The All Purpose Advice Thread

Polaris is basically jerry rigged to sound like a tube amp, it's not exactly lush or gooey but it is slightly warm and pleasant with HD600s. I've also used mine with HE-560 and AD900x and I thought they both sounded great.

 

I sense the Vali2 is a good choice for your needs.. I haven't heard it, though.

My vote goes to the NecoSoundlab V5. I liked it more than the (balanced) LC w/ the HD650, btw.. Low gain works great with IEMs. High gain makes the HD650 sing. It's got a very clean, dynamic, transparent, and textured sound. The "speed" of this amp is noteworthy. Very fast and effortless sounding. No grain and excellent resolution. It reminds me of a really good tube amp "done right." This thing doesn't use JFETs or whatnot to "mimic" tubes, either.. It's just a really well implemented design around a current feedback opamp.. which seems kinda rare these days.

Comes in at around $250 or so.. and it's battery powered. Another member here has mine now and might chime in.

 

Vali 2 comes immediately to mind.

 

Hmm, so I am having trouble deciding between the HD600, HD650, and HD580. I would definitely mod whichever I choose. I see a few comparisons between them around, but they are all stock. For the amp, do you guys think the Asgard 2 would drive them moderately well or not? If not I could sell the Asgard 2 and swing it for a used Valhalla 2, but would rather save some cash for the Torpedo III. Of course, I could get a Vali 2 and save the money, but would it be an honest improvement over the Asgard 2?

 

Asgard 2 would run them all nicely, however the Valhalla 2 would be a better match. I haven't heard the Torpedo III, but if the impressions around here are anything to go by, it's an amp worth saving up for.

 

Was thinking of getting a pair of JBL LSR305s. I know the JBLs dont need amplification but they do need a dac. I have a Schiit Bifrost and a Sys. Planning to share the Bifrost with the two monitors alongside my headphones and using the Sys to switch between them. Is there anything else that I need for this set up? Or is sharing the Bifrost betwen the monitors and headphone not possible? Thanks.

 

You need RCA to 1/4" TS cables to go from the sys to the lsr305s. What's your headphone amp, if it has a pre out that may be an easier solution. Otherwise you can use RCA splitters to go from bifrost to both Sys and headphone amp

 

Keep the Asgard 2 and save until you decide on an endgame amp. I feel that Vali 2/Valhalla 2 don't warrant enough gains to make it worth your money.

 

@pandather I can't speak directly to the Asgard 2 / vali 2 comparison, but for a period I had both Asgard 2 and valhalla2. In my experience the Asgard 2 is not at all bad into the senns, but the Valhalla 2 is noticeably better. It is built to provide serious voltage swing into 300 ohm load, and it shows. What @Pyruvate recommends isn't bad, but personally I think it's worth finding a good deal on a used valhalla2 while you wait for something more. Another way of thinking about it is, if you can't enjoy Sennheiser 6x0 with a valhalla2, you probably aren't going to with anything.

 

My vote goes to getting a Valhalla 2 as well. Imo I think that amp will last you until you really hit the end game stuff. The TIII is definitely a good amp with better dynamics and detailing. The V2 is more open sounding and easier to listen to.

 

I am looking for a DD IEM compliment to the Andromeda in any price range. I want something with good DD bass and good top end extension without being bright.

 

Look into the ATH-CKR9 or CKR10. You may find the 9 bright until you get used to it's signature, the 10 is definitely darker.

 

The 2-pin style stock cable for my Aurisonics ASG-1+ is starting to get scratchy when I move around and needs to be replaced. I'm looking for a good IEM cable manufacturer that makes good quality cables but doesn't overcharge for snake oil. Inline microphone is a huge bonus.

 

The old style ue cable is pretty sturdy and no nonsense: http://pro.ultimateears.com/products/custom-accessories/cases-cables/replacement-cable-legacy

Only $40 and all 4 leads are are woven individually up until the jack, so you can easily reterminate if you ever decide to go that path. I think they sell a cable with an inline remote and mic, but it doesn't fit the old style 2 pin connectors.

