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Post by Rabbit on Nov 17, 2015 13:36:22 GMT
This one arrived today and on first listen, it's quite impressive.
I quickly tried wired and Bluetooth connections and differences are minimal Frequency response is lovely and even. Bluetooth wireless range isn't as far as the M04s but sound is greatly improved.
Apt-x greatly improves latency and use with tv works well.
I'll do a proper write up, but first impression is that this is a good 'un for the money.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Nov 18, 2015 9:20:38 GMT
I really enjoy the freedom that Bluetooth allows with headphones. From getting up in the morning and listening to TV around the house to playing music from iPods. It can also change your listening habits since you don't need to sit in your allocated area with the amp attached by a wire to your head. It has the effect of making me a lot more 'experimental' with what I listen to since it's so accessible without the constraints of wires.
With wireless systems, sound will not be the same (yet) as wired headphones, but sometimes, you just want something convenient to listen to while just .... Getting on. A bonus is if the headphone sounds good as far as Bluetooth allows.
The Ausdom M05 arrived in a very unassuming box. Smaller than I thought from pictures and is the current 'better' one in the Ausdom 'M' series. It uses Bluetooth v4.0 which saves on power, so this headphone will go for quite a long time between charges, and it does. Mine was on all day yesterday. It has four Bluetooth profiles as well as apt-x. This last one is often just added and many overlook it. It's a step in the right direction but transmitting devices have to catch up. It basically sends data in a less compressed format which has two benefits. First of all, it minimises latency, which is very important for TVs since there is less converting going on. Secondly, it can improve the quality of sound because again, there's less converting going on Both of these things depend on one thing ..... the device sending the signal MUST be apt-x as well. Many don't realise this and think that apt-x doesn't do anything as a result. Well, it doesn't if it's not switched on at both ends!!
I have an apt-x sender and I tried it with the M05 and guess what - good lip sync and crisper sound. It does work if used properly.
Wireless range is the usual 10 meters direct line of site and the M05 basically lines up with other Bluetooth sets in this respect. Standby time is a staggering 250 hours with 20 hours music playback time. That's the benefit of Bluetooth 4.0
It connects via a supplied wire connection and the good thing is that it doesn't need to be switched on this way. It works passively. The connection is at the back of the left earcup. I found this curious with the M04s but soon found that it was actually fine and actually, in the garden with the lawn mower was better, because it was out of the way.
Connection is dead easy and logical. Next time you switch on, it connects with the last connected device without pairing. It even talks to you in the earcup!! There's a lady in there like my sat nav. Gave me a bit of a surprise when I first heard it and I refrained from replying. She speaks English, not Chinese. If she spoke Chinese, I might have freaked out!!
It's a good looker. Quite unassuming in appearance. The surfaces are rubberised and it has good pleather headband padding and earpads. It has a 'faux' graphite type of look and the backs of the cups are slightly padded. Actually, this protects it perhaps from weather and also knocks.
Pads are nice and soft. Pleather and fit over my ears. Seal is ok. Not brilliant but this is also meant to be used with a phone. Personally, I find it difficult not to shout on the phone if I'm wearing a totally closed headphone, so for me this is better. I don't shout!! Mic is on the front of the left earcup.
Overall, I'd say build is good; just like the build of the M04s is. It's sturdy which is a good thing for a headphone that in my case, will follow me around the garden and the shed where it might take some wear and tear.
The sound of this headphone is fairly good. With Bluetooth, I've come to expect lower standards than this and I was quite surprised at how balanced the M05 sounds. It is mellow, with no shriek in the treble, but is also actually quite extended up there. So you get good cymbal splashes and crisp consonants on speech. There is a slight roll off up there in the top end.
Mids are really good. They sound pretty even to me and I'd say some of the best sounding mids I've heard on a Bluetooth headphone. This makes it sound more 'natural' than most. This is where most music 'sits' and gives the headphone presence. It is a warmish comfortable sound and my guess is that the mids are excellent on the M05, producing an effortless sound.
Bass is mellow and hits quite nicely. It's mostly upper bass and I feel that lower bass rolls away as many Bluetooth headphones do. There is quite a large mid bass hump in my opinion. So from upper bass to lower treble, this headphone seems very balanced to me.
Currently, prices vary, depending on where you buy them. If you are looking for a Bluetooth headphone, now is the time to get one if you fancy a try with the M05. I suspect that the lower prices, mostly in China just might not hold for too long. It's a bargain over in BestDeals. Really cheap for what you get. In the UK, it does appear in Amazon, but other than there, I haven't seen many Ausdom headphones around.
I liike these. Not only the fit and feel of them, but also, the warm sound that you get on a headphone that frees you up from that lead that ends up choking me when I mow the lawn!!
