The All Purpose Advice Thread

My music is always the best I can find (even check Dr loudness to find the best one when there are plenty choices ). If I decided to upgrade already (after 2 weeks) is because I'm not a huge fan of my combo right now. I've had the chance to try the HE400i on another amp (heed canalot) and indeed it was better so I've decided to get rid of the iDSD since I don't really portability so much.
What i think I want:
Soundstage: not so important I don't listen to classic, operas or live recordings so I don't think it's super important (as long as it doesn't sound as closed headphones)
Bass: I want them to have impact if I listen to something more lounge/minimal (or even deephouse) but I'm not a basshead, I don't need the f'ing headband to vibrate
Voices: I want them to sound "in my face" smooth and natural (read not metallic/too digital sounding).
Treble (?): I think with my actual system there is too much sibilance/harsh so need to calm it a little bit. for instance "bliss - absence of fear" (extreme exemple) it's physically hurting my ear while on my ex HE500/lyr it sounded so smooth.
& maybe something a little forgiving while keeping details (since not all recording are perfect "demo tracks")


p:S: is it possible to play from smartphone to Modi Multibit via otg ? I mean without my phone running out of juice after 10min . It's from late sessions when I just want to stay in bed and chill after a long day studying

 

@vladimir The Modi Multibit requires a dedicated power source so you probably can't power it solely off your phone.

 

Yeah I know but it will be plug on the wall next to my bed. I was thinking to just connect to it the smartphone with otg and usb cable & use usb audio player pro to play some music at night without having to deal with my laptop & external hdd

 

Perhaps better suited in this case would be an RPi with Digi+ Pro feeding the Modi Multibit via coax or optical. This way you would be able to control Modi Multibit with your phone using your Wi-Fi, and it wouldn't require any physical connection between your phone and Modi Multibit.

 

Ah, if that's the case, I'll keep on looking. Thanks for the suggestion anyway! Actually, this search has kind of made me appreciate the HD600 in its own right - it's comfortable, all of its parts are user-replaceable and has a fairly natural sound.

 

Is there a list of tube amps capable of driving Audeze LCD series since they take more power then normal headphones?

 

I don't know of a list for that specifically. As long as you're dealing with the LCD-2.x pre-fazor, I can tell you what I've used and enjoyed there, though.

Lyr/Lyr 2, while tube-hybrids, are very enjoyable with the entire LCD line, though fall a little short on detail and micro-dynamics with the LCD-4 (lower models in the LCD line won't expose that shortfall as readily) and are more power than needed if you ever go for the LCD-X. I ran the Lyr with my LCD-2.2c for years and recently swapped that for a Lyr 2.

The Decware Taboo III is excellent with the all of the Audeze's. Not tried the Zen Taboo (latest version). Even with the stock tubes the Taboo III is very fast and dynamic with the LCD 2.x and, oddly enough, paired extremely well with the HD-800 (modded).

If you look at Woo you'll want to stick to "SE" versions (e.g. WA6 SE not the plain WA6) or the beefier amps (WA22, WA5-LE). These are pure tube amps, like the Decware, but, unlike the Decware, you'll likely find you want to upgrade the tubes sooner than later. Despite being a repeat Woo customer I don't think they're necessarily the best value options. I do like the aesthetics.

Hopefully someone else can chime in with other options (I'd love to know how the Eddie Current stuff pairs with the LCDs).

 

LCD-2 for one is only smidgen more power hungry than say HD800. We are talking a milliwatt of power for loud listening. Not necessarily a high demand for amplifier.
I can nod for Stratus and EC2A3, both do excellent job with LCD-2.
EC big amplifiers are designed to double as speaker amplifiers, so they should do the job with difficult headphones. HE-6 needs a portable nuclear reactor and needs not to apply.
I'd assume any decent tube amp discussed here is capable of driving efficient planars like most LCD-s are.
Real question is tonal synergy and output impedance. Some OTL-s might not be ideal.
A friend of mine really digs his Stratus --- LCD-2 rig for a data point.

 

hi everyone!

I have a question regarding DACS. So over at reddit, people generally agree that dacs make no difference at all and they all sound the same, but recently i got the Gungnir Multibit and it sounds different from my Momby.

My previous rig was

Mjolnir 2 > Momby > HD 650

With the set up below

Mjolnir 2 > Gungnir Multibit > HD 650

The soundstage sounds... bigger/wider? And the detailing has gone up as well and everything sounds more clear. The bass hits harder as well. I understand this is a subjective hobby but can anyone explain what i'm hearing? I enjoy my music much more with the Gungnir Multibit than the Momby.. is there some kind of biased placebo phenomenon at play here?

hope i'm not triggering anyone here.

