S12pro is 1st gen planar while s08 is newer and far better tuned stock.
Can these handle EQ well?
Im pretty sure that S12 Pro is actually a 3rd gen Planar while the S08 would be either 4 or 5th gen. (depending on if you count the SPDs from kinera I guess.)
Toneking BL1 would be either 1 or 2th gen while the Tin Hifi P1 would be the other one of the two.
All planars generally are at the top with PEQ so yeah.
Also does cheap dac work or does need decent one?
Problem is this, I would not recommend Planars for anyone sensitive here.
As they tend to be exactly that.
Anything will work pretty much.
Ok im considering kiwiear allegro mini.
If you want a tiny dongle and also want to use PEQ, these will be perfect for you.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008151925398.html (note that this one has not been tested by anyone I know but should work on paper.)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007966601035.html
They have the same chip as the Fiio JA11 and thus will be able to use the Fiio Android app or their web app (should work with all OS). Only bottleneck is that you only have 5 PEQ filters, but you do get access to peak, low and high shelfs.
Okok i will check them out
I have narrowed to S08, SM4 Also how is ew300 dsp one and kiwiear aether
Also ive seen lot people having QC issue on simgot iems
The fiio apps are kinda clunky to use but at least once you have set a preset it is permanently on until you change it in the app again. If you rather use your own PEQ (via another app) then I would probably go for that Allergo Mini (do note that I expect that it also has a fake Balanced connector).
Do you need Isolation? If no, then just get the Sony MDR-EX800st and thats your endgame.
A few good prices:
(or consider earbuds.)
oh interesting, i saw one person say they didnt notice much difference bw 3.5mm and 4.4mm on allegro mini aside from sounding little fuller
I dont have it but at this price I assume that its a fake bal = there is zero difference between the two which you can confirm if the volumes are the same.
PEQ preset with only 5 filters for the 800st.
Should be fine with 5 filters but more would be better.
Allegro is not balanced. It just has the 4.4 for convenience.
@yunay
Alternatively…
I have an MDR-EX800ST that I would be happy to sell at a cheaper price than those Ebay listings to someone from the forum
(not-so) Fun fact:
I don’t think it would save anyones life, but I think it is a interesting info nevertheless that surprised me at some point in the past. Just a food for thought
There are cases that you don’t need the same preamp value in dB as the max gain EQ setting for any frequency band. It is nicely visible in my favourite Qudelix app, and this is where it caught me off guard, but if you think about it a little it makes sense.
If you EQ one frequency e.g 200 Hz for +10.8dB with wide (small) Q factor and another frequency closeby with a negative gain like 400 Hz for -3dB with also wide Q factor it may cause the gains to overlap and add up to each other effectively reducing the real max. gain at 200Hz down from +10,8dB so in the end you may only need to put negative preamp at -9dB instead of -10.8dB while still avoiding clipping at any point. Just like destructive interference does.
I think this is a piece of useless information for all the people I can think of, but maybe there is an edge case that someone have hard time “driving” their transducer with their preferred EQ because of this preamp setting
The removal of the headphone jack was one of the most anti-consumer moves in recent tech history, and the fact that so many brands followed suit just made it worse. The whole “courage” excuse was pure corporate nonsense…it was always about pushing wireless sales and locking users into ecosystems.
Fingers crossed that the Moondrop Space Travel at least delivers something decent, but yeah, IMO nothing’s replacing a solid wired setup anytime soon.