I wish I thought to reddit this before spending +$100 on replacement earpads. My original pads started flaking. I was annoyed with the black leather flecks everywhere, so I went on Amazon to find replacements. I tried a $13 pair of generics, and they were slightly less comfortable but the big issue wasn't apparent until I got on a plane. The original pads must have provided amazing passive noise insulation. On max ANC these were almost as bad as not wearing headphones. I landed and immed
massive Apple fanboy) — Hey guys, wanted to share my experience with the new AirPods Max 2. For context, I’m a massive Apple fanboy. Literally every electronic device I own is Apple, and I hugely value how seamless the ecosystem integration is. My current daily drivers: • iPhone 17 Pro • MacBook Air M5 • Studio Display • AirPods Pro 3 • Apple Watch Ultra 3 • 2x Apple TV 4K My final holdout was an 8-year-old pair of Bose QC 35s. They were also the very last non-USB-C device I owned. So,
Tangzou Wan'er v KZ ZSN v Qilian Q3 v Moondrop CHU 2 — 2 years ago I bought some KZ ZSN Pro X on a whim as a replacement (As iF!) for my $300 Audio Technica something or others. Blown away and loved them, totally, arguably the best canal phone I'd had and in no way the dearest. Since then I've bought some Meze Classic 99 and HiFiMan Anandas, but the KZ buds have been my go-to in-ears, for flights, train rides, falling asleep in bed etc. Recently I got some Qilians from Amazon Vine (it's like
The One to Match — I can't say I recall what it was about the D1s that drew me in compared to most other headphone releases within the last year or so. My collection has very much favored open-back planars for a while, in large part because the subjective best of that lot has proved a fantastic fit for my music and preferences. Said preferences have increasingly gone in the direction of chasing absolute transparency by EQing every headphone of mine to approximate my diffuse-field HRTF, while sti
As I wait for my latest amp purchase to arrive, I was thinking about the equipment I've bought over the years and how much better all of it is now. We consider such small differences in details between devices that we get analysis paralysis. At least I do. I wanted to take a second to reflect on how good we have it now. For example: In 2004, I bought a Headroom Total Bithead. The DAC was only capable of 16/48 and the opamps could only produce 150mW @ 32Ω. Adjusted price in 2026 for this would
$16.99 (32% off)
than over-the-ear headphones that cost a lot more? — I'm curious if this says something about my hearing, ear shape, biology, my preferred curve, etc. I know "expensive" is relative, but I just bought (and am returning) a pair of Sennheiser 560S's because I have multiple cheap ($20-$40) IEMs that I think sound better. I feel weird. Does anybody else feel the same? Any ideas why this might be the case for me? Thanks!
would you use this? — Hey everyone, I’m a final-year student, and for my graduation project I built a gaming mouse. While working on it, I started thinking about some problems that most current mice have, and I’d love to get your feedback on a potential solution. # Problems I noticed: 1. Battery issues When your wireless mouse dies, you either: have to plug in a cable and keep using it wired, or spend a lot of money on something like a wireless charging mousepad My idea: Use a quick-s
10% off Shure MV7 Plus