The Mio Project

[KaliKot]

And then I quickly swiped the Mios off your paws. 

I'll continue listening to them out of the D12 and Millett MiniMAX with the high-gain tubes (12AE6). They sounded awesome at the last Bona meet.

Right now I'm listening out of the D12 as an AMP&DAC via USB, and here in this silent attic of mine, I can definitely say that my ears have grown accustomed to the sound signature. There is definitely bass presence and midrange. It's not as upfront as the RS1s, but just a bit pushed back. Very 3D-ish presentation. And here I thought the iBasso D12 would not be a good enough pair with the K701s.

Maximum volume on the first 10 seconds of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", Staccato 2, Nr. 12" from the Ultrasone Test CD: the drivers handled it with ease. A lot of headphones have the drivers vibrating at maximum offset during the introduction and hit their limits, causing an audible clipping sound. The Mios don't. I lowered the volume for the rest of the track but kept it louder than normal, still it stayed true with no distortions, but the last climactic part had me lowering the volume just a little. Amazing performance. This is truly a reference headphone.

Congrats on the new toys bro Joma I have yet to hear those and I suspect they will blow my mind with proper amping

[Za'afiel]

Congrats on the new toys bro Joma I have yet to hear those and I suspect they will blow my mind with proper amping

Thanks bro. I have yet to put my finger on the real ace this pair of cans have. Up until now I have thought these were just plain boring headphones for ultimate soundstage and all that jazz. Maybe this particular unit was in a good batch? It's surprising because these sound musical to my ears.

I did a little spring cleaning with these shiney whities. Wiped the chrome rings with microfiber, spotted the grills with blu-tack, etc.

These are definitely not for rock if you are a headbanger. Now that I think about it, compared to the HF2, these definitely have lacking bass.

But to quote Wes Phillips of Stereophile:

"We're talking about serious tools that can reveal a flea fart in a cathedral. "

[KaliKot]

Thanks bro. I have yet to put my finger on the real ace this pair of cans have. Up until now I have thought these were just plain boring headphones for ultimate soundstage and all that jazz. Maybe this particular unit was in a good batch? It's surprising because these sound musical to my ears.

I did a little spring cleaning with these shiney whities. Wiped the chrome rings with microfiber, spotted the grills with blu-tack, etc.

These are definitely not for rock if you are a headbanger. Now that I think about it, compared to the HF2, these definitely have lacking bass.

I am quite flexible with genres and I will probably be able to appreciate it

Cleaning is the real problem with white cans. One of the reasons I passed up on the white ES7

Are you planning to amp it with something else? or do you think that the D12 already brings out most of its potential?

[Za'afiel]

I am quite flexible with genres and I will probably be able to appreciate it

Cleaning is the real problem with white cans. One of the reasons I passed up on the white ES7

Are you planning to amp it with something else? or do you think that the D12 already brings out most of its potential?

The best thing I can feed it at the moment is the Millet Hybrid MiniMAX with 12AE6 tubes that have a total gain of 12. The 12AE6's are punchy, bassy, and impart a nice slam. At the Bona meet I tried pairing it with the HD650, and the warmth became cloudy, the bass became muddy. I was sad until Mochan told me the K701s were there. This princess of a headphone had been satisfied, at least for now.

Mochan noted that the MiniMAX with 12AE6's were similar in performance level and sound signature as the Dared MP5 with the Tung Sol tubes.

[Mochan]

Yeah the tubes we were using last time had a similar effect on the Mios, what tubes were you using at the time? They definitely had that similar weighty sound.

The Mios are indeed musical, they aren't a pure analytical tool, but I guess a lot of it depends on how you drive them. On some amps they do indeed sound not too musical, like when I was using the Mullard tubes on them they weren't that musical. They only really came to life with the Tung Sols.

Try rolling your tubes again and see if the other tubes give the same level of listening pleasure, I get the feeling they won't.

