Planar magnetic drivers in general are more power hungry. You should try the balanced output. Nowadays, a balanced cable doesnât cost much.
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According to Qudelix 5k own power budget calculator (and my experience) you should be able to drive S12 very easily from SE to unbelievably high volume levels before current saturation occurs. For me balanced cable is a burden for IEM as there are plenty of devices I use with standard 3,5mm jack and I donât like cable swapping, but I donât hear the sonical difference between balanced and se (and there are measurable difference in some parameters like crosstalk in favor of BAL) 
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Power Budget â Qudelix, Inc. this is the calculator, you could download and edit sensitivity and impedance for any headphones
everytime i see a graph on these it gets more lame, i sure hope the first 200 units having an early bird price means theyâll be $110 or less so itâs at least a good value proposition to get a cheap s12
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thank you guys
Zeos reviews the S12 before the Z12!
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I donât know that the Z12 is worth another purchase, since it only fixed half of my S12 wishlist. My perfect EQ for the S12 is really two fold. I donât use it often, but I have Peace running on my PCs.
-2 db @ 2KHz
3db shelf @ 166 Hz
The 2K change is to tamp down that first peak, which is source of the hot sound to my ears. For most people that might be enough to fix it, but I totally agree with Zeos, it needs a bit of bass. I do it at 166Hz, but I think Michael Bruce went for 200Hz, we all have our own preferences on this.
I noticed that when I brought down the 2K peak, I needed less bass, which was something I knew, but hadnât experienced, this was a useful lesson for me.
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What tips are they?
I measured with Final E!
So the âSony imported foamsâ are Final E??
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No, itâs a mod. You remove the grill mesh and add a foam in the tube. I can lend you my pair if you wanna try 
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Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the offer but I feel it would probably be cheaper to do the mod than pay Portugal/Spain shipping at the moment 
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Ah, thatâs true. Let me know in PMs if you ever wanna demo something out I have on hands 
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This looks like itâs probably the best way to go. I tried nozzle filters and couldnât get a balance I really liked. That looks good. Iâm gonna move my pair. Just bought them for kicks but am not a collector. Kept the modded olina for grass cutting etc. Theyâre surprisingly OK. 
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Ahah what are your EDC iems? your trash bin must be expensive 
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Yikes, I know that it is international, but mail sent to my mom travels way further ( 1550 mi or 2500 km ). For comparison from Portugal, Lisbon to Hanover Germany is about the same distance as Los Angeles to Omaha in the US.
I am really curious as well.
I wanted to, but the complete lack of a filter worries me. I create a bit too much ear wax to do something like that. I have been thinking about trying the narrower nozzle from that, and using either a Mele filter or putting the stock one back.
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You can just put on a filter without damping to act as a dust/wax protector.
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Whatâs your recommendation for a non-dampened filter?