You can remove the battery on the 5k. The manufacturer will even give you instructions on how to do it. No soldering required. It's really easy, cost effective, and is only required once every 3 years or so.
You can also just set the max charge to 80% and forget about it forever… or you can get the battery to about 50% charge and then use it wired, and it’ll last decades
Deeper have fallen into hobby, more I believe personal HRTF is everything going forward. Spent time jury rigging in-ear mic over holidays to measure my own ears, and found invaluable.
15:43 big trend i want to see is dongles disappear entirely. They are ergonomically bad and sap battery from your phone (so ironic you complain about battery when you're damaging your phone battery more with a dongle over time). Bring on Bluetooth dac/amps with removable batteries (like the qudelix). A dangling 1.2m wire and small weight off my phone at all times when I use it for everything is so unreasonable.
Get rid of dongles? Isn't the 5k a dongle? I also do not understand what you mean by "ergonomically bad". In my mind, part of the point of a dongle is how small they are. What would you have dongles be replaced with?
@@sportsfan1291 the 5k is a Bluetooth dac amp first and foremost like a topping g5. The word dongle is an onomatopoeia. They dangle from another device.
@@sportsfan1291 you seem inextricably lost. The 5k isn't attached to your phone. It stays where it is at all times. A dongle is attached to your phone, so the inertia of the dongle and the cable are present every time you move your phone, which is a lot. It might not weigh all that much, but the momentum of it and the very long 1.2m cable are enough to cause irritation. It's not a good thing for portable use, which is what they are designed for.
My wishlist: 1. non-Apple TWS with good sound quality. I'm thinking full EQ / DSP in the app, and would be amazing to have it tuned to JM1 with filters. And a replaceable battery to boot. At a not outrageous price. 2. An off the shelf in-ear mic kit for personalised HRTF and headphone measurements. DMS, maybe with your manufacturing experience you could bring this to market. Maybe you guys should have on your wishlist a new laptop for Listener and some better podcasting gear!
To headphone designers, if headphones are uncomfortable, I will NOT buy them. Comfort is NOT NEGOTIABLE, and it is more important than sound quality. Every time.
The issue is exactly that comfort is even more variable than sound preference. I can wear almost anything for a day happily. Weight, clamp, cup size are very rarely something I pay attention to and I'm a big guy with a big head.
@@TC-dg5pm Ear canal resonances are single variable. If we added SPL to preference targets then perhaps it would look less converging what people like, but most comfort metrics like weight don't seem to matter as much as sound. Manufacturers will react to the demand if they need to.
A respectful ask. Some of us are not knowledgeable enough to register the make of a product from the model number alone, so I cannot register your favourites as a benchmark pre-purchase. Thanks
The best $20 IEMs are already beyond what most can appreciate, but that's the issue. It takes time to learn to hear just as it does to taste and smell wine. An excellent $20k speaker system can understandably sound less enjoyable to some than a big JBL bluetooth speaker because they are more familiar with the qualities of the latter. If they have no interest to delve into hifi then perhaps there is no problem to solve or anything to gain sad as it sounds.
We need a glossary of audio terms and how they correlate to a frequency chart and things like phase and amplitude. Like what is bright, or wet, or thin sound? Surely there is a actual audio phenomenon that is making this impression. Standardizing these terms across most reviewers would be really helpful. A short hand that is empirically useful
Sandly, the trend seems to be more manufacturers making libel comments about audio reviews of their products and headfi purchase validation addicts pushing narratives to dimiss this inappropriate behaviour.
It'll be a Sony with Audeze elements when it comes , but I really wonder if such a big leap in sound quality would be a detriment to sales long term. Who will buy the next iteration if the previous is already better than their preferences can appreciate?
Just dragging Oluv's reluctant ass on to a podcast or something would already be a huge win. He's a difficult personality, much like Amir, but does great stuff and something quite different then most of the common faces.
Only Bluetooth product I can seriously listen to music to is the JBL 710BT Thanks DMS for the Rec While I have tried and owned so many expensive headphones, these sound very well, are bt and so comfortable I love them, the value is just crazy with these
I 100% agree with DMS and his anti-battery take. Its one of the reasons I am willing to invest in more expensive wired headphones. The only upshot with dongles is that the tech is improving rapidly in that space and you might want to upgrade if/when the battery falters. In a few years we might very reliably have R2R/tube/etc... dongles that are cheap enough that you can do pairing recommendations with headphones as you review them.
@@daviddier9865 Kind of. Basically like XYZ does better with R2R so you might want this $50 dongle vs a solid state ESS chip. Heck there might be dongles that mimic tubes well. There are already dongles that do stuff like that. I'm not saying you need a hyper specific one for each but if we can improve the audio experience for the price of a new cable or the difference between regular MSRP and the sale price, I think its an interesting proposition. Having to do it with different stacks/expensive equipment/tons of space is incredibly impractical obviously but for people deep in the hobby and/or casual people doing research for their next purchase after several years I think theres merit.
I think many people are not considering that dongles are supposed to be portable, and the use cases are often during transit, or places other than your home (where you would ideally use your desktop setup). In those situations, all you want is something that works without clipping or background noise/hiss, sound quality is often not the top priority
I've never seen a person change so radically with the addition of a mustache. DMS is like a different person, or just a fully realized version of himself. It's like he needed the mustache to fully become himself.
