Definitely annoying. But at least you know paying more wouldn’t have changed anything.

I have a pair of regular LCD-X and those connectors can definitely feel tight. Yours are probably fine.

To be clear, the only thing really new here was the iPad stand and assembling everything this way. I've had the headphones and HipDAC for some time now and have put lots of listening time into both (as well as my other DACs and amps and headphones).

I have not been happy with using the Apple dongle, but glad that you are. If nothing else an external DAC is necessary to take advantage of Apple Music's lossless offerings.

I listen to a little bit more aggressive stuff typically, so maybe not in the Jack Johnson vibe, but last night after Prayers I was listening to some Ministry and Skinny Puppy. Skinny Puppy in particular has some great headphone music.

My speaker systems are all focused on home theater stuff primarily which is why I love having some nice headphones around for listening to music.

Yeah, I love them. The build quality and sound are superb. I have a pair of LCD-X as well and still go to these all the time. Sometimes they just feel simpler to deal with.

I have two other listening areas in my house, but this right now feels the most comfortable. Both of the other stations use Schiit Magni Heresys—one with a Modi 3+ and the other with the internal DAC in a Marantz receiver—and both use Apple TVs as the source. There’s nothing wrong with either setup and I love listening to them both, but I wanted something a little less involved and that didn’t require long cables draped across the room. I’ve used this HipDAC with my phone a fair bit and added a MagSafe magnet to the amp to attach to the back of my phone, but even though it worked it just felt like a weird little brick that was simultaneously too heavy and too small to feel comfortable. So I rigged this up! And now I love it.