Hallo,
I am looking for an upgrade to my current Hifiman Anandas (stealth magnet version) with a use case of late night listening in the evening and extended sessions (gaming and studying) during the day. I would want substantial upgrades in macrodynamics and physicality, a better sense of timbre, and midrange lushness, while maintaining performance in imaging and instrument separation similar to the the Anandas.
Even on my Stealth version, the attack in the bass make it feel limpy and anemic. EQing the bass only brings up the subbass, but the Ananda's slam leaves me wanting more. I also want to avoid a disconnected and distant sound; I want to keep engaged with my music instead of having an analytical experience. I prefer any soundstage size larger than an HD650, about on par with a Sundara, though it should be capable of placing sounds both intimately and distant as demanded by the recording. I also have a very strong preference for the headphones with little to no imaging deadzones, and a strong center image. I'm also looking to work on a downside on the Ananda's midrange: that it sounds dry and shrill, despite the detail.
I place less emphasis, treble performance and capability (peaky treble response included), detail and resolution, and price to performance. I also don't exactly need a razor flat bass. Tonality and tuning also take a backseat as I EQ my cans to my preference of neutral/warm and dark (relative to IEF target).
Budget:
My budget for a pair would be at $1600 for the initial purchase, but can spend about $200 more on accessories later down the line. I am open to consider suggestions above my current budget (capped to under $2700), but I am not to keen on purchasing above the $1600 line. Suggestions can also be made for two complementary cans, under $1600 only.
Source/Amp : Topping E30/JDS Labs Atom
Previous Experience:
I owned the Sundaras, Moondrop Aria and Kato. The moondrops don't have any particular flaws I can harp on, especially for the price. I disliked the sundaras for its very sterile presentation and timbre in the bass and mids throughout. The bass was very one-note and cold. I appreciated the upgrade in bass texture and extension when I came to the Anandas. The transients in the slam of my Sundaras felt rubber-y and loose-- my Anandas come off as more natural to me. One notch up on the slam from the sundaras would sit in the ideal range for me. The Sundara's mids felt soul-less, despite its spot-on tonality. Its soundstage was wide enough for my taste, but the range of instrument placement sound inside that soundstage felt fixed/locked.
I have demoed the Arya Stealth, ZMF Atticus, LCD-X (pre 2021), Focal Clears, HD650, and Meze 109 Pro. I preface this part with my non-eq impressions when I tried them on. I particularly liked the Arya Stealth, but their bass still seemed lacking (in stock form, no EQ). Its imaging is exactly what I am looking for. The Atticus had a honky tuning with the bass bleeding into the mids, but wouldn't be dealbreaking if I had more time for my ears to acclimate and adjust to the sound, though I acknowledge the comparison of a closed back to open ones. The Atticus' soundstage had even less range in its placement than the sundaras. The LCD-X had a strong sense of dynamic range, and I could acknowledge its technical abilities. It's slam is an aspect that I am extremely impressed with, and about what I want for macrodynamic characteristics. The Clears had this extremely noticeable metallic timbre, I preferred the bass slam and presentation of the X. The HD650's had a surprising amount of punch from what I was expecting, but the subbass was lean. It also sounded very veiled, but I loved the organic and 'real' timbre of this headphone. The lower mids/upper bass in the mezes was just a bit too forward for me, but its comfort was supreme, its presentation was very similar to the HD650.
My music taste:
Indie Rock - Drifting by Good Kid, Starkiller by Bear Ghost
Alternative - Burn the Witch by Radiohead, The Tired Influencer by Gorillaz
Female Vocalists - When She Loved Me by Sarah McLachlan, 642 Ways by Seycara Orchestral
Hip-hop and Pop - Love Hate Letter to Alcohol by Post Malone, High School in Jakarta by NIKI
I like imaging and instrument separation of my Anandas for rock; I am currently satisfied for this genre. I like its neutrality and staging capabilities for acoustic music, but I would like better liveliness and slightly better timbre. I would also want better macrodynamics for those pop genres.
Currently I am currently looking at the ZMF Auteur OG (Auteur classic unavailable from dealer, shipping to the USA is costly from Asia, and the additional upgrade cost coming up over-budget), Arya SE, and the LCD-2 or X. The Auteur are visually stunning and only seem to be ever-so-slightly short in imaging tightness and instrument separation from my reading, Aryas lack the bass punchiness I want, and the LCDs are too weighty as a daily driver, and the 2's seem to have those imaging deadzones. Would like to hear thoughts on the GX as it is a strong contender, but seem to have that planar timbre and are hardly available in my region.
The writeup was lengthy, so I'm posting this before I go to sleep; can reply in-depth in the morning.