If you don't care for wireless audio like DMS then ok for battery free dongles but for those it matters there's no choice! Sometimes convenience make you enjoy your music more than you hearing every single nuance in the song and that's one of qudelix strenghs!
I was Using Focal , B&W , B&O headphones and when i first Bought HD660 S2 i said wtf is this toy ? Now i know its all about Weight and Comfort that makes u want put them and listen music .
DMS - Ever thought about putting on your own small Can Jam in Nashville ? It would be great for people to just be able to try out headphones that they've never been able to try.
Kinda insane for you to decry portable audio with batteries when your phone has one, very likely one you chose without a removable battery, and the fact dongles drain batteries even faster than standalone which accelerates their degradation. Not a whole lot, but then again, changing a battery on a qudelix 5k takes less than 10 minutes, cost less than $20, and needs to be done at the very earliest, once every 2 and something years. Hardly the same thing.
But a smartphone is used to run your whole life. An audio product isn’t an essential in the same way at all. Also, brands that offer replaceable batteries and generally repairable phones are tiny and cannot offer repairs and services all over the world or in small towns out in the middle of nowhere but Apple and Samsung can. Not a fair comparison in the slightest.
I'd like to see an audio store to try out headphones and iem's in the midwest somewhere. Or a online store with a loner program to try and find out what I actually like.
On ANC, I have a pair of in-ear wired Sony earbuds with an in-line noise cancelling module; it takes a AAA battery and actually does pretty well for being 20+ years old. I'd love to see a new and updated version with better ANC!
Everytime I watch DMS talk, it looks like his speaking but the words are coming out before he says them... I can't even tell if it's just editing or his just lizard.
There is a brand out there that has a TWS set that you can swap out the rechargable battery when it goes bad, Faiphone. They have the Fairbuds/Fairbuds XL that you can replace the battery in the earbuds and the case/charger. The XL (over ears) you can replace a;most everything. Just like their phone they make, the most repairable on the market.
The reason we like certain connectors is because they are more durable than 2 pin. Fragility is an issue, and MMCX is really tough. Great convo. But yea... interesting on the dongles. I think the sales would be better if they were just solid than if they used dumb battery tricks.
Audirect Team 1 magsafe version is a dongle that takes an 18650 3500mAh swappable battery for around $300 USD. Might be worth looking into. its a recent release. and boasts 6 VRMS at 600 Ohm.
So literally just the Blessing 3 then? (I haven't heard either but looking at FR the B3 seems to have more upper treble, less lower treble and a bit more subbass)
2:24 Completely disagree. Although the Noble Audio FoKus Prestige doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Apple AirPods Pro 2, like ANC, spatial audio, multipoint connection, etc., when it comes to sound quality (and just that), the Nobles are so much better and in my opinion the best in the market right now in the TW space.
@@En_Joshi-Godrez So far, besides the Nobles (that I now use as my daily driver), the AirPods Pro 2, B&W Pi8, Devialet Gemini II, Sony WF-1000XM5 and the HIFIMAN Svanar. The Gemini II's were a close 2nd, with more detail resolution and excellent bass and sub-bass, at the expense of recessed midrange (for my ears) and some wonky and unnatural sounding treble (most noticeable with cymbals).
@toshingAround nice I'm very exited to hear them. Though, paying $600+ for a none removable battery device makes me do the homer simpson meme of walking back through the hedge.
@@En_Joshi-Godrez 🤣... Totally get that. I wasn't expecting to spend so much on IEMs that basically would be ornaments in a couple of years or so. But after listening to them, I couldn't go back to anything else and wanted to treat myself after years of mediocrity in the wireless space. Plus replaceable batteries in wireless IEMs will probably never happen 😔.
If you go up significantly in price, there's a lot of variation in tuning. But for lower priced DDs, there's literally no reason for any manufacturer to take risks when the same tuning with different face plates all sell just fine
@@occasionalart Planar is a different ball game. There's only so many manufacturers for those, so essentially they all share the same or have related drivers. Therefore the only tuning you can do is physical damping, with foam or filters
Someone needs to make a SUPER MEGA Koss KPH30i. Ultra light weight, basically a driver on your head. By hours I wear KPH30i 4x more than all my other headphones (6xx, ft1, 109pro, n100, bathys, appro2, pleanty) They sound great too for normal content. I prefer them most days and the feel and comfort is a massive factor. I just wish they didnt have that dip, and had more bass, and were just a little less warm and more sophisticated sounding....like Air pods 2 sounds but KPH30i shape.
I see a lot of praise for the technics az80, they just released a new one. I have the Denon and have never tried the apple, but it sounds better than my Samsungs. So you are telling me that apple is better than all of them?
DUDES, CAN U DO VINTAGE/DISCONTINUED HEADPHONE EPISODES? FOR HEADPHONE HISTORY. AND JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL A VALID HEADPHONE CHOICE. MDR-CD3000, MDR-MA900, WH1000XM3, HD540, etc
We would love to but those headphones mostly require us to outright purchase them or have viewers send them in (which we try to avoid as we don't want to break your favourite gear). We'll look at some ways to source them in 2025 as we'd also love to be able to get stuff like the Jecklin Float on the show.
