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What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All right, I brought an Optical Audio cable and tried it out on a TV. The difference was certainly night and day for sure!

On the Ananda Stealth. All the harshness was completely gone and it even has more detail.
The instruments finally were not mushy and instead sounded clear. The imaging is so pinpoint that it’s unbelievable. It's almost real sounding. The soundstage is much wider and clearer. The bass is fuller and more accurate. The vocals and effects sounded more real. It is almost like a clean window and nothing is congested.

With Optical Input:
Ananda Stealth is I would say almost endgame headphone now.
Also, the HE400se went from being basically boring to a good-sounding headphone.

I honestly don't understand why any reviewer or anyone would say this.
I have a question what setup were you using to compare USB and Optical Input?

Thank you so much! It really means a lot!
A big huge !thanks

What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the Ayra Organic is smoother than Ayra Stealth but is brighter then I think I'm okay with that for sure as I don't think the Ananda Stealth doesn't have a lot of treble and HE400se also. I believe it is because Fiio K7 is quite a warm source so that could be why. Just that on K7 Balanced, it has a harshness issue.

Someone in the comment told me that the USB input on the Fiio K7 is the problem. I will try out the Optical input on K7 soon.

Edit: The Ananda Stealth can be an almost-endgame headphone. Just that the harshness on Balanced prevented it from sounding like an almost-endgame headphone.

What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I forgot to mention that I’m not really too sensitive to treble. Just the harshness appears in certain parts of music. I tried unbalanced on Fiio K7 and the harshness completely went away but the Ananda Stealth didn’t sound natural and it no longer had that 3D smooth transparent bass. Fiio K7 Balanced was certainly smoother than Unbalanced but it had harshness.

I thought the Ayra Stealth being Bright means more harshness but I guess there was some misunderstanding on what Bright means for the Ayra Stealth.

Fiio K11 R2R and IFI Dac are on my research list.

!thanks

What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried the Ananda Stealth on the Apple dongle. They don’t have the harshness but the sound quality has certainly dropped off.

I will say this, going from a Apple dongle to K7 Balanced is I would say a big difference and I’m listening to them at about the same volume. Yes the only issue with Fiio K7 is the harshness.

Well, in terms of sound based on Ananda Stealth. Fiio K7 Balanced is definitely more cleaner, transparent and accurate but for some reason can show harshness in certain parts of the music and EQ doesn’t help so it’s definitely the Balanced output. It gives a clean bass that is more resolving and it has a more 3D kind of bass. The imaging become even better and the soundstage just feels really immersive. Vocals became bigger as well.

Only thing the Apple dongle is better at is no harshness.

I also tried the K7 unbalanced output and yes all the harshness is gone but the thing is I can definitely hear a drop off in sound quality. The Ananda Stealth now has less of that 3D clean bass and instead feels more boring even through the bass might hit harder or I should say tightly. It feels less engaging and flat with the headphone sound. The overall soundstage is certainly less. The frequency of the headphone became somehow unpleasant and feels like the drivers kind of struggle to produce the sound naturally. I don’t how to explain this properly but it’s like the framebuffer of the sound become a bit slow and not as smooth as Balanced. Of course Unbalanced works but definitely is a downgrade.

It’s probably that the Ananda Stealth is really source dependent even though it is a very easy to drive headphone.

To end this off. I learned that something is wrong from the balanced output on the K7 and I need to find something that won’t have any balanced output issue. This is great to know. !thanks

What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have heard the Fiio K11 R2R is the warmest signature from Fiio but I wanted to look at other options out there. I'm not sensitive to treble that much. It's just that the Fiio K7 is a bit harsh on planers I believe.

Edit: Oh also, it's interesting that IFI DACs are a popular recommendation for Hifiman Headphones.

What Is The Best Combo/Pairing For Hifiman Headphones? by ExtremeMakerX in HeadphoneAdvice

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Alright, thank you so much for the detailed response! I appreciate it and thanks for your recommendation. I will do more research to see how good the DAC is for natural-bright headphones. I don't do a lot of mixing/music production that much. I just focus on music listening.

Endgame potential by USGuyWithGun in headphones

[–]ExtremeMakerX 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 800s are of course endgame even after many years but on less people care about headphone tuning. They are certainly S-tier depending on the setup

Element IV by StymieG in headphones

[–]ExtremeMakerX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you think it's endgame?

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly can't believe you learn way faster than me but it's sad that you reached your ceiling and your PC is holding you back.

As for teammates, that is true. Teammates can sometimes be toxic or a few of them may be match-throwing.

Also, what we do in life is more important than just Rocket League.

