The headphone world has changed and continues to change over the years. For example those Dan Clark Audio Sleath headphones were only introduced last year. Amazingly good closed back headphones, perhaps the best closed back headphones currently available. A little pricy ( ) but well worth the money, which I donāt happen to have
Love them or hate them but thereās no denying that Focalās entry into the headphone market has really had a very positive effect and has forced the other manufacturers to up their game. A win win, as they say.
Work from home desk: Schiit Modi & Magni Heresey Stack | Pi4 | 12.9 iPad Pro | Campfire Cascadeās
Living Room set up: 16ā MacBook Pro | Mojo 1
Mobile: Alternating with a Hiby R6 (2020) or modded and rockboxed iPod 5.5 for the scrobbles while Arc settles down. Paired with Campfire Honeydewās. Iām using an iPhone 14 Pro Max with Airpods pro 2 for Arc, but itās just not reliable for me yet.
Headphone / IEM selection is influenced heavily by my younger days as a DJ, while I listen to a wide variety of music I just NEEEEED the heavy bass, Cascadeās are end game for me in this respect. Honeydewās Iām not so sure.
I just set up the R50 last week, I picked up a used i5 version with 32 gig of Ram on ebay which should do me for a long time. Itās a great machine, I feel like running full linux on it to get more use out of it but Iām resistingā¦ for now.
None that I can think of. Full disclosure: I also own the slightly different red version of these wonderful headphones, which were my introduction to Dan Clark Audio. Excellent closed back planar magnetic headphones that can be used with mobile devices, although they will really shine when paired with a good desktop or portable headphone amp. So go ahead and have yourself a Merry Christmas!
I like them a great deal, they are great for travel.
I still prefer my Focalās for fit and sound. I wore Gradoās for years and I will no longer sacrifice fit for sound. YMMV, my $0.02, products may appear different than posted, etc . . .
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AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
733
Quick review/feedback on my new travelling companions.
I upgraded from B&W PX5 to B&W PX7
What a difference!
Part of the problem with the px5 were they were āon earā and became uncomfortable for me after about 30 minutes or so.
The px7 are full āover earā and this morning gave me 2 hours of comfortable in flight listening.
They are much more dynamic and detailed than the px5 and the noise cancelling is superb.
One really nice feature is that when I move them down off my ears say to my neck to tell the nice flight attendant, yes please more coffee, they pause and automatically resume playback once I seat them back over earsā¦very nifty.
Well worth considering for the road warriors among us, my new favourite toy!
Good information Acešš»
Are you connecting via LDAC or do they top out at APTXHD
I assume totally reliable at the higher bit rate as well?
There is suddenly an abundance of high end BT headphones that can be plugged in as well. Any coincidence that they started coming to market the the same time as ARCš
I think there is not a massive difference between AptX HD and LDAC (Having tried both). Both significantly better than AAC and SBC for listening to Symphonic Metal and similar.
Glad you are enjoying them
There may not be a big difference sound wise but the higher bit rate Bluetooth codecs are much more prone to dropouts, especially when trying to listen to high resolution audio files.
1 Like
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
742
Not had any issues but I only ever dl at CD resolution on my phone so as not too chew up storage space.
Might have to try a 24/192 see what happens.
It depends on the size of the BT receivers in the headphones I feel.
On my Sony OTE headphones I can get full LDAC with no issue and no breakup. For some of my IEMs that is just not possible, but if I reduce LDAC down to the 500KB range it is totally reliable and still sounds great to me.
) but well worth the money, which I donāt happen to have 
