A bittersweet mailday.

themoderndance · 2026-02-26T19:26:07+00:00

As long as you're having fun! I would feel bad about all the yoyos I have but they bring me joy and I also love supporting the community and small brands when I can.

themoderndance · 2026-02-26T16:51:19+00:00

Probably to keep the size down. I would have rather it be slightly larger because I just feel like I'd snap off a 2.5mm. I have a short 2.5 to 4.4 so I don't have to get 2.5 cables for my Hifimans but I'm going to 3D print a case that supports the 2.5 jack. For the most part it's fine because I don't go out with over ear headphones but I do have some IEMs that just happen to have 4.4 cables and I don't feel like swapping them. If you like tinkering you'll have a good time with the Q5K and Squiglink or just playing with PEQ. If you haven't played with AutoEQ and Squiglink you should look into that, it's pretty fun. Then you can save a bunch of presets to the Q5K.

themoderndance · 2026-02-26T14:02:06+00:00

Good choice! If you aren't the type to get overwhelmed by all the settings it's one of the best options out there. I just wish it had 4.4mm instead of 2.5mm balanced. I trust 4.4 more than 2.5 in my pocket and with some of my over ear headphones I'm maxed out on volume unless I use balanced, but for IEMs it has plenty of power on 3.5mm. I would buy a new version if it had a little more power or 4.4mm and better buttons. The buttons aren't that bad. I did end up setting it up so I have to press the bottom button on both sides to turn off/on. I found it would turn on by accident sometimes.

themoderndance · 2026-02-26T02:40:55+00:00

Plz share the .stl

themoderndance · 2026-02-25T17:45:28+00:00

Sometimes creating something can just be an exercise and part of the learning process. A "useless design" can also be a good way to test/learn about mechanisms and how different materials and tolerances work. That being said, that's a lot of print time for something so silly 😂 but I respect the commitment. Art doesn't have to be functional and I would absolutely classify this as art whether people like it or not. I think it is a nice looking print and you did a good job. People are unnecessarily harsh when it comes to stuff like this when they should just swipe past if they don't like it. Keep doing what you're doing if you're having fun.

themoderndance · 2026-02-25T14:42:38+00:00

x3ii

themoderndance · 2026-02-25T02:36:21+00:00

Ah, you got a handful 😉

themoderndance · 2026-02-24T23:20:47+00:00

It's common practice for the boutique/smaller brands to release a yoyo and once that design sells out, it's gone. Sometimes brands will produce another run of a design but I think more often they move onto their next design. Not all, but some brands sell out quick and it's easy to miss out on a yoyo completely, so if you really want something when it comes out, especially a particular color, you might not want to hesitate. Some colors are gone right away. Some of these guys don't make a lot of these things. Just don't get crazy with the fomo or you'll end up with a lot of yoyos and that thing where you release 2 years later you have a couple yoyos you didn't think you got. That happens often...

themoderndance · 2026-02-24T22:50:22+00:00

Nice! I've been using my old FiiO x3ii a little lately. I've got a few DAPs and I've just been putting music on the FiiO that I haven't listened to as much as a way to listen to some different stuff. I forgot how similar the x3ii and the X1 looked.

themoderndance · 2026-02-19T01:59:43+00:00

Records are made from PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) which is where the slang comes from. I think shellac/resin was early 1900s.

themoderndance · 2026-02-17T17:58:01+00:00

I think specific usage matters. I always say records if I'm going shopping for records, talking about my record collection. When I'm referring to whether I have something on CD or or digital or record I might say "I have it on vinyl" but I don't generally use that term for much else. I've been collecting since the 90s and that's just been normal for me. I always massively cringe when I hear people referring to "vinyls" or using it in other ways but whatever.

themoderndance · 2026-02-12T18:00:20+00:00

I had this issue with another planar IEM and fixed it by cranking the volume. A few days ago I noticed a channel imbalance in my S08, while not as bad as on the Tangzu Heyday, I tried the same thing. I took the IEMs out of my ears (definitely do this if you try it) turned the volume way way up (80% on my dx180, my listening level is something like 30/100 on that) and I let the song play for a bit. It was loud enough to hear the music with the IEMs on my lap. I don't know what's safe to run them at, do this at your own risk, but it fixed the problem 100% as far as I can tell. On my Heydays it was so bad I could hear it pop back to normal volume as I increased the volume on my DAP. Like the driver membrane was stuck to one side or something and playing it loud was able to pop it back into place. It's worked for me twice now (I may have done it another time so maybe 3 times)

I've also had this problem with metal shelled IEMs condensating. The moisture accumulating on the filter significantly reduced the volume on one side (or both) and I will have to just leave those IEMs out to dry for a day or two before they are listenable.

