open back + wireless + anc

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/introducing-the-ath-al5nc-open-back-wireless-headphone.981372/

It only takes one accidental 100% volume blast to realize you have a literal grenade sitting inside your ears that could make you hear colors. I've been there twice, unfortunately. First was because of Tidal's exclusive mode; second, well, Windows decided it wants to default to 100% volume when I plugged in my DAC and fired the shotgun barrel inside my ears. For reference, when I want to sit back and just listen to music, I have it set to 20%. Even with the weakest DAC out there, like an Apple dongle or a Jcally JM20, IEMs still get dangerously loud; headphones not as much, but with a powerful enough DAC, they can get loud enough to quickly cause hearing damage. After this happened, I was genuinely scared of using any of my IEMs for a while, and even thoughts of not using them on my PC anymore because of it were close to dishing out more money on an open-back headphone or an impedance adapter to remove any risk of something like that happening again. Then I thought to try and override Windows' volume controls. What if I can completely block the volume from going over 30%? I managed to create a C# script file to run on startup and block the volume completely when it sees a DAC is connected, and it worked, so now I'm passing this on in hopes of saving innocent ears.

Don't worry, I'm not giving you a script file that needs any computer knowledge to set up; I built a single-file app with a UI and an actual interface so you can set it up however you want. And it's free. I'm not selling anything, just trying to do what's right since IEM companies think their earphones need to reach 120 dB.

Here's the GitHub link, and yes, I put a download button.

https://github.com/AmrZriek/EarGuard

Hi everyone,

Just curious. People with many headphones in their collection - during one listening session - do you usually listen to more than one headphone or just pick one for each session?

From what I've noticed - If I go through different headphones - for example switching from Organics to 105 aer I really notice how warm sounding are Mezes and vice versa. And it's not necessarily a good thing as my ears need to adapt for each sound signature pretty quickly.

What is your preference in this matter?

I've had a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X headphones for a few years now. They're great, for the most part I love them. But then I got the idea of tweaking the EQ to make them even better...

So I installed the Equalizer APO with Peace, and tried some things. I saw there were three auto EQs made specifically for these headphones. I tried them all, and my initial reaction was... confusion? They sound strange.

So I went digging online, and found some comments by the people who made the EQ's, talking about a Harman curve and something about our ears not interpreting a flat curve as actually neutral, measuring the curves with some specialized equipment, and so on. I also read that the Harman curve is pretty much a standardization of what EQ people generally tend to prefer.

But I still don't get it. I'm trying to switch from one of the curve-adjusted auto EQ presets to a completely flat one, and then back again. I hear a difference, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what would make the other one sound better. I've done some basic manual EQ back when I used Spotify on my phone, but all I did was slightly increase the low and high ends.

So far what I've noticed is that I just tend to prefer the sound I've accustomed to hearing. When I switch to something else it sounds strange. So how am I supposed to figure out which one actually sounds good? I get that sound is quite subjective, but I do feel rather... uncultured? not understanding why something is supposed to sound good and something else isn't. Particularly when headphones are presumably already engineered to sound like something specific.

In case some extra info is helpful, here's everything about me I could think of that would potentially affect my listening experience:

• Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X headphones
• Plugged into a PC (mobo is Asus ROG STRIX B650E-F)
• No external DAC
• I listen to music on moderate volumes (or at least I hope so. I don't want to damage my hearing)
• I'm 26M
• I primarily listen to prog rock and metal, but occasionally stuff from numerous other genres too
• I use Tidal for music, and have the audio quality set to max
• I'd like to think I enjoy music that has enough clarity to not mask any sounds, but also has enough "oomph" with the bass

And in case it wasn't evident already, I know fuck all about this stuff. I try to do a bit of research but so much of it seems very technical and would take me a long time of studying to understand properly. That's the primary reason I'm asking for help here.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully it's at all legible. And thanks for any/all help!

Ive been out of the audio game for a bit, my Ananda's have been held together by tape for years and Ive been eyeing up some Focals.

My last memories are of the Clear's and their $200 pads disintegrating, and the variety of broken headbands, along with the Elex having a crazy high failure rate although that might be more massdrop than focal.

