I love the cyberpunk aesthetic of the R4. Good luck with the decision!
Also, nice keyboards.
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Hiby >>>> Fiio
My fiio was lifeless and irritating, i could never figure out why people gave it awards. The hiby was much better, but i still love the cowon sound.
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My Cowon Plenue D still works despite being basically useless. 50hr+ battery life with lossless playback will never be achieved by anything else. Cowon makes good stuff.
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I didn’t have previous experience of either brand. I saw/read many positive reviews about the R4. I got one and the IIWI review matched how I heard it. So I saw his review of the M23 and he it was just a better R4…
I did wonder if I was making the right decision considering the amplifier technology in the two devices, class A verses THX.
I need my TOTL IEMs to arrive to properly assess the two!
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What did you end up ordering?
Letshuoer Cadenza 12. I also have a Zempire ZE51B on the way; not TOTL but possibly endgame.
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These were a bust unfortunately. The ear cups were more shallow than the original 770, scratching my ear, and as soon as I put them on to try them… oh my goodness.
Instant treble m u r d e r. I tried to deal with it but they were just so much harsher than the OG 770 that I remember. Quite possibly the shortest test I have had with any headphones. There was just no way my ears were going to handle these, it was painful.
On another note, these have been quite fun so far. Now, I can’t really wear them for more than an hour or so without discomfort (as with all IEMs, something about my ear canals are just very oddly shaped, maybe because of my jaw misalignment, I’m not sure), but for an hour or so they are very nice. I am happy with them.
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A few more 11:11 items arrived today. I somehow ordered lots of small tips, even though I’m a large 
Fortunately, I correctly order a sample pack of the Velvets.
This cable though, it’s pretty gaudy for my taste. I was assuming/hoping it was going to be style over substance with it’s “Furukawa Copper”, etc., however, to my surprise it noticeably smoothed out the treble in my SM4. And I already had a half decent Dunu OFC aftermarket cable on it. I was hoping to return/sell this thing on as it is one of many IEM cables I have on order, but looks be damned! This thing will stay unless the other cables sound as good. More listening required!
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I love the cases that come with NiceHCK cables. I just wish they were ever so slightly bigger and I could fit my CMA18 in them.
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2024 home office upgrades
It’s been since covid work from home in 2020 that I’ve made any real upgrades.
On the audio side I went with the new iLoud Micro Monitor Pro powered speakers. Very nice step up from the OG Micro Monitors, much more like the iLoud MTM, but smaller form factor, and including room calibration (much needed with the shitty placement). Not visible (by design) is the Woo Audio phantom DAC to drive them.
I went with the Audeze Filter speakerphone (next to the right speaker). Excellent speaker phone, and definitely audiophile fun for it to be a planar magnetic speaker 
Poly2Mojo with 7th Accoustic Supernova iem sitting on the desk, this travels to office and back with me for really enjoyable portable listening.
Other recent non audio additons: keychron hall effect switch keyboard, Logitech 4k web cam, and the trusty ol Logitech MX Master 3s mouse.
Monitors are relatively unchanged, with the two big ones running 1440p displays (some day they will get a proper 4k upgrade). But the little monitor in the middle is 4k, making it a nice way to view side content.
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I keep finding it hard to make the jump to 4k across the board. I am on Win 10 and UI scaling isnt the best, do you know if this is improved on 11? I am also surprised there is a 4k monitor that small, most are 32” due to pixel density and such.
I actually just bought the new 1440p LG 480Hz OLED, it should be here by end of the year. The higher frame rate and MLA 2.0 sold me on it… Well also they are offering a $200 rebate and i was given an extra 10% off. I am mixed on it being matte as i know it diminishes picture quality a little, but i also dont use my computer in a blacked out room. I also avoided QD-OLED for the same reason and im not the biggest Samsung fan.
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I had no idea that Audeze FILTER product existed, I’d be interested although I see it’s marked at sold out at Audeze currently.
I’d use it as an always wired speakerphone to a laptop, how do you like it?
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It’s a neat product, I got it a couple months ago. Nice clear sound, good noise cancellation. Very portable. I use it hard wired in my desk step, but it switches to BT on my iPhone no issues. Apparently the “filter” technology is the same used in the microphone for the Maxwell. I would certainly recommend it if you have need for one.
More 11/11 gear landed. Two more IEM cables, one of them allegedly liquid nitrogen treated. I’m going to trust my ears with these but having heard a high end cryo treated cable before I’m hoping to be as impressed.
I haven’t mentioned that previous cable enough but for how much impressed me, I feel that should add a few more data points for future buyers to find. Robson Acoustics, Scottish boutique one-man-band, worked on a Susvara cable for about two years. He didn’t share the intricate details of the final configuration, but he did state that, to his surprise, cryo treatment made the biggest improvement in sound.
He allowed me audition it, along with one of his Class D headphone amplifiers. Although developed for Susvara, he stated that it worked well with HE1000se, too - this I can attest to. I would’ve bought the cable from him but I wasn’t expecting it to be £500 and had just moved house and so didn’t have the cash at the time.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent, but the above is why cryo treated cables get my attention.
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I have never heard of that, fascinating! Is it like making the instant ice cream? 
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I’ve been wondering for YEARS why people aren’t cryo treating electronics. Me and a buddy were doing some research on how to make some parts for rally cars and how to improve the strength (moreso durability than absolute shear point) without sacrificing weight or totally changing up the design and we came across some people comparing cryo treated parts saying that they’re getting over 30% more durability out of them and when we looked into it more, there’s some cryo treated electronics in some super high end supercomputers and rocket systems that supposedly “wouldn’t be possible without cryo treatment” and ever since, I’ve been wanting to do something like that myself. It’s actually really cheap to have done in bulk, too.
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I mean the cryo treated stuff is fairly common in hifi. Tubes, cables, connectors are the big ones.
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Yeah I’ve heard of a couple tubes having it done and connectors too, but I feel like it’s just one of those areas where it’s almost worth doing to everything. I wonder if you could just huck a whole DAC into a cryo treatment and have it survive and come out better afterwards. I can’t imagine there’s many things that would have expansion issues, but I have no idea what I’m talking about lol
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This is the crux of it.
Various audio companies have cryo treated various components over the years.
I’d be surprise given the cost insensitive nature of manufacturing gear at the vert high end if several companies hadn’t tried it on entire circuit boards. Though I could see it potentially destroying the board since the metal tracks would potentially shrink more than the substrate. So you might not want to do it to anything with disparate materials touching (i.e. most electrical components)
Even on tubes it’s contentious, lots of companies offer it there as an option, it will change the crystalline structure of the metal parts and it will probably improve the ductility of the metal, which for mechanical parts is a win. It isn’t necessarily a win for even a tube in an electrical circuit. I’ve seen claims of improved lifespans, but never any real research in the area.
I’ll also point out that tubes were never cheap components and some application specific tubes that required very low noise floors and longevity were VERY expensive and contracts were won and lost an spec’s and longevity, and I don’t know of a single manufacturer who cryotreated the components (and they could have).
I used to always tick the box when ordering tubes, it’s an upcharge so it must be good, though I generally don’t anymore.
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My amp is pushed back a bit so I bent. I also got a steal on this from the same person I purchased my first Utopia from.
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