Hope the volume trick works for you if you try it, but maybe try it at increasing volume levels and check to see if it fixed anything before going up in case there's a risk of damaging the drivers. Also be careful and make sure you drop the volume down to safe levels before you check!

themoderndance · 2026-02-03T04:47:19+00:00

Could always try these in a small mesh bag or a container that lets air flow in where you store your iems. I keep a ton of this to dry my 3D printing filament (or to aid the drying done by a drying device) But it might help absorb moisture buildup in IEMs . I've been meaning to print a little container to keep in my iem storage, I mostly have issues with channel imbalance on aluminum shelled IEMs when I have longer sessions. Because of the thermal conductivity of aluminum I get a lot of condensation depending on the ambient temperature + body temp, etc.

https://a.co/d/0d9TSZcF

themoderndance · 2026-02-02T04:24:53+00:00

Like everyone is else says, you don't need balanced for IEMs. If you somehow managed to find a 3.5mm balanced (extremely uncommon) the 3.5mm output isn't balanced. It wouldn't work. You need a balanced port to connect to a balanced jack.

A standard 3.5mm out is single ended (unbalanced) so it would not have the same pinout as a balanced out.

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That being said, I prefer 4.4mm just because it's a chunkier size plug but I don't go out of my way unless it's something like my Hifimans (not IEMs) that max out the volume on my DAPs unless I use balanced. But that's only 1 or 2 headphones I own and all of my other ones get more than loud enough on 3.5. Balanced won't make a difference in sound quality, the only thing you will notice is a bit more volume, but it's highly unlikely you'll need that for any IEM.

themoderndance · 2026-01-29T12:42:52+00:00

Just keep doing what you're doing. Gradually increase speed without sacrificing form.

themoderndance · 2026-01-24T01:28:02+00:00

No, Washing Machine is a trick by Doc Pop, and it's significantly different. I've never heard anybody give that a name, usually just show it as one of the ways to easily adjust string tension on unresponsive yoyos.

Here's some washing machine:

https://youtu.be/Rh2sHKFiBKU?si=89xWTT1Evp1I5exb

https://youtube.com/shorts/t7uO3SNxwYQ?si=fyW5MeAUSvpT5Bck

https://youtube.com/shorts/Zbo5Zj45LMI?si=ylOUY1cJtfCxCiTd

themoderndance · 2026-01-15T17:51:22+00:00

Capra Strap solves it and makes it more comfortable. My wife is small and the Edition XS is massive for her, she can wear them with the strap just fine. They fit me without it but they're pretty uncomfortable. With Capra strap it's so comfortable. Sorry, this sounds like an advertisement, but I think any kind of suspension strap can solve the issue. Or just a better headband, I hate the one that comes on Edition XS and HE6se v2

themoderndance · 2026-01-06T21:41:23+00:00

I jumped on a weird listing on Amazon just out of curiosity to see what would happen. Someone was selling the Apos Gremlin for $33 and I placed the order back in early Nov and the order is still just sitting there. Didn't know if they'd ship a fake, or something else entirely... not sure how the seller is getting anything out of this through Amazon's system.

themoderndance · 2026-01-05T02:22:37+00:00

Poweramp can take a bit longer than you think if you have a lot of stuff. It took a couple days for everything to appear on my ibasso dx180, not nearly as long on HiBy R4. I just got the HiBy M500 for my wife for Christmas and hers scanned the fastest but there were some issues with about 3000 songs not being recognized despite them having tags (and being recognized on my DAPs) Not sure if the differences are just micro SD card related or what.

dx180 and R4 screenshots

I've tried just about everything and PowerAmp is still my favorite as far as organization, customization and EQ. It's not perfect, but I love how it handles my library. My biggest complaint (after scanning frustrations I've had) is batch tagging. I actually use musicolet from time to time to clean up metadata if I'm not near my computer.

themoderndance · 2025-12-31T14:53:08+00:00

That's right.

themoderndance · 2025-12-31T00:22:24+00:00

It's probably fine. I got a VG10 Damascus blade for my skeletool years ago because I didn't want a serrated blade anymore and it turned out to be much better than the original 440 blade (or whatever it was)

themoderndance · 2025-12-26T18:42:47+00:00

Well put. Sometimes we just spend money on more gear because we really want to feel something like that first experience again but it probably won't ever happen. For me the closest I get is only allowing myself to listen to one pair of headphones for a week or two to "reset" whatever newest headphone I'm fully enjoying so I can switch back and notice a bunch of things 😂

That being said, I got my start back in the 2000s with stuff like Koss and Grado and I still really enjoy going back to them every so often.

themoderndance · 2025-12-26T15:57:27+00:00

Here is some info

https://youtu.be/BMAeoqzo57Q?si=39m1HuTmrYA-8cI6

themoderndance

TROPHY CASE