The All Purpose Advice Thread

Hello everyone,

My first post here at SBAF, so I appreciate any replies I might get. I've been trying to find a good dac/amp combo that will be a good match with my headphones and act as a pre-amp for powered monitors. I'll be using it with Sennheiser 660s and jbl 305's. I need to be able to toggle between inputs (optical, usb, coax) without unplugging anything. I also need it be a pre-out as opposed to line out since the volume controls on the 305's are anything but conveniently located.

I've previously owned the ifi audio micro idsd black label and I really enjoyed the sound, however I've been through two units now due to quality control issues and won't be picking up a third. My price range would be anywhere from $500 to $1000. I'm not opposed to having a separate dac and amp from different companies if need be.

Again I appreciate any responses.

 

Hey peeps, I have a stupid question - can you hook up the Bifrost mulitbit to two amps simultaneously using an RCA y-splitter? Is there any problem with the voltage being split between two amps?

 

Just to be safe, email schiit support and tell them your serial (since there have been 2 analog out versions)

 

I am extremely happy with the Schiit Audio Bifrost Multibit DAC ($599) and Schiit Audio Lyr 3 headphone amp ($499) combination with my HD650 headphones and powered monitors.

If those prices are too high, I also enjoyed the Schiit Audio Modi Multibit DAC ($249) with the Schiit Audio Vali 2 headphone amp ($169).

Both combinations meet your specific operational needs. The Bifrost Multibit/Lyr 3 pairing sounds quite a bit better in my estimation. As they should based on the price difference.

 

I've done this my early version Bifrost with no issues and I don't notice and sound degradation.

 

I’ve also done this. The cavalli Liquid Carbon v1 shorts the outputs when off, so it can cause issues unless both amps are on. Just a heads up if one of your amps does this. It won’t hurt anything, but it sounds horrible. As long as both amps are on, no issue. I’ve also done the same with a vali2 and my main amp with no issues.

Edit - OG Bifrost MB.

 

[deleted]

 

I’ve been thing about buying a headphone to compliment my LCD2C. Something brighter with a descent soundstage. I have the HE-4XX that I really like but want something a little better. I’ve been looking at the Sundara (or possible the HE-560). I’ve read so many conflicting things about the Sundara. From they are barely better than the 4XX to a bug upgrade.

I’ll be powering them with a Lyr 3 and modi multibit. My budget is about $500 anything above that for headphones will not be approved by the wife.

Thanks for any advise. I think I might just have upgrade fever.

 

@Jalsar You might want to look into the Beyerdynamic T1 then you often see them for around 500 used maybe have a listen first because they are relatively bright and not everyone's cup of tea or if the wife allows it the HD800 the one goes regularly for 750 and you would get one of the best headphones you can get for detail and soundstage but like with the T1 please listen to them first, because some people find the 6k peak annoying others like myself have no problem with it.

 

HD800 also has the SDR mod for those who need the peak tamed. Hard to go wrong with it for 700-750. Wife doesn't need to know the true price if you really feel worried about it.

 

I would also seriously consider the Beyerdynamic Amiron which can be had for 500 brand new. It is the successor to the T90, a HP I owned and loved for years... 85 to 90 percent of the HD800 resolving ability (and actually more revealing/clarity), a super fun, slightly warm euphonic hp, but pretty bright. The Amiron supposedly does a good job taming the overly bright signature with some other improvements. Or you can get a T90 used for about $250. Speaking of which I am definitely going to buy it again because I miss it.

 

Hd800 for $750 or the T1’s sounds like the way to go. I’ll just have to wait for a sale or a good used pair. Now just need to start earning brownie points with the wife.
Thanks for the replies. Figured it might be dumb to a Sundara and then in 6 months want to upgrade again. Just need to be patient.

 

I'm new-ish here and not sure if this is the right place for this, I can move it elsewhere if it's not. Need some help troubleshooting an issue that I've seen come up for others but am having trouble fixing myself.
My signal chain is PC -> Modi Multibit via USB -> Audio-GD NFB-1amp -> Senn HD6xx via balanced 4-pin xlr
In addition to music I spend a good amount of time playing pc games and when GPU is under heavy load / running a game at a very high framerate I get audible noise that seems to be influenced by the gpu load (pitch of noise changes as rendered graphics change). It's definitely coming through headphones (not GPU coil whine). GPU is a 2080ti which can draw up to around 400W under heavy load so I would assume this is related to that level of power draw or emi interference resulting.
-I tried motherboard's SPDIF optical to modi multibit, issue is still present.
-I tried moving DAC and amp to an outlet on a different breaker from my PC.
One thing I haven't tried is connecting modi multibit to my laptop while my main pc is under load to see if the noise is present.

I''m not opposed to moving to a balanced dac, is there any chance that the noise is being itroduced via emi to the 1' rca connection between dac and amp? I could also try a wyrd if folks think it could be somehow a problem in the digital signal/clock? I'm not up-to-speed enough on all of the technology involved to properly diagnose my problem

 

If you're getting that noise from the optical, no amount of balanced shenanigans will help you. You have a computer loading issue that is likely either EMI or power related. Unfortunately, neither is particularly easy to fix. The only thing I can think of to try right now is a separate power supply for the video card, but this is not my area of expertise. I'll let the computer guys chime in.

 

I have two NuForce HA200 and they have a the same problem: in certain position of thwe volume control I hear a scratchy sound, or static. I thought that cleaning the pots would do the job and was planning to ask for advice how to do that. But by accident I moved a power cord in the amp socket and the static disappeared in one of the amps. So the next step was to find AWG14 cheap cables that would fit tight into the sockets. The static volume was reduced to like 1/2, in some positions it was noisy before it got quiet. Then, for different system I bought two Pangea AWG 14 basic cables and tried. Again, the static is still there but only in certain positions and I can hardly hear it. What's going on here?
by the way the volume level does not affect the static level, what matters is the position of the volume knob, may be different for each amp . Temporarily I use Jot as a preamp but putting it into the chain or removing, or even disconnecting audio cables, does not make any difference.
And the Jotunheim balanced headphone out is completely quiet.

 

Dumb question but have you tried a different usb port?
My old gpu would make noise if the fps was left uncapped. It had coil whine and made noise over my headphones when the fps was over 200.

 

The source is RPi Digi+ Pro through SPDIF to DacMagic+ to jot.. But the static is there even when without any interconnects, only power cables. I should have mentioned it in my post.

 

Well, it was asked by @Alexander and then deleted, but I thought it was a good question, even if it's been hashed about in one way or another probably a million times. How do people feel about the relative merits of three Massdrop HPs in the $200 range, the he4xx, the hd6xx, and the K7xx? I own the hd650 and the he4xx, but haven't heard the k7xx.

If I were to guess based on chatter, it seems like the popularity of these would be something like hd6xx > he4xx > k7xx. Is that unfair to the k7xx? Is that unfair to the he4xx? Also, it's not always a pure win - for example, for some popular music with a lot of bass texture, the he4xx is better than the hd6xx. But for orchestral stuff I think the hd6xx is very tough to beat. It's the one that gets the timbre and richness of instruments right. Well, just curious what people say.

 

I'd say depends on the chain. 6XX will scale furthest. 4XX is easiest to drive well with a modest setup, but won't scale as far. Both can be improved further with mods. Never heard 7XX.

 

Sorry Wormcycle I was responding to Djchup.