Sennheiser has sold their consumer division to Senova. I just found out about this today.
I recently got a pair of the Ollo S4X headphones and WOW.
Comfiest headphones I’ve ever worn, hands down. It’s like I have clouds on my head and those clouds are pumping the music right into my brain. I can easily wear these for hours.
They’ve become my primary monitoring source when I’m mixing too. I’ve been working on cheap nearfields in untreated rooms for SO LONG, and yes it’s POSSIBLE to get good mixes in those conditions but it takes a lot longer and a lot more referencing on different systems.
With these Ollo headphones, I’m able to hear things so much more clearly then I ever could on the mains in my studio. Depth of space and width, reverb and echo trails, all so much more clear. But most importantly I’m doing less guesswork in the low mids and the sub-lows when I’m working because I CAN HEAR THEM NOW! All I do now is throw the track on my phone, do a quick car test, and then I know how my mix is translating.
But even if you aren’t an audio engineer, seriously, these cans are amazing sounding and extremely comfy to wear.
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Yeah.
At first I was like “oh” but then I realized Senova is a company that profits from deaf people I mean
I’m thinking about buying my first pair of studio quality headphones. How necessary do you guys think a DAC would be if i use them on a laptop?
Depend on the specs of the headphone and your laptop. It is the amping that will affect the sound quality the most, not so much the DAC. If the laptop is by Apple, then you don’t normally need one as they typically sound good out of the box.
It is best to try your headphones with the laptop first. If you can hear distortion and/or unclean sound then consider to getting a DAC/amp combo.
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I used to use airpods pro for everything, but now I’ve upgraded to the Sony WF-1000XM4 (what a name). The anc is crazy and I’ve only had this good of anc with Bose.
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I just got a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds Pros to replace my malfunctioning Sennheiser CX 400BTs. The sound quality is really quite good and I keep getting spooked when I can’t tell if the sounds came from the room or the phone. Not sure about the quality of the active noise cancellation, since I haven’t had a chance to do any comparisons, but it does some good I suppose. Battery life could be better and the touch controls harder to use accidentally. The size and shape are great. They’re small and subtle. They don’t stand out like the bulky Sennheisers used to. There’s a glossy finish on top that I’m not sure about, but it’s not a huge issue either. They look fine. Stylish even. And would be perfect in terms of looks if the glossy finish was matte instead. Probably the main reason I got these ones specifically and not Sony’s or new Sennheisers was actually the water resistance. I suspect that my previous buds failed due to some moisture getting into the speaker during regular use. They were IPX4 rated, meaning resistance to splatters, but no more, and I’m not sure that’s enough for an expensive piece of equipment you often wear while doing all sorts of active things. I hate the idea of something like that breaking, because a droplet gets in in just the wrong way. These are IPX7, so waterproof and supposedly resistant to being submerged. I hope that means they’ll last a long time.
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Just chiming in here b/c I’m pretty excited. I’ve recently been able to purchase a new JDS Labs Atom stack (b/c of the whole Modi 2 cold-start issue.) About a month ago I got on the queue for the T50RP Argon (Original) mod by Mod House, where they’ll upgrade my Mr. Speaker’s/Dan Clark’s Mad Dogs I bought several years ago. So having an upgrade path for those is pretty exciting. I also have Sundaras from Hifiman arriving on Saturday, so my first real quality set of open-backs 
.
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Micro-review of the Hifiman Sundara:
Generally, I quite like it. At least in my opinion, these are a perfect compliment to something like the closed-back Fostex line of also planar-magnetic headphones. At the same volume level and amplification, the headphones produce the exact same volume out of the cans.
The Sundara has an “airy” quality to it (like most open-backs) and soundstage-wise feel like they extend in about a 1.5 ft (or about half a meter) sphere, whereas the Fostex T50rp sounds like an ellipsoid that extends very slightly past the head.
With the right amp, you can get vocals to sound very “sweet”/natural, which is something I didn’t really get up until now.
Again, there have been several mentions of the headphone sounding too artificial when it comes to vocals, but at least from my experience it’s all in the amplification. In my experience, going straight off the Atom+ amp (which I use as a pre-amp) doesn’t cut it because it’s as neutral as you can get, but the headphone wonderfully handles EQ and/or fine-tuning the treble and bass response at the amp-level.
