Rumors and new releases thread

Well from what I’ve experienced with Ifi’s implementation of the Burr Brown chips, if they swap to ESS, at least the center imaging will most likely be fixed unless it was always a result of them destroying the crossfeed so their Xspace actually seemed like it was doing something.

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It’s true that we don’t know much in terms of specs, but I feel like you’re missing my larger point about whether or not differences are sufficient to move the needle for the target audience. I might be wrong, I certainly haven’t done any market research here and if I did work for iFi I would do a LOT of it before I said any of the things I’m saying, and it’s entirely possible they’ve done that themselves and know things I don’t.

The Uno’s small size and EQ buttons are features it has that the Zen Air DAC doesn’t. Which goes back to my original point that this device looks like it’s going to cannibalize the Air DAC’s audience. You say it has “lower power” but it’s 211mw @ 32ohms vs 230mw @32 ohms, that’s a trivial amount of power difference. (Again it makes me think of Apple selling two identical computers with slightly different processors, it just served to muddle the market.) Stuff like THD+N is almost never audible on modern devices, and would only really matter if you’re targeting the crowd that chases measurements (like the Heresy or Topping) in which case that crowd isn’t going to buy the Uno anyway. (Don’t @ me, it’s true.) “Dirty power” is also something people at this price level are almost certainly NOT going to be thinking about or caring about.

Again, the claim I’m making isn’t that there’s no differences, it’s that the differences don’t matter to the target audience and only serve to confuse them. And if they think there are two different audiences for the Air DAC vs. the Uno, I think they need to do more work to show who those different audiences are in their marketing (which is what those articles you shared mostly are). Because I’m talking about marketing and product position and product/market fit, not whether some device has different output impedence than another.

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Hm think they more or less killed the normal zen line imo :sweat_smile:
Got the uno for the gamer audience the air for the music beginner that may want to upgrade his gear and use it then only as a DAC
Just can’t see the real reason for the normal zen line now because a beginner won’t really used it’s balanced connections :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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The problem with the Uno as a gamer device is it doesn’t have a mic in. (Also there’s no mention of gaming in the marketing that I can see.) It’s notable that they use the word “entertainment” rather than “music” which along with the EQ buttons makes it seem like this is geared towards media consumption rather than towards audiophiles, I just feel like media consumption is more of a home theater type of thing. Though maybe more and more people are watching TV and movies at their computers, again I haven’t done the market research.

I agree completely that the regular Zen line seems basically pointless now.

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Neumi silk 4 2-way passive bookshelf speaker 4in woofer 1in silk dome . $179.99
Rear ported.

Moondrop Venus is up for Pre-Order / “group buy”

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I saw that in my email this morning. Interesting and a good price, but too unknown for me.

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Especially after the build issues of the void which is still not back on the market and the not so well tuned stellaris.

18 ohm and 100db/V ~ 82,5db/mW is a little scary too. If it’s not a typo and should be 100db/mW.

I don’t mind the spec’s as I have an amp for that. My landed cost in Canada would be about $750.00 in Canuck bucks. While that’s not a ton of money, it is way too much to end up with either “that sucks” or most likely, “that’s pretty good”.

I am at the point where I will not add a headphone to the collection if it doesn’t wow me. And that’s getting pretty hard to do now. :grin:

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Xenns Top graph

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That’s looking pretty Harmon-y

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Announced here earlier I think, seeing the prime time now:

Designed by Fisherprice.

With a 6mm micro dynamic they’re competing with some older titles ER2XR (? not sure of the mm), Sony MH755 and 750, Final E4000… which second hand have a realtively similar price as these are new, depending on luck.

I’ve shared before that the NM2+ was a favorite of mine for quite a few months. So I have faith they might tune it well, even if it’s unlikely to be tuned for my taste.

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I like the look. It does give that commercial vibes, as though it’s intended for the masses, and it definitely pulls it off!

The colored versions make it look “normal”, while the white one just doesn’t work… It shows off that it’s too long and that it’s as if you took two IEM shapes and merged it into one, while the colored versions make it actually work.

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I think it’s fun, I think the Bl05s is the only other IEM I know of that resembles a 50s car.

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Saw this beauty

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I was very interested - it’s an odd setup. Think I’ll wait for impressions though.

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I want the BL08 just for it’s Alien catacomb design!

Amazon Canada still wants $137.00 for theese good luck sitting on those babies!

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That’s getting close to Nan-7 territory for current draw. Next to the Nan-7, that would be #2 most current hugry headphone in production if its actually 82.5db/mW sensitivity.

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Got these bought for me as an unwanted present… happy to sell them on cheap to a fellow HIFIG forum member if you are interested…?

Have to admit they are pretty fantastic looking.

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It is the only balanced option for a desktop DAC/amp under $350, and you want to kill it.

I agree the new one seems redundant, but the zen DAC v2 isn’t the one to kill off. It is overlapping with the air.