The All Purpose Advice Thread

This video is the best example of that mentality. The guy noticed a difference between amps and dacs using the hd800 and immediately dismisses it as "too finicky"

 

It's sort of a ouroboros loop over there:

Budget conscious + Prideful + Current measurements show not much meaningful differences -> My system is the best one can get -> You should get my system because I have good taste and validates my choices and ego -> stalk r/headphones/headfi daily -> See new stuff that they can't afford -> Budget conscious + Prideful -> ...

Now if only those people and those pursuing summit-fi in head-fi would spend more time listening to music than their gear and how it's the bestest.

 

Let's not turn the thread into a reddit bitching-fest. The less that place and the dreaded Zeos are discussed, the better.

 

Generally, this ought to be the case. If your DACs sound extremely different, then either one or both of them is probably very fucked up. But it should not be taken to mean that upgrading DACs will have no meaningful impact on your system, at least not if you are serious about achieving audio reproduction.

 

Ok, considering a few paths here. Gear already owned hd600, mdrz7, vali 2.

Considering selling the Vali 2 and going balanced with jotunheim with dac module or keeping vali2 and adding modibit.

 

If you like the Vali, get the Modi MB for it. You can always add the Jotunheim as an amp down the road. Assuming you're running without a DAC now a better source is the biggest favour you can do yourself.

 

I miss the days of not being able to hear the difference. My life and wallet were much lighter back then.

 

You might hear more of a difference with a more revealing amp, mind. That's how it starts.

 

I am using the lo of the Cayin i5.

 

@Armaegis did it come naturally, over time? Or, did you learn what the things to tune in to spot the difference?

 

Yeah, I can share a bit on this having owned several pairs of Magneplanars over the years and I used to work for a dealer who sold them.

Magneplanars, when set up properly in the right room, and with a decent source/amp can image incredibly with a ton of front to back layering. They do detail without being harsh. They disappear. I find them to be very engaging and difficult to stop listening. They're also pretty cheap for the level of performance.

They aren't for everyone. They are pretty inefficient. I've run them with a 60 watt amp but I'd recommend 200+ to get them groovin. They'll play reasonably low but won't have the viceral impact of many box speakers. Adding a sub is tricky and is a nightmare to make it sound like your not using a sub. Cats see them as an open invitation to use as a scratching post. Speaker set up is tricky and they don't work well in tight spaces. They need to breathe. In one of my old houses I had a pair almost 6 ft from the back wall. Usually 2-3 feet out works pretty well though.

I don't think they have compression issues. However as much of a fan of Magneplanars as I am, the few pairs of planar headphones I've heard (Hifi Man) sounded kinda effed up to me. So I don't think generalizations between planar speakers and planar headphones necesarily apply.

I think you can still buy Maggie MMGs direct from the company for around $600 or so. They sound great for a budget speaker and would let you get a taste if you don't have a local dealer where you could audition something bigger.

 

Thanks, that's exactly the insight I was looking for. I have been slowly compiling a list of possible floorstanders I want to audition for when I have the space to accommodate them and the Magnepan planars always interested me from a design perspective. I have also read from several different places that they will have excellent syngery with my 700 watt hypex amps. The .7 and MMG seem to be at the sweet spot for price/performance but I would probably be most interested in the 3.7i if I go in this direction. So auditioning them first would be preferred and after reading your comments it looks like they'll be going on the list.

 

You definitely should audition Maggies. I don't have much experience comparing to other speakers, etc. so am glad @crazychile shared his. I demoed them at a local shop against KEF LS50 and some Martin Logan electrostats and the Maggies were the only pair that sounded like real instruments.

For the same price as a pair of new MMGs I found a used pair of 1.6QR which I've run for the last few years. They are physically imposing speakers though, so make sure you are ok with this and get approval from your partner if you have one, especially for the 3.7s. (Mine are in our living room with the TV, etc. Apartment renter for now.)

Maggies are very revealing and in my experience make it much easier to hear differences with cable and equipment swaps than most of my headphones. I settled on Cardas cabling with mine (details in my profile) after trying a couple other silver and copper cables.