[Za'afiel]

Yeah the tubes we were using last time had a similar effect on the Mios, what tubes were you using at the time? They definitely had that similar weighty sound.

The Mios are indeed musical, they aren't a pure analytical tool, but I guess a lot of it depends on how you drive them. On some amps they do indeed sound not too musical, like when I was using the Mullard tubes on them they weren't that musical. They only really came to life with the Tung Sols.

Try rolling your tubes again and see if the other tubes give the same level of listening pleasure, I get the feeling they won't.

If I use the "airy" 12FK6 tubes with a gain of 4, I wonder if the soundstage would go through the roof.

Earlier this morning I did a short listen in Starbuck's Glorietta 5 while watching the morning hustle and bustle go by.

iPod Classic, FiiO L1, iBasso D12, AKG K701

There was music playing in the background, but at 12:00-2:00 I was golden. I listened through vocal tracks, electronica, technical death metal, doom metal, R&B, progressive rock, and acoustic guitar. The highs get piercing, but the good ol' bass was right there. The midrange creeps in and almost induces an eargasm, but I'm easily reminded of the K240S and RS1 midrange that brings me back to reality.

I tried reading through the old Stereophile review out of my phone, but free WiFi was hard to get, and only got to page 1. These things came out in 2006! At 62 ohms, the D12 as a DAC+AMP had me listening at 10-12:00, while as an AMP only, I'm listening at 12-2:00. Some congested tracks distort at 4:00. Maximum volume at low gain sounds better; the distortion is audibly absent, but the overall volume takes a backseat.

If only the headband stretched a little more... 

[KaliKot]

If I use the "airy" 12FK6 tubes with a gain of 4, I wonder if the soundstage would go through the roof.

Earlier this morning I did a short listen in Starbuck's Glorietta 5 while watching the morning hustle and bustle go by.

iPod Classic, FiiO L1, iBasso D12, AKG K701

There was music playing in the background, but at 12:00-2:00 I was golden. I listened through vocal tracks, electronica, technical death metal, doom metal, R&B, progressive rock, and acoustic guitar. The highs get piercing, but the good ol' bass was right there. The midrange creeps in and almost induces an eargasm, but I'm easily reminded of the K240S and RS1 midrange that brings me back to reality.

I tried reading through the old Stereophile review out of my phone, but free WiFi was hard to get, and only got to page 1. These things came out in 2006! At 62 ohms, the D12 as a DAC+AMP had me listening at 10-12:00, while as an AMP only, I'm listening at 12-2:00. Some congested tracks distort at 4:00. Maximum volume at low gain sounds better; the distortion is audibly absent, but the overall volume takes a backseat.

If only the headband stretched a little more... 

Nice story there and yes its sad that we still don't have Free Wifi across all malls

I applaud SM for that! hmmm I wonder if it will sound similar on the D10 with the hiflight topkit. It should right?

[Za'afiel]

Nice story there and yes its sad that we still don't have Free Wifi across all malls

I applaud SM for that! hmmm I wonder if it will sound similar on the D10 with the hiflight topkit. It should right?

Yup, and it should sound scores better. The D4+topkit alone is formidable.

As a standalone amplifier, the D12 is a mice among men, which is why I was hesitant to even pair it with the K701. Well, thanks to the clarity and cleanliness of the stock opamp output, even past 2:00 the Mios sounded okay.

[Mochan]

There are really just two thinks you need to be careful with amping the K701, and that's the bass disappearing (happens a lot with amps that don't have enough power) and the highs getting too sharp/shrill. The Mios don't have that much bass to begin with so an amp that can't bring it would be disastrous. The other issue with the highs is just a headache asking to happen if left unchecked. I often don't have much problem with the Mios because I don't listen loud with them, so I can get away with low volume levels that are less prone to piercing highs.

That's the beauty of the Mios, they are very clear and detailed even at low listening levels.