Make sure the sockets where the pins mate in aren't loose and actually causing the problem.

 

Hi all. I'm looking for a portable amp and DAC to use with a Campfire Andromeda (and maybe other IEMs / sensitive headphones). Ideally I'd like to be able to use it with my desktop DAC when I'm at home (i.e. it has an analog input) but with a reasonable DAC to use with a laptop when I'm away. Not too concerned with size or weight but probably needs to be battery powered, although I would consider something that's not. I had a Chord Mojo which I liked the sound of but apparently is not great with the Andromeda because of the output impedance and obviously doesn't have the analog input.

Not sure what I want exists in a single unit but any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Not sure if this is overkill or not but have you looked at the iFi Micro iDSD? I personally prefer it's sound to the Mojo and it's sensitivity matching allows it to be used hiss-free with the CFA Orion, I imagine it would be the same with the Andromeda.

 

Haven't personally heard them, but you might want to look into the Woo Audio WA8 or ALO Continental Dual Mono.

 

Personally, I think the Vali 2 is a better match than the Asgard 2. Doesn't too much matter which HDxx0. The synergy is similar across the 3.

If you already have the Asgard, I don't think switching to the Vali 2 is worth it. The A2 is perfectly capable of delivering solid performance with those cans, even though people don't talk about it as much. It's not quite obsolete in that it's still a good value proposition with a unique signature compared to their other offerings in the value tier. It is quite possible and reasonable to prefer it over a Vali 2 or an M2U.

I'll just parrot the Val2 recommendation. Not a huge leap in cost from the other two, but a significant enough difference to keep you happy for much longer, I think. It's not the worst investment you could make towards an HDxx0 setup.

What I really think you should do, is first make a decision on which HDxx0 you want, buy it, see how you feel about your Asgard 2 with it, and then decide if it's worth keeping. If not, Valhalla 2 will be the ticket. Many HD6x0 owners don't consider it a tie-over, though there are better amps out there. But if the Asgard 2 is favorable to your ears, then there's no need to make that smaller jump and you might as well save for the TIII and just enjoy your Asgard in the meantime

I share my M2U with M-Audio BX5 D2's and my Vali 2 partially with the help of the Sys.

Now, my Bx5's have both balanced XLR and 1/4" TRS inputs. So do the LSR305's, so you may need to use RCA-XLR adapters or cables. I'm not sure how the 1/4" input is wired on it. Probably fine to use RCA-TRS as well. That is what I use, simply because I already had some around.

It can be done with just the Sys by running it in reverse. The single output can be used as an input and the two inputs as outputs. So you can plug your DAC's output into the Sys's output, speakers into one input, and headphone amp into the other. You can use the input toggle to switch between headphones and speakers that way. You lose volume control that way, though - it has to be maxed. You're stuck either using the knobs on the back of your speakers or digital volume control, which is a hassle with Bifrost on windows... ...system volume is locked unless you have it running a certain way. Software volume control works, but using media keys to change system volume may not.

Personally, what I prefer to do is split the output of the M2U with an active splitter box (though a simple RCA splitter cable will work, too.) One fork from the splitter goes straight into the Vali 2, while the other goes into the first input of the Sys, which outputs to the speakers. This way, I can have dedicated volume control for the speakers and I can use the input toggle as a killswitch for when I'm using headphones.

What amp do you have? If it has preamp outs on the back, then you can skip the Sys entirely, run the preamp outs to your speakers, and use the amp's volume control for both headphones and speakers.

 

Thanks for the tips. The Woo and ALO units are probably a bit overkill for what I want (really just a secondary amp / DAC). The iFi is more reasonably priced (similar to the Mojo in Australia) and seems like it probably does what I want although I don't need all the other features (bass boost etc). I've read some bad things about the iFi nano - I take it the Micro is better? Any other suggestions also appreciated.

 

What's your budget? If lower (300 ish) the Oppo HA-2 isn't a bad option and does all of the features you want. It does have a little bit of that bright SABRE glare, so maybe it wouldn't be the best match with Andro? That's just speculation though. Never had a noise floor problem with BA iems