I have decided to get this for the cable and I know this isn’t much of an upgrade from the previous IEMs that I have. Since I gave away my Holas, I have started missing it due to the insane value that I got from it after purchasing it. Yeah the shells have been downgraded and I still prefer the Hola’s build, but the sounds in my opinion are much more mature and tuned more to my exact preference, therefore dare I say better than the Hola’s tuning.
I do agree with HBB’s take with the Gate having that grainy resolution similar to the OG Aria’s from Moondrop, but due to me being easily pleased, it’s more of a nitpick from me and it doesn’t affect my listening overall. Not really an Hola successor but more like an another Hola with different tuning with the downgrade of the shells is what I can say about it.
Not going to lie, I may have a problem… This is the 3rd DAP within a 1 month period and 2nd within two weeks, but I was so impressed with the DX180 that well…
How about what do I want to buy today but shouldn’t? It could be any one, just one, of a number of things.
A-Pair of JBL Stage 250B or JBL LSR305P. These to possibly replace Triangle Borea BR02, which I have paired with a JBL LSR 10" sub. I think I may have over driven the Borea BR02 watching a Star Trek movie & damaged the right tweeter a tad. It will crackle slightly in some instances, but not always.
B-2nd pair of Eris headphones. These would be for my girlfriend so that we can listen together.
C-Full set up of WBC/Gotham cables from DAC output to preamp out to speaker input cables. Merely for my own audio vanity/snobery, without the absurdly extravagant cost of boutique brand names.
For A, any reason you’re considering both passives and powered? Are you thinking of changing the setup? I do know that Erin (of Erin’s Audio Corner) thought the 250B were kinda weak for the money (pronounced dip in the midrange), so you may either want to avoid or wait for a sale on those. Regarding the BR02s, have you thought about reaching out to Triangle to see if you can just replace the aforementioned tweeter? Or are you just thinking about moving on to something different? Both of the JBLs seem like sidegrades at best, unless you’re just getting the itch for something new. If you are looking to replace them, I’d save your money for something that’s more of an upgrade, or a sweet scoop on a used pair of something higher end.
With those considerations, I vote B or C (or nothing for the moment) but it’s your setup and your money!
I know nothing of the Stage 250B other than they appear lovely, & that the “JBL” part would match up. The purpose of passive speakers is that I have 2 great power amps already. However a direct match to my secondary sub, which is the JBL LSR310S, that I only use with the BR02, would be the LSR305/306/308. Those have some rave reviews I know. However I’m not at all displeased with the BR02 with the LSR310S. I’m just a tad OCD about things matching, though not to an obsessive level, as I’ve had this current set up for over a year, if not 2 years. Same goes for the cables I use. Currently all cables are WBC/Canare, other than a pair of Accusound Silver, which run from the sub to my power amp. Those particular XLR cables were not cheap, but they don’t match the others. They’re in the position they’re in because I had no choice. I ran out of WBC/Canare cable when I was hooking everything up. Sorry I ramble on.
Shait! Just ordered 2 Radial Engineering Hot Shot A/B XLR switch boxes. I’ll use these to feed into my 2 Singxer SA-1. My J3 will feed my A70 Pro which will feed the 2 Hot Shots. One does the left & the other the right. Those feed the SA-1s. I could feed the Hot Shots with the J3 which could then feed an SA-1 or A70 Pro & then both Xduoo TA26 strictly for headphones & the SA-1 or A70 Pro will preamp my speaker system.
Yep, I know what you mean about the cabling and such. It took a while but I finally got everything interconnects-wise in the desktop system Mogami. I feel better knowing everything in the path is the same make.
Just deliverd and I’m workling so not a lot of time spent with it but my first 30 minute impressions are good. I’ll get some time later where I can focus better and get at more of my library to get a better feel for it then.
On a recommendation from a fellow forum member (you know who you are) I ended up buying these earbuds to get another “taste” of this type of earphone. I have listened to these types in the past, long before getting into IEMs, but since my ears could not hold them in well and me hearing channel imbalance as a result on one side or the other, I wrote/swore them off. I was then asked in the earbud thread, “did you try them with the foams?”, to which I replied…
Listening to them now, I can kinda see me getting into these types of earphones again… The foams def help stabilize and keep them positioned outside of the ear canal. I still need to get used to them and find my comfort “spot” but yeah…flat heads…here I come!
Planars hit different.
