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*Shels - Plains Of The Purple Buffalo

Happy Birthday Tyll!

Thanks Todd! I may not post a whole lot but checking in on this place is part of daily routine so I was thrown completely off when the site wasn't coming up the last few days.

I just listened to that for the first time in a long while last week, I forgot how good it is.

Right Away, Great Captain - The Church Of The Good Thief This has really grown me after a few listens.

A belated Happy Birthday Mike! Hope you had a good one.

Right Away, Great Captain! - The Church Of The Good Thief

Happy Birthday!

I remember being a bit wary of the Sabre chip initially because I had heard some complaints of DAC's using them being bright and on the cooler side. I took a leap of faith with the M-DAC based on a recommendation from a friend who heard a prototype and from reading a lot of the background info posted by the designer, John Westlake, over at Pink Fish Media forums. John has indicated on numerous occasions that the Sabre chips can be a real bitch to work with and implement properly.

That's interesting, I found the DACmini which uses an AKM chip (I forget which) a bit on the lean side, but I've had no such feelings from the Audiolab M-DAC which uses the 9018. I don't have a whole lot of experience with higher end sources though, next to the Neko D100 MKII the M-DAC is the highest end DAC I've heard in recent years.

I'm curious, what is it you don't like about the Sabre chips?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Justin!

The Amazing - Gentle Stream

Happy Birthday!

Mr. Gnome - Madness In Miniature

I'm predicting a nice long vacation in your future.

You may be right, all things being equal I'd expect the custom to be better but I also think with some effort put into the universal design they could likely get pretty darn close. I base this on having heard the JH13Pro demos which are not the greatest ergonomically for a good fit and the tips they use are atrocious, but still, they sounded better than any universal I'd ever heard. If Jerry could pull off something along the line of what FitEar is doing with their TOGO's which would allow for more tip choices I'm betting the universals would be pretty darn good. Considering the problems I have with customs I'd be more than willing to pay close to or possibly even as much for the universal's even knowing they wouldn't be quite as good. I haven't heard them, in fact I don't know much about them at all. I suspected this might be the case, the frequency response graph doesn't look that promising, some weird dips and spikes in the treble region. That's typically only part of the story though, I've certainly liked some phones that don't measure all that great. This is probably a wild goose chase, I've just been feeling a bit frustrated, it seems like all the phones I could happily live with have some sort of deal breaking issue. There's a lot I really love about my LCD-2's but both the V.1 and V.2's that I've owned have had a weirdness with the stage/imaging that I find distracting. Initially I thought my V.1's might be faulty but the V.2's displayed a similar characteristic, albeit to a lesser degree, so I figured it was me and I would just try to get used to it. I've had a HD650 and RS-1 on loan for about a week which has highlighted just how distracting I find the stage/imaging issues I have with the LCD-2's. To add to my frustration I had forgotten how much of a soft spot I have for the RS-1's. In my current setup this pair sounds wonderful except that I forgot, one of the reasons I sold them was they aggravate what is normally a slight, almost unnoticeable amount of tinnitus in my left ear . There's not much else I have much interest in, my preference would be for an IEM but obviously the high-end doesn't look like it's an option. Based on what I've read I don't think the HD800 or T1 would be up my alley and I think to get into a Stax setup at the level I'd want would be too expensive. Other than the K3003's the only things that are remotely on my radar at this point are the FitEar TOGO! 334's which I think are out of my price range and I'm not sure that they sound like what I'd be looking for anyway. Then there's the Audio Technica ATH-W3000ANV, I've only started looking into these, they sound intriguing but I'm concerned that they would lack bass weight.

Well in my case I don't really have much choice but to look to the universal market, I've been down the custom road with the 13Pro's and I'd absolutely agree with you, when I was able to get them dialed in they were phenomenal. Unfortunately though, with the problems I've been having with my left ear and the fit issues that six months of refits couldn't solve I had to give up on the 13Pro's and the idea of customs. To be honest, I don't hold out much hope that I'm going to find a universal in the league of the 13Pro's but I figure there's quite a bit of innovation going into IEM's so it's worth keeping an eye out just in case. I'd love to see a universal 13Pro from JH Audio, maybe something similar in design to the pair they sound around for auditions but with a little more ergonomic, user friendly design that could accomodate Comply tips.

Has anyone here had the opportunity to hear these as yet? Ever since I had to give up on the idea of customs and sell my 13Pro's I've longed for a higher end universal option. When I first saw these I initially wrote them off because of the price but lately I've become somewhat disenchanted with the LCD-2's and there's not many other full-sized phones that I have much interest in so if the K3003's really can compete with the better customs they could prove to be tempting. Impressions and reviews I've read certainly suggest they may perform at that level but I'm not familiar with most of the people who've wrote about them so it's hard to judge.

I like the Shure black foamies as well but for comfort I don't think anything beats the Comply's. But with the UE's, tips are only part of the problem, their design seems to really be hit or miss with people. When I had the Triple.Fi's it took me a couple of weeks to really get on to inserting them right but I've read about many people that were never able to get them to fit right no matter what they did. A design like the Westone's or Shure's generally seem to work much better for people. I'll second the X10 recommendation as well, I really liked the ones I owned, I only gave them up because the only tip that worked well for me was their included silicone tip which I have a sensitivity to. I never did try them with Comply's though and have been meaning to pick up a pair to retry them.

Not to mention they're fugly as hell.

I'd check with Wes to see about the possibility of upgrading the D100 to a MKII.

If you're basing your tip/fit experience on the SuperFi 5Pro you might not want to right off IEM's, they look like they're the same design as the TF10's which are notorious for fit issues. I use Westone 4's with Comply P series tips and the fit is great. If I remember correctly, you're in Halifax, if you ever make it over to PEI you're welcome to try them out.

Has the design be changed or tweaked since CES?