The All Purpose Advice Thread

I would like some advice on a potential future purchase on a headphone.

I currently own a Hifiman HE-500 with Focuspads as my main gear, connected to a Modi Multibit and a Schiit Lyr Gen 1 with Tesla E88CC Goldpin tubes. It's also connected to my Pro-Ject record player. I have owned the HE-500 since 2012 IIRC. On the go, I use my DIY modded Fostex T50RP Mk2 for quite some time now. I also own a DT880 Pro but I don't use it very much honestly.

As you can see I really love planars but I thought that it might be nice to go to dynamic drivers. I was reading here a lot of love on the HD650 and I would like to know what will be the starkest difference to switching from a HE-500 to an HD650? And also how would it compare to a modded HD650?

If I convince myself to buy it, it will be used. I can find it for around €200 in the second hand market which is really good value IMO. I also found that I can get a Fostex TH-X00 for €310 used which is very very tempting.

BTW, I listen to a lot of genre of music but mainly Jazz, Electronic, Rock, Metal, Hip-Hop/Rap.

Thanks.

 

Concerning tube rolling:

Is it advisable to roll tubes with the tubes at room temp, or is okay to "hot-swap"?

 

Going to the 650 you'll gain detail/resolution. You'll also gain more more guitar crunch, tighter snap on drums, etc.

You'll lose a more 3D/holographic stage. The 650 sounds 2D in comparison. HE-500 places you several rows back with some depth to the sound. The 650 is more front row.

And perhaps the biggest difference is bass. 500 - boomy and quite present. 650 - leaner. Which is better depends on preference. I go back and forth depending on the song.

Can't comment on the mods.

I currently use the 500 at work and 650 at home. They complement each other nicely.

You may want to look into ditching your Lyr if you stick with planars, and definitely if you go with the 650. It isn't too highly regarded around here.

 

I'm confused. When someone maxes the volume on a portable dac/amp (like a GO450) or dap (AKJR) so as to use the headphone out as a line out for an external amp, is that signal still double amped? Or is that a "true" lineout? I don't understand how maxing the volume creates a line out... Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

If I hear hum from Vidar when using either Aficionado or Freya, would a Emotiva CMX-2 eliminate it?

 

Do you have hum with Freya in tube gain mode only or also in passive and JFET modes? Try lifting the ground first to see if the hum goes away. Jason had me do this with Vidar and Freya when I had a lot of noise the hum was much quieter. What was left was from the tubes. The gain between Vidar (27dB) and Freya in tube gain mode (14dB) is not insignificant.

If the hum goes away lifting the ground, get an Ebtech Hum X and plug Freya into that.

 

Thanks for the advice. Though it would be very hard for me to replace my Lyr apart from upgrading to a Lyr 2. I really like its sound and also its size. I don't really have the space for an amp that's bigger than the Lyr.

Any experience with the TH-X00? How does it pair with a tube amp?

I'm also open for other suggestions, a headphone to replace my HE-500 for good around the €600 range. It can wait though, I'm personally eyeing the LCD-2 Classic.

 

Opamps vs discrete designs: are opamps still considered inferior to discrete designs, with regard to sound quality? Are there any good sounding opamp products? I'm given to understand that opamps have come a long way, and exhibit very good performance. Does this question deserve a thread? Does @schiit care to weigh in?! I'm looking to be educated.

 

Which one is the best for HD-800 with SDRMod (DAC: Soekris 1541) of these amps?

• Laconic Night Blues Mini (€400)
• Feliks Elise ver.2016 (€600)
• Bottlehead Crackatwoa (€800)

Maintaining the resolution, clarity and extended head stage is crucial. More body and HD-650/660 "compatibility" would be nice.

 

None of the above, consider saving for a Bottlehead Mainline. IIRC it was originally designed with the HD800 in mind but HD6x0 compatibility will be just fine. The Crackatwoa is suck, S.E.X. is better.

 

Looking for some DAC suggestions. Right now I have a home stack with a Modi 2 + Vali 2 and HD800s, and soon I will be running a work stack with LFF Engimatics + Fulla 2. Both setups will be via USB.

Ideally for the home stack I eventually want to work up to a Yggdrasil + some amp + hd800s. For now, I was wanting to get a DAC <$1000 to use at home until I buy a Yggdrasil, after which I'd move the DAC to the work stack. I guess what I'm looking for is:

- something not massive (i.e. no SFD-1)
- would like an R2R, mainly because I find the topology interesting but also interested in some of the comments I've seen about some R2R implementations sounding more like analog than most digital sources do
- available less than 1000$
- not terribly interested in combo units e.g. soekris 1541, but if the amp stage is actually good or the DAC part alone is a good value I'll consider it
- something that would be a nice complement to a Yggdrasil. having both a Gungnir Multibit and a Yggdrasil seems like it'd be a little redundant
- sound wise, not really looking for much color from the DAC, mainly solid imaging and detail.
- ideally something with proper USB treatment so I don't need to buy an Eitr as well.


right now I'm thinking about an MHDT pagoda, or some form of soekris DAC.

 

For some reason, I've got a Modi 2U, Modi Multibit and 2x Magni 3's on my desk right now. Is there a decent way to switch between the two sources via one USB port? I'm using foobar so I'm having to go into preferences, select ouput, etc. every time I plug in a different source. I'm trying to do some casual comparative listening...

 

Um, depending how your computer handles it... set each dac separately as the "default" and set foobar to default as well. Plug and play might then switch to each dac automatically... No promises.

Or just borrow an Eitr and swap dacs at the tail end of it.

 

Hi guys,

Need some help. I just bought a Modi Multibit and saga. So now I use ifi micro idsd as a usb-to-spdif converter to the Modi Multibit, then to saga, then to my amp. I use foobar2000. So i now convert all dsd files to pcm in foobar.

I notice that when playing all flac files, the playback is too slow. Weird. When playing mp3 or dsd (converted to pcm), it is fine. I tried playing around with foobar options, nothing works.

Anyone ever experienced this before?

Thanks

 

This might sound totally obvious, but have you tried using a different media player? I would download something really stripped down, like VLC, and see if the problem persists. At least then you'd know whether it's a software issue.

 

Does it play correctly through the computer speakers? Also try the USB direct to Modi Multibit, bypassing the converter.

 

Ok will try some more after work today. Couldnt figure it out last night.

 

This playback slowdown is only when I use iFi micro iDSD as USB-to-SPDIF converter into my Modi Multibit. I tried doing USB straight to the Modi Multibit, and all playback are normal.

Ah, turns out that the iFi needs to be turned on first (then can be turned off). Everything is normal after.

Thanks for the help.