Since I visited my parents in the south west countryside and saw the Hatman, I’ve been seeing many other shadowy figures, but not the Hatman. Never the Hatman.
It’s been four months since I’ve visited my parents again because I’ve simply been too scared, although I have felt bad. Both my friends that I lived with were away for a few days with their families. So, I decided to invite my parents and brother down to London and buy them some lunch, dinner and maybe go sight seeing. I suggested it and they were very happy. I told them to get the train from Taunton to Paddington, and I’d meet them there.
When the day came, I got the tube from South Wimbledon to Bank and then changed to a tube to Paddington. However, when I got off the tube at Paddington, I began feeling faint. I began taking deep, quick breaths. Something was wrong. I stumbled over to a bench and half lay down on it. Nobody seemed to notice. The train thundered out of the station and there was nobody but me on the platform. I looked down the tunnel and saw the eyes. The same eyes I’d seen when I’d last visited my parents. I looked to my right and saw someone walking onto the platform. I looked back. The eyes were still there. I heard rattling down the tunnel. The eyes didn’t move, and whoever they belonged to didn’t seem bothered at all. A train thundered straight through the eyes and into the station. I stood up and stumbled out of the platform and onto the escalator, beginning to feel better. By the time I got to the top of the escalator, it was like nothing happened.
I met my parents and we had a good day despite what had happened. After sight seeing and going up the Monument, my parents suggested having dinner in Covent Garden market. I liked Covent Garden, but I really didn’t want to get back onto the tube. I suggested a few other places, but they seemed like they really wanted to eat in Covent Garden. So, we went to the nearest tube station and got two tubes to Covent Garden. It was fine. I didn’t see anything. We had a good dinner and went home, again, I didn’t see anything.
That night, I had a horrific nightmare. There was a dark tunnel and a derelict station. I saw the eyes in the tunnel, somehow I knew they were different eyes. I was just staring at these eyes down the tunnel. No trains, no people, not even any sound. Suddenly, the eyes disappeared. I woke up with a jolt. I looked at my clock. 3:29AM. I couldn’t get back to sleep that entire night.
It was Monday, which meant I had a very short work day, so I could go to work, come back, spend some more time with my family, then they’d go home. I decided I was driving to work. I got in my car and turned the keys in the intention. The engine started, then instantly choked and stopped. I tried again, this time nothing at all. I got out and knew I had to get the tube. I walked to the station, sweating despite the cold. I bought a ticket and went down to the platform. A train was sitting there with the doors open. As I saw it, I heard beeping, I ran for the doors but they closed right in front of me. I went to sit down as the train sped out of the station. I looked at the timetable. The next train was 24 minutes. I sat there, terrified. I looked at the timetable again. 25 minutes. What was happening? I sat confused and then looked at it again. It still said 25 minutes. When I next looked at it it said 28 minutes. I looked at my feet contemplating what to do. I looked at the timetable again. 29 minutes. Something w about that made me feel odd. 29? Then it hit me. I woke up from my dream at 3:29AM. Surely, it was a coincidence. The eyes. Staring at me. I stared back at them. I broke eye contact and looked at the timetable. The next four trains were cancelled. I looked at it in horror. I stood up and walked towards the exit, not looking back. Suddenly, my mum’s voice called my name behind me. I looked back. The Hatman was standing on the other end of the platform staring at me. It began slowly walking towards me. Then it broke into a sprint. I was gone. I wasn’t spending another second in that station. I sprinted onto the street and back to my flat. I burst into the front door and into my bedroom and locked the door. I lay on the bed for two days, and only got up to get water, not being able to even speak to my family. Eventually, I managed to give them a vague explanation and they left once I was better. My friends aren’t home and I haven’t seen any figures like I used to. Is he waiting for me next time I step onto the tube? Or has it got something to do with my family?

Last month I had a fraudulent charge on my debit card for $14.99 for Amazon Prime. Don’t think I’ve used my debit card for years, if ever.
I disputed the transaction as fraud and they sent me a new card. Right after activating I locked the card in the app.
Fast forward an exact month I again get a $14.99 fraudulent charge.
Is this one of those times where they allow a “recurring subscription” to pass through on a locked or closed debit card? I don’t get how this happened again. I feel like I have no choice but to close my checking account if this is just going to happen forever to me every month.

