Did you read the “reviews” for the latest “hype”, the Earsonics Onyx?
Apparently sounds great, just need to cable roll and burn in for 75+ hours. 
(also, Earsonics got pretty pissed at me lol.)
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Tbh I took a big step back in terms of the IEM industry.
There are only a few IEM I’m currently interested, but I even stopped using them for my ear health. So far, I am seeing a major improvement in my ear health, and I would not want to disrupt that in any way.
I haven’t read the review, but I believe you. Companies who cannot own up to making a bad product are the ones that don’t make good products in the long run.
For example, whenever I shared harsh criticism with manufacturers like BQEYZ, TRI, iBasso, they took it and improved what’s wrong. That’s the way to do it.
Even Dunu, I reached out to them and told them that IMO the Dunu Falcon Pro is a complete miss in terms of the sound performance. They didn’t say “how dare you” or anything like that. We just had a conversation and I explained myself while they took in my criticism like a good company should.
However, there are many companies on the market who are more worried about their $ than the true quality of their products… which is understandable because they do invest quite a lot of money to put these products out. This only makes the companies that take criticism even more badass because it takes a big pair of balls to do that!
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Consider going earbuds.
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You’ve been doing this for some time, you are probably aware of how dirty the industry is.
As a reviewer you must choose your stance and side. Do you want to be a great author? Or do you want to get as much out of “reviewing” as possible? If it’s the second, you must learn to write in the shortest amount of time, but still put out a “good enough” review to satisfy your partners, you must avoid criticism at all costs and appeal your review to the manufacturer as much as possible. This way you established a trusty relationship with the manufacturer and you’ll get more free expensive sh*t in the future that you can sell, right?
I chose my own stance and I strongly stand my ground. I have nothing to do with that dirt, and I’m extremely proud of that.
I achieved quite a lot for an independent author, and I can say that all the accomplishment I’ve accomplished are a direct result of quality of my work — I have no sort of a social media following, recognition, or my own website.
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They never sat well in my ears!
I’ve got some Venture Electronics, and they sound nuts, but they are too large and uncomfortable for my ears. It’s very uncomfortable for me, so I just stick to over-ears now.
yes and I am honestly sick of it…to the point I almost wanted to leave a few times tbh…
(this was my hobby to “escape” from the shit around the world, only to shit is still here…)
its funny, cuz another guy that “reviewed” the Onyx asked me if I wanted to sell/trade it. Extremely unethical…
Ironically Earsonics wanted it back to check for “problems” lol.
Check out the K´s LBBS, they are quite tiny compared to the MX500 shell that most (including VE) uses.
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I’m with you on that one, same happened with me. I think this is normal when you are honest and putting true effort into something. This goes for any other job or art. True energy exhausts you like a mf. It’s hard to stay sane, let’s just say that.
For me, writing reviews is an escape from my demons, and I can safely say that it saved my life. Now, if you imagine something having to be so meaningful that it has the power to keep you hanging to life, it must posses true qualities. Qualities that make you look at it and say “Wow, I made that. It’s a result of my effort”.
This mentality allows me to improve each time, and therefore makes me feel some sort of progress, which is a blessing considering this whole thing happened by accident for me.
I am basically competing against myself, and that’s what keeps me going.
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What do we think of this video and its claim about this source gear all sounding the same?
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Don’t have 17 minutes to waste, but would love to hear what other (including you) have to say!
I had some time to kill before I went into a brief early meeting, so I watched.
Personally, I think he is wrong. I replaced my MX-3 with the SU-8 as my DAC for a reason. And it is simply this - I upgraded to the SU-8 DAC over the MX-3 because - it sounded better. Much more detail, richness and presence to the music. I then upgraded to the Bifrost 2. Why? Because the Frost sounds better. It brings out a more natural, organic tonality to the music that the SU-8 lacked. I can certainly hear sonic differences in my amps. And I could certainly hear a difference after I started preamping. So on that level, I think he is wrong.
