šŸ”¶ iBasso SR2

Hey voja I bought these based upon your Review. Awaiting to receive them the day after tomorrow :3

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Iā€™ve had them for a few hours now, only listened for around 1 hour total though.

I will say this, and heed my words: If you are not immediately impressed with the headphone as it is with stock pads on, swap the pads immediately to the bonus pads and then EQ in a bass-shelf, something like 5dB 80hz and below.

The punchiness, density and elasticity of the bass is honestly amazing and I only driving it with an iPad.

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Oh wow. Thank you for letting me know!

I often wonder how many people read my work and how many make a purchase based on it. I really invest all my time & energy into it and do my best to make sure the consumer (you) understand where they are spending their hard-earned money.

It always makes me extremely happy to hear that someone made a purchase based on my review and their expectations were met (they have the same positive experience as me).

I am definitely looking forward to hearing what you think of them and how your experience compares to mine (written in my review).

How do you compare the stock vs larger-perforated pads?

I personally never changed my pads because of how perfect the stock ones are. I also never use EQ.

Alsoā€¦ I have Dekoni Audio hybrids for the Fostex TH series and Denon AH series ā€” these fit the SR2, but I never put them on.

Honestly, I tend to trust crin quote a bit, but my pair doesnā€™t have a messed up fr at all. The bass can be a dash thin, but think thin like not crazy quantity, but very tight and enjoyable quality.

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I also did purchased the Sivga Phoenix and loved them because of your review. So I know your preferences and how you make your process. I already know that Iā€™ll love them

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Thank you!

I think that this is one of those things that the reader/buyer never thinks about. But hearing that someone made a purchase or trusts me is something that is of great significance. It helps me out and also makes me happy. I like to know whether someone made a purchase, and if they did, whether they are happy or not with it. How their experience differs from mine or how alike it is to mine.

Thank you once again!

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I agree with the Crin measurements actually.
The bass has great extension but is much too reserved in the mix. So I EQ in 5dB from about 100Hz and down. It unlocks the potential there with tremendous success, the SR2 does not object to EQ. I think thatā€™s thanks to the silicone suspension and to a lesser degree, the biocellulose diaphragm.

Then the mids are elevated, like Crins measurements suggest. You get somewhat of a microscope effect on vocals especially, except it does not produce an accompanying grating or grainy quality, itā€™s still really smooth though slightly bright or ā€œtoo illuminatedā€ if you will. The treble sounds will behaved, perhaps on the crispy side of things but never offensive. The 5.5-6kHz peak shown in the measurements, I personally donā€™t hear yet and donā€™t feel a need to EQ down.

The only real fix the SR2 needs is the bass shelf, which not only introduces proper amount of bass and heft, but also balances out the mids and treble.

I urge you to try the larger perforated pads!
They shift the sound by highlighting the nice detail in the mids and treble.

So you gain more distinct imaging, a faster more agile sound with greater perceived purity of tone.

The negative is that even more bass heft is taken awayā€¦ BUT! The bass is also cleaned up and tightened.
NOW you can add bass back in through EQ while keeping the taut quality brought on by the large perforation pads.

The result is a very distinct, punchy, fast and dynamic bass response that will leave virtually none wanting, except for crazy bassheads.

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Iā€™m still hesitant.

How does it affect the treble? Does it make the upper-mids brighter? Is there more edge, more sparkle in the upper frequency range?

The reason why I am hesitant is because I truly love the SR2 as it is now. However, thinking about it, I should try it.

I have two pairs of the SR2, so I can add pads to one and see how it differs directly.

Shouldā€™ve thought about this before. Iā€™ll think about trying that sometime soon.

I think because of the silicone suspension, the rest of the frequency isnā€™t affected, or very very minimally.

The integrity of the diaphragms pistonic movement is preserved because the driver itself isnā€™t fastened to a hard surface like in many other headphones, where the energy is fed back into the driver causing increased distortion. Here itā€™s fastened to the silicone surround which allows greater excursion for the diaphragm and for the energy that would otherwise distort to instead become increased macrodynamics.
Thatā€™s my theory at least.

I personally do not notice any change of quality or resolve in the treble itself with the bass boost. If anything, I think the treble gains increased perceived microdynamics and clarity since youā€™ll also be doing the pad swap.

The bonus pads lowers bass quantity but greatly increases its quality and increases treble quantity and quality. So the last piece of the puzzle then becomes the bass shelf.

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I stayed up till 3am listening to music with the SR2.

This is the most enjoyable headphone I ever heard after pad swap and bass EQ. Just stupendously supple and delicate sound. Timbre is amazingā€¦ Borderline magical. It is easily the most mature and refined headphone in my collection, thereā€™s no question about that. The dynamics are also some of the best, if not the best, that I have heard on a headphone. These have SOUL.

