The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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  2. barelyincollege

    barelyincollege Nice Pit Bull

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    I use this. Both ends of the legs are threaded and they're slightly height adjustable, so you could buy a couple and stack the legs until you get the right fit. Try looking for other desktop monitor risers too.

    I have a 40" monitor resting on top of mine without issues.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2017
  3. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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  4. SineDave

    SineDave Friend

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    @songmic I would love to hear your thoughts!
     
  5. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    @SineDave

    Having owned over 5 HD800's, 3 of which were modded, I'm done with my love-hate relationship headphone. I always came back yearning for its resolution and soundstage, but its sound signature eventually turned me off. I much prefer a modded HD650 driven by a transparent amp.

    That being said, if your headphones must be HD800, I cannot guarantee that moving from T3 to ZDS or Stratus would be a significant upgrade. Yes, the HD800 loves tubes and you'll benefit from them in the form of a more holographic sound, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. These 3 amps are in fact the best amps I've heard with HD800, but they clearly sound different and one may prefer ZDS to Stratus or the other way around depending on their preference.

    Let me copy and paste an excerpt from one of my earlier posts at another thread. Think of the T3 as an upgraded version of L-2.

    Tonally, the L-2 has the least flaws. It sounds just right without much coloration in either direction, the amp simply disappears without trying to show itself off. It maintains the neutrality of HD800 while presenting a smooth treble, a sound you could never get tired of. The ZDS on the other hand is the most euphonic--although I try not to use this term--and is simply beautiful, gorgeous and seductive. But its mid-forward presentation and sparkly treble compared to the other 2 amps make it somewhat fatiguing with the HD800 for an extended period of time. The Stratus is beautiful in its own way, but politer and more laid-back than ZDS, and has a forgiving nature with the right combination of tubes. I feel it hits the sweet spot of HD800 without sacrificing too much its technicalities for enjoyment.

    To summarize,

    T3 (maxed out) : neutral, least colored, hard to nitpick any flaws
    ZDS: expansive soundstage, romantic and seductive, but may be fatiguing to some ears
    Stratus (latest iteration): relaxed, forgiving, intimate

    If you're also using an HD650, the ZDS is no-brainer.
     
  6. Warped

    Warped New

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    I'm still wrestling with amp choices for the HD800 S, and it'd be helpful to get some thoughts on the following options:

    1. Mjolnir 2, with a short-term plan to upgrade my DAC to a Bifrost Multibit or Gungnir Multibit
    2. Ragnarok, but I'd be sticking with my existing Modi 2 Uber for quite some time due to price difference
    3. Tube rolling with my existing Lyr 2 to try to squeeze more potential out of it. Lots of reading (as opposed to personal experience) tells me that I'm likely to hit capability limits pretty quickly going this route. Currently running the stock tubes.
    Any input would be appreciated.
     
  7. Greg121986

    Greg121986 Almost "Made"

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    It may not be ideal for the number of things you have, or the size of the Yggdrasil, but I use these monitor risers from Monoprice. They're black or clear. I have used them in the past on the floor to hold my stereo equipment as well.

    I usually have only a Bifrost Multibit and Gustard H10 sitting underneath the one riser with my laptop on the shelf, but I brought in my Holo Spring KTE L3 and Singxer SU-1 for this week so I had to improvise.

    https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/pYlHhkU4M6Rfwpzy2vIqi25do6zQTT0OKgwi5rUpxyG
    [​IMG]
     
  8. SineDave

    SineDave Friend

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    My primary cans are the HD800's and HD650's - but I use sonarworks, so the HD800's aren't in their natural face tweeter mode. I'll probably also be using HE-6's and HE-560's from time to time, in addition to picking up some HP-3's or TH900's for a bass can in the intermediate future.

    I really appreciate your feedback - gives me a lot to think about, as I'm not a huge fan of colored amps.
     
  9. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    You may want to ask @Marvey if he has measurements of Modi 2. The measurements on the other site don't jive with our own, but they never contacted us about them, but Marv may have some independent corroboration. Not sure if AtomicBob ever got a Modi 2.
     
  10. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    Never had a Modi 2. Once I experienced the MB series I sort of went wild and have Modi MB, 2x Bifrost MB, Gungnir MB, Yggdrasil and now the Eitr DDC.
     
  11. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    I have used an older Allsop stand in Silver like this in the past:

    https://www.amazon.com/Allsop-Monit...ie=UTF8&qid=1506546788&sr=1-1&keywords=allsop

    And this one looks cool:

    https://www.amazon.com/Allsop-Adjus...ie=UTF8&qid=1506546788&sr=1-3&keywords=allsop
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I wouldn't worry about measurement differences between SDAC and Modi 2. Both measure extremely well.

    DAC measurements are extremely difficult to get right. I started years ago, and only now have felt comfortable posting them. The measurement gear out there, even the soundcard boxes, can capture a lot of minutiae down to the 0.00000 level where if an Asgardian wormhole is opened 5000 miles away in China, something on the analyzer will show it.

    It's for the above reason that I almost feel that John Atkinson with his super analyzer that does stuff down to like -170db is doing more of a disservice. I liked him better when he used his old AP which was only good to -110db.