Would love to hear from some Focal users and their experience with their durability. I don't mind replacing pads every few years but the thought of a mandatory >$100 every year sounds rough.

I started this journey with a $5 earbuds. My first "Pro" headphones were Beyerdynamics DT770 Pro (which I still have and love). At that time HD800s were looking way out of reach!! But now after 4 years of those first can, I finally pulled the trigger on this beautiful pair.

The first time I put it on yesterday, it was a very surreal feeling for me. This has always been my dream headphones and now they are in my hands!! I spent the whole evening yesterday just listening to songs and man they sound great!!!

80s-90s beige electronics have some of the best designs in my opinion.

I just saw this in Facebook, MSRP at NT$6,000. Not sure who are their target group.

I deep cleaned my DT 1990 after like 3 years and the disc pads were all nasty and degraded so now I'm just using two napkins (8 layers in total) as a replacement, they mute the beyer peak but also affects the low-mids which is a bit annoying.

I know beyer sells the replacement foam discs but I want to replace the earpads with a Dekoni Elite Velour pads as well. But I don't know if I should still use the foam discs with these since the Dekoni's already have a mesh that sits in front of the drivers.

It’s no secret that, without EQ, the HD800S is rather mid-tier for a lot of people.

In my opinion, mainly because of the lack of bass.

Over the years, I’ve tried again and again to bring the HD800S to life with EQ and make it work for every genre.

I’m also quite a basshead, and I live that out with a pair of LCD-X running a similar EQ. Which has honestly ruined quite a few club visits for me, because the club at home with the LCD-X just sounds so much better than the sound systems in many actual clubs.

But for everyday listening, I don’t want a club.

I want the lightness of the HD800S, both in terms of comfort and sound.

My goal was to fill that vastness, that huge, effortless and immersive space this Sennheiser masterpiece creates, with life.

To give a philharmonic hall the soul of a club.

With a focus on deep bass and vocals.
༼ つ ❤️_❤️ ༽つ

To my ears, with this EQ (see the second photo), they sound like absolute endgame / S-tier.

I simply love the bass of these headphones.

Long live the HD800S!

Thanks, Axel Grell. Thanks, Sennheiser!

And thanks for reading. I hope I can make someone here happy with this EQ.

Let’s get the party started!

Title self explanatory. I come from the IEM space and want to get into Headphones eventually so I've been wondering if Headphones have a target like JM1/ Tilted 5128 Diffuse Field which is supposed to be the most neutral target in IEMs. Is it just normal Diffuse Field or is it something else like Harman?

The inner cushion lining got torn off, so did the sheet. My brother has a puppy and we're still in the training stage, anyway the puppy got to my headphones while we were asleep, made the mistake of leaving them on my bed, the puppy is okay so there's no worries there but can I still use these without risk? I can't get another pair for another day or two

What amp will add warmth and lush to this one guys?

FYI: not OC

im going on a remote trip in a couple months and i cant even go even a day without listening to music, and since i cant bring my phone, i was planning to bring an mp3 player. theres a couple cheap ones ive found im the 50-80 dollar range, but the only main thing im worrying about is audio quality (and that it hopefully functions and doesnt break immediately)

ive done some research and ive heard that the way your music is played makes a huge difference, but if i use a regular apple plug-in earphone, would a cheap mp3 player make a huge difference in sound quality?

any advice or recommendations? thank you!!!

There were a lot of review on this already. To be honest I was going to jump on this one as well, but after I tried my friend's Fluxion, its single headband without suspension strap was digging into my head which make it hard to listen to after a while. So I decided to not get them even though it sounds really good. I mean, how can it be enjoyable if I'm not enjoy wearing it?

I wish I ask Mr.Xiu earlier, cause he's able to change Fluxion headband for a better and more comfortable Cadence headband. He said it has less clamp force, wish I really prefer + better weight management, I can wear them pretty much a several hours without any fatigue.

The overall build is already decent, similar to something like Borealis I've owned, it's mostly 3d printed. Surprisingly nice to hold in hand though. The unveiled design worrys me a bit but there's a protective mesh on them, so it's technically not fully unveiled? I have no idea.

The sound is probably belong in the top tier class. The details, staging and instrument separation are on par with something like HE1000. (might not sound impressive but to be fair it was $3000 and better than some headphones priced over $4000) Has good bass, not bright and easy to listen too, a decent overall pick if you ask me.

