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Spent some time listening to music today after a loong time. I wanted to try something different this time, so I tried the Geek out 450 first (I generally use apogee groove since it's my best source). I don't remember enjoying this thing this much before. I really liked the sound. And I was playing with the filters between the sinc'ish for normal music vs the no pre ring filter for that dense feeling in synthetic stuff. After a few trials I felt myself reaching for the sinc'ish filter even for synthetic, there's something about the effortlessness/microcontrast that makes that filter more preferable (besides that's what's closer to ideal math). So after 20 mins of enjoying the Geek out I swapped to Apogee groove. Now the geek out became unlistenable for either filter. Groove, as I remember, had much better detail/texture/openness/intonations,<<insert any other positive word>>. In general, geek out was a much paler representation of the instrument textures as compared to groove. Geek out has slightly blacker background than groove but it's also weaker and duller with massively smeared detail in comparison, especially missing out on the suspense factor in transients. Groove has a dimensional feel to the sonic images that geek out misses. Now I don't want to take out my burson fun which drives my srh1540 much better than the amp inside the groove and then not be able to listen to groove directly. Got a busy schedule and can't afford to spend too much time in <<distractions>> Ok so what's the moral of the story. Given enough time away (to forget references), I can be contended with almost any audio gear. Satisfaction is relative. I have been enjoying my phone speakers for the last 1 month, and during this time I have been able to better my skills at vocals and flute (far more enjoyable than listening to a recording imo, regardless of gear). Would this keep me away from eventually building the Amb beta 22 and buying srh1840? No, benefits are always there and very significant. But it does mean just in case I have to give them up, I can still be happy with a phone speaker (preferrably running usb audio player Pro). Songs used: 20syl - voices, A.R Rahman - anarkali (from kangalal kaidhu sei), thee kuruvi from same album, nadishana - shu khur,. All purchased from Bandcamp and played in flac format Happy listening!! Btw, not a review per se, I find the apogee groove to be massively underrated as a dac and srh1540 massively underrated as a headphone. They do pretty great things for their price (and the form factor is a welcome bonus).