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Jan 19, 2016 20:34:48 GMT
I received these same headphones from Ausdom with the request to see if the sound could be improved upon. Well, I think I succeeded in improving the sound. My adventures with this bluetooth headphone are found HERE ( diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-a/ ) The modification article can be viewed or downloaded www.mediafire.com/view/osfsil6wzpvdmb3/Ausdom_M05_modification.pdfAfter modifications it is a pleasant headphone to listen to (I don't use the bluetooth connection). Not a truly great headphone, but still a pleasant and decent sounding one without any offensive properties. It has quite some issues with getting a good seal as well. Once you have both things sorted you can enjoy a warm and smooth sound signature.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 20, 2016 6:56:00 GMT
Thanks Frans. Ausdom are having a meeting with their engineers to look at those mods and incorporate them into their design.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Jan 22, 2016 14:21:20 GMT
The modified M05 is sent back to Ausdom. They should have it in about 2 weeks and can compare it to a stock version.
The question is though ... if their engineers couldn't hear what was wrong with it than I have no idea if they can appreciate the substantial (up to 12dB) differences.
You can use your Sansa and apply EQ to see how they sound now (with a good seal) Set the first band (60Hz ?) to -5 and the second band (300-400Hz ?) to -10.
That's what is what it sounds pretty close to once modified.
The drivers aren't top notch quality so much more improvements cannot be had. Fortunately the driver isn't bad either, not shrill nor having high amounts of distortion so not too shabby for the price and functionality.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 22, 2016 14:27:29 GMT
I'll try that Frans. Thanks. I don't like to apply eq via guesswork since all you end up doing is changing things and not always for the best.
I have doubts about the crew there as well. They seem to lack confidence and the ability to measure accurately. Certainly if they wish to hit the hifi market, they need to be a little cautious since there are many out here who are less kind than yourself or me.
Bluetooth is a weird area anyway and there is nothing at that price that is really quite as good. So they're ok for the price but certainly not hifi. You did a pretty amazing job with them though, looking at the graphs. As you say, will the guys at the factory like what they hear or are they so attuned to Beats bass that they'll leave it.
From what Grace said, it sounds as though they are keen to adopt suggested changes in order to establish themselves with headfi type people. You never know.
It looks to me as thought the ANC7 is being held back, perhaps due to what I said about the proto one they sent me. Noise cancellation introduces all other kinds of horror and the combo of bad bluetooth and worse noise cancellation is just not good. It was due out this January but so far, nothing and Grace hasn't forwarded a finished ANC7, which might mean that it's on hold; especially with your measurements.
The factory also manufactures some AKG and Sony headphones.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Jan 22, 2016 14:35:19 GMT
Talking about a combo of bluetooth and NC..
I have a Beats Studio wireless to measure. At E 350.- not cheap so am curious to what I will find. Nope...I didn't buy one, a collegue did and loaned it to me to have a play with it.
From what he told me he could hear it hissing faintly in quiet passages. Trouble is, you can't switch off the NC part.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 22, 2016 14:50:24 GMT
Electronic noise with noise cancellation is a problem. The ANC7 would measure very poorly due to noise figures.
Faint hiss isn't as bad as some would think. It would be used in a noisy environment so it is way less intrusive in reality, but if you can't turn it off, then it makes it a no no for a home headphone.
I use the Senn PXC450 for flying. They can be used with no wire to just shut out noise or with wire for comms and music. They give a very faint hiss. The NC can be turned off though as well. The drivers are HD5** so it's not too bad actually.
You would probably find turning off the NC would ruin the sound. What some manufacturers seem to be doing is making cheap drivers sound ok with NC on, doing the eq electronically. Turning it off results is a horrible sound, like the Bose. The Senn sounds a lot better than the Bose.
I wouldn't tell everyone I had a Beats in the house, and I'm the man who had a Fanny Wang!!
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Post by solderdude on Jan 22, 2016 15:54:00 GMT
NC headphones actually don't use EQ. It uses feedback which, as a side effect, equalizes the FR for frequencies below say.... 2 kHz. It doesn't work well above 2kHz any more due to time delay issues.
The way NC works is by using a microphone inside the cups. That (small electret) microphone signal is amplified. This is the reason/cause for the audible noise, the better (read lowest noise) the microphone and microphone pre-amp are the less audible noise there will be.
The mic inside the cup and 'listens' inside the 'ear chamber' and hears the music playing AND the, attenuated by the pads and cups, outside noises as well.
The Noise Cancelling trick works as follows. The 'inside microphone' listens to what is 'heard' inside the cups and compares this to 'silence'. It then applies the 'opposite' signal to the driver. This works like feedback in amplifiers so if the microphone starts to 'hear' something the opposite signal is applied till the microphone 'hears' nothing again. This only works for lower frequencies because phase differences become a problem due to the speed of sound and the wavelengths of these frequencies.
Anyway .... the driver is thus driven by the microphone signal to be 'silent'.