Thanks for the video. Maybe weard guestion i have mega5est but 1 shell crashed and there is a hole, do you have any idea how to repair it? Thanks for answer.
You mention how light AT HP but they are also uncomfortable at same time. R70x is super uncomfortable for big heads. None of the wing tip designs are comfortable.
I don't get by ANCs have to be so bad either. I quite like my Sony WH1000MX4, but they were especially complete garbage without equalizing (waaaaaaaay too dark and muddy). Do people really want that sound experience? I don't get it.
Would love to see Sony make a very compact, music oriented cellphone with big battery, compete in the market with a truly specialist device rather than play specs top trumps with camera features.
wow a removable battery approach should adopt the traditional AA batteries recharging and jam alot of mAh in those things to accommodate both all day battery with amazing tuning. Hopefully Dan Clark or Zack can downgrade quality and compete against Apples AirPod Max for sure!!! I see Dan Clark taking out the Maxs.
I wish more manufacturers would make something similar to the quidelix 5k but with more power. It's terrific for efficient audeze lcd and audeze lcdi4, isine models with basically equalizer apo on them. And with so many eq for each and every model available for download their is no shortage. And if you don't care for those you can modify them. One of the best under $100 purchases I have made in years in this hobby. And yes it has a battery. It may be replaceable but if it isn't I will happily just purchase another .it wonderfully drive a my lcdi3 and my lcd x 2021 on walks out and about. Yes I wear these on walks outside and no irony care how I look with them. I figured it can be any worse than the Apple airpod max and all the large beats stuff everyone wears.
Yes, a fellow unhinged LCD walker. I take my i4s to the park constantly even when it's freezing. Something about hearing your music while subconsciously hearing the world around you makes it sound more immersive.
@En_Joshi-Godrez thank you! I have felt the same with my lcdi3 with my qudelix 5k but have wanted that with more power at home. I also have lcd 4 and will be looking for a pair of lcd i4. Not much sure how much better they can be than my lcdi3 but I want to find out. This lcdi3 with a balanced cable and qudelix 5k could be endgame other than my 2021 lcd and maybe keep my sennheiser hd650 . Thanks !
there will never be a real for all accurate measurement rig , consider , the overall variety of head size and anatomy simply means there will never be a set that actually represent good enough
Fun video, but has any review on this channel ever compared a $150.00 headphone with a $2,000.00 one, and said the $150.00 is better? If so, I'd love to pointed to that review. I am not saying it isn't a true statement, just that I have never seen it in practice in on this channel. Super Reviews sometimes mention they would pick a cheaper product, but not often is the difference in price is like $1,000 dollars or more.
You won't find direct comparisons because comparisons are typically done at the same price bracket. But if you want an example, just find any poorly reviewed headphone and take the HD6X0 instead.
I'd take an FT1 over an Audivina every single day. I'd take an FT1 over those AT AWAS and AWKT headphones, I'd take an HD 6XX over an Immanis - that's like $10,000. Price is NOT a sufficient condition for good sound quality.
@@ResolveReviews I am not disagreeing with your conclusions here. It's just I don't see these kind of comparisons often on this channel or hardy any other. I am not trying to be super critical here. I would just like to see these types of comparisons more often in future videos.
@@land_walker Hmm... Pretty sure DMS said exactly this about the FT1 in his video - that he would take it over every hifiman closed back. I think he said he'd also take it over the Azurys. I think we should do it more to be clear but we also do it sometimes. I think the other comment said it as well though that like... a lot of the time the comparisons folks want tend to be in similar price brackets - and sometimes it's not even for sound quality reasons. I like the FT1 but it sure doesn't feel nearly as premium as something like a Radiance or an E3.
@ResolveReviews I did ask for an example and you did provide one. Hopefully we get to see more comparisons that disregard price in future review videos.
why are you acting like jds labs element IV is the first device to come with PEQ built-in. FiiO and Topping did it earlier. FiiO even did it on their dongles. Moondrop has a cable with PEQ. RME Adi-2 DAC FS is probably earliest, albeit a little pricy.
What are cardioid speakers? Like Genelec W371A? I’d been saving for years for an end game headphone setup like the HE 1, but the price keeps jumping just out of reach. Now I’m recently contemplating going speakers instead like a pair of Genelec 8351B with W371A instead of headphones.
Dutch 8C or Kef Blade 2 Meta are cardoid. It means they emit less sound to the back at frequencies above about 200 Hz, reducing the impact of the room (preventing creation of standing waves, for example). Dutch 8C has two woofers at the back, tunes via DSP to cancel the waves from the front woofer to prevent omnidirectionality at the lower midrange. KEF simply have mid woofers at the sides. Both are technical marvels and very expensive. Erin has reviews of both.
@@DMS3TV Cardioid speakers fundamentally can't be cheap if you're expecting to get decent output levels. The lower in frequency that you force cardioid behavior, the more output is lost to cancellation. So, you need high excursion drivers with high power handling and/or multiple of them, all of which drives up cost. Add on the extra channels of DSP, DACs, and amplification, and there just isn't a cheap way to do this. Passive cardioid is even more difficult and expensive to accomplish.
