Order Truthear Gate on Amazon, will receive it tomorrow. Good cable and maybe decent IEM.
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And we’re at it again. Often times when riding season hits you start going through gear because shit ages out. The latest refresh is in the helmet department. Here’s the new addition, my first Carbon Fiber lid:
It’s weird how the photo makes the shell seem almost matte, because when I took it out of the box I was rather pleased to find that it’s got a really nice gloss finish. I rode it for the first time this morning and it did amazingly well. I’ll talk about it more in the bike thread, but it more than passed! 
Let me just say that it has been years since I shopped helmets and the pricing these days is kinda criminal. 
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Very apt purchase for these times we are living through, sits under my iMac and when things appear overwhelming I press the button to hear “this is fine”
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Got it and it FITS!
But god is having speakers on the table terrible when you have more than 1 monitor…
The speaker (Swan oasis 140) is big enough that I cannot angle it much more than the stock monitor stand…
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I caved. I thought I was done after the Thieaudio Origin, but the dragon reared its head once more, begging me to chase it. I obliged.
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One of rhe best buys
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I recently got the ISN Audio H20 IEMs and found the NICEHCK PurpleSE as a nice compliment to them. I saw some chatter about these a while back and decided to give them a listen. At first, the tuning took some getting used to since I have mainly been rocking the more classic V-shaped type of tuning on my IEMs and headphones, but after a while the fun began. I see now why these are tuned the way they are, and I quickly found myself spending a bunch of time going through my test tracks and other favorite tunes in my playlists. 
I am going to spend more time with them this long weekend, but so far my listening impressions (to my ears, ymmv) are: a fun, warm tuning with the bass as the main star of the show with the slightly warmer mids up next and lastly the treble, while still ever-present, is a bit tame in the lower range. Thankfully, my favorite Dunu S&S tips work their magic for a great fit and also take a smidge off the upper treble peaks. Since I don’t have this type of tuning in my IEM collection yet, it will for sure be a keeper! 
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Recently moved my Polk r700s into the main theater room to replace the front mains (phantom center) and replaced the family room system with the Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar, era 300s for surrounds, and a sub mini for the bass.
DSP has come a long ways. You might ask, How does it compare to the theater room atmos with the Polk r700s and large svs sub, 5.1.2 component system all calibrated with Dirac running off the Arcam avr21 ($5k AVR)?
You would expect it to not even be close, right? Honestly, it is much closer than you would expect. I am extremely impressed with this system.
The main downside is it has a somewhat narrow soundstage when listening to stereo content (just cannot compare to separates for imaging in stereo). BUT anything mixed for 5.1 or beyond sounds fantastic (huge even). Dolby Atmos, even better. Tonality is extremely solid (even in stereo).
Slightly colored but tasteful, especially if you lower the bass a few notches in the app. Otherwise it sounds really close to flat/neutral. Seems to go for the harman research target for ‘untrained listeners’ for speakers out of the box, which doesn’t sound bad at all, but I lower the bass a few notches to even things out, while still keeping a little bit of emphasis in the low end. Based on my testing, the app gives you a bass shelf you can adjust that will affect things from 200hz and below. By default it has close to a 10db bass shelf below 200. Adding a sub makes that shelf clean and flat, but still a shelf. The app defauts “bass” to 0 and can be set from -10 to 10. Going all the way down to -10 should theoretically give you a flat neutral response with a slight overall tilt towards the treble(-2db). So I’ve been playing with it and settled on -4 (I DO like bass).
The bar by itself can get as low as 70hz cleanly, and all the way down to 40-50 if you don’t mind a little bit of extra bass emphasis. With even the sub micro it gets the rest of the way there and crosses over at 70hz, so no mids coming from the sub (typical soundbar issue). And the Era 300s do a fantastic job creating the 3D soundscape.
If you’re looking for something simple that will give you a fantastic atmos experience, this is an extremely good option IMO. Assuming you have a good room to accommodate it. As someone who has heard really good stuff and EQs all their headphones for ideal tonality, The Sonos Arc Ultra 100% gets my approval and recommendation.
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Finally got round to buying the Kiwi Ears HBB Punch in the Linsoul sales, ordered on the 20th, arrived in Scotland today 25th so very quick delivery, now to settle down for an afternoon of listening
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The DX340 not the IEMs
Snagged one with 10 hours on it. Orig owner decided it was too heavy. His loss.
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After a catch and release of the Fiio FT7 I bought some Dan Clark Noire XO
Directly added another cable and an additional headband cover. The default cable is from high quality though. It’s a rubber cable but really flexible. The fabric cable just looks more appealing and is a little bit shorter (1.6m)
The suspension strap, out of the box, is not softest so I added a widened wool cover (normally for Hifiman).
Comfort is better on the XO. The pads are higher and not round like on the FT7. Comfort strap sits better on my head. Weight is about same. Think in the beginning Mr Speakers target was to make more light weight Planar headphones. With the first aeons weighing around 300 grams. The new ones though are now above 400 grams too. So not lighter than Hifiman anymore. Guess that’s due to the printed AMTS inlay for the tuning.
Some years ago I tried the Aeon 2 Open but sold them really fast because they sounded way too warm and thick in the midbass.
Noire XO does not have this problem. It’s more neutral tuned with a subtle bass lift that is normally not seen in open backs.
They are not that open though. Putting them on reduces the ambient sound a little and covering the cups with your hand does not effect the sound. Fiio FT7 in comparison were like hifiman’s, sound from outside is heard like not wearing headphones and covering the cups change the sound immediately.
Wish they would be a little bit more open.
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Final form of the Audeze 2.2PF with the extended yoke rods and Dekoni Vegan pads. I didn’t think I needed another headphone, but this one has earned a permanent place in the collection.
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Congrats!! Great portable DAC/amp. Definitely recommend grabbing a miter case on Amazon for it.
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Finally got around to buying my own and tbh this’s the first IEM I’ve bought in quite awhile, mostly been buying flatheads 
…
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Next in my list to review, quite unique sounding IEM. (Mostly in the treble)
How are you liking them ?
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Had a demo set in March and I didn’t know the RRP then, loved it for being a vocal centric set that you could play loud without it getting on you, that went for both female and male vocals. It’s a well balanced set, a nice bass glide (not much sub) into an inoffensive mid but not having a boosted bass that works perfectly. Maybe the only negative and this will come down to taste is the treble lacks a bit of air, it has detail but air is not its strong suit. For the price and being a single DD it’s been living rent free in my head since March lol.
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Grabbed a mint condition open-box Martilo for $280. It’s been on my wait for the hype to wane list but it arrived sooner (price-wise) than expected!
Think it will pair nicely with AMP15 SG!
Oh, speaking of which, received the LHY battery-powered ultra low noise power supply. Stellar SG and retains transportability. 100% recommend add for $150
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I was convinced of the Hidizs Mk12
Went for the Limited Titanium Edition for extra good resonance control.
I know Valhalla has a titanium shell.
Kickstarter ended yesterday I think so technically bought it yesterday !
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