Car audio question:
I replaced the factory head-unit in my speed3 with one of the cheap Eonon units. It was a functional upgrade over factory, got me CarPlay/AndroidAuto and a backup cam, but it's flaky and it only does wired CarPlay.
Any recommendations on a better unit that does wireless CarPlay? Bonus if I can just plug in the camera from the Eonon and not have to rewire/replace that whole situation.
I should get my Asgard back today! I received no communication while they had it, just finally an email that was a $0.00 charge invoice with some notes on the bottom:
"Main board replacement. The transformer, and fuse failed, and the left channel is beyond repair."
Considering just how quickly it happened after I got it back, I wonder if someone oops'd something in the inital repair.
Goddamnit. I JUST got my Asgard back and it took a shit. It had been having some noise in the left channel again, and last night I came home to a house that smelled like the magic smoke (the electronics kind) and an amp that won't power on.
Do I try to send it back again? I did just drop $100 having them repair it, but I really don't want to deal with shipping this thing again, and I sure as hell don't want to pay for another repair.
Well, my Asgard finally took a shit. I grabbed my headphones yesterday and the left earcup was hot, there was noise in the left channel, and when I unplugged the headphone the jack was oily(??) and it looked like there was a burn-mark on the tip of the plug.
I've sent Schiit an email to see if repair is an option. It's old enough that I'm certainly out of warranty, but I'd rather spend some to get this repaired than throw this out and spend more to get something new.
With the kid in the house, I'm looking for a bluetooth transmitter to add in to my home stereo. Give me the ability to use my wireless headphones to listen to CDs and records.
I want something that runs on outlet power (i.e. not a battery to recharge), and that I can just run speaker-out from the receiver to input on the device.
I checked Monoprice, but the one they have is battery-powered.
@Mark do you have anything you recommend here?
An interesting piece of audio equipment just dropped and it’s very #WeirdAudioMastodon
Topping announced a new high end DAC it has the modular R2R DAC from Holo who makes $1200-6000 DACs that I consider to be among the best ever made. Topping isn’t just using their technology, they are using the R2R module from Holo with topping electronics. I’m true topping fashion the measurements blow away any other R2R DAC close to thing price. This is very hard to do with R2R technology.
Check out this review. New Record Day is a zero BS audio channel that is more about room acoustics and speaker placement than reviewing new gear. He says this is basicly the perfect speaker for his tastes. The review is great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRrgJ-_npls
He has another interview with the designer about why and how open baffle speakers sound so good in a room. These are really some great #WeirdAudioMastodon speakers.
Open baffle, paper woofers, exotic tweeter, high efficiency, highly dynamic,
Fiio dropped one of the most unusual and high value products I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to wrap your head around how much this does. It’s a CD Player, it’s a usb CD drive that rips CDs to your computer, it rips CDs to a usb drive, it’s got a DAC and a headphone amp that plays digital audio from usb. It plays CDs digital to an external DAC. It does even more but I only have 500 characters.
#WeirdAudioMastodon
Rare #WeirdCarMastodon x #WeirdAudioMastodon crossover post.
Did anyone know these existed?
One of the improvements in this higher end model is having five separate power rails. One for the display and controls, one for each dual mono DAC and one for each dual mono amplifier.
The design is a bit odd. it has an unconventional switching power supply they claim is better than a linear power supply. All the op amps have discrete components.
It’s weird because it has a very sophisticated approach to modern low cost amps but is also class A which is old school high end. #WeirdAudioMastodon
This musical fidelity amp is really cool and something #WeirdAudioMastodon will appreciate. It’s a new version of a 1980s class A amplifier design. It’s nearly identical to the original but it has modern high precision electronics so the power supply is a bit nicer than the original. This would be like being able to buy a new 964 with a modern version of an air cooled engine.
Since I've been solo in the house, I've been using the built-in speakers in the Studio Display. They're not bad (actually pretty amazing for monitor speakers), but I had a hankering for the feel of being encapsulated in sound that only headphones can provide.
I can't articulate the specifics, but Apple Music just sounds -better- than Spotify, and it's that much more noticeable with my Sundaras.
This looks neat, but as a headphone nerd 200mW@32ohm seems kinda weak (plenty for IEMs and Portapros, though.) I'm also not familiar with that DAC chip.
Tonight I’m listening to some vinyl with my partner. Since it’s late, we’re using headphones. It’s intimate and so much fun. Enjoying watching my partner lip sync to most of the songs.
Her Bowers & Wilkins headphones are connected to the record player via Bluetooth. The record player will simultaneously output data through the USB connection, so my headphones are plugged into my computer. Kind of a cool workaround.
Up first tonight is Melodrama by Lorde.
In about 2001 I bought an Arcam Alpha 8 second-hand from Richer Sounds in Exeter for £180. I’m still using it today; in fact I have inherited another one the same. Listening to one of them driving a pair of Definitive Technology Demand 9s and it still sounds great today. The other amp is driving some Dynaudio Audience 42s for music and TV/home-cinema use.
I hope to still be using these amps in another 20+ years. Let’s keep these old bits of hifi going! What have you got?
I love having multiple decent headphones with different sound signatures to swap between. It keeps each one fresh and sounding amazing without me losing increasing amounts of money from gear acquisition syndrome.
Just went from my Sundaras to my Dekoni Blues and they have just a fantastic warm tone in comparison. It's like a blanket of bass with mids and treble poking through.
I’m a fan of the audio reviewer turned you tuber, Steve Gutenberg. I like his approach to hifi, putting music and emotion first.
This video has some of his favorite speakers of all time and it’s a lot of esoteric shit that #WeirdAudioMastodon would love. He includes stuff you can buy at Best Buy or find used on FBM for $150 to five figure flagship speakers.
https://youtu.be/Ac9LQfamYo4
Here’s a somewhat controversial opinion:
I tend to prefer closed-back headphones to open-back models.
I think of headphones as a very different listening experience vs. speakers. Open-back can sound a lot like speakers in some aspects, but a lot of the time I want that enclosed, ultra-intimate sound that comes with closed-backs.
Open-back can have more accurate imaging and definitely produces wider soundstage, but sometimes I’m looking for a different kind of experience.
I think my Airpod Pros are on the way out. Every time I put them in, the left one blasts static until I tap it hard enough in the way it likes that particular day. My speculation is that something is goofy with the ANC.
If I could only have one pair of headphones they're still what I'd go with, but I don't think I'll replace them as I have all their functionality covered better via wired IEMs and my overear Sony XM4s.
