music layering, detail and depth are really good when driven from a quality DAC/Amp.

As I‘m listening to and enjoying the IE200 I foolishly started looking at the IE600 which can now be had for $500 down from $800 when they were released. The reviews are all great as they are for the IE200. But now I have to hear for myself. The IE600 will be delivered in a few days. To make matter worse I also started looking at other dongle DAC options.

I’m very happy with the Eagle as my portable dongle DAC solution. It’s served me well for the past few years, but I have been wanting to try an R2R DAC and saw an open box Cayin RU7 for sale and decided to pick one up and see how I like it with my current headphones and IEMs. Regarding other IEMs I dug though my desk drawer and found a set of Moondrop Arias I hadn’t listened to in over a year at least. Why? IDK. They sound great. Very open and dynamic sound. A more V shaped sound than the IE200. The Aria treble can get hot depending on source material. They are a fun listen, but will get fatiguing over a long session. The IE200 don’t have that charachteristic. I think I stopped listening to the Aria because of fit issues. I could never get a good fit in the left ear. I ordered some foam tips to see if that helps resolve the problem.

This post is way too long. I’ll report back on how the IE200, Aria, and IE600 compare as well as thoughts on the RU7. In any case, I am confident I’m going to have a nice sounding setup for my spring/summer travels.
 
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I decided to return the IE 200 and am keeping the IE 600. The IE 600 just sound right. Good bass quality. The sub bass is impressive. The mids are solid. The highs are dynamic but not too hot. They remind my of my LCD-X in terms of the clarity, detail, and body of the sound.

The Cayin RU7 is a winner also. An excellent dongle DAC. I initially thought the RU7 was an R2R DAC like the RU6, but it is not. It is a 1-bit Resistive Ladder DAC. I sort of understand the difference, but I don't care. The RU7 sounds great.

It doesn't have a lot of features, but the ones it does make a difference. It upscales audio to your choice of DSD 64, 128, or 256. The sound differences are most noticeable to me between 64 and 128. The difference being the 64 has a little less sparkle. More analog sounding.

It also has a line out mode which makes it usable as a pure DAC with a dedicated headphone amp. It's an excellent pairing with my ifi Zen CAN. The amp section in the RU7 is quite powerful for the type of device it is and has no problem driving any of my headphones or IEMs, but the quality of the DAC really shows when connected to a dedicated amp.

The RU7 draws its power from the source device. This is not a problem when sourcing from my laptop or iPad. However, you can run into some clipping problems when sourcing from my iPhone or an old Android phone I have around. I find keeping it set to DSD 64 and using the single ended out eliminates the clipping when sourcing from my iPhone.

All in all the IE 600 and Cayin RU7 are going to make for a nice travel companions this spring and summer. I will be able to get my Hi-Fi fix while I'm out and about.
 
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I ordered a pair of FiiO JT1's but still waiting on the Aliexpress shipment - supposedly these are godly headphones for only being $70.
(it was sold out on Amazon - and now sold out on Aliexpress, too)

Does anyone watch this guys Youtube channel? He's really into gear and waifu.....like REALLY into gear and waifu. Not judging - just a little hard to explain to my wife why i'm watching a guy with waifu statues all over his speakers.

Anyway - I got a pair of Sennheiser HD599SE a few years back and while I like them I wanted to try a different pair.

 
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LeeVing said:
I ordered a pair of FiiO JT1's but still waiting on the Aliexpress shipment - supposedly these are godly headphones for only being $70.
(it was sold out on Amazon - and now sold out on Aliexpress, too)

Does anyone watch this guys Youtube channel? He's really into gear and waifu.....like REALLY into gear and waifu. Not judging - just a little hard to explain to my wife why i'm watching a guy with waifu statues all over his speakers.

Anyway - I got a pair of Sennheiser HD599SE a few years back and while I like them I wanted to try a different pair.

Click to expand...

I am curious about your experiences with the JT1's. I have been thinking of getting a pair to try and I have read good things about them.

But damn his videos are hard to watch.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
I am curious about your experiences with the JT1's. I have been thinking of getting a pair to try and I have read good things about them.

But damn his videos are hard to watch.
Click to expand...

yeah - I've only watched a couple. The head camera makes me sea sick and the waifu is a bit cringy. I mean, again not judging -- but that's a lot of waifu.

Whenever they arrive I'll test them out and come back with my thoughts. Never ordered from Aliexpress, so I don't know how long the boat will take.
 