Even in studio environments cardioid bass is found in just a few manufacturers products. Geithain does it very well by cabinet design and accordingly dimensioned power. I’m surprised by every year that goes by without Neumann announcing a subwoofer with cardioid capabilities by using multiple woofers and dsp. Ks digital even discontinued their subwoofer that could be configured cardioid
@ I don’t have the non-LE wireless but from Hifiman’s specs, the only difference between LE and non-LE is carbon fiber on the non-LE and LDAC on the non-LE. And of course, AirPods Pro 2 doesn’t support LDAC. But both versions have R2R DAC and the same topology diaphragm.
its time for the Audiophile industry to embrase "headsets" i mean headphones with boom mic's there is alot of "workers" who need good kit, not just gamers, better selection of headsets and the variety of DAC's with microphone inputs to go around... its a truly underserviced segment, and id argue its a big segment "work/game" and ANC bluetooth headsets are not the answer... they are have an innate higher failure mode... and no user replaceable parts, id rather replace a cable when it breaks thanks.. unless your going truly replaceable ANC bluetooth, which no manufacture will do...
For the love of everything that is sacred and holy, please Audio Industry, give me a HARDWARE PEQ Dac/Amp combo under 1k so that i can change between Windows/Mac/Linux without problems and needing stupid fucking apps.
my iem wishlist is to have multi-DD IEM tuned to JM-1
(fine I'll do it myself)
Do you have the means to dethrone the GOAT 3DD once and for all? I think not.
Project Meta when???
Red with more lower mids and smaller nozzle plsssss
What a crazy coincidence, this is what I want as well!
Project meta!!!
You can remove the battery on the 5k. The manufacturer will even give you instructions on how to do it. No soldering required. It's really easy, cost effective, and is only required once every 3 years or so.
TIL, thanks
You can also just set the max charge to 80% and forget about it forever… or you can get the battery to about 50% charge and then use it wired, and it’ll last decades
it also looks easier to do than the fiio btr5
Good to know
Deeper have fallen into hobby, more I believe personal HRTF is everything going forward. Spent time jury rigging in-ear mic over holidays to measure my own ears, and found invaluable.
15:43 big trend i want to see is dongles disappear entirely. They are ergonomically bad and sap battery from your phone (so ironic you complain about battery when you're damaging your phone battery more with a dongle over time). Bring on Bluetooth dac/amps with removable batteries (like the qudelix). A dangling 1.2m wire and small weight off my phone at all times when I use it for everything is so unreasonable.
Get rid of dongles? Isn't the 5k a dongle? I also do not understand what you mean by "ergonomically bad". In my mind, part of the point of a dongle is how small they are. What would you have dongles be replaced with?
@@sportsfan1291 the 5k is a Bluetooth dac amp first and foremost like a topping g5. The word dongle is an onomatopoeia. They dangle from another device.
@@sportsfan1291 you seem inextricably lost. The 5k isn't attached to your phone. It stays where it is at all times. A dongle is attached to your phone, so the inertia of the dongle and the cable are present every time you move your phone, which is a lot. It might not weigh all that much, but the momentum of it and the very long 1.2m cable are enough to cause irritation. It's not a good thing for portable use, which is what they are designed for.
Dongles give me power and bitperfect playback for cheap. If you don't care about them, don't get any
@@miki890098 cheap is right, but only just.
My wishlist: 1. non-Apple TWS with good sound quality. I'm thinking full EQ / DSP in the app, and would be amazing to have it tuned to JM1 with filters. And a replaceable battery to boot. At a not outrageous price.
2. An off the shelf in-ear mic kit for personalised HRTF and headphone measurements. DMS, maybe with your manufacturing experience you could bring this to market.
Maybe you guys should have on your wishlist a new laptop for Listener and some better podcasting gear!
16:00 There's a reason for battery in dongles. It won't put stress on your phone's battery and it can power less sensitive stuff.
To headphone designers, if headphones are uncomfortable, I will NOT buy them. Comfort is NOT NEGOTIABLE, and it is more important than sound quality. Every time.
Comfort can be an Individual thing though, people have different sized heads and ears
The issue is exactly that comfort is even more variable than sound preference. I can wear almost anything for a day happily. Weight, clamp, cup size are very rarely something I pay attention to and I'm a big guy with a big head.
@@sarahpark5768 And different ear canals too. Yet it doesn't stop manufacturers from making headphones that are highly praised across the board.
@@hartyewh1 OK big guy
@@TC-dg5pm Ear canal resonances are single variable. If we added SPL to preference targets then perhaps it would look less converging what people like, but most comfort metrics like weight don't seem to matter as much as sound. Manufacturers will react to the demand if they need to.
Does every RUclipsr create thumbnails after their kidneys get stolen?
yes
no
thanks for clearing it up guys, much thankful.
wireless open-black with good sound will be a dream. won't take it out, just want the freedom in my room and office
A respectful ask.
Some of us are not knowledgeable enough to register the make of a product from the model number alone, so I cannot register your favourites as a benchmark pre-purchase.