But the Minimaxx can drive them really well at moderate listening levels, the bass is all there and the highs are sweet enough to crank up! I want to go to another meet, one with lots of amps present.   I wonder how the Mios would respond to the Asgard? Asgard didn't have much volume but I'm thinking its sound sig would work well with the Mios.

[Za'afiel]

Synth bass test track: Aqueous Transmission by Incubus. (First minute only)

--

Mini³ HP: Listening volume 10-11:00. No clipping even at 2:00. Good rumbly bass.

Mini³ ER: Listening volume at 11:00. It feels like the entire range is being pushed forward.

Mini³ HP modded: Best low end response over the two other Mini³s.

D12: Really weak compared to the likes of the Mini³. As a DAC+AMP, it even clips at 3:30. As an AMP only, needs to be set at 12:00-2:00 to sound decent. But against the Mini³, the D12 has the best soundstage and imaging.

Millett Hybrid MiniMAX with 12AE6 tubes: Hot damn, there's bass decay. Decay. It lingers. These brutal tubes with a gain of 12 were terrible paired with the HD650--it turned warm into foggy, enveloping to suffocating. But with the Mios, it's like a Greek goddess in curtain sheets walking in front of you, only to have winged tubes expose her in one fell swoop. WTH.

[Za'afiel]

Obligatory Miophones

[valiente]

That's the beauty of the Mios, they are very clear and detailed even at low listening levels.

I agree that K701 is so clear and detailed at low listening levels. Between 8 and 9 o'clock at E9, simply spot on my ears. Plus the vocals are great with this headphone. Listening at this time with Gary V and Regine V, their voices are realistic and full of emotions! 

[Za'afiel]

This tiny (2" x 3.5" x 2") desktop setup sounds so good out of the Mios:

PC-D12-Mini³HP-K701

I still can't believe the transducers sound so clear even at higher volumes. What I'm constantly watching out for is the bass response, which of course as everyone knows is the one major drawback of these cans. But these cans are singing, and they're even rocking!

Of course vocals remain a couple of steps back compared to an RS1. Eargasm-inducing frequency range belong to the upper midrange and lower treble areas.

[Za'afiel]

Another bass test, this time with deadmau5's "A City in Florida" (MP3 VBR 254kbps)

PC via USB - D12 - MiniMAX (gain 12 tubes) - K701

Listening volume is at 12:00. At this level overall presentation is evenly spread out, with bass decay very minimal but deep and somewhat tight. There are midrange spikes that annoy me when going over this level. Besides that, I don't feel like there are any other frequency biases at play; everything's getting equal attention. At 9:00 the lows are barely there, but I can tell that this is going to be as far as low-level listeners are willing to go. For most, perhaps, 10:30 is the best level. Even if this is a club track, you don't feel like you're in the club's dance area, at all. You're deadmau5, up there in the DJ booth, mixing like crazy.


PC via USB - D12 - MiniMAX (gain 12 tubes) - MDR-7506

Listening volume is at 10:00. There's something here that hits you right away, and that's the enveloping, rumbly low frequencies. At this level, going any higher wouldn't mean better bass, as the upper frequencies get too shrilly and overbearing. Even as low as 7:00 you can feel the bass line. It's that responsive. This Sony's a foldable club hall ready to go, anytime.

[edsamac]

Sir Za'afiel... you do little to refrain me from wanting to nab myself a Mio this very instant!

Well, I have to thank everyone here at Headphiles though, because I've gained a renewed interest in my current cans - and it's fun pulling out all my old CDs and players just to tinker with these puppies.  All in due preparation for the day my ears taste the sweetness of which is Mio.

I can't really say I could call my first encounter with the Mio's all that magical... but like you said, they need a good source to be appreciated.  Lacking on the lows?  I don't think that's much of a problem for me, unless I want to listen to techno.  I tried on my old K414Ps and realized how bassy they were... makes me wonder how I ever lived through sounds as muddy as that.