LeeVing said:
I ordered a pair of FiiO JT1's but still waiting on the Aliexpress shipment - supposedly these are godly headphones for only being $70.
(it was sold out on Amazon - and now sold out on Aliexpress, too)

Does anyone watch this guys Youtube channel? He's really into gear and waifu.....like REALLY into gear and waifu. Not judging - just a little hard to explain to my wife why i'm watching a guy with waifu statues all over his speakers.

Anyway - I got a pair of Sennheiser HD599SE a few years back and while I like them I wanted to try a different pair.

Click to expand...

Will be curious to hear your thoughts. I have the senns and they are VEILED and slow, but yeah I like them. They’re great for classic rock.
 
Lee Newman said:
I have no idea what waifu is but will find out later when I watch this video, I suspect.
Click to expand...

Noun. waifu (plural waifu or waifus) (fandom slang, Internet slang) A fictional female character from non-live-action visual media (typically an anime, manga, or video game) to whom one is romantically attracted and/or whom one considers their significant other.

Link may be NSFW -

 
LeeVing said:
I ordered a pair of FiiO JT1's but still waiting on the Aliexpress shipment - supposedly these are godly headphones for only being $70.
(it was sold out on Amazon - and now sold out on Aliexpress, too)

Does anyone watch this guys Youtube channel? He's really into gear and waifu.....like REALLY into gear and waifu. Not judging - just a little hard to explain to my wife why i'm watching a guy with waifu statues all over his speakers.

Anyway - I got a pair of Sennheiser HD599SE a few years back and while I like them I wanted to try a different pair.

Click to expand...

I’ve not watched this one, but the video for the new ones and um… this guy is a LOT.
 
LeeVing said:
I ordered a pair of FiiO JT1's but still waiting on the Aliexpress shipment - supposedly these are godly headphones for only being $70.
(it was sold out on Amazon - and now sold out on Aliexpress, too)

Does anyone watch this guys Youtube channel? He's really into gear and waifu.....like REALLY into gear and waifu. Not judging - just a little hard to explain to my wife why i'm watching a guy with waifu statues all over his speakers.

Anyway - I got a pair of Sennheiser HD599SE a few years back and while I like them I wanted to try a different pair.

Click to expand...

Zeos is one of those figures you first discover about audio because he is very brash and in your face and explains things simply

Then you realize his descriptions are just "wow this is wide" and "omg it sounds so good"... He knows how to be engaging but he's also kinda ignorant on a lot of things (like he criticized the chord mojo and holo may as not sounding that different from 300 dollar dacs).

His hifiguides forum he made with DMS isn't half bad though

And the anime stuff is weird but as a filthy weeb who's watched things that are much more trashy I can handle a lot of weird filth
 
The FiiO JT1's arrived earlier today - and I really haven't had a lot of time with them. One thing I did notice - and the main reason I picked them up - they are very comfortable to wear as a person that wears glasses. One of my biggest issues with over the ear headphones is clamping pressure. Most are way too tight for prolonged use. These feel like they will be good to wear for hours.

This is when the pads are still new - so we'll see how it is after some time and some usage, but they are pretty comfortable for now.


As far as sound goes - I've really only had a limited time with them hooked up to a tablet playing some Spotify and my PC playing some games. I don't really have a functional way of hooking it up to my stereo set up - as the cord is just too short. I needed to order a 10 foot dual male 3.5mm headphone cable to test them out with my setup....so that is on the way.

So far they sound really good - if not a tad bass-y, but I don't mind that.
 
LeeVing said:
The FiiO JT1's arrived earlier today - and I really haven't had a lot of time with them. One thing I did notice - and the main reason I picked them up - they are very comfortable to wear as a person that wears glasses. One of my biggest issues with over the ear headphones is clamping pressure. Most are way too tight for prolonged use. These feel like they will be good to wear for hours.

This is when the pads are still new - so we'll see how it is after some time and some usage, but they are pretty comfortable for now.


As far as sound goes - I've really only had a limited time with them hooked up to a tablet playing some Spotify and my PC playing some games. I don't really have a functional way of hooking it up to my stereo set up - as the cord is just too short. I needed to order a 10 foot dual male 3.5mm headphone cable to test them out with my setup....so that is on the way.

So far they sound really good - if not a tad bass-y, but I don't mind that.
Click to expand...
Whatre your impressions now?
 
Ghost said:
Whatre your impressions now?
Click to expand...

