True, But there’s one small village of indomitable Gauls wonderful budget banger from 2006: The Aurvana Live headphones. It had a flimsy construction but the sound was pretty good.
3 Likes
The Q15 looks awesome, but as an IEM guy, I am more interested in the BTR15.
The balanced output at 32 Ohms is 340mW, up from 240mW on the BTR5.
The balanced connector is a 4.4mm, replacing the old 2.5mm.
1 Like
Damn… So it’s less than an IFi Gryphon / xCan / topping G5… Money saved I guess but I don’t really have anything hard to drive at the moment so my btr7 is fine anyway.
Guess you talk about something like a E30 L30 II stack?
Depends on if you need something that is transportable or that has on-device-EQ. Then I would say yes.
On the the other side the L30 has double the power and that with the single ended output.
1 Like
True but either a completely different team nowadays or/and the guys working on the CAL hps are long gone.
That was my same reaction when I saw the design
1 Like
“I found the reason for the voices in your head”
The Blessing 1 is the OG “looks like a tooth” IEM.
Kinera Urd is the “tooth + toothpaste” combo.
9 Likes
Pretty big departure from their usual stuff. I’m glad to see them branching out a little in terms of design.
1 Like
What a wicked-looking thing… If I had a traveling job where I was always on planes and buses and what not, I would 100% pick this thing up. It’s interesting that they didn’t choose to include THX amps, though. I wonder why they’ve been moving away from that in their recent releases. I love the THX amp in the BTR7.
2 Likes
That is how I feel about my gear. I have a Topping DX1 on my desktop at home ( 280mW SE ), but I probably use the BTR5 more, and likely would have been good with just that.
I have considered both the Topping G5 and the BTR7, but it never seemed like much of an upgrade. I also liked having both my PC and phone simultaneously connected when I work at home. That and the size were the killer features for me, so the BTR15 seems like the prefect upgrade path.
The other one I keep pondering is the MT-602, since I don’t have any tubes, and it would give me loads of power, plus I can use my DX1 as the DAC for it.
1 Like
Got the Topping G5 myself recently, as it was recommended by many people.
Even though they stated that G5 is one of the best choices <500$, I don’t find it any better sounding than my other DAC/AMP solutions, which were <100$ (Tempotec M3, JCALLY AP20).
And - to me - it’s not that great ergonomically-wise. So, I’m letting it go.
Still, I’m not saying it’s a bad choice - but for my collection (rather non-demanding IEMs, a couple of earbuds) it doesn’t offer anything spectacular.
2 Likes
Though I think I’ll pass, this has 2.5, 3.5 and 4.4 and costs the same as a used iFi Go Blu:
The ISN Neo1 (one DD) is out and… from the graph, might as well be the OG Fan??
https://penonaudio.com/ISN-Audio-NEO-1
So I’m not sure I see the point.
4 Likes
Neo1 unless it got retuned nope …the version I heard is a pass not a ISN as you know it warm and musical this is not it
Well that one is actually priced appropriately so…
1 Like
WOAH!
That Muse M4 looks absolutely sick considering the IO… Might have to look into this thing a little more. Thanks for the heads up, John
2 Likes
I’ll be watching classifieds for it this year, seems solid to me! Glass front and back are good for reception too.
1 Like
Same here, they claim it has the same power output as the BTR7 so for the money, this thing could be a bargain. Good point about the all glass design!
3 Likes
Hiby M300 specs are out on their website. CS43131 DAC, 103mW at 32 Ohms. Claimed battery life at 29hours. Loudspeaker build in. Android 13.
If that device does not make Sony A-line* series DAPs obsolete then I don’t know what does
Edit: *android A- series daps, a55 was perfect
2 Likes
lol
Still use my a55 on a daily basis with tiny bullet iems as the perfect travel dap battery life is incredible
1 Like
Sweet! The industry finally crossed my threshold of 320mW @32ohms in a shirt-clippable BT device so I can power my HE-400i in portable scenarios with all the headroom I could ask for.
Now the wait begins for it to make sense to me price-wise. 
2 Likes