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dumbcollegekid OP t1_iu3fyfw wrote

These are my modded Koss UR40's on the classic PE headband with GVOEARS pads and a KZ ZST cable.

The stock UR40 has KSC75s clipped inside them, but they have a shallow black housing, IMO even better looking than the Massdrop X version. This makes a negligible difference to the sound (none that I can discern) and they can still be clipped onto the Parts Express headband. The GVOEARS pads are like Yaxis, but a little thinner. Cable is soldered directly to the driver.

I usually plug them into an Anker SoundSync, which costs more than the headphones themselves, but they have the best Bluetooth, battery life, and DAC of any wireless dongle I've tried.

Low cost was not really a priority here, I was just playing around with Koss headphones I already had, mixing and matching drivers/headbands/pads until I had the best looking and sounding creation. I'm making another version of this with leftover Porta Pro drivers just for fun.

The only other good headphone I own is the HD560s running through an Apple dongle, which I rarely use unless sitting at my desk for work. I can't imagine I'll be buying much else in the near future.

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nahmanidk t1_iu406ga wrote

> I can't imagine I'll be buying much else in the near future.

All these “budget endgame” posts include a line like this and it’s never true. I would be shocked if you browsed this sub or other headphone forums and didn’t pick up IEMs in the next 6 months.

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TombstoneSoda t1_iu4i2hx wrote

Blon-bl03 or Moondrop Chus for 20-35$ doesnt reaaaaally count though, does it?

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dumbcollegekid OP t1_iu4uw9g wrote

Tbh I would've by now, I just hate wearing soft-tip earbuds in general. But if Koss adds anything else to the Utility Series it'll be auto-deducted from my bank account.

For IEMs I would go for a hard plastic earbud like the Monks (which I have) but that form factor seems relatively rare in higher end gear.

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nahmanidk t1_iu51wfa wrote

There are a lot of eartip options so you may find you like a specific type of foam or silicone, like Etymotics. Otherwise, CIEMs are an option and they are worn without tips at all.

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MediumElephant6 t1_iu50a1l wrote

I agree but I think it’s also mostly true for people who buy mid-level and endgame-level shit. You can get used to a Meze Emperyan just like you can with the KSC75. In the last year the only headphone/iem related purchase I’ve made are ear tips. I got upper-mid-fi stuff that has been and will be endgame for a while. Still genuinely use KSC75s more than everything else combined and 95%+ of my music listening is KSC75 or Variation. But hey I’ll probably grab a couple cheaper iems for 11/11. So yea I just think saying that ^^ is naive just cuz minds change but it’s also totally normal.

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nahmanidk t1_iu51jvu wrote

Well in your case, you have Variations, Elex, HD600 and probably have had others that are well regarded. Without further context, I’m assuming OP hasn’t explored higher end options and simply is content with what they have…for now!

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audiophile_lurker t1_iuarpqo wrote

Probably best not to assume though? I am obviously not a budget user with HD650 here, but that comes after having experienced a bunch of higher end stuff. A key thing about “budget end game” is that people listen and realize “this is achieving levels of enjoyment that are comparable to more expensive stuff”. Everything after is often just FOMO / “well, I can afford fancier so why not”.

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the_harakiwi t1_iu4ri1z wrote

> I usually plug them into an Anker SoundSync, which costs more than the headphones themselves, but they have the best Bluetooth, battery life, and DAC of any wireless dongle I've tried.

using them on a Windows PC: Have you tried watching video content (lip-sync) / play games with the SoundSync?

I really want to try those (or the sender/receiver version) to have a universal BT<->3.5mm dongle.

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dumbcollegekid OP t1_iu4vycc wrote

I don't really use them with videos but I found a review that claimed to measure a 140ms delay when watching content (which was ranked 2nd best in their list)

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the_harakiwi t1_iu50j2i wrote

thanks, that sounds pretty standard until "new" 5.2 low-latency stuff hits the market / replaces the current chips.

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wonko1980 t1_iu5trkm wrote

Never heard of the UR40 - thanks for the explanation!

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