I really like them. I'm not an audiophile, so I can't tell you all the buzzwords. But they sound great to me. I primarily use them with my PC. So more for games and youtube...sometimes I'll stream some spotify while I'm playing a game.

The clamping force is great - I wear glasses, so I can go a good few hours and not feel like my head is going to explode. Isolation is also really good. I can't hear anyone calling my name. More than once my family had to come right near me and say they were screaming at me.

One thing I can say is that I do think they are a tad aggressive with the lows - but I don't really mind that.

For the price, I like them much more than the HD 599 SE. While those still sound good - I just don't care for open back headphones. I think it is rude that other people can hear what I'm listening to - especially since I usually play things at a high volume.

Someday I'll get a cable to run them over to my amplifier to listen to vinyl through them, but for now that's really not a priority for me.

For $70 these are exceptional headphones - and could beat headphones at higher price points. An easy recommendation for a under-$100 headphone.

It also looks like Amazon is now stocked again - and you don't have to wait for a shipment from China

 
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LeeVing said:
I really like them. I'm not an audiophile, so I can't tell you all the buzzwords. But they sound great to me. I primarily use them with my PC. So more for games and youtube...sometimes I'll stream some spotify while I'm playing a game.

The clamping force is great - I wear glasses, so I can go a good few hours and not feel like my head is going to explode. Isolation is also really good. I can't hear anyone calling my name. More than once my family had to come right near me and say they were screaming at me.

One thing I can say is that I do think they are a tad aggressive with the lows - but I don't really mind that.

For the price, I like them much more than the HD 599 SE. While those still sound good - I just don't care for open back headphones. I think it is rude that other people can hear what I'm listening to - especially since I usually play things at a high volume.

Someday I'll get a cable to run them over to my amplifier to listen to vinyl through them, but for now that's really not a priority for me.

For $70 these are exceptional headphones - and could beat headphones at higher price points. An easy recommendation for a under-$100 headphone.

It also looks like Amazon is now stocked again - and you don't have to wait for a shipment from China

Click to expand...
Nice. Looking at a pair for the exact same purpose.
 
Currently streaming Sea Change via Spotify - and it sounds great. I definitely hear things I've never heard when spinning the vinyl.

I'm sure it would sound even better with a better quality stream...or direct from my vinyl setup.
 
mindhead1 said:
I decided to return the IE 200 and am keeping the IE 600. The IE 600 just sound right. Good bass quality. The sub bass is impressive. The mids are solid. The highs are dynamic but not too hot. They remind my of my LCD-X in terms of the clarity, detail, and body of the sound.

The Cayin RU7 is a winner also. An excellent dongle DAC. I initially thought the RU7 was an R2R DAC like the RU6, but it is not. It is a 1-bit Resistive Ladder DAC. I sort of understand the difference, but I don't care. The RU7 sounds great.

It doesn't have a lot of features, but the ones it does make a difference. It upscales audio to your choice of DSD 64, 128, or 256. The sound differences are most noticeable to me between 64 and 128. The difference being the 64 has a little less sparkle. More analog sounding.

It also has a line out mode which makes it usable as a pure DAC with a dedicated headphone amp. It's an excellent pairing with my ifi Zen CAN. The amp section in the RU7 is quite powerful for the type of device it is and has no problem driving any of my headphones or IEMs, but the quality of the DAC really shows when connected to a dedicated amp.

The RU7 draws its power from the source device. This is not a problem when sourcing from my laptop or iPad. However, you can run into some clipping problems when sourcing from my iPhone or an old Android phone I have around. I find keeping it set to DSD 64 and using the single ended out eliminates the clipping when sourcing from my iPhone.

All in all the IE 600 and Cayin RU7 are going to make for a nice travel companions this spring and summer. I will be able to get my Hi-Fi fix while I'm out and about.
Click to expand...

I actually just picked-up a pair of IE600's a few days ago, before seeing this post. There was a $400 off sale on Amazon and I was eying them - been wanting to take a step from the Shure 425's I've been using for close to 15 years. Figured if there is an issue, it's easy to return to Amazon.

Anyway, I'm really loving these IE600's! A nice step up from the Shures I had. The bass is nice and rich, love it. Just a few days in, but so far so good. Playing around with the eartips. I've partial to foam tips with the Shures and I think it will be the same here. I just get better isolation with them. The larges are best but a little tiring after 15 minutes. Will probably go with the mediums in the long run.

I'm playing these through a Helm on my iPhone, with files coming mainly from Tidal.
 
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