Saturday, February 25, 2012

Ultimate Ears Triple fi 10 review





Basically a copy from my Head fi review:
Pros: Clear mids, bass reproduction, good separation, neutral, build quality, Changeable cable, reshell worthy
Cons: Treble extension, Stock cable,more dependent than ER-4S on amp type.
Introduction and initial impressions:
Bought them over a month or 2 back for the lols and now they are my regular for my daily commute. I have used them with a fairly wide variety of audio devices, Iphone 3g(Objective 2,FiiO E6 and E11), Ipod touch 4g, Sony BDP-S380(w O2), Creative X-Fi HD(O2). Initially, I thought the TF10s were terrible, sound felt unnatural straight from the Idevices and it was too noisy with the E11. Hence, this review will discuss the TF10s mainly with the O2, Fiio E6.

Accessories:
The TF10s from Amazon comes in a super nice packaging and a fair bit of accessories. Flight attenuator for reducing audio system noise, wax cleaner, a nice gold 1/4" jack and extension cord. To boot, it also comes with a pair of comply tips.

Comfort:
Fit is hard to find but if you get it, it is ridiculously comfortable and reassuring fit. The stock silicone medium tips are my main tips now.

Cable:
I have to mention this, the cable sucks with memory behavior, so just get a Fiio UE cable replacement if you want something cheap. For others there is also Null audio cables which are very nice too. At this point I'm still waiting for my cable(on preorder)

Sound:

Separation: Very good instrumental separation which is on the ER-4S level. Only issue is the it seems very dependent on amp. The E6 and O2 are some of the cheapest options which provide this for me.

Isolation: If I'm not wrong the it is rated 26 SNR for isolation and I used the TF10s as ear protection in noisy situations and work. It works very well at blocking out noise, while looking cool during repairs ;)

Soundstage: I see no point in this but for a IEM, the TF10s have a wide soundstage.

Bass: Good bass reproduction with a lot less bloat than my previous M50s while being having a good quantity compare with the lack of bass of the ER-4S.

Mids: Good smooth and coherent mids, great for female vocals. I found the mids very slightly recessed
but its a non issue for the smooth smooth vocals.

Treble: Having heard so much hype on Head-fi and my friend who uses it with his Ipod. I was unimpressed with the mid- high treble on the TF10 with the E6 and E11(with attenuator). Its just barely there. Some songs as a result, seem to lack the high end for me. Its like the polar opposite with the ER-4S. Only with the O2 I managed to achieve a sufficiently good high end from the TF10s. The E6 does well if not stellar performance in treble.

Tonal balance; Overall neutral but with slight recess in the mids(which is really really small) and virtually no treble unless you have a good amp to pair with it. A Pico Slim would be a good too.

Verdict: Would I recommend this to someone new to audio? Maybe not without a fairly decent amp at least. Its highly recommended if you seek a more neutral sound(based on my Edifier R2000T, ER-4S and DT880) but still keep that bass. It's totally value for the price compared to ER-4S and is a keeper. I'm suprised that it did as well as it did on HF(price?) as I found it pretty source picky with lack of treble on a improperly matched amp(and straight out of the every popular Idevices).

Friday, February 24, 2012

Amplifiers, more than just amplification(an overview on output impedance)

A lot of my friends ask me why do amplify something as easy to drive, at one time the M50s and now, even more ridiculous, the Objective 2 with the Triple-fi 10s. There are a few reasons. I will go through them to tell you why as simply as I can.

In general:
1.To increase sound quality by increasing control over the audio signal to the headphones/ earpiece.
2.Bypass Ipod/Iphone internal volume control which alters tonal balance and adds distortion to the music(because of lack of control over audio signal.)

Short overview:
A audio signal is in the form of AC current which is highly dependent on many factors, of which I will talk about only 1 for this article, output impedance.

Output impedance in an AC circuit determines how linearly the the circuit will deliver power no matter the load.

This is true with most power regulation circuits where capacitors are added to reduce output impedance, giving more linear power. This also applies in audio signals, since they are also AC currents. Generally 0 ohm output impedance is highly desirable in audio.

To audio 0 ohm output impedance provides the following benefits.

Reduced distortion no matter the load(ear bud/headphone).

Flat frequency response no matter the load.(no emphasis on bass or treble)

Uniform power delivery into different loads so that the right amount of power can fulfill the music's frequency requirement.

Of course, this a extremely short explanation of the benefits of a low output impedance. Couple that with the overall better performance of the external amplifier, this forms my reason why amplifiers are more than just amplification.

Some reference material I used:


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Student-Fi



As in my profile, I'm pretty big on audio and now, I'm trying to get some pro-level gear and hopefully some knowledge on room acoustics to get more out of my listening experience. For my room, I use the pretty venerable Edifier R2000t. Edifier is a consumer audio brand, which last year caused a uproar last year after its acquisition of popular high end audio.manufacturer Stax(fancy a 5000usd headphone?).

Despite being a consumer brand, I felt its studio line is one of the best in the sub $200 category competing with manufacturers like M-audio and Audioengine. I had good imaging in my hotel room given the space but not as good in my own room due to my printer squeezing the desk. I badly need a rack. The bass goes down to 50hz before rolling of and and the tweeters go up to 20khz. Its a wonderful piece of work with the wood finishing which mind you, is the exact same wood finish as my old vintage NAD 801 and 808CC speakers. Its overall pretty neutral and somewhat revealing with its good resolution.

The soundcard I'm using is the good old Soundblaster USB Premium, which despite is modest price tag, has beaten the heck out of newer dacs from the Fiio range, at least the E10 and E7, only the big brother E17 finally manages to outclass it which is to be expected with its 180sgd price tag. It retailed for $120 when I got it direct from Creative store.

Now to continue,

My disc area, as you can see its pretty small now since I have only started collecting recently. I listen to Suara a lot these days on SACD. The BDP-S380 is a fantastic piece of work, gonna get one for the living room too one of these days.


My "portable" rig that I have been bringing around with me lately. I don't think transportable audio gets much better than this, seeing how the Hifiman HM801 performs worse than the 3g. I do wish I have a Ipod touch or Sansa Zip/Clip+ for more memory though. I have nicely filled up the 16gb inside.

Just curious to ask(if there are any of you) if you were/are a student, what was/is your student-fi rig?





A couple of photos of Alter Mio

Recently I broke my crappy micro tough camera by Olympus(its supposedly drop proof) So I decided to snap photos with it and make them somewhat nice. I absolutely suck with photography but I with great effort, I managed to get in some decent shots with F4.3/4.1 whatever that means at ISO 64/100.






For lols

Here is my blog. Hopefully it will give me some of that much needed breathing space I need.



A photo of Sizuru puchi which I took, I received it from a good friend(Checkmate).