Everything SJY Audio

Drop+DCA Aeon Closed/Open X are 91.5 db/mW and 12.5ohms according to Drop. I mentioned that in my post above. The Starry Nights are 92 db/mW and 10ohms so they should ve very similar from a driveability perspective. If the specs are off, my guess would be it’s because the driver manufacturer has provided inaccurate specs and not something Jeff did. I just find it interesting. Probably more than anyone else so I promise I’ll try to keep talk about it to a minimum from here on out lol! :joy:

Lol I agree it should be similar and keep chatting away, I used to go ham on stuff like that in car audio lol.

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If anyone has a impedance adapter try it and see what happens :wink:

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I have plenty of them, but I’m not at home and I don’t have my pair of Starry Nights yet. I love playing around with impedance adapters and I have a several in various values from 25ohms to 600ohms.

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My pair is coming in tomorrow and I will be driving them with my Soloist 3XP, but I would like to try using one of my speaker amps with them. Since I have never connected my headphones to speaker amps before, what cables and/or adapters would you recommend?

If your power/speaker amp is solid state you can just use any XLR (or whatever you use) to banana plugs adapter as long as you pay attention to the volume knob so you don’t blow out the drivers or your ears by playing something with the volume cranked.

This one from eBay is inexpensive and should work fine, but if you want something different there are many custom cable makers that make them like LQI, Moon Audio, etc.

If, however, you want a box that offers a bit of protection the Hifiman HE-Adapter us another option.

https://m.hifiman.com/products/detail/84

Personally, I use a couple homemade XLR to banana adapters that I made myself, but I have used the HE-Adapter once at a friend’s house with his Susvaras. Some people say that the HE seems to negatively effect sound quality, but I have never been able to AB test to know for sure.

If you have a tube power/speaker amp they may require certain protections from a box with resistors like the HE, but I don’t know enough about that to advise you on it except to say that you should ask someone who knows what they’re talking about if that’s the case.

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Both are solid state: Yamaha a-s801 and an Smsl A300. Thanks for the info. Since I most likely won’t make my own cables I will probably go for the ones you know linked first and then decide if I want to buy the $130 custom cable I saw on Etsy. Adaptor Cable Speaker Banana Plugs to Female 4 Pin XLR - Etsy

No problem. I haven’t used that cable from eBay, but it’s a pretty straightforward adapter to make and that one looks reasonably well made and is pretty affordably priced. If I was looking to buy one to experiment with I would have snagged that one myself. That way if you end up only using it a couple times you aren’t out much and if you end up liking the setup and upgrading to something more expensuve and well made you have a backup and, again, aren’t out much from the first buy…

FWIW, I just ordered the Hifiman HE-Adapter that I linked to so I can experiment with it and see if the comments I have read about SQ are true. And who knows, it might prove useful for pairing with a couple of my higher powered amps. I won’t be home to try it out for a couple weeks, but if you’re interested, I’ll let you know how it works out then.

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Please do, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts once you get the chance to try it out. I have also been considering getting an HE6se v2 sometime later this year, so having more information on connectivity options is always a plus. The hard part will be deciding which headphone gets kicked off my desk though as I only have space for 3, lol.

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I just saw the forums today, never thought there will be discussion on hifiguide.

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Hey! Nice to see you participating here. From everything I’ve read it looks like you’ve put together some pretty nice heasphones at a pretty reasonable price. Congrats and thank you! :sunglasses:

Edit: Oh yeah, welcome to HFG!

Thank you, there will be a lot more future projects coming soon.

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Cool! Any tidbits or details on those you want to tease here?

Small tease here, working on an open back. The other one is two more different color runs are coming.

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Nice! An open back to pair with the Starry Night sounds like a winner to me. I won’t be home to try my SNs for a couple weeks, but everything I’m reading about them has me pretty stoked for the occasion.

From what I understand from folks who have tried both, the SNs seem like a pretty big step up from the earlier Hinodes in performance and refinement. In the future are you looking to continue improving and refining the planar driver platform or do you have plans/desires to work with other driver types as well? Also, how did you like working with stabilized wood as opposed to the metal that you used on the Hinode?

I do have plans for other type of drivers, as I will also keep on working refining the planar driver. Starry Night have some of the most unique Planar driver designs in market, more unique than a T60rp driver, it build like a tank that is completely isolated, unlike any other planar. But I will work until it reaches my desired performance which is still a long way to go.

Stabilized wood really added a level of beauty to the headphone that no other material can achieve. The uniqueness and one of a kind look is what makes me and everyone really excited about . Owning the only one of a kind that no one else will ever have, brings joy to the people.

Working on simpler material are easier but it is lifeless and cold. It don’t bring any personality and characteristics to a headphone.

For every project, the only thing holding me back is financially. As much as I want to improve it, the financial constraints are holding much of my ideas back. Maybe one day I will be able to build a headphone with every idea put into one. Build flagships that will compete with other flagships.

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Awesome! I can hear your passion in your words and see it in your products so I’ll definitely be excited to see where you take SJY Audio as time progresses. I totally agree on the unique beauty of wood/stabilized wood. I think it adds a whole new dimension of class to the aesthetics of a headphone. The way the cups on the SNs turned out made it very difficult to pick one since they all looked so great!

As far as tuning the headphone goes, I’d imagine working with wood can be more difficult than metals because of greater resonance, but do you also find that it adds positive attributes to the overall sound as well? I own and have owned quite a few wood and stabilized wood headphones and they all seem to have organic timbre and decay in common. Is that something you’ve noticed building headphones with wooden cups or am I imagining things? :joy:

I think it’s great that you’re building your own headphone company from the ground up. Based on your current success, I’m sure if you stick with it you’ll reach whatever heights you seek and we’ll see a flagship from SJY that competes with the big manufacturers.

The wood definitely adds a more lively and organic timer. It is the reason why string instruments like violin and guitar isn’t made from sheet metal but wood. Can’t imagine the horror. But doesn’t mean it don’t exist. :joy:

A headphone driver is the same as a string on an instrument that produces sound, while the wood will enhance that performance.

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That’s what I always assumed I was hearing, but I figured I would take the opportunity to confrim with someone who actually knows. :joy: So is the open back you’re working on going to use the same stabilized wood as the SN so that they will match or will it be different? Obviously if you don’t want to give that away right now then you don’t have to answer.

It will be the same wood but with an opening on the back. It will have a much wider soundstage and even better imaging. Still finishing on the final look l, making sure the look is elegant.

I’m also finishing up the V2.0 starry night driver in the next few weeks. I will bring a driver to Canjam and see what people thinks. Truly proud of the driver, it’s like a brick, can’t destroy it.

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