The Sundara, when driven correctly, can offer a pretty nice experience. Picking apart individual tracks of a song or kind of just letting the music envelop you are both options with this headphones. They remain quite punchy in the bass for a headphone that leans more into mid-range and treble. I find what they lack tend to be the strengths of a complimented closed-back set (like sub-bass), apart from soundstage. If you want something that’s larger, you could go for the DT-1990s by Beyerdynamic, but there are trade-offs in other departments. The Verum One, at a similar price-point is apparently a bit better with soundstage but has similar characteristics to the Sundara, but being a one-man show, many reviews state the QC is a little bit dodgy for some guy out of Ukraine (amongst other issues.) A more complete upgrade would likely have you dishing out more for the Sennheiser HD 800s, so the Sundara seems to be a good choice for its price range.
All-in-all, pretty damn good if you ask me… Well, aside from some vk which now sounds even worse than before >.>. I keep the budget cans around for those artists…
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Final brand is really great for earphones.
Even the 30$ E2000 model is comparable
to their aluminum driver 100$+ model.
Highly recommended for those on budget.
Honesly, both of them are ok for me. I prefer earphones when I’m out and the sound of these I have is very good. I think my earphones are Sony MDR-EX110AP. But if we talk about which are more comfotable, I prefer headphones, becouse sometimes is really painful for me to have this thing in my ear.
I have wireless headphones, which isn’t for me, becouse I always forget to charge them…
LZ A7 Micro-review:
For starters, this blows everything that I’ve owned in the IEM department out of the water… Well, since I’ve never spent more than $100 on an IEM before o3o…
In all configurations, which include 5 available filters with a switch for two modes Monitor (Flat) and Pop (V-shaped) (10 in total), the technicalities, imaging, soundstage, and resolution are pretty spectacular for an IEM. One of the reasons I went with this over the Blessing 2/Blessing 2: Dusk, an all-around favorite at a similar price-point, was the versatility with the different tuning options.
The red filter which pulls down the low-to-mid treble in conjunction with the pop switch on makes the IEM sound dark and bassy, without sacrificing much detail. I find this tuning really suitable for a lot of budget-kei where that velvety, enveloping sound helps mask some of the imperfections. The silver filter with the monitor switch makes it more suitable for music with fine details like acoustic and orchestral pieces. I’m currently using the gold filter which is a step up in the midrange and treble frequencies.
So compared to my full-sized headphones and on-ear, while the LZ A7 doesn’t (as most IEMs don’t) match in terms of openness and perceived clarity, it makes up for in being pretty much perfect for my entire library with all the tuning options available.
Quick New IEM Roundup Mini-Review (I’ve started to amass a collection over the past few months):
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7HZ Timeless - Planar Magnetic that has really good resolving capabilities for its price, and beyond being a bit bassy it has a really clear midrange and decent treble. Not particularly wide and images almost like a tube, but it’s the least fatiguing in my collection. While not blunted in the upper-treble, the overall presentation is a bit “soft” which makes it more forgiving with more intense music (sacrificing a small bit of clarity.)
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Moondrop Variations - Really clear and sounds more like a portable closed-back headphone than an IEM, and by that, I mean good depth and width. Everything sounds really stellar, and it really reveals a ton of detail in percussion, acoustic guitar, etc. that I haven’t heard before. Part of that is aided by its sub-bass emphasis with mid-bass scoop, but I find messing with tip-rolling and EQ’ing to bring back some of the mid-bass without introducing bleed.
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Etymotic ER2SE - Really good resolution and isolation, with the cost of being incredibly invasive to my ear-canals even with the double-flanged tips. I EQ a bit of bass in since it’s really neutral, analytical. While I could’ve gotten the ER2XR, it’s never discounted down to $50 USD (like on Adorama.) Mainly use the pair when doing stuff outdoors, but they’re not a particular favorite of mine.
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BLON BL-Max - The most recent offering from BLON, known for their BL-03. I wanted to grab a less-revealing IEM for poorly mastered vk, but still lively. For most people, I would suggest the BL-03 b/c the Max is a chonker. However, if you can get a proper fit like myself, you end up with a pretty relaxing listening experience with enough treble roll-off to blur out really busy passages of hyper-edm + instrumentals from kirakira-kei. While I haven’t had them in 10 years, I still think the Sennheiser CX 200 Street II still remain as my favorite budget pair for vk, I’d like to get my hands on them again.
