Thank you everyone!! They are indeed flare but discontinued. They work really well for me so I asked bc my friend gave me a pair.

Possibly yes, but since the code is closed source, you will have to reverse engineer it which is no easy task.

If you want to tinker around, I recommend going with the Pine64 PineBuds Pro which are open firmware and you have a lot more control over this type of thing.

I actually like the mid of my dt1990 more than the hd6xx. It's just conveniently ruin by a single 8k peak

I have no idea why you are being downvoted.

It's fine if they A/B with both right next to each other; however, I have heard/seen comparisons that were clearly from memory.

Memory is a horrible documentarian.

DACs can sound slightly different, but in my experience most sound the same. I have heard some that are different, but they were older, from a different company, etc. Again only slightly different. An ear pad swap on a pair of headphones would change the sound more dramatically.

I think there's just zero point to buying a DAC expecting an upgrade unless it's for what it can do technically like MQA or DSD etc. Not for how it sounds because you likely won't be able to tell.

its a mood thing

Mentioning the Space, I have been considering getting it

I don't know how the DSP works but there is probably no way to interface with the DSP and even if there was, it could be based on ROM (=read only memory)

I am uber impressed with my new Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers. I'll warn you though...they sound so good that she WILL want to turn them up. I guarantee it.

It’s probably been discontinued since the search did not return anything. But their newest offering Tanchjim Space is really solid.

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Flare is only up the road from me in the UK. I've tried these and find them uncomfortable but it might be different for you.

Turns out it's just 1 DD doing all the work

I subscribe to this. 3 different dacs playing from different sources/files can’t find a difference. Only difference for me is the set of headphones/iem I use

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Well, the lack of multiple playlists as well, for most people, it's a must

That's definitely interesting. How do you flip polarity? But even if the're not the same, you might still not be able to hear that difference and placebo might be in place.

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I only have Frank Ocean on my shuffle, so there isn't much guessing.

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The NDH30 released in spring last year, and I've been quite interested in them for some time. They measure reasonably well, they look good, they seem well-built... so I had to get my hands on them. Reviews have been mixed, with some (but not just the usual suspects) calling them excellent and comparing them favorably to Sennheisers 600 series, but with other reviewers finding them somewhat dull or unimpressive.

First thing: I can only praise the build quality on these. They make even the DT 1990 Pro (which is admittedly quite a bit cheaper) feel a bit flimsy in comparison. Everything feels both very robust and yet pleasant to use. They can be folded up and the cups can be rotated a full 90 degrees to lay them flat on the table. Many have commented on the weird choice to have a right-side cable, but I can't really complain, the cable is cloth-covered and pleasant anyways.

However, when it comes to comfort, I have to make a few criticisms. The earcups are deep and large enough for me (better than the HD 600 series), but the earpads are slightly too stiff for my taste (keep in mind that I wear glasses, so YMMV). The biggest problem is the headband cushion though, it is not soft or large enough and they get uncomfortable after prolonged time. Overall, comfort is OK but not as good as my Beyerdynamics.

But the important part which we're all here for is the sound. I'll make comparisons to the HD 650 and the DT 1990 Pro (which I've sold by now). The NDH has a generally slightly warm lower end with a bass that extends well for an open-back headphone. It has enough weight to make drums sound good and properly deliver electronic bass, though it is far from a bass-head headphone. The lower mids are warm, but not warm enough to lose clarity. Beyond the lower end however, vocals seem slightly laid back compared to the HD 650, and the tuning is dark overall. There is absolutely no sibilance or harshness in the highs. I can understand why some have described them as a bit dull, some instruments (cymbals, some guitars etc.) are lacking edge a bit. One point that elevates the NDH for me is the good imaging and reasonable soundstage: it is significantly better than both the DT 1990 and the HD 650. Sounds do not sound "far away" as they do on a HD 800, but they have noticeable space and the positions of instruments and vocals can be heard very well.

There's one big caveat though: the NDH can sound very, very different, depending on where it is positioned relatively to the ears (probably due to the angled drivers). I've described the "natural" position for my head. However, if I push the headphone forward on my head (so that my ears are at the back of the cup), the sound becomes extremely dark and hollow. In contrast, in the opposite position (with my ears at the very front of the cup), they have far less soundstage and noticeable treble (and are even slightly shouty). This can, for some cases, account for the very different impressions reviewers have had of these.

Personally, I was looking at the NDH as a replacement for my DT 1990, which I found too sibilant for prolonged use when not EQed. I've demoed them before, but always just for less than half an hour, and wearing them for a few hours is something entirely different. I particularly enjoyed them for the "harder" subgenres of rock or for metal, as well as for some electronic music. Besides its lack of subbass, the HD 650 sometimes feels a bit blurry and muddy for faster songs, and the lack of soundstage can make it a bit too intimate. The NDH delivers on this very well, since its lower end is less muddy in comparison. However, it's not a solution for everything: a lot of metal sounds disappointingly bad on basically any good headphone, except when played very loud, but the NDH is so far my most enjoyable headphone for these genres. Overall I have to agree with the criticisms of the dark tonality though. A slight bit more upper mids/treble would've really elevated its tonality. The way it is now it is pretty much a slightly improved HD 650.

Sadly, I have to conclude that the NDH 30 offers too little above the HD 650 (slightly better lower end and good soundstage & imaging at the cost of being a bit more dull) to really make it worth the price from a purely sound-based perspective. It probably is the far more suitable headphone for music production, but for simple consumption, it offers little more than the 600 series. It's main upside is the excellent build quality and the (to me) slightly improved comfort.

This leaves my slightly disappointed since it seems more like a side-grade than an upgrade (in sound quality). That said, I've accidentally bought an HD 800S recently, so I'll get some kind of upgrade in any case.

Any headphone that uses a headphone jack is analog in nature, and needs a separate digital to analog converter and an amp. That's what you bought as an external amp and DAC, and it's also what's built into your computer past the headphone jack. They're functionally both the same thing. If you were using just a vinyl player for example, you don't need a DAC at all as there's no digital signal to convert to analog. You'd just need the amplifier.

A headphone that uses USB as the interface has an internal amp and DAC. It's doing the work of your external amp and DAC, just inside the headphone, which allows you to plug it in with USB. It's still having to convert the digital signal to an analog one and amplify it, but it happens inside the headphone.

Nice to hear that! I'm planning to keep with this one for years now. I really enjoyed listening Pink Floyd on them too. Same for gaming. I don't know if I can back to a closed-back in the future.

The format itself is quite flawed as it is 1-bit encoding with very high sampling rate.

The high sampling rate is required to apply noise shaping to move the noise outside of the audible band (over 20 kHz) and increase the signal-to-noise ration within the audible band.

DSD files have a lot of noise above 20 kHz. In best case you won't hear it.
In worst case, that noise can intermodulate with the audible frequencies, causing the noise to be added to the audible band, shifted in frequency and lowered in volume to the point it could cause some sensation of brightness.

That's theoretical.

You could convert the DSD file into high bitrate PCM (24/44.1 would remove the ultrasonic noise, 24/192 would keep some of it) and do a volume-matched double-blind test.

https://youtu.be/NADx3-qRxek Listen to this one, i actually like it the most with blon bl03, even tho i have much more expensive stuff. It just sounds so lovely and musical.