Depends on the use case. I already had hundreds of niche EDM tracks from years ago on MP3 when YouTube itself was barely a thing never mind YouTube music or Vance and they were already in my iTunes collection. I have also ripped my own niche vinyl tracks that are hard to find anywhere online.

Yup, I’ve done that too!! Lol

Yeah it’s pretty huge and I never hear it talked about. I have a ton of niche “EDM” tracks from back in the day that are even hard to find on YouTube and elsewhere as well as many DJ sets from myself and friends that I’ve uploaded. Super convenient.

If you already own some of the niche songs or are willing to buy them separately Apple Music allows you to upload your own songs. It’s one of the reasons I chose it over Spotify and other platforms.

Might be kind of fun to do a group meet up there.

Thanks. Just saw them on google when I was trying to find the name of Headphone Bar. Will definitely check them out too. I like to make the trips there as worthwhile as possible since it's about a 3.5 hr drive and we only get down there once a year or so. I plan to buy an "end game" headphone at some point but so far haven't heard anything past my 6XX and am very curious to see where the diminishing returns kick in for myself.

Cool to hear. My wife and I are hoping to do a getaway trip to Vancouver in the spring or early summer this will be a big focus for me :)

I keep wanting to make a trip down to Van to Headphone Bar to try out some TOTL cans but am mostly stuck with Amazon. Great for returns but not so much selection.

Dang.

My bad, meant to include the link as well. Glad you found them. Added it to the post.

Pretty stoked on this. I had a bunch of Amazon promo credits because they kept messing up my Hexa order and on top of that sent me the Zero by mistake so my price was dropped to $115 total which I paid with a gift card from Christmas. Free IE 200 and should be here Monday, can't wait!

Edit: Love how a post sharing a deal on a brand new, anticipated product is getting downvotes. Brand new products almost never get discounted at launch. Tough crowd.

Here is the most recent snapshot from Jan 27th and there are a shit ton more going back the last 3-4 years. +1 for the Internet Archive. Doing the lords work :P

https://web.archive.org/web/20230127072336/https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/

Edit: Here's the latest Headphones one from yesterday.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230129101923/https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphones/

Just did a bit of back and forth between the stock sound and Oratory's EQ. It's pretty song (and even part of song) dependant and I think the "night and day difference" comment I made comes a lot more from the enjoyment / impact of the changes for me than the actual objective changes.

If I were to try and give a % difference in the sound I would say it's maybe 10-20% different depending on the part of the FR you're talking about but the increase in enjoyment and "fun" and other subjective aspects for me is pretty substantial. Things feel less thin and have more body and impact to them and I find it noticeably more fun to listen to even though the measured difference may be small, if that makes sense. To me the sound stage even sounds a bit wider but that could be the type of music I listen to and the dominant frequencies in them or even just a trick of the brain / ears, I'm not sure.

There are also sonic differences from person to person because of their ear canals and such never mind the mental subjectivity. So just like this hobby as a whole is highly subjective EQ adjustments are also highly subjective depending on a lot of factors.

I started with the Oratory EQ and heard quite a notable improvement and for me it took a lot of the “veil” away but it’s been a while since I listened to the stock sound. I just remembered being really impressed with the difference at the time.

Often going back to the original sound (or the original version of other things after upgrading) is a much starker difference than the initial improvement. Try out one of the EQs for a while, like a week or more, with songs you know the best and then try going back to stock with the same songs.

After I grew accustom to the sound and started using the 560s for gaming and other things I adjusted the 6XX EQ more to taste and increased the highs a bit more (by reducing the negative DB adjustments from Oratory in the upper mids and highs) and added a touch more bass. Probably has a mild V shape now and makes even more crisp and exiting.

It could really depend on the type of music you listened to as well.

That sucks. One of the updates reset the names of my profiles but not the EQ settings themselves. Might want to see if that’s the case. Also, in case you’re not aware (I wasn’t at first) there’s a chrome plugin so you can modify the profiles and all other settings in a desktop browser. Still a bit tedious but better than using the phone app. They really need an export / import feature for profiles. That would serve as a backup method as well as making loading custom profiles much easier.

Devices like the Qudelix 5K are amazing for this. I use it across several devices and always have my EQ with me. Makes it easily to quickly pivot between sources with minimal compromises.

>I like EQ, but even I only use it on devices that save the EQ profile on them like Bluetooth headphones

This is what I love about the Qudelix 5K. I use it as a desktop and portable DAC/AMP and recently just set it up as an output for my Raspberry Pi network streamer. It's basically permanently attached to the end of my headphone cable and the EQ comes with me where ever I go, regardless of source.

I think part of it is that people assume there are some variables that can skew the results (like volume being unmatched, it being hard to A/B test without cognitive bias, etc) and that at the end of the days it's anecdotal. I'm not saying there isn't a difference or that you're experiencing placebo but, for me personally anyway, it's much more logical and reliable to take this with a grain of salt and rely on objective measurements in a controlled environment instead. Ideally we'd be able to see a measurable difference in frequency response on a professional measurement rig with as many variables removed as possible. I've yet to see that, but maybe I'm just not aware of that being done.

EQ is highly underrated IMO and I think honestly one of the first things people should consider with their existing headphones before buying another pair, unless there's a fit / comfort issue.

I had a similar experience with my HD 6XX. Night and day difference between stock and EQ'd and I wonder why / if I really need anything else.

Interesting. Mine was through Amazon.ca and apparently at the time they had some stock in a warehouse in the US (or thought they did) and it showed "fulfilled by Amazon". Apparently the stock info was wrong and it took forever to get more and finally ship (plus there were some weird payment problems on their end). Now it shows fulfilled by Shenzhen and ships from China so I guess that was short lived.

I ordered a pair early December 2022. After all kinds of problems with the order they were finally sent and arrived last week... except they sent me the Zero instead. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Shortly after I heard about the IE 200 so now I'm patiently waiting for their release and some more reviews and am leaning towards those instead. You're making it very temping not to order the Hexa again :P

Likely not. The vast majority of IEMS don't need a DAC/AMP. If the DAC/AMP adds features or convenience (I'm a Qudelix 5K owner and lover) sure, but for pure sound / performance definitely not for the Hexa.

There is also this review which seems to concur overall. I don’t know much about “Sound Guys” though. Strange that they have a pretty scathing write up but then rate the sound quality at 9.6 in their table at the top. Make of that what you will. Seems inconsistent and misleading to me.

https://www.soundguys.com/anker-soundcore-space-q45-review-78320/

> The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 sound quality is probably the headset’s biggest issue. It’s not all terrible, most users will get used to the headset’s sound after a few minutes of use, but it doesn’t hold up next to other options on the market. The frequency response curve deviates noticeably from our ideal target curve across all areas of the frequency spectrum. The sub-bass is slightly exaggerated, the midrange depressed slightly, and the higher frequencies are besieged by an undulating change in response that causes high-end elements in music to sound hissy, betraying the accuracy of the playback.

Comparison to others and some objective measurement and other info here: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/anker/soundcore-space-q45-wireless

Have a look at the frequency response and Neutral Sound summary:

> The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 aren't the best choice for neutral sound out of the box. They have a pretty v-shaped sound profile with extra thump, rumble, and boom, as well as bright and sparkly sibilants. However, they also have a peak in their high-mid, which makes vocals and instruments sound harsh, while the dip in the low-treble veils their details. Luckily, you can adjust their sound to suit your tastes using their companion app's graphic EQ and presets. They also support LDAC codec if you want to stream hi-res audio.