When one applies music to the same driver than the NC circuit would 'hear' that and apply a counter signal because it wants to keep the microphone signal 'quiet'. So the trick is to tell the microphone amplifier that the music signal is the wanted signal. This is extremely easy to do. Replace the '0V' (where the mic amp references to, to create silence) with the audio signal. This way the music signal is the reference and the sound inside the cups thus is not silence but the actual electrical signal.
Perhaps you remember the Philips MFB speakers which had 'sort-off' a microphone inside the woofer which 'corrected' the woofer's excursion so it followed the applied signal perfectly. This resulted in deep and 'correct' lows.... caveat... the room wasn't compensated and is a worse with coloration than the speaker. They sounded GREAT (bass wise) in acoustically 'good' rooms with the proper positioning... I digress.
So the microphone 'measures' the acoustical signal inside the cups and compares that to the applied signal. When the headphone colours the sound (which could be dsitortion, resonances or uneven frequency response) it ALSO (thus as a very desired side effect) corrects the 'errors' the mic hears to the actual signal.
Therefore, when you switch NC on the frequency response ALSO becomes as 'flat' as the microphone/amplifier is for frequencies below say 2kHz.
The better (the more linear in FR and less distortion) there is from the driver the less 'compensation' is needed. In the end, it means outside noises are attenuated, at least as well as the mic can do, and the acoustical music signal is a closer 'copy' to the applied electrical music signal. When you switch it on the FR thus becomes much closer to 'ideal' (some manufacturers apply a small tilt or bass boost b.t.w.).
This means that IF the ANC7 is indeed an M05 with a microphone inside which sounds 'better' with NC on (but introduces noise) and you make the acoustical signal better (as per the mods, closer to flat) then when NC is switched on the differences in SQ will be smaller than when the mods were not applied.
So stock ANC7 with mods is too muddy and bassy with NC off and improves much when switched 'on' then when the ANC7, when modified as well, will sound less bassy and not muddy when switched off it will just sound a little less bassy only (actually the same as the unmodified ANC7).
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Jan 24, 2016 8:52:23 GMT
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 24, 2016 9:06:24 GMT
A more acceptable Bluetooth headphone sound.... Voila!! Thanks Frans.
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Post by solderdude on Apr 25, 2016 7:06:44 GMT
They're ok as far as Blutooth goes; especially at low price. For something slightly better sounding, you have to go quite large with money. Bluetooth is poor for audio really. I found the anc7 slightly better, but that's not available yet in the UK. Ausdom have gone back to supplying rather than selling headphones. Ausdom has been revising the M05 and a new model is under development. Will be receiving an ANC7 and measuring/testing and maybe modifying that one as well.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Apr 25, 2016 7:14:59 GMT
How weird, Frans. I've just been talking to Grace on Messenger and you came up!! She told me that she was sending an ANC7 to you.
Noisy circuit and fr problems. The fr can be helped I guess in much the same way as the m05. Probably same driver. (If the elctronics allow it) The circuit noise though mght be more of a problem. It hisses like so many cheap noise cancelling headphones.
The M05 mk II has gone out, but it hasn't been altered as far as sound goes. I hope they go ahead with the mk II soon.
The ANC7 would be handy if it were just a bit better. Trouble is, they are modding them now and putting the price up which means that they are going to have to compete with netter headphones. The M05 has doubled in price. Makes it way less attractive in comparison to others.
At that pricing, they have Superlux close by and when it comes to the choice, 1 Ausdom or 2 Superlux (virtually) for the same price, they could lose out; especially being lesser known.
There's no comparison.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Apr 25, 2016 7:28:08 GMT
I guess a higher SQ would mean the price can be higher as well is the thought ? Or they need to recover the extra engineering costs ?
Grace told me a revised M05 is still in development phase and not yet in production.
I told Grace noise would be the biggest enemy for the ANC-7 Maybe they took your words and concentrated on lowering the noise floor (I hope).
Hoping they can get it right and still maintain Superlux pricing. For me the HD662-EVO will be hard to beat VFM wise. And maybe even sound wise as well (once modified) otherwise it is too 'sharp' and too 'off' sounding.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Apr 25, 2016 7:57:15 GMT
Grace is sending me another ANC7 as well I think. She claims that it has been altered. I'm not sure because she didn't say what changed. I went on about noise levels from the circuit, although I know that's a difficult one with cheapos, if they got over that, it would be a great buy.
I thought the price hike was a bit cheeky. I'm chatting with Grace now on Messenger and mentioned the pricing. I checked and it's come down again. They took selling rights away from another company who pushed the price up. It's back down again now though.
They strike me as inexperienced and are desperate for advice. I've been talking about subjective sound and pricing and they felt that your mods might get them on track for a better selling strategy. So they are really listening. Hang on .... She's back again!!!
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