According Schiit and JDS Labs, the balanced thing is hecka overrated (and unAmerican).

6.35 por vida! ✊🏾

how good is the Andromeda? only heard the bassy Honeydew from then and was not impressed in the slightest. I have the Blessing Dusk, AKG K5005 and the Fiio FH7. Wonder how it ranks against those.

W=VxA

Not sure where you get 4W=2VxA

That sounds like a boutique scam-fi issue, not an XLR-issue.

It's typically double the voltage, which is four times the power, unless there is some other current limit in the amp (which there often is).

4.4 (top) and 2.5 (bottom) in this picture are also balanced and double voltage.

Nice review, I love these phones. I have a balanced cable coming in tomorrow; can't wait to check that out since my phone dongle doesn't drive these very well in single ended.

He's talking about the 4-pin headphone output on the front. I think it depends on the type of the connector, to click satisfyingly it needs the notch on the top and not all do.

I have some connectors that sort of click satisfyingly but I also have at least one adapter (on the right) that is extremely unsatisfying, it just sort of goes in and there's no clear point at which it's fully in. The black one is OK and it is clear when it's finished pushing in but it doesn't "click". Only the middle one clicks.

I don't think I've ever seen 4-pin XLR headphone outputs with a physical release button. That's for the interconnects at the back.

C'mon now, where's the 3.5mm TRRS love at!?

For those that want to drop the mic, but can't, because it's attached to their headphones ...

And pretty much every other dap and portable dac/amps out there. It’s not just the qudelix

6.35 mm and 4 pin XLR is my S tier
No A tier
4.4 mm TRRS is B tier
3.5 mm TRS and TRRS are C tier
No D tier
2.5 mm TRRS and dual 3-pin XLR is F tier

4.4 is definitely best for audiophiles while XLR is easily F tier. maybe an actual professional can take advantage of an XLR cable for durability/reliability reasons

Ca-THUNK.

Pure bliss.

Plugging 6.3 into a port is 🤌🏻 feeling

2.5mm jacks can suck my dick

Fog City Audio

Indeed, my bad - its PCM1794 instead of CS4398.

Although personally usually I can't identify chips by sound differences nor tell if the difference is in the chip or implementation of it. The Z is the first time since I've stopped using X-Fi where everything sounds properly, flat/no issues with tonality. I did look for ZxR prior, but it is a hard find, and I just came across Z for $39 from a friend. I do like it to the point Ive stopped feeling like I need to upgrade/buy something further... and I do feel like I wasted time and money with all those external solutions.

Campfire is literally the definition of a one hit wonder.

XLR is A tier at least bruh

which one for the 560S

Bruh what?

was about to say this

Yeah the xlr slander will not be tolerated. Mf’s never had to do this shit professionally

Yeah I love mine, they do literally everything I want them to, except that kick in the chest bass, which for me gets old pretty quickly anyway. Although, my recommendation is just get the hd800s and invest in a butt kicker so you can have both the kick in the ass low end and the headphone. It would be a much better portrayal of bass than the Arya. I think the hd800s’s diffused bass is more realistic. With the butt kicker, it’d be as realistic as it could get with headphones

The ZxR has also better DAC chips. Way better sounding IMO.

For my daily, I love bass impact/slam. I really want it to kick me in the chest. I haven't quite found that set of headphones yet, although the 109 Pros have a nice kick to them without having too much of a bass shelf. I'm not expecting that sort of bass from the HD800s, but I'd iike to give them a go some day as a complimentary headphone to the rest of my gear.