Thanks! Ultimately what’s important is the differences you experience.
I’m wondering more about the technical differences, since you’re making specific statements about how the architectures themselves should affect the sound. Can you explain that more in detail?
I think Goldensound made a couple of videos over on the Headphone Show’s channel discussing different DAC architectures. He covers a lot in a relatively short period of time so it’s very information dense but it might still be useful.
I’m sorry but I am not really the right person to explain that. All I know is that 1-bit DACs were much more common back in the day, same as R2R. They were difficult to make and difficult to make them sound good. Then Delta Sigma came and it was easier and less costly, and sounded better with regular dynamic speakers and headsets. Now with tribrid, planars etc I am firmly in the 1-bit and R2R camp.
I think AI could explain the architecture differences better than I ever could, so try that!
I’m enjoying it very much—I listen to it every chance I get.
A little background: at CanJam SoCal 2024, Serenade impressed me more than any of the other TOTL sets—I went back to the booth three times to listen. I was ready to purchase it as soon as it was released and then “walk away from the hobby.”
Every couple of months, I messaged Letshouer, asking, “When is it coming out?” After a while, with no news, I gave up. Then, while lurking on the forums, I caught wind of the EJ10… I reached out to Jon, and here we are.
Ahhh bud glad you liked it, was really touched by your love for us, glad I was able to help and most importantly, you found your set “could walk away from the hobby” (but pls stay in touch with us hehe).
Juzear Defiant, you really surprised me for I found myself using it more often than I should for I own both the Pilgrims and the Volume S that are much better than it. But man, they really did a good hell of job tuning this IEM set, for it has gotten for me in terms of sounds when I did some tip rolling with and as well as just let the audio and music play unconsciously, like letting it flow and not worrying about it too much. I think this is one of the best 99USD I’ve ever spent for the tuning for me is just that impressive, and the sound isolation is one of the best as well.
Lot of drivers in there as well. 1DD, 6BA and 4EST. I’ll refrain from making any monkey business jokes but am interested to hear if it its performance matches the price.
Rinko → Hands down Z’s worst collab. The microplanar implementation is just awful.
Beyer DT880 600Ohm → Don’t fall for the memes. Even if you have an amp that can drive these, they’re still a Beyer. aka icepicks through the brain.
Nezha → Weirdness about the drivers used. Something off in the mids. Treble can be like scratching nails on a chalkboard
Focal Elegia → These are just soo wide for my head. I tried everything, but couldn’t get a decent seal. The return window closed before I was done trying to make it work. Imho, it’s not even worth selling off.
Penon Fan2 → Alot of pressure build up and very boring mushy tuning. (The Fan3 is waaay better)
Grell OAE1 → I wanted to support Grell in his wacky experiment, but it just didn’t pay off. Comfort is non-existant and even if you get the positioning right, it still sounds mediocre. A bit like the average skullcandy if you will.