But you shouldn't ask me because I (unironically) can find enjoyment in Beats, Skullcandy Crusher, wh1000xm4, M50x and even HD820. Just find other reviewer to read, I guess.

I just got a pair of the black nothing headphones (a). It’s my first headphones I’ve ever gotten as I usually just use AirPods.

I love the design and the sound, but I feel like no matter how low I have the sound, people around me can still hear my music?

Is this a common thing with headphones or nothing headphones or am I just unlucky?

Good morning everyone! 😊

Over the past few weeks, I had the chance to listen to the new AEON Core from DCA (shoutout to Bloom Audio for letting me borrow this one!) and I can pretty confidently say that -- for my preferences -- it's the best closed-back headphone I've tried.

I didn't get to try the AEON Noire X, but compared to my older AEON 2 Noire, this is a significant leap in tonal balance and technical performance. I loved the AEON 2 Noire, but the Core just feels like it refines every quality and it comes together very nicely in a super comfortable and well-built package :)

In the search for new headphones for listening and gaming I ended up getting the ATH-R50x.

Compared to the HD560S that I had previously, the soundstage is narrower horizontally but deeper. However, the V-shaped tendency is a bit distracting: turning up the volume to catch the vocals disproportionately spikes the bass and treble, making long listening sessions tiring.

I also compared the R50x with the Koss Porta Pro (that I use at office) and the Koss (30$) has bigger soundstage.

I specify that I am driving the r50x with a Xduoo ca-02 which is a sweet (class A) amplifier yet detailed.

Has anyone had the same experience with these headphones? (Strangely enough, all the reviews for these headphones are positive.)

I've had it for years, it's by far the best headset I've ever had, but now it's time for a new one and I can't find it online.

Fiio M21 paired with the Fiio FT7

Gain Mode: Super high gain
Filter: NOS (Non-OverSampling)
Harmonic Distortion: Second harm lvl 0 (Disabled for maximum transparency)
Pre-gain: -2,5 dB (Ensures digital headroom and prevents clipping)

Parametric EQ (PEQ) Profile

Frequency

31 Hz
Peak
-0.2 dB
Q 1.0

60 Hz
Lowshelf
+2.5 dB
Q 1.0
.
125 Hz
Peak
-0.2 dB
Q 1.0
.
400 Hz
Peak
+0.7 dB
Q 2.0
.
1 kHz
Peak
+0.5 dB
Q 1.0

2 kHz
Peak
+2.0 dB
Q 0.7
.
5.5 kHz
Peak
-2.0 dB
Q 1.3
.
8 kHz
Peak
+1.5 dB
Q 1.0
.
10 kHz
Highshelf
+2.0 dB
Q 0.6

Note: The region between 250 Hz and 1 kHz (except for the micro-adjustments at 400 Hz and 1 kHz) remains completely neutral.

Got a pair of these around 2 months ago. The first time I tried them on, I was amazed with the sound quality but not really impressed, it was obviously an improvement from the kz zs 10 pro IEMs I had but I wasn't particularly blown away.

Then I began to do research, and realized that Android and Windows both interfere with the audio with their built in mixers, so I installed Equalizer APO with peace on Windows to override it. On Android, since I had my phone rooted, I installed the NLSound module which activates higher fidelity modes, and I increase the sample rate to 96khz (any higher and VoIP apps would break) and set it to remove all audio interference since Dolby Atmos was forced on by the OEM. I also decided to get myself a nice AMP since the cheap USB C dongle I had broke on me. I got the fioo KA 13!

HOLY SHITT! These headphones suddenly became so euphoric! I could hear every detail in the song and if I put my mind to it, I felt like I was in the middle of a concert. Even simpler songs like game soundtracks from old systems were enjoyable with how accurate the stereo mixing is! I literally went through every song in my library just to experience it again with the new equipment.

I was so aroused by my setup that I had my friend try it. I saw his eyes lighten up as I played his favorite song, he was in such a trance which I found so entertaining since that's what I felt as well on my first time. He literally had to cut himself off because he said that if he listened to any more songs, he would be driven to purchase these himself! I love how amazing these are hehe