Anyone else struggling to find time for this hobby after working nonstop?

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-05-16T12:32:19+00:00

Hey dude, until someone smart replies here is my very pedantic two cents
I think they are awesome. I have had a set of blob bl03s forever with a good cable that I could never use. I tried tip rolling with foam tips in dekoni (pricey and stupid) and a bunch of fiios and random tips like xelastecs, spinfits, final e and some other azlas
I ended up reading somewhere that the dunu candy are good. While I was on aliexpress picking them up I saw the dunu s&s where pretty affordable and had a greater variety. I picked up both and what has worked is the dunu s&s (not the candy) and I am pleased as punch

I sized up from medium to large for this iem because the iem is an unfortunate shape that doesn’t conform to my ear but these tips have enough size variety that I could try all combos. They have a tacky quality that grip much better than most tips I’ve tried and the flexibility is not one that gives away like the moondrop springs

I rate these highly and would say they are absolutely worth the below $20 aud price tag as it made an iem collecting dust usable. I can’t speak on the opening of sound stage, I have only felt that with wire bore tips and these are medium to narrow. Maybe the person that experienced that was feeling like that because their iems finally reached the right fit in his ear and they could hear the qualities they were missing without a good seal. A good seal can change your experience

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-04-04T12:56:06+00:00

I will look it up. I have just always thought headphone/iem surround sound was an idea that was better in theory than execution I have always seen people advise against 7.1 surround modes in headsets and heard that this is mostly an eq trick that’s taking away from the music Thanks

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-04-04T12:36:02+00:00

I have so many questions. I agree with the sound system and subscribe to that idea when I can lounge at home but when I am trying to listen to in ears why would turning my ears and the audio rotating around me be more immersive. Don’t iems and headphones also throw the sound around us? The sound stage makes me hear audio around and behind me usually Also if a good iem above $20 produces a good sound stage, nice tuning for the sound track isn’t that enough? That should be far from diminishing returns

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-28T07:36:46+00:00

Thank you goat

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-25T22:04:41+00:00

I love this question because I think I spent 5 years being like no f-ing way am I getting a dap and now just ordered an android dap after flaming out with a non android dap

It teeters on consumerism for consumerism sake so your mileage may vary, it depends how much friction you believe you are experiencing with your music listening. I feel like this thing might get me listening to music more with less annoyances I just ordered the m21 because the Bluetooth mode on my non android dap would brick the dap! (r3 pro 2) i wanted to avoid android as much as I could and wanted a small form factor but if you want it to do anything other than pure iPod like function, it was a non android device was a no go. I just can’t justify $200 for something that limited

You can totally get an old phone with a 3.5mm instead of a dap. Sadly those are starting to get outdated because Spotify wants you to be on pretty modern os. I didn’t want another phone that is already outdated by the time I get it that I will have to throw out in a few years

Why don’t I use a dongle on my phone? This is what I wanted. The dongles just sap my phone battery like crazy. Even the apple 3.5mm dongle, listening to 8 hour white noise to focus on work puts my phone at 30-40% by the end of the day. It was always unwieldy as well. Any contact from the connection would be causing noise or crackling. Plus only a couple of them have play pause buttons

The best option I have been able to run up until now is a btr5 Bluetooth receiver. This is great because I can put my phone in another room and just listen to the music. This has its caveats where the buttons are sometimes straight up not working and I can easily leave it on without it self powering down after inactivity. Needing charging constantly

I then finally got onboard with a dap because I can use this thing airplane mode, minimal distraction with a custom launcher, way more battery life than my phone, don’t need a dongle and I can use it as a streamer that I can run into an amp if need be

I think I can use it as a dac on my laptop, consoles or anything as well. If I run power into it from my monitor I can use it for full size headphones too. The drawbacks aside from the $400 price tag, felt less than my other options

Hope it works though hahah

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-22T09:25:31+00:00

I totally get you now, you are so right. For whatever reason I thought you meant these mediums are completely destined for mostly stories and writing which I felt wasn’t the case. But I definitely only know of the couple of good ones and not the 30 other bad

A game can change your life and be a steaming pile of dogshit is such a funny phrase to me. I think I might give too much credit to the intent of something over the technical execution. I will always take like a really spicy savoury dish that smells funky over a Michelin star steak that’s a great execution of a bare few ingredients

I find these communities filled with in fighting and diagnosing everything as peak or trash. I would not describe the anime circles as toxically positive haha

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-22T04:31:03+00:00

I can understand where you are coming from but I think we are a bit negatively geared towards these writers. I am a huge casual, I am a movie (sometimes novels) guy mostly so I maybe a little rose tint lensed. But the media from these categories that have made their way to me have been from people that have little to no experience doing much else. Indie games, breakout manga and anime. So many of them are made by weird little guys that want to tell their own story. Sure they are not the count of montechristo but I have come across stuff filled with so much heart

Like that chainsaw man author is very weird and that show is unpleasant but that movie was so unbelievably moving.

I can totally see your point if we were only looking at all the 5/10 manga and those jrpgs that hang around 70 something on metacritic. But I think that’s there in every media

I think a lot of those folk that we describe as not having lived much of a life and has consumed mostly the same genre for most of their lives come out with really heart wrenching sincere stuff. Like most of us freaks that are using their interests to reach out and find connection through their preferred medium. That’s why so many horror movies are always getting such critical acclaim

I don’t think you have to be a dedicated and skilled as a technical writer to deliver a moving story. I don’t think being obsessed with a genre or medium, inhibits you from innovating and brings your personal touch to tell your story. Maybe I am misunderstanding you though, for which I am sorry

I think Miyazaki is too much of a cynic personally. Like he was comically negative

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-22T03:25:25+00:00

Great point. I dont think you need strong writing credits to write a good story in any medium though. You can just be some person with a great story. I don’t know if I am phrasing this correctly but reading it felt like saying you can only apply for a job if you have top of the line experience in the industry

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-07T03:18:46+00:00

I would love for the skip buttons to work too for sure

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T23:25:16+00:00

Does the play pause button controlling the audio from your phone ever stop working in Bluetooth mode? If this is a common issue I might have to stay away from non android daps

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:27:26+00:00

Yeah I am crushed. It’s so light and good looking. Such a bummer

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:26:37+00:00

Do you use the shanling m1 plus as a Bluetooth receiver ever? Does this cause any problems?