    I won't post what I think looks wrong or stuff that I cannot replicate consistently under a variety of circumstances, expensive AP measurements gear or not. For this reason, I don't provide jitter measurements.

    An example: I did not post my initial SDAC measurements because they looked off. I waited a few days later to redo them. Rebooted PC, used different USB cables, etc. Then I repeated them. Made sure I could also repeat results for a baseline DAC. Then I posted them.

    There is so much that can go wrong. Take the Grace m9xx. I was getting a weird spur at 8kHz or something like that. Worked with Michael Grace for a few days. Turned out it was a cheap USB cable that should not have come in the box. Go figure.

    Also, I've learned to take USB DAC measurements with a Wyrd. A lot of motherboards and laptops have totally fucked up USB power, sometimes related to OS management / mismanagement of power.

    As far as differences between SDAC and Modi 2? Really too close for me to call. SDAC is maybe a bit sweeter sounding and Modi 2 more focused? But unlike ODAC vs Modi 2 (different enough), I would not take a blind test to distinguish SDAC or Modi 2.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2017
  13. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    So, in about four-five months, I'm going to go all out with set up. With all the money I've spent over the years, I could have gotten the Yggdrasil three times over instead of constantly moving set ups trying to find something good in the mid-range. So, I'm going to step up past that and get towards the high-end stuff.

    I'm trying to start with the DAC, and work my chain from there. From my talks with AMW1011 and UncleRuck (I forgot his username over here) about some options. Right now, I think I'm going with the Metrum Amethyst, mostly because I want something different than the Gungnir Multibit (which I thought was good when I heard, I'm not 100% sold on it and end up sticking with balanced topology.) Since Zach is a Metrum dealer, I was going to see if he'd let me use one for my Auteur review. I'm trying to stay at the $1,100 mark.

    As far as amps go, I'm more or less haven't really any headway there. I was originally going with the Jot, but I was talked out of it (and honestly, it isn't my kind of amp.) Right now, I'm trying to think of what to get between a used Ragnarok, Dragon IHA-1, Decware CSP3 or the Torpedo 1. The Felix Euphoria Tube amp was in the running as well, but they went full bonkers with the prices today. I may splurge up to the $1,700 mark, but I'm not sure. I kind of want to see what the good solid-states and OTLs are out there. There's only so much I can do though, since...well, my options to try anything out are limited to the yearly St. Louis meet and a place that sells almost exclusively McIntre stuff.

    I'm probably buying an Auteur, depending on how much I like it when I get the review pair. Then the HD800 to round that out.

    Either way, I wanted to see what you guys thought and what direction I could go. I've been in this hobby nearly ten years now, and this is probably going to be my first (and maybe only for awhile) opportunity to get out of the low/mid-tier range.
     
  14. ipm

    ipm Acquaintance

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    Has anyone tried the Parasound Zdac.v2? Is Parasound worth considering in general for DACs? I see mixed impressions regarding amps.
     
  15. lerrens

    lerrens Facebook Friend

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    I've been lurking around the forum for a while, and there seems to be hints of some upcoming amp in six to nine months that's worth an upgrade...
    Am really curious about it myself.
     
  16. winders

    winders boomer

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    I didn't get any feedback here on the Don Sachs custom preamp. But I did a bunch of research and reading of reviews. I could not find a single negative post about Don Sachs or his custom preamp. In fact, all I found were glowing reviews and comments. I exchanged many emails with Don discussing his product and how he would customize it to work best in my setup. I learned about output coupling caps and why they need too be sized based on the amp input impedance.

    I decided to take a leap of faith and order one! I did this with the Pioneer M-22 and that was a great decision. I feel pretty good about this choice too!
     
  17. Daveheart

    Daveheart Friend

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    It's a tweaked VTA SP14. VTA even links Don's page for custom work. I haven't heard the SP-14, but some of the other designs aren't bad. Don's phono stage is a customized VTA PH16. I've got the kit for the PH16 and am in the process of planning the build, and I believe @sphinxvc has one of the assembled versions. From the looking around I did, Don seems to lay out his builds well, and it looks like he pays attention to detail. So good luck, I'm looking forward to your opinion of the finished product.
     
  18. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Same here. Yeah, I bought the PH16-X assembled. Looks and feels solid, never had an issue with it. And it quite easily beat out the RSA Nighthawk.
     
  19. Roarke

    Roarke New

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    I've been looking for an amp to pair with the th-x00. I've been leaning towards the joti but I've heard it could be a bad combo because both are a little on the bright side. Massdrop just put out the Alex Cavalli LCX which seems like it could be a match based on the price. Does anyone know of any good reviews of either the Liquid Carbon or Liquid Carbon 2?
     
  20. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    My jh13 pro v2 are a good ciem. But they fall short of being satisfying given their $1k price point. I have all but given up on remedies with EQ and source to overcome the issues that I have with the signature. In short, they sound veiled with too much bass...even with the bass dialed to the lowest setting on the in line cable. The h650 spanks the crap out of the jh 13 across the signature in every category.

    So my question is where I go from here. I love the isolation of portable nature of the customs. Is the Andromeda my answer? I've always had trouble with fit on universals. I'm willing to take a loss and move on at this point.
     
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