People also undersold the imaging and stage. Especially the imaging which is sublime. Things pan and swirl around the stage with great accuracy and coherency. These are super coherent and binds the different elements together to form a uniform performance while keeping the instrument separation. Iā€™m also happy to report that I donā€™t sense clear sonic walls, which is crucial for immersion. The SR2 might be semi-open but itā€™s not 50/50, itā€™s more like 70% open and 30% closed (arbitrary numbers, but still) which Iā€™m really happy about. Definitely sounds more open than closed.

MIND YOU these impressions are through a lowly iPad headphone output. Just crazy.

Now I just need to hear these through my main setup, Bifrost 2 & RNHP. Iā€™m almosg afraid to imagine the bliss thatā€™s coming my way.

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Just play ā€œDogsā€ by Pink Floyd, and tell me these donā€™t blow you away. Play 3:48 and 3:56 minute marks and listen to the panning of the drums :wink:

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I did a huge headphone impression thread on /r/headphones where I do a rundown on the headphones that I currently have in possession. I also do a comparison between the HD650 and SR2, look through my comments.

Listening to my pair right now. Loving it so far - Dogs was mind blowing how accurate sound in positioning - I felt like the drum set was in front of me.
Later Iā€™ll swap the pads for comparison.

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Canā€™t believe I have to part with these :pensive:
But will probably buy them again once this pandemic is over and I can work more again :sweat_smile:

Bummer! Thankfully the SR2 isnā€™t a limited edition headphone like the SR1 was.

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Iā€™ve sended mine back to the vendor. Not that I donā€™t liked them - totally the opposite - but my SR2 came with a QC problem in one cup. The screw that hold the yolk with the headband was loose and its head was stripped and even scratched the cup. So iBasso is taking It back to know what happened and sending me another one. Hoping to not take too long to receive another one

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Hi All, I am pretty much learning towards getting iBasso SR2. Thank you to those who extensively reviewed this pair for me to come to this conclusion. However I wish to pair up with good quality DAC/Amp to utilise its best potential and I am not very knowledgeable about them. I kept doing my research :nerd_face:

(Apologies if the rest is hijacking the thread, I will remove it if disrupting the flow but it seemed like the right place as all active owners of SR2 are in this thread and there are not many users of this headphone around. I hope it helps other potential buyers of these pairs)

Within my budget I can list some that took my interest (for desktop and portable use within limited space, not much of an EQ guy, I will also use for FPS games) and appreciate if you could guide me which one would be a better fit for SR2 - listed most to least interested/same trend with highest price to cheapest:

iFi Micro iDSD Signature, Dethonray Honey H1, xDuoo XD-05 BAL, Luxury & Precision W2 (out of stock where I could order from), Earmen Sparrow.
Other choices that I have not extensively looked into Cobalt, Lotoo PAW S1, iFi Audio Hip-DAC etc. Unsure if they could be better fit for longevity/future headphones.

I live in UK, and if not available in my country, then I will also look into ways of ordering from Hifigo along with SR2. Appreciate any better recommendations outside of this list that could benefit me.

Thanks for your help!

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Great to hear another person to join the SR2 club :wink:

Itā€™s interesting, because the mentioned DAC/AMPs vary quite a lot in terms of price.

I personally cannot give you a clear answer by saying which one to go with. Iā€™ve never heard of the Honey H1, but that thing looks gorgeous!

Hereā€™s my take: answer to yourself how much you will be using it for portable use and how big of a priority it is to you. I think that you would be much better of with going a desktop DAC/AMP at around 500 bucks. You have great options from Burson Audio (Playmate 2 or Funk), or you can go with the outstanding Topping A90, but thatā€™s a much bigger investment since itā€™s only an amp ā€” but an amp with mind-blowing specs.

Hereā€™s why Iā€™m telling you to go with a desktop option. If you are not going to be using it for portable use too much, then you will be getting much more value if you go the desktop route. If you were to invest in something like a Burson Audio Playmate 2, you could buy a small dongle AMP/DAC from iBasso themselves (their ā€œDCā€ series). They are relatively cheap but like all the other iBasso products, their performance is way above its price point.

The Honey H1 costs $700. So, letā€™s say you pay the standard $550 for the Playmate 2, this leaves you $150 for a portable AMP/DAC, and iBassoā€™s DC04 fits in that price range. Or, you can go the deluxe (max. out) version of the Playmate 2 (or Funk) and pay $750ā€¦ but then you will probs have to chill for sometime before you can buy the portable AMP/DAC.

Thatā€™s just my 2 cents and my observations. I care about your pocket and money, and this is basically my conclusion. You will be getting waaaay more out the desktop route and it is a long-term investment.