Having said that, the “diminishing returns” factor definitely starts to kick in when you go to and through this price range. Is that Holo May DAC going to sound 4,000 dollars better than the Bifrost? Not a chance in Hell. So I don’t waste my time trying to play in that space. I’m not going to burn 4,000 bucks for a 4% improvement. At lest I’m not. In this regard, he is right.
I built to a sound quality and value proposition objective I could be comfortable with and enjoy for years. And I feel I have achieved that. No more chasing that dragon! But gear does sound different. So yeah, I think he is wrong. To a point.
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I don’t think about it because the reviewer clearly didn’t put much thought into it if that’s his take. He’s wrong. A simple A/B test proves that.
Isn’t A/B testing what he’s doing with those sample recordings?
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Point taken. Then his ears aren’t very good. My ears are ravaged with tinnitus, and simple A/B testing with the same headphone proved the difference between a bright ESS Sabre chip and a warm Burr-Brown chip when I was testing a bunch of DACs a year ago.
There’s a certain segment of audiophiles who rely more on graphs and measurements than their ears. Few things irritate me more in this hobby than someone posting what pleasure they get from a new piece of gear and someone almost immediately pissing into their happy punch bowl by replying, “Yeah, but it doesn’t measure well.”
Who the f*ck cares? If the person who bought it likes it, so be it.
Take the iFi DAC-amps, for example. Yes, the hip-dac measured higher distortion than some other portable DAC-amps at Audio Science Review. But I still found it to sound better without EQ than the Qudelix, a few FIIO products, the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro and another dongle that all measured better because my ears liked the warmth of the Burr-Brown chip.
Take the Meze 99 series headphones as another example. Yes, they’re bassy and bloated as hell. But if someone likes that sound or wants it, who are we to criticize their choice? We can accurately point out that other headphones are more neutral, but what if the buyer wants flabby bass?
Too often the paradigm of this hobby is for people to apply their desired sound signature and features to everyone and question anyone who disagrees with their doctrine.
There is some objectivity in audiophilia. But there’s also a crapton of subjectivity, something that many (not you, Eric) forget.
Rant over! 
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Haven’t watched it yet, but he’s wrong. I heard an immediate difference going from the Modius to the Bifrost 2, can prettily easily discern the difference between the SE and balanced outs on my Jot2, and comparing my BF2/Jot2 to my FiiO Q3? I know what I’m missing when I’m listening on the go.
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I thought some differences came through in the demos.
I think it is natural that source gear variations are going to be smaller/diminishing and will cause some folks not to care. It becomes a matter of how do you listen, how much do you care, how much would you like to spend? All the same, I was surprised that the assessment was “zero variation”.
Asked for the answer guide to the blind testing portion.
Curious about the synergies/preferences I had to see what they mean for me.
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Another growing question I have about this hobby: Does anyone spend more time listening to music than poring through graphs, frequency curves and headphone forums as if they were the IRS doing a forensic deep dive into tax returns of noted organized crime figures?
Sometimes I really wonder.
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Man, had this exact though a couple of days ago.
If you think about other hobbies, people just enjoy whatever it is that they are enjoying. They usually aren’t on the internet discussing it.
Us audiophiles and tech junkies are always on our keyboards… if ya know what I mean
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Appreciate the enthusiasm though, as it affords many things for the hobby.
I wish that wine had near the levels of user-level enthusiasm, youthful energy and content creation that this hobby has.
Both hobbies are this deeply subjective and obsessive-attracting things that of-course are riddled with troubles — but enthusiasm is the key thing.
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No graphs for me, but I sometimes have to stop myself and go back to Listening
to music. (I can’t do both simultaneosly, lol.)
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I tend to avoid graphs until I’ve had a hands on then I look at the graphs and go “oh that’s why it sounds a bit sharp” etc…
also graphs imo don’t tell the whole story people that looked at graphs and asked me for comparisons have been shocked by what I said lol
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