Thanks
I can speak from a new audio enthusiast’s perspective. Most people have NEVER experienced music or sound at the level of an audiophile.
The best $20 IEMs are already beyond what most can appreciate, but that's the issue. It takes time to learn to hear just as it does to taste and smell wine. An excellent $20k speaker system can understandably sound less enjoyable to some than a big JBL bluetooth speaker because they are more familiar with the qualities of the latter. If they have no interest to delve into hifi then perhaps there is no problem to solve or anything to gain sad as it sounds.
Agreed. My wife had no clue until she heard music on my Meridian DSP stereo speaker system. Once you hear that quality, there's no going back
Fact. Most friends and family do not have the wanton or capacity to have better audio
We need a glossary of audio terms and how they correlate to a frequency chart and things like phase and amplitude. Like what is bright, or wet, or thin sound? Surely there is a actual audio phenomenon that is making this impression. Standardizing these terms across most reviewers would be really helpful. A short hand that is empirically useful
Pretty sure this channel has a couple videos on exactly that topic, two by DMS and one by Resolve
@ there are some similar ones out there, I didn’t find any from this channel though
Sandly, the trend seems to be more manufacturers making libel comments about audio reviews of their products and headfi purchase validation addicts pushing narratives to dimiss this inappropriate behaviour.
The market is a beach
The hobby is in a dome in bikini bottom
12:55 Lighter Maxwell with ANC would go stupid hard
Agreed. Maxwell was just too damn heavy
It'll be a Sony with Audeze elements when it comes , but I really wonder if such a big leap in sound quality would be a detriment to sales long term. Who will buy the next iteration if the previous is already better than their preferences can appreciate?
In 2025 I wish to finally see the Dr. Olive vs Oluv Steel Cage match 🤼
Just dragging Oluv's reluctant ass on to a podcast or something would already be a huge win. He's a difficult personality, much like Amir, but does great stuff and something quite different then most of the common faces.
Only Bluetooth product I can seriously listen to music to is the JBL 710BT
Thanks DMS for the Rec
While I have tried and owned so many expensive headphones, these sound very well, are bt and so comfortable
I love them, the value is just crazy with these
Agree with Resolve. More shows. CanJam Australia would be nice.
I 100% agree with DMS and his anti-battery take. Its one of the reasons I am willing to invest in more expensive wired headphones. The only upshot with dongles is that the tech is improving rapidly in that space and you might want to upgrade if/when the battery falters. In a few years we might very reliably have R2R/tube/etc... dongles that are cheap enough that you can do pairing recommendations with headphones as you review them.
I'm not sure what you mean by your last comment. Are you suggesting buying new source equipment for each headphone?
@@daviddier9865 Kind of. Basically like XYZ does better with R2R so you might want this $50 dongle vs a solid state ESS chip. Heck there might be dongles that mimic tubes well. There are already dongles that do stuff like that. I'm not saying you need a hyper specific one for each but if we can improve the audio experience for the price of a new cable or the difference between regular MSRP and the sale price, I think its an interesting proposition. Having to do it with different stacks/expensive equipment/tons of space is incredibly impractical obviously but for people deep in the hobby and/or casual people doing research for their next purchase after several years I think theres merit.
I think many people are not considering that dongles are supposed to be portable, and the use cases are often during transit, or places other than your home (where you would ideally use your desktop setup). In those situations, all you want is something that works without clipping or background noise/hiss, sound quality is often not the top priority
I've never seen a person change so radically with the addition of a mustache. DMS is like a different person, or just a fully realized version of himself. It's like he needed the mustache to fully become himself.
A necessary evil
If you don't care for wireless audio like DMS then ok for battery free dongles but for those it matters there's no choice! Sometimes convenience make you enjoy your music more than you hearing every single nuance in the song and that's one of qudelix strenghs!
Personalized affordable HRTF measurements paired with EQ profiles for their unit of a headphone.
I was Using Focal , B&W , B&O headphones and when i first Bought HD660 S2 i said wtf is this toy ? Now i know its all about Weight and Comfort that makes u want put them and listen music .
DMS - Ever thought about putting on your own small Can Jam in Nashville ? It would be great for people to just be able to try out headphones that they've never been able to try.
DMS is truly the master of thumbnails, and this might be your magnum opus.
Thank you for calling out repair and battery on wireless!
I'm with DMS on this. I wanna purchase audio products that lasts a lifetime, and if there's no need for a battery, that'd be great.
Kinda insane for you to decry portable audio with batteries when your phone has one, very likely one you chose without a removable battery, and the fact dongles drain batteries even faster than standalone which accelerates their degradation. Not a whole lot, but then again, changing a battery on a qudelix 5k takes less than 10 minutes, cost less than $20, and needs to be done at the very earliest, once every 2 and something years. Hardly the same thing.
But a smartphone is used to run your whole life. An audio product isn’t an essential in the same way at all. Also, brands that offer replaceable batteries and generally repairable phones are tiny and cannot offer repairs and services all over the world or in small towns out in the middle of nowhere but Apple and Samsung can. Not a fair comparison in the slightest.
@varunnarain50 No, it is when he is acting THIS irrational about the general dangers of lithium batteries. The fairphone 5 is a beast anyways.