Hi guys, I have an old iPad I use as a home hub in my flat. I’ve been playing around with the automations but can’t seem to find a way of automatically locking/sleeping the iPad when I leave the flat. It would be great to have this as a function so that the screen isn’t always on when it doesn’t need to be. The battery now is quite old and doesn’t hold its charge well even with the power being permanently connected. Does anyone have any suggestions or workarounds for this? TIA!

How do I deal with a possible case of cheating if my school doesn't do discipline and it causes me a cascade of stress in dealing with the student, parents, and admin?

Hello folks,
​
Getting right into the root of the problem. My mother, myself and my twin brother were under the iron fist of my "father" from the day we were born (2002) to our 15th Birthday. We managed to liberate ourselves fully from his influence and my brother and I were able to focus on our studies.
From the age of 9 to 15, we were forced by my "father" to work part time (3-4 days a week often 10 -12 hours a day, and all of our half-term (UK) school holidays) and were were only paid £5-£15 per those 3-4 day clumps. My mother was powerless because he would always hit her, curse her out, isolate her, and threaten to take me and my brother away (especially before we were of age of consent - 16 in the UK) if she "dared" to take us and run away from him.
In our young child to young teenage years were were exploited for our labour and emotionally abused to accept this reality. I do not blame my mother since she did her absolute best and took charge of our upbringing such that we would nether have to work like that again - My "father" was a lazy grunt that often locked himself in his room to play video games to avoid us. She is a Saint! We all feel the effects of this abuse and exploitation, from my mothers severe spinal problems, depression, and anxiety problems in all of us.
​
We are much safer now (I am 21 now and studying Physics at my choice University). Though I would like to ask, is there anything I could/ should do in the future to ensure justice is served? If so, what should I do??

I just picked up the AV8b in the sale. I've been fiddling around trying to figure out weapon employment the last week or so. I've found a bit of an issue with IR Mav targeting, can someone idiot check me please.
I've been following the manual - TPOD slaved to Tgt, double SSS depress, select IR Mav, uncage, SSS fwd...so far so good...then when I TDC depress to try and lock the Mav on, it boresights and so does the TPOD and I have to start all over again.
I think I've followed the instructions correctly, am I missing something?
Thanks.

I’ve tried all the tips on here and cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong. Just got home after a two week vacation and my Nespresso machine was doing the two orange blink, I looked up what was happening and the manual said to try a cleaning or descaling mode. I’ve tried cleaning, it blinks yellow and then does nothing. I tried following the instructions to descale using the descaler agent (hold button for 7 seconds until yellow blinks quickly, lock, unlock, hit button again) but it just continues to quickly blink yellow and do nothing else again. It won’t pull any water in. Anyone else have the same issues?

I had two parts of the dream because I woke up then fell back asleep with the same dream
Part 1: I woke up in this cave area with Skyrim quality, and I was trying to escape so I went through this door into another cave area. A phil Collins ghost screamed at me so I went back in and shut the door, locking it. It was a factory that cut off the heads of animals but also plopped out animals into the water. I found some and they became my new friends as they explained that a vampire owned this factory and he lived on a tall snowy mountain. A bear broke the door and killed me lol
Part 2: I woke up in this dark area with a wall with markings on it behind me, and my real life friends explained to me that batman was trying to kill us so we went through these pits of charcoal with bombs that has blue flashing lights on them. After a few rounds of that we went up this burning chute also with pits of charcoal in it. There was an anime girl with white hair at the end, and we teleported presumably back to where I spawned
Then I woke up

Chorus: Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang

Yo, what’s this?? Turn that shit up.

Rejecting all illusions, we seek to understand

Song’s alright, but the beat’s hot fr.

Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang, Nietzsche Gang

Loop that up at the end so I can go off.