([2021.04.02] Overwrote my previous post since I can’t do 3 simultaneously. Also topics overlap, anyway)
Got the hi-fi gang together 
, with some cables from Hart Audio that utilize the modular interconnect system which is useful for quick swapping between sources. Left to right goes from slammy & punchy to light & articulate if I were to sum it up. All that’s left is something from Focal, so maybe I can nab a used Utopia someday at a half-decent price.
This weirdo I picked up recently, the Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon, is hands-down the best headphone for old crusty-af vk demos. It’s basically Beats tuning on steroids with its weird bass shelf. Still articulate, just a really esoteric tuning that makes most peeps wince.
If I were to pick my favorite for vk, it would have to be the leftmost LCD-XC (2021) for rock and electronic, love that thing to death.
Update 2022:
I moved away from the old headphone setup I used to better wireless buds. I honestly believe these are the best wireless buds I have ever heard especially for Japanese music. They super surprised me. Then again in some ways I’m not surprised they are Japanese made.
My old wireless buds was 100 dollar Anker soundcore buds. I lost those and then I got a cheaper pair of jlab buds that had on AAC codec, then I moved to OnePlus buds pro. The jlabs were really really good for the price I paid and seemed to be better then the 100 dollar OnePlus buds I had. Most audiophiles prefer a wired set up in fact I used to use wires but for me wires hate me. I alwaysssss get unplugged from what I’m listening to because wires get caught everywhere for me and I simply refuse to go back. I’ve been through a lot of wired setups.
The soundcore had too much treble, the OnePlus buds were good I personally experienced a problem with ringing in the left and right buds at random moment when using ANC. When turned off that stopped. After using them for an extended amount of time I noticed they aren’t able to handle certain vkei music I threw at it and the higher I raised the volume it would cut out at certain intervals even on 320 kbps mp3 tracks. This wasnt the case with the jlabs but not bad with AAC on it maintains it decently some distortion but it’s okay. As for the soundcore there was just too much distortion like cracking sounds a bit when the volume was raised. Last headphones I had were sony buds that had a LDAC codec. This was bad terrible for the simple fact that the battery life on these were like an 1-2 hours because of all the features altho audio wise is amazing but they have yet to perfect the audio to battery life ratio with the technology.
As for the new set up I have they are called “final ZE3000” which are Japanese made and engineered very very well. I noticed the difference right away it’s a bit subtle. They balence out everything better, I dont get distortion or interference. When I raise the volume on these boy you hear everything even sometimes too loud for me to handle maybe one day my ear will adjust. I can leave these on half volume and be comfortable. The quality on these are great and handle whatever I throw at it perfectly lossy files to lossless files too even 24 bit. The codec is amazing with aptX adaptive. I learned about audio codec while going threw all this trouble with wireless buds.
Here a breakdown on what each one can handle:
Aptx = Up to 352 kbps - 16 bit
ACC = Better with m4a files and apple products but handles up to 320 kbps or less - 16 bit
Aptx adaptive (Old name: Aptx HD) = Up to 320 kbps ~ 576 kbps - 24 bit (High-Res audio files)
LDAC = Up to 990 kbps - 24 bit (High-Res audio files) (Low battery life)
There’s a whole article on how the final buds are made in pretty interesting. But for anyone who is interested be prepared to pay a heavy price id recommend saving for them or sell you old wireless buds for these. I know cost is a factor for all things. They are 150 USD but worth it. I like that they don’t have ANC because that doesn’t cut into the battery life. They seem to last really long 7 hours of battery life isn’t a lie and the noise cancelling tips they have is balenced enough cancelling not too jarring but not like there isn’t noise cancelling. It’s in a sweet spot a bit for what it’s worth. I highely recommend the article below if anyone want like technical details: ZE3000 | final
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Final Audio has pretty excellent build quality from their TWS to fullsize headphones. The tuning on the ZE3000 leans balanced, not the typical steep v-shape (heavy bass and treble emphasis with a mid-scoop) that’s present in other wireless buds.
For those who need ANC + other bells & whistles, it looks like the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are the new TWS king, but the Samsung-exclusive features like eq, codecs, general ease of use make it somewhat a dealbreaker for those w/ non-Samsung phones.
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