 

You are hearing the differences between Momby and Gungnir Multibit as DACs...not trying to be sarcastic but that's the answer. DACs can sound different from one another (I know reddit often doesn't like to hear this)

Also maybe the balanced/single ended thing into Mjo2 is playing a partial role (which could also just be considered an intrinsic difference of the two DACs)

 

I don't understand how the reddit logic works. If DACs all sounded the same for everyone, how are there still so many people paying for upwards of $50k for snakeoil? You got to understand that people on reddit probably spend more time browsing reddit and posting pictures of their shiny new headphones and amps than listening to music attentively (been there done that, unsubscribed and stuck to SBAF only, and when they do, it's during A/B testing which can also cause issues with looking too hard for differences and not "feeling" the general change (cringy but true) . It's also dependent on the kind of music you listen to (recorded vs synthesized, over-processed vs well-mastered, etc.....shit in shit out). All in all, DACs do make a difference but harder to discern than people expect.

 

Presumably they all use absolutely the cheapest DACs available then? Since, you know, spending more than you need to for the exact same end result is generally not smart. Or are they arguing the difference based on aesthetic preferences of one generic plastic project box over another?

I mean ... why buy a $250 MOMBY over a $20 Chi-Fi DAC if they all sound the same?

 

Part of what's happening on Reddit is that they don't want to believe that more expensive gear has any sonic benefits because then they don't have to spend more money. If that's the form of self delusion they choose to subscribe to, more power to them I guess. They can buy other things instead, more tangible things.

Better to trust your own ears first, then the ears of some people whose preferences and opinions generally match yours. Luckily there's a lot of people in the latter category for me on this forum. Welcome to madness; please enjoy.

 

Why buy an outboard DAC at all when you could just use your onboard sound?

 

Most DACs over there are in the Modi/ODAC/e10k realm, going into anything from entry level systems to solid mid-level at the most. There's definitely a culture there where headphones matter a lot (which, duh) but as long as it gets loud enough a DAC is a DAC and an amp is either a SS amp or a gooey tube amp. I started there, and still poke my head in to give advice when bored.

I think it stems from a combination of less emphasis on actual "critical listening" and a sort of desire for DACs and amps to not matter so they don't have to spend the money. Plus, more modest setups or unresolving, colored headphones, make DAC differences tough to spot, which further feeds this idea. I'm all for getting the most out of a set budget, but its a pretty harmful attitude to the hobby, honestly.

 

Here are the steps that the average Redditor follows that perpetuates this mentality:

0. Stumble in with a gaming headset or generic headphones as a student / young PC gamer with a <$100 budget.
1. Start with an M40x/M50x/HD598/DT770/SHP9500, the popular budget picks.
2. Spend some time there, become curious about, and eventually spend $300 on the HD6X0 or HE400i that everyone raves about.
3. Now you need a DAC and amp, but you'd prefer not to spend a lot -- $300 is way more than you thought you'd spend on headphones, and you're not sure what all that other stuff does anyway.
4. Receive replies that include recommendations for the $200 Schiit stack or O2+ODAC, links to NWAVGuy, speeches about ABX testing, and other comments from people who assure you that this is all you'll ever need. You make your purchase based on such recommendations.
5. You plug your new headphones and equipment in. Hey, those guys were right, this sounds perfectly fine to you -- why would anyone need more than this?
6. "Amps and DACs make no difference. Everyone who suggests otherwise is wasting their money."

In other words, many Reddit "objectivists" don't care much for objectivism. It's popular there because it reaffirms an inability or unwillingness to spend much money on the hobby, which caters to Reddit's young, relatively low income demographic; and also because it's a persuasive, yet effortless defense mechanism that can be used to discredit threatening viewpoints. You don't need to know or say anything substantive about blind testing before using it to attack others' subjective experiences.

 

To my ears the difference between my Dragonfly 1.2 and my Modi Multibit is much smaller then just about anything else. Switching headphones or amps is a much larger difference in sound.

 

Exactly, most of /r/headphones users are more closely aligned to PCMR than audiophiles. They're stuck in a purely objective way of thinking about audio, but measurements don't really tell all that much compared to your standard PC benchmark tests. Those who try higher end gear lack the experience to notice improvements at all or are incapable of describing differences if they do hear improvements. Anyone who has managed to graduate beyond mid-fi moves on.

I also check in once in a while when I'm bored and I'm always happily surprised to see @PoochZag in the advice thread. Personally I can only read so many requests for a closed-back headphones that will work for all genres of music, have amazing soundstage for gaming, and will suck your noodle, all for between $75-100.

 

Well the thing is that they are all components in a chain. If you have a hard time differentiating between DACs, maybe your amp and headphone is not resolving that difference (doesn't mean their bad, resolution is not everything). For example, headphones are not good at portraying the holographic properties of Schiit multibit according to many members here. So what can you do? You can try to maximize how resolving other parts of the chain are to make the differences clearer. This is why everyone should try the HD800. Its FR is so shit you HAVE to force yourself to listen to the nuances. HD650s often push me into simply enjoying music too much because of its natural FR, regardless of other components in the chain. But long time members around here are super picky so they can criticize the f out of everything in the chain even when using hd650s. A jotunheim and hd650 is probably good enough to differentiate between all DACs. Or if you're a masochist, a jotunheim and hd800