We question all assumptions, we seek to expand

Okay, look:
Nietzsche’s methodology?
“Philology as philosophy”—
honestly, impossible
for Aristotle or Socrates:
A history of logic makes different
our “thinking logically”;
a past, studied modestly,
polishes into prophecy.
Behind a modern concept,
there follows a genealogy…
like how beneath a word
there’s a probable etymology—
an “evolution,” in theory,
a revolution, when thoughtfully,
the context is acknowledged
with knowledge and there’s a lot to see.
The implication is also
an innovative psychology:
A “subject” is a state that’s derived
out of our bodily drives.
Does an “observer”
keep the body alive?
Or does a body just unconsciously strive
…while telling obvious lies?
What if passions—
ones forgotten, denied—
became a labyrinth
when we locked them inside
as weapon stocks and supplies?
Is the question really,
“why do we think?”
or are we thinking to know:
“how do we thrive?”
(If so, I’d not be surprised.)
And this is how amor fati’s comprised:
we’re knots of forces
that could not be untied—
although we consciously tried—
that’s will to power
in a motley disguise;
it’s kind of gorgeous
when you stop to surmise
that seeds of trees
are what begot their demise…
and if not, then you’d not be alive.
It seems to me,
The death of God has arrived.

I'm from the EU and i was wondering if that will get in the way of using the bracelet properly like if i'm missing certain stuff thats region locked etc i want to get a VB but i want to be sure just in case

Thanks for checking out my post! I’m a west coast based (preference for Bay Area, but open to connecting with anyone interested in what I describe), tall, trim, athletic, fun-loving and service oriented switch seeking someone I can build a passionate connection with, with the long term intent for a monogamous LTR.
Physically, I’m tall and thin with an athletic body. I have a long lean figure and prefer a partner who appreciates that kind of frame. I have curly hair, a warm, inviting smile and love being a goofball and having a good time! I enjoy the outdoors, exploring new bars and restaurants, trying new activities and traveling plus so much more! I’m seeking a partner to explore this wide world with and build an intimate, passionate connection. Think of me as a cute, cuddly and friendly golden retriever waiting patiently for our next adventure!
My ideal partner is willing to take charge with a warm, nurturing and passionate vibe. I have a weakness for older women and would prefer someone my age or older although this is not a dealbreaker for me. Physically, I don’t have a specific type and will be most attracted to a partner who makes me feel wanted and cherished. Please don’t be shy in reaching out if you’re interested in my body type or getting to know me! I’d love to connect with someone that makes me feel wanted.
I have some light online experience in the GFD space, but would like to build on that and eventually go to in person with the right partner. I’m interested in orgasm control (not so much denial, but having you dictate my rhythm), JOI, face sitting, breast and body worship and much more! I’m definitely the type to get locked on one specific partner and would like a “tunnel vision” relationship where we focus on one another and satisfying our unique needs. We can discuss this more in private! If you’re interested, please send a chat with your age, location and what caught your eye about my post. Hope to hear from you soon! :)

I can understand certain bosses where there are multiple and you wanna keep them all in view, but I see people mentioning Nameless King and KotS. Playing through DS1, DS3, and Elden Ring I've pretty much exclusively played with auto-lock and have never had the issues others seem to have. Am I just too dumb to notice that it's bad or something?

Ok, support - you suck. once I get them to kinda understand what the issue is - they tell me it's an issue for many and will be fixed by the next day...that was a week ago. over 3000 dashes and they treat you like dirt. wtf man, I can't afford to be off for a freaking week...
Was mid dash, signed out to take a break, went to sign back in and the app wouldn't let me saying I needed to verify my identity. Took a shot of my license then I had to do a selfie scan?!? Like holy big brother Batman.
But, did what it asked so I could get back to it - .but it said it couldn't verify my id and locked me out. That was a week ago.
Called support daily, filed request daily...once they understood the issue they all said many were having it and it would be fixed by midnight... A week ago. And idk how ignorant doordash or the support is but I can't live on, it'll be fixed tomorrow..what is this Annie? There is no sun! The run...I'm getting dash updates of it being busy, incentives..but my app says, couldn't verify Id. Anyone else having the issue? Any help? Please?
Mr. Rent due..

I have an iMac 2008 running El Capitan. I had to lock the device via Find My on my iPhone due to moving reasons. My iPhone had asked me to input a password (NOT Pin) so put in my usual one that I certainly remember. Upon starting up the Mac again I am asked to input a 6 digit pin to gain access to the system, which I had not set, so tried my iPhone pin, which did not work and disabled the computer for 1 hour. Contacting Apple support they told me to enter recovery mode which did not work and only brung me to a screen with a lock which they say was the firmware password, set before I bought the device and I cannot contact the previous owner. Apple said I would have to take it to a service shop but I would like to know if there is any other free solution?