They don't go as loud as some people will like. On my phone dB app, I don't like their sound much above 90-95 dB. At louder volumes, you can get Mylar slap from the extension. I'm sure older pairs don't help with this. If "reference level" home theater playback is the target, look elsewhere.

If you have a cat, it will probably scratch on them. After some initial frustration, I was able to get my cat to ignore them by buying a good vertical scratcher and putting it in the same room. PM me for additional details if you need them.

 

New user here, so please forgive me if this question is better suited for the Andromeda thread as I plan to use the Andromeda as my primary IEM:

To pair with the Andromeda IEMs, I'm looking for a portable, balanced (I think) USB DAC to use with my MacBook Pro (mid 2014 model, running BitPerfect with iTunes), which ideally would also be compatible with my iPhone SE. It seems like the Andromeda performs well even when connected directly to an iPhone without an external DAC, so question 1) Should I just forget the external DAC altogether and use headphone outputs on both the Macbook Pro and iPhone? If no, question 2) Which DACs should I be considering given the aforementioned info? So far, the LH Labs GO2A and RAP KEB02iP are both on my list, but I've never used either one, so is there a better option I'm missing?

Thank you for any insight you can offer.

 

A bit of both. In the beginning I would just bludgeon my ears with the same song over and over, and literally listening to tones and sweeps and pink noise. Nowadays, well... still kinda the same. The tones and sweeps are more for initial check and a bit of sanity to just simplify. It paints an early picture of what to look/listen for. I could do it entirely through music, but frankly I think it's a better use of my time to draw the general map first which will help focus my listening. I do trust my hearing to be good enough to pick things up, but I'm not infallible and sometimes I can trick myself into hearing something or misattributing. Test tones and general mapping are like giving myself a table of contents; I don't have all the pieces when I start, but at least I've got the categories to broadly categorize them in the beginning.

Knowing your music is a fundamental step, and you have to have a suite of testing/reference tracks. You also have to develop your own personal terminology and consistency in hearing/listening, and then also figuring out how to communicate it. You have to find objective words for subjective feelings, such a horrible clash of styles.

It's about developing an incredibly critical ear. Listening for the leading and trailing edge of transients. Training your ear to pick out separate layers/instruments/voices/etc.

A part that people forget: go out and listen to real music. Sit with your eyes closed and place the sound sources. Feel where they come from, where they are reflecting, whether the sound floats above you, around you, through you. Learn to identify the difference between live and recorded music. Learn how music is different from speakers and headphones from more than just "soundstage".

Blah blah blah.

 

I've found searching within SBAF using Google "site:www.superbestaudiofriends.org" hasn't been working for a while. The built in search function sometimes doesn't pull up useful results or complains the key words are too short. This seems like a great idea, but I just tried it and it opens up a new window that just says "Loading".

 

I have used @Armaegis SBAF custom search engine off and on with success. I just tried it and it worked for me. (I entered VPI and got results, for example.)

 

Doh, it was the Ghostery add-on that was blocking the AJAX Search API. Works when I allow it to run.

But I'm still wondering if SBAF started blocking Google's bots at some point in time. For example, if I search for "site:www.superbestaudiofriends.org andromeda hiss", the latest result I get is from May 13. Using @Armaegis search, I can pull up something from 3 days ago.

 

Hey guys, I'm new to SBAF, so greetings!
I was hoping you could give me advice for upgrading my setup. I have the ODAC+O2 into the HD650. I find the O2 isn't really enough power to compensate for the EQ filters I use which lower the output volume, so I was planning on getting something with more power like the JDS labs Element, or perhaps the Schiit Jotenheim. However, as much as I love the HD650, the sub bass is not as tight as I want it to be. I actually use a bit of EQ for the 650 to be more flat in the mid bass, and to have a little smoother treble (as if it's not smooth enough already.) While this helps with bass tightness and overall sound coherency, I can't help but think another type of headphone with EQ will give me better performance, especially in the bass. I was thinking of going with either a planar or an electrostat for that bass extension and low distortion. Would there be any advantage for me to get a Stax model like the SR-L300, or would the Hifiman HE-400i or 560 perform just as well? I'm not really a fan of the Audeze LCD series, as they don't fit well at all on my head.