Except I don't know any phone these days that does not have battery replacements at service centers. Try doing that for Airpods or Galaxy Buds.
Dude. BS I literally cannot source that battery
*Thumbnail.* Pud :"Hold Mah 3D printer."
I'd like to see an audio store to try out headphones and iem's in the midwest somewhere. Or a online store with a loner program to try and find out what I actually like.
I would pay double the price of most premium tws for a pair with replaceable batteries.
Love you guys!! Keep up the great work in 2025 :)
We used to have cheap cardioids made of Peerless drivers but they're no longer available except in bulk.
how about a passive radiator in a closed back acting as a dampening system?
All I've wanted was a low latency wireless openback. Just give me an open back maxwell.
I had gotten an m15i and it arrived dead witch sucks since they still haven't responded so i can get a replacement
Great talk guys. Thanks!
I see that headphone from DMS ❤❤
On ANC, I have a pair of in-ear wired Sony earbuds with an in-line noise cancelling module; it takes a AAA battery and actually does pretty well for being 20+ years old. I'd love to see a new and updated version with better ANC!
Everytime I watch DMS talk, it looks like his speaking but the words are coming out before he says them... I can't even tell if it's just editing or his just lizard.
I might have to question resolves opinion if he has partaked in human fresh
I agree. JM1 with cleaner detailed bass. Low end should match the mids not drown em
Some newer dongle dacs have an additional USB port for "desktop" use and extrs power. Love the idea.
There is a brand out there that has a TWS set that you can swap out the rechargable battery when it goes bad, Faiphone. They have the Fairbuds/Fairbuds XL that you can replace the battery in the earbuds and the case/charger. The XL (over ears) you can replace a;most everything. Just like their phone they make, the most repairable on the market.
The reason we like certain connectors is because they are more durable than 2 pin. Fragility is an issue, and MMCX is really tough. Great convo. But yea... interesting on the dongles. I think the sales would be better if they were just solid than if they used dumb battery tricks.
MMCX is terrible. It spins around until the the two materials no longer provided a snug connection. You'll provided no evidence that 2pin is "weak".
Out of curiosity, are you often unplugging your iem cable? For me, once a cable I like goes on, it stays on that iem forever
I haven’t seen any evidence that MMCX is better than 2 pin
Where are you in US when you are recording this and talk about going to NY?
Great video, Thanks! The Devialet Gemini II TWS Earbuds give the AirPods Pro 2 a good run for the money b terms of SQ says I.
I'll put it on my radar!
Apple airpods pro 1 sounds much better and more natural to me than 2
I also prefer the OG Pro too
Audirect Team 1 magsafe version is a dongle that takes an 18650 3500mAh swappable battery for around $300 USD. Might be worth looking into. its a recent release. and boasts 6 VRMS at 600 Ohm.
0:43 APP2?
Got a pair of Vmoda Crossfade m100 for about 130 dollars. Seems pretty good!
I just want an audeze maxwell with ANC. Please
Can recommend FiiO KA17! A combination of the dac/amps mentioned in the video :) Most portable and powerful dongle setup with web PEQ!
I wish for… you two to make more videos. Thanks dms for costing me £500 on the mega5, I love them though
Has the Venture Electronics SuperNova headphone been auditioned?
I just want the Blessing 2 with the treble swapped _(more upper, less lower)_ , and just maybe slightly more sub bass.
So literally just the Blessing 3 then? (I haven't heard either but looking at FR the B3 seems to have more upper treble, less lower treble and a bit more subbass)
Uhm that's the Blessing 3
The SNOWSKY Retro Nano with the replaceable battery looks enticing!
How about a phone with a headphone jack, an SD slot, and a decent DAC?
Remember those? Remember when we didn't need dongles?
2:24 Completely disagree. Although the Noble Audio FoKus Prestige doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Apple AirPods Pro 2, like ANC, spatial audio, multipoint connection, etc., when it comes to sound quality (and just that), the Nobles are so much better and in my opinion the best in the market right now in the TW space.
How many have you fairly tested?
@@En_Joshi-Godrez So far, besides the Nobles (that I now use as my daily driver), the AirPods Pro 2, B&W Pi8, Devialet Gemini II, Sony WF-1000XM5 and the HIFIMAN Svanar. The Gemini II's were a close 2nd, with more detail resolution and excellent bass and sub-bass, at the expense of recessed midrange (for my ears) and some wonky and unnatural sounding treble (most noticeable with cymbals).
@toshingAround nice I'm very exited to hear them. Though, paying $600+ for a none removable battery device makes me do the homer simpson meme of walking back through the hedge.
@@En_Joshi-Godrez 🤣... Totally get that. I wasn't expecting to spend so much on IEMs that basically would be ornaments in a couple of years or so. But after listening to them, I couldn't go back to anything else and wanted to treat myself after years of mediocrity in the wireless space. Plus replaceable batteries in wireless IEMs will probably never happen 😔.