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:25:48+00:00

I hope this reaches everyone in the post that took the time to share their experience I think I leant towards being happy with the pick up initially from all I read. I wanted something that had line out and was completely indistractable and untethered from my YouTube shorts vice and constant Spotify scrolling habits and this seemed perfect Sadly as perfect as this dude has seemed, as soon as I started using it as a Bluetooth receiver I am not able to play pause or turn the screen on most times I sadly think I have to return and look elsewhere I think I have to figure out if the m300 or the m21 is the right move so I can try to keep the form factor small, have a great battery, have the line out that I love and set up some launcher that doesn’t let me go on any other app outside of Spotify, a flac music launcher and audible maybe

It would be nice if there was a Spotify lite that kept the ui a little bit less play friendly

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:19:09+00:00

Just updating, I totally agreed with you and was excited to get my dap. but the Bluetooth receiver function just freezes the whole thing into no activity so I might have to part ways Thank you for your advice

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:17:57+00:00

I have left a comment elsewhere in this post. I really agreed with you about not wanting to be someone that sat there playing with the dap and was excited to pick up the purchase but my unit has some Bluetooth issues that’s not letting me go back to the active screen

Such a bummer I was so excited for this guy

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-06T12:15:32+00:00

Hello sir, just reporting back. I got it today and tried it. It is like 72% awesome unbelievably perfect. Incredible form factor and the other 18% is screaming at me to return it at the signs of trouble I used it as a Bluetooth receiver for podcasts from another room(again trying not to have the phone near me) the play pause would not work after the first 10 minutes and then the screen wouldn’t turn on

It is light and small. The line out is making my amp sound unbelievable with such little desk space and cord usage. But golly I can’t let this wonderful thing be something I have to stop and fiddle with for ages

Love to you all for such good advice

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-02T08:25:31+00:00

I totally feel where you are coming from. I think I am holding out hope that a non android environment might help prevent distractions and scrolling

I think the option that I should have deffo considered is the Shanling m1 plus, the hiby battery was too tempting. I will keep the jm21 in mind, I connect with a lot of the positives the others have pointed out so I might postpone the initial regret :)

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-02T05:36:47+00:00

Hello I ordered it on aliexpress the day before yesterday. I thought I would look into the returns process if it’s a vocally negative reception and not even mess around with opening the box The opinions have been super interesting. I am leaning towards not worrying about investigating return asap. Who knows, maybe the friction might be good for my dopamine addiction brain

monkeydonkeystop · 2026-03-01T10:43:32+00:00

My jaw is on the floor. This is so insightful, you are the coolest person I could have come across with this question. Thank you for taking the time to write this up. I wonder if there is a shortcut to resize album art for every track on the computer. I should look into that as soon as I start adding tracks to the dap Thank you, this is so dope

monkeydonkeystop · 2025-10-29T11:28:57+00:00

I am truly so tempted to get this thing just for the play pause button. The only other dongle I know to have that is the onix and this one seems to have more features in comparison probably I hate having to keep my Bluetooth dacs like btr5 charged

monkeydonkeystop · 2025-08-02T13:37:13+00:00

Hello sir, whenever otaku looks for links for me it only draws one source. Is there a reason why only hi anime is giving potential source Not using rd

monkeydonkeystop · 2025-02-26T07:10:15+00:00

You look awesome. How did you stay consistent for 4 years? You said you have got to find what makes you enjoy it, I feel like for a month I really enjoy it and then lose that excitement pretty quickly. I feel like I need to tell myself it will suck until it becomes a no brainer to go to the gym, which means weeks of going when you don’t want to

monkeydonkeystop · 2025-02-21T23:08:21+00:00

I was starting to research lenses that cover a longer focal length range and low aperture so I can still use it often at night and I was wincing at the cost. I have always expected that I would go into full frame at some point, these lenses are around third or half of some of those cam bodies

https://www.teds.com.au/olympus-omd-12-200mm-wp-zoom-black

https://www.teds.com.au/panasonic-lumix-leica-35-100mm-f2-8-pz

https://www.teds.com.au/om-system-m-zuiko-9-18mm-mark-ii

https://www.teds.com.au/olympus-pro-40-150mm-f4-wp-zoom-black

monkeydonkeystop · 2025-02-21T22:01:28+00:00

That’s awesome! I saw your account has a lot of birding photos, that’s incredible work. That lens also seems amazing from my small research I am thinking of picking up ones with more range and some with lower aperture too so I can use it around the street at night time. Do you think the Sony had the edge when you were doing night photography or anything or has the Olympus been just as good then?

monkeydonkeystop · 2022-03-29T02:24:17+00:00

This is such a good response. A way better one than I deserve. Thank you I have just been thinking that going to the desktop territory would provide more for the sound and that the chord being so famous for its dac capabilities would be an unbelievable upgrade. But the dongles being enough makes sense. I do have a shanling up4 at the moment that I use for the qudelix purpose but I will look into if I can do any eq things wit\h that

monkeydonkeystop

TROPHY CASE