Audiophiles unite!

I’ve traded in my Stax. It was with a heavy heart but they just were practical enough.

I now have a sexy new Cayin headphone amp and some Audeze LCD2s heading my way which I’ve always wanted. Much excite.

I'm not a fan of bluetooth audio - it's convenient, but the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired, and ANC only makes it worse - so not sure why I would want really high-end ANC bluetooth headphones. If the DAC is good, then they could sound great when used like that, but for the times I need noise cancelling, I would much rather have a pair of wired IEMs.

I got a free pair of Bose NC 700 with my Pixel, which review positively and have an RRP of £350. My wired RHA T20i offer far better sound (for half the price), and are just as good at blocking out sound.

As wired, I am sure they are good. But you are paying a premium for having all options in one.

Anywhere I would want to use a high-end pair of headphones, I would have access to a DAC/Amp, either desktop or portable. Having that built in is a bonus for sure, but not a game changer - and I assume most people really into headphones want more than one pair for different signatures, so may already have that setup.

Anywhere I would want the convenience of bluetooth, well then I don't need high-end headphones (which will emphasise the lack of detail in the bluetooth transmitted audio).

Money no object then I see the appeal, and I like that these exist, but I'm not sure I'm seeing the real use case.

I mean they’re relatively niche but even just as the best Bluetooth headphones you can get, that’s already a use case that will appeal to a lot of people.

I’ve got more headphones than anyone could ever need ranging from sling in your bag Bluetooths to hand made one-off customs, and a range of amps and dacs, but these are super appealing to me. For work I can use Bluetooth on my journey and then when i get to my desk plug them into my laptop and stream lossless. Again perhaps a smallish niche but I can imagine most audiophiles would see the appeal in that.

Best portable speaker under £250 with an AUX or flash drive input? Still have a ton of albums on my MP3 player and haven't really switched to streaming yet.

I'm leaning towards the JBL Charge 4 but wonder if there's anything else worth considering?

Just got a set of the Ruark MR1 MK2 today. Setup in the mancave and connected to my PC by optical out and Bluetooth for the phone.
I wanted a bit more bass so after a bit of tinkering in Wavelet (Andriod app), I am pretty happy with the Bluetooth output.

Just got to sort the PC output out now. Will probably try equalizer apo but it seems quite complex. I have only had a quick look at some guides though.

Happy to take any further setup advice

They are good. Ive got a stereo pair in front of the old cross trainer.

Just a bit further on this one - I've plumped for the Marshall Stanmore 3 as stated above but I'll be connecting my old MP3 player to it via a 3.5mm to 3.5mm or a 3.5mm to RCA. Wondering if I can get what's hopefully the last bit of help!

- Is there any benefit to using one method over the other?

- Is there much difference in quality between say a £5 cable and a £15 one? There doesn't seem to be much variation in price in all honesty so I'm guessing not?

Thanks!

“Upgrade” lol

I do like the look of it. You get a decent bit for your money. AT cart and a built in phono stage isn’t bad for price (depending on performance).

These limited collection things are annoying, though. Relatively small runs, immediately snapped up for eBay. There were a few things I wanted for the office from the run of gamer stuff they did a while ago but they sold out almost immediately.

Everything else from the collection is a bit ugly, though, but I wouldn’t mind the record stand. I use an olive wood cookbook stand for my ‘now playing’ but being able to take out a few records at a time would be nice.

The biggest problem you're likely to have with a cheap Amazon cable is durability, especially if you're unplugging or moving it around a lot. Other than that then there probably won't be much difference so I'd pick whatever was the most convenient.

Suspect with ecosse gone there’s no audience for this, but I’ll give it a go…

Has anyone had any experience with MC versus MM carts? My turntable came with a decent MC cart which is generally considered the true audiophile way to go. But while things like Jazz, classical and most rock sound AMAZING, the lower and mid bass just isn’t there. The majority of my music is electronic and hip hop, and I miss that bass.

Anyone switched one for the other? Was it significantly different?

I used to have a Vestex portable player that I used for car boot sales. Useful thing to have in theory but the need for millions of massive batteries kind of meant I never used it.