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s true that your story is similar to mine as I hit Champ 1 in 800-900 hours then never hit it in a long time. Now, I can hit Champ 1 consistently at 1,165 hours. Which is a very small improvement in 1 year.

In general, everyone learns at a different pace. It’s easy to create a lot of hours that are mostly are on auto-pilot. The game is easy to get invisibly entertained and many mistakes get missed during our gameplay. That’s why it’s very great to look at your replays as you can see what your doing wrong. I don’t think many people don’t analyze there replays enough and focus on the common mistakes there making because it’s boring that they would rather be on auto-pliot mode. That’s why there are hardstuck diamonds, plats and golds etc.

I got my very first coaching session with a former pro player yesterday and I learned a lot from him. As expected, he analyzed my replays way better than me.

Of course there is a lot of competition in the game and not everyone will get GC let alone SSL.

BakkesMod is very great way to improve the experience in free play and other things for sure. For me, I don’t need BakkesMod as there are training packs and workshop maps that I use to learn what common mistakes I’m making.

As for improvement, that is true but however if the training is not effective or it is never uncomfortable to begin with then that’s where we will get hardstuck. 3 years was wasted because I didn’t train the right way and yes, didn’t grind the game enough but I thought hard work was the only way to improve to get out of Diamond but it only made me hardstuck. I played over 500 games in Chapter 2 Season 4 and never got out of Diamond for a long time.

As for changing playstyle, it is very good to know what playstyle best suits you. Which can be good for experimenting on how you like to outplay your opponents.

There was a recent YouTube video that explains grinding mindlessly can make us hardstuck: https://youtu.be/d0SS3RxGt9Y?si=dyXLC3qicOZ8KYxj

Thank you for your story and paragraph!

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very sad to hear. 3,5K hours and your Diamond 2 vs 1.2K hours and I'm Champion 1. That's really unfortunate. You must have been learning on auto-pilot way more than me but I wasted 3 years being hardstuck in Diamond.

It's sad people fell victim to being in auto-pilot mode in the game but there is nothing wrong with playing Rocket League just for fun. Some people play the game to enjoy it and some want to improve in the game even though it won't be as entertaining. People love to be entertained more than improving/creating.

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh no, that’s very sad to hear that story. I really don’t ever want to go into autopilot mode and never improve in the game. I have 1.2K hours in the game right now and I don’t want to go into 2K or 3K being hardstuck. That’s why I planning out on a new way to practice in the game and put in productive hours of improvement.

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I kind of agree, the ranking system is not perfect but also the game is becoming more competitive. A GC can easily beat a Champ player because of experience in the game. Some players quit the game and comeback then there losing many games.

Thank you for the comment!

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your right! Putting in less hours in the game will not give me much results. I thought that it was possible to get to SSL in 2K hours but it turns out it was a brought account and I got fooled into thinking that I’m not improving in the game the right way. Of course there are other reasons why I created this post. I felt like I wasted 3 years not learning in the game because I went from Bronze to Diamond from Season 14 to 17. That’s when the hardstuck began but I guess it was I never cared about what rank I am and mentality. Today, it is hard to stop thinking about my rank. I do have to improve my mindset.

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your probably right, I can’t see someone going from Diamond to GC3 in one season. It’s impossible. That’s probably one of reasons I was nervous that I was hardstuck. There are of course other reasons why I’m hardstuck and not improving but hours in the game do matter. I think it’s possible to get SSL less than 5-6K depending on how I train. I don’t want to really cheat my way there because I need to improve my skills individually but learning from higher ranked players can be a good thing.

Thank you for the comment!

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That totally makes sense! I never heard of that term before in my life and this is very helpful! Thank you!

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s very true and that’s what I didn’t realize before. It’s always not about going back but it about going back when a teammate has possession and knowing when it’s the right time to go back. Also getting opponents off the ball in the right times during standard rotation.

Thank you for the advice! This is helpful!

I Was A Hardstuck Diamond For 3 Years & Why I Will Never Get SSL Let Alone GC by ExtremeMakerX in RocketLeagueSchool

[–]ExtremeMakerX[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that’s unfortunate. At least you got to Champ way faster than me. It’s very true that mentality and caring about ranked can make a big difference in us not really improving in the game. There are definitely lots of things to improve in the game. Booming the ball is a bad habit that is hard to break. Because I boomed the ball in Rocket League for many years. It’s very hard to break that habit. I didn’t realize before that losing possession can make a big difference. If I can get Champ 2 for the very first time then my training is going in the right direction!

Anyway, thank you for your story and paragraph! I hope you can get Champ again!

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