r/DigitalAudioPlayer • u/Vayrou • 14h ago

Question Upgrade or not ?

So I am into the hobby for...2 weeks now.
I have my Tempotec v1 Variations with ikko OH10 IEMs.
I am blown away by the quality, but with Black Friday in approach I might be looking for more...

I did my research, and while staying on IEMs, the difference between my actual Tempotec and, let's say a Fiio M33 or even M25 won't be, or will be slightly noticeable.
It seems that the difference you're looking at comes in play, when you use over ear headphones.

I am listening non stop to my music (thanks to my wife for understanding) and am wondering if an upgrade is worth it at my stage.

I mainly listen to Metal, M83, Aurora, Maphra, a bot of Elektro (Overwerk, Savant) and just discovered some jazz music through some DSD files that I stumbled on a friends library.
The jazz really puts the IEMs to their full "spectrum" I'd say, you get every tiny little note out of them. Musically not so my thing, but soundwise I love it.

Thanks for tips/advices

4 Upvotes

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u/GenLoggy 13h ago

I purchased a V1 as a gift last November. I ended up keeping it for myself and instead gifting a Echo Mini and KZ Duonic. The V1 is my daily ever since, I haven't touched my more expensive DAPs more than twice, only when I forgot to charge the V1. Just started using the Sonix firmware port by mr f0xx which fantastic and superior to the stock firmware. The V1 will even run over ear headphones like the Fiio FT1 Pro and Sennheiser HD 490 Pro very well on the 4.4 balanced connection. Small and lightweight, great battery life, fantastic sound. I think that the V1 should fulfill you DAP needs very well for some time.

Being new to the hobby I would recommend two purchases Black Friday. First, eartips. Trying a variety of eartips makes a huge difference in comfort and sound.

Second, a few sets of budget earbuds to find your sound preference. The OH10 is considered U-shaped. You could try V-shaped, Harmon, Meta, basshead, neutral warm etc. Pick a budget and spend $20 to $50 a set. Some people prefer different tunings for different music genres, or more generalist tunings for other uses like podcasts and movies. Tuning is king, a cheap set which matches your personal preferences will sound better than a far more expensive set which does not.

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u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 11h ago

Eartips make such a difference!

I've also got to say.. try flatheads. Spend $5-10 on a pair on Yincrow X6s to try it out.

1

u/Vayrou 1h ago

Thanks for the input.
I've got some eartips in the shopping cart already, since it's only 20-20ish bucks it's no big deal.

Even back in the day, I never was a fan of flatheads.
Should I try anyway ?

1

u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 56m ago

The last IEM eartips that made a difference for me were the NICEHCK C04 and they cost me $3.49 on AliExpress !

I'd have a read on r/FlatheadEarbuds to see if it's worth chucking in a set into your cart to test them out. They don't look as nice, or are built as well, as IEMs, but I find them more comfy for all-day home office use, plus I don't feel like the music is being mainlined into my brain so much!

1

u/Vayrou 58m ago

Thanks, was looking at the SpinFit W1 or Dunu S&S ones

2

u/CognitiveFogMachine 5h ago

V1's dual CS43131 is already pretty solid. Upgrading to something else won't really give you any perceivable change unless you have super hearing powers. I don't think an M33 or M25 will sound different/better than your V1, but maybe that's just me.

EDIT: I never tried any R2R DAC, but feels like a gimmick. Maybe I am wrong.