@@toshingAround 2027 EU consumer regulations woo
Most single DD IEMs are kind of same sound at different prices honestly lol
Do you mean tuning wise or in general? I find the IE600 to sound quite unique f.e., but for cheap DDs there is quite little variety, that’s true
If you go up significantly in price, there's a lot of variation in tuning. But for lower priced DDs, there's literally no reason for any manufacturer to take risks when the same tuning with different face plates all sell just fine
@@miscwork-qb7pd Kinda reminds me of how every single reasonably priced planar IEM at this point is just an S12 ripoff in terms of tuning
@@occasionalart Planar is a different ball game. There's only so many manufacturers for those, so essentially they all share the same or have related drivers. Therefore the only tuning you can do is physical damping, with foam or filters
@@miscwork-qb7pdyeah, I tried the campfire supermoon yesterday, it sounded almost the same as my s12 and sounded just as detailed as my s12
Philip X2HR is my favourite heaadphone i own
Someone needs to make a SUPER MEGA Koss KPH30i. Ultra light weight, basically a driver on your head. By hours I wear KPH30i 4x more than all my other headphones (6xx, ft1, 109pro, n100, bathys, appro2, pleanty) They sound great too for normal content. I prefer them most days and the feel and comfort is a massive factor. I just wish they didnt have that dip, and had more bass, and were just a little less warm and more sophisticated sounding....like Air pods 2 sounds but KPH30i shape.
I see a lot of praise for the technics az80, they just released a new one.
I have the Denon and have never tried the apple, but it sounds better than my Samsungs.
So you are telling me that apple is better than all of them?
My headphones have been so much more enjoyable ever since I overclocked them
DUDES, CAN U DO VINTAGE/DISCONTINUED HEADPHONE EPISODES? FOR HEADPHONE HISTORY. AND JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL A VALID HEADPHONE CHOICE.
MDR-CD3000, MDR-MA900, WH1000XM3, HD540, etc
We would love to but those headphones mostly require us to outright purchase them or have viewers send them in (which we try to avoid as we don't want to break your favourite gear). We'll look at some ways to source them in 2025 as we'd also love to be able to get stuff like the Jecklin Float on the show.
Thanks for the video. Maybe weard guestion i have mega5est but 1 shell crashed and there is a hole, do you have any idea how to repair it? Thanks for answer.
You mention how light AT HP but they are also uncomfortable at same time. R70x is super uncomfortable for big heads. None of the wing tip designs are comfortable.
I need to see a dap and dac pair with a hdmi connection
I would like to see a high end open back wireless.
my wish is more comfortable lightweight openback with design similar to sony mv1, but with 7506 price. and budget iem with jm1 tuning.
Even if it's just a wish, you are yet asking too much LOL
ag TWS04k are great sounding IPX7 rated TWS IEM
2:35 I recommend the JLab epic lab edition
I don't get by ANCs have to be so bad either. I quite like my Sony WH1000MX4, but they were especially complete garbage without equalizing (waaaaaaaay too dark and muddy). Do people really want that sound experience? I don't get it.
Would love to see Sony make a very compact, music oriented cellphone with big battery, compete in the market with a truly specialist device rather than play specs top trumps with camera features.
12:04 “lackluster experience” says that wearing sennheiser momentum 4 anc headphones
I LOVE my M4! And it does sound like a 6xx when you turn down the bass, it has the Senn house sound
He did a whole video about closed backs. More a case of least-bad vs. him secretly loving them.
I had the battery replaced on my Sony Wm1z.
It's okay I am here now
Thank you, Phil
wow a removable battery approach should adopt the traditional AA batteries recharging and jam alot of mAh in those things to accommodate both all day battery with amazing tuning. Hopefully Dan Clark or Zack can downgrade quality and compete against Apples AirPod Max for sure!!! I see Dan Clark taking out the Maxs.
Headphones have way more to go. I have yet to put on a pair of cans that I like more than my KEF Towers with Room EQ done.
You get what you pay for? You pay for what you get...
Love Apple Music lossless quality
My wish is a professional closed back equivalent to the HD600
Yeah, i think AKG K361 was the most near and it's still far from sounding like a HD 600
I wish more manufacturers would make something similar to the quidelix 5k but with more power. It's terrific for efficient audeze lcd and audeze lcdi4, isine models with basically equalizer apo on them. And with so many eq for each and every model available for download their is no shortage. And if you don't care for those you can modify them. One of the best under $100 purchases I have made in years in this hobby. And yes it has a battery. It may be replaceable but if it isn't I will happily just purchase another .it wonderfully drive a my lcdi3 and my lcd x 2021 on walks out and about. Yes I wear these on walks outside and no irony care how I look with them. I figured it can be any worse than the Apple airpod max and all the large beats stuff everyone wears.
Yes, a fellow unhinged LCD walker. I take my i4s to the park constantly even when it's freezing. Something about hearing your music while subconsciously hearing the world around you makes it sound more immersive.
@En_Joshi-Godrez thank you! I have felt the same with my lcdi3 with my qudelix 5k but have wanted that with more power at home. I also have lcd 4 and will be looking for a pair of lcd i4. Not much sure how much better they can be than my lcdi3 but I want to find out. This lcdi3 with a balanced cable and qudelix 5k could be endgame other than my 2021 lcd and maybe keep my sennheiser hd650 . Thanks !
Shame this channel won't let me share eq profiles with you or where to find them.
The HiFi industry needs omega to go open source
Thumbs up for the lightweigt headphones plea! 👍
New meta is good since like iPhones the new one will always have additional value even if the third newest one😅
there will never be a real for all accurate measurement rig , consider , the overall variety of head size and anatomy simply means there will never be a set that actually represent good enough
omega batch 3 looking goood
Fun video, but has any review on this channel ever compared a $150.00 headphone with a $2,000.00 one, and said the $150.00 is better?
If so, I'd love to pointed to that review. I am not saying it isn't a true statement, just that I have never seen it in practice in on this channel. Super Reviews sometimes mention they would pick a cheaper product, but not often is the difference in price is like $1,000 dollars or more.
You won't find direct comparisons because comparisons are typically done at the same price bracket. But if you want an example, just find any poorly reviewed headphone and take the HD6X0 instead.
I'd take an FT1 over an Audivina every single day. I'd take an FT1 over those AT AWAS and AWKT headphones, I'd take an HD 6XX over an Immanis - that's like $10,000. Price is NOT a sufficient condition for good sound quality.
@@ResolveReviews I am not disagreeing with your conclusions here. It's just I don't see these kind of comparisons often on this channel or hardy any other. I am not trying to be super critical here. I would just like to see these types of comparisons more often in future videos.
@@land_walker Hmm... Pretty sure DMS said exactly this about the FT1 in his video - that he would take it over every hifiman closed back. I think he said he'd also take it over the Azurys. I think we should do it more to be clear but we also do it sometimes. I think the other comment said it as well though that like... a lot of the time the comparisons folks want tend to be in similar price brackets - and sometimes it's not even for sound quality reasons. I like the FT1 but it sure doesn't feel nearly as premium as something like a Radiance or an E3.
@ResolveReviews I did ask for an example and you did provide one. Hopefully we get to see more comparisons that disregard price in future review videos.
TWS with replaceable battery is so badly needed.
why are you acting like jds labs element IV is the first device to come with PEQ built-in. FiiO and Topping did it earlier. FiiO even did it on their dongles. Moondrop has a cable with PEQ. RME Adi-2 DAC FS is probably earliest, albeit a little pricy.
Because fiios app is constantly broken. The peq never saves properly and still has the fixed band bug.
What are cardioid speakers? Like Genelec W371A? I’d been saving for years for an end game headphone setup like the HE 1, but the price keeps jumping just out of reach. Now I’m recently contemplating going speakers instead like a pair of Genelec 8351B with W371A instead of headphones.
Gradient makes some, they're just expensive
Dutch 8C or Kef Blade 2 Meta are cardoid. It means they emit less sound to the back at frequencies above about 200 Hz, reducing the impact of the room (preventing creation of standing waves, for example).
Dutch 8C has two woofers at the back, tunes via DSP to cancel the waves from the front woofer to prevent omnidirectionality at the lower midrange.
KEF simply have mid woofers at the sides.
Both are technical marvels and very expensive.
Erin has reviews of both.
@@DMS3TV Cardioid speakers fundamentally can't be cheap if you're expecting to get decent output levels. The lower in frequency that you force cardioid behavior, the more output is lost to cancellation.
So, you need high excursion drivers with high power handling and/or multiple of them, all of which drives up cost. Add on the extra channels of DSP, DACs, and amplification, and there just isn't a cheap way to do this. Passive cardioid is even more difficult and expensive to accomplish.
Even in studio environments cardioid bass is found in just a few manufacturers products. Geithain does it very well by cabinet design and accordingly dimensioned power.
I’m surprised by every year that goes by without Neumann announcing a subwoofer with cardioid capabilities by using multiple woofers and dsp. Ks digital even discontinued their subwoofer that could be configured cardioid
I have AirPods Pro 2 and they are absolutely NOT the best TWS I own… Svanar Wireless LE are superior as are the Noble FoKus Pro and Noble FoKus H-ANC
How does it compare to the non LE Svanar wireless?
@ I don’t have the non-LE wireless but from Hifiman’s specs, the only difference between LE and non-LE is carbon fiber on the non-LE and LDAC on the non-LE.
And of course, AirPods Pro 2 doesn’t support LDAC.
But both versions have R2R DAC and the same topology diaphragm.
Battery free always, otherwise you need a bluetooth dong. Canjam in India.
That's a big head
relative
"Battery free dongles" 🤔
I'm never going to be able to accept Resolve wearing a Bose product. Credibility is severely challenged.
How about Hifi headphones that SLAM? HOW ABOUT IT AUDIO INDUSTRY?!
its time for the Audiophile industry to embrase "headsets" i mean headphones with boom mic's there is alot of "workers" who need good kit, not just gamers, better selection of headsets and the variety of DAC's with microphone inputs to go around... its a truly underserviced segment, and id argue its a big segment "work/game" and ANC bluetooth headsets are not the answer... they are have an innate higher failure mode... and no user replaceable parts, id rather replace a cable when it breaks thanks.. unless your going truly replaceable ANC bluetooth, which no manufacture will do...
17:55 😂
For the love of everything that is sacred and holy, please Audio Industry, give me a HARDWARE PEQ Dac/Amp combo under 1k so that i can change between Windows/Mac/Linux without problems and needing stupid fucking apps.