Headphone amp

[frogmeat69]

I ain't no good at 'splaining stuff, but you need Photobucket or the like to upload your pics to, then use the url's to post here, or sumthing, I think, lol. I can do it, just can't say it, heh.

[koover]

Got another question my friend
What's your thoughts on swapping the Jot to my PC coupled with the Modi 2 and using the Magni 2 Uber with my HT setup? Need more for the PC and I believe it's overkill using the Jot for Blurays.

[Vracer111]

That's how I would do it - Magni Uber for HT and the Jotunheim for personal PC audio. The Jotunheim has a lot more capacitance (70,000uF versus 4,000uF for the Magni Uber) so the dynamics in music would have better breathing room, HT not quite as critical in that regard.

[koover]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

That's how I would do it - Magni Uber for HT and the Jotunheim for personal PC audio. The Jotunheim has a lot more capacitance (70,000uF versus 4,000uF for the Magni Uber) so the dynamics in music would have better breathing room, HT not quite as critical in that regard.

Couldn't even tell the difference with swapping out the Jot with the Magni Uber for HT. It was a huge improvement with Jot/Modi 2 with PC.

[koover]

Anyone out there? Thought I'd try to start up a conversation as this entire section of this site is basically dead. I know this is Bluray.com so? Well anyway, I'd be shocked if this post gets any traction at all. LOL

I was just rereading this entire conversation from way back when. I cannot believe how ignorant I was and how patient you guys were with me, especially you VRacer11. Some of the questions I asked makes me LOL now. How naive I was on EVERYTHING. Now I can at least be "a little" dangerous in some conversations where I know what the heck I'm talking about.

Don't mean to come off corny or anything but you are to thank for all my knowledge that I have at present even though still limited compared to you guys. But on the other hand I do fully understand the entire concept and know what the heck I'm doing for the most part.

I can't believe how far down the rabbit hole I've plunged from April to now. LOL. I'm consumed with this hobby. All the HP's, amps, posts on Head-fi meets, etc.
Man I've come a long way.

Anything else going on out there interesting with your gear, HT, anything? I believe there's like a total of what, 5 members who even frequent this part of the site? No one except VRacer11 last night with posting pics and some quick impressions from your new gear you just got. Pretty sweet man. Looking forward t hearing about your 2nd set of PH's you're getting, or already got.

Just wanted to say hey and what up! Anyone want to talk tubes? ..... as it's my newfound passion and I'm just lernin. Anything?

[Vracer111]

Got the 2nd Purplehearts on Saturday, and yep there is a very distinct difference between stock and my modded pair - stock sounds like a blanket is placed over the driver and more bloomy, modded is much clearer and tighter sounding with better extension. Finally got the MH-8 amp integrated into my HT system (cables and switch arrived on Saturday as well), moved equipment around for better logistics for headphone use. And I added optical connection from Oppo Blu-ray player to the Gustard X20U DAC/H10 amp setup and tested it with Tron Legacy using my modded PH's....OH MY what an experience! And right now have the X20U connected to front RCA input on my NAD T747 and bypassing directly to the C 275BEE stereo amp, playing from my music collection on laptop....WOW again! MUCH improved sound over the DFR in just about every way... but really noticeable in the bass and detail. Just lovely in everything from symphonic movements to vocals to heavy bass tracks. This X20U is exceptionally nice sounding, especially for the price!

I have zero tube experience, but do want to try building a Bottlehead S.E.X 3.0 with C4S upgrade kit eventually.

[koover]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Got the 2nd Purplehearts on Saturday, and yep there is a very distinct difference between stock and my modded pair - stock sounds like a blanket is placed over the driver and more bloomy, modded is much clearer and tighter sounding with better extension. Finally got the MH-8 amp integrated into my HT system (cables and switch arrived on Saturday as well), moved equipment around for better logistics for headphone use. And I added optical connection from Oppo Blu-ray player to the Gustard X20U DAC/H10 amp setup and tested it with Tron Legacy using my modded PH's....OH MY what an experience! And right now have the X20U connected to front RCA input on my NAD T747 and bypassing directly to the C 275BEE stereo amp, playing from my music collection on laptop....WOW again! MUCH improved sound over the DFR in just about every way... but really noticeable in the bass and detail. Just lovely in everything from symphonic movements to vocals to heavy bass tracks. This X20U is exceptionally nice sounding, especially for the price!

I have zero tube experience, but do want to try building a Bottlehead S.E.X 3.0 with C4S upgrade kit eventually.

Very cool that you could do an A/B comparison instead of going off memory. Are you going to go to town on your 2nd pair and mod the heck out of it?.

Interesting that on Head-fi, no one wants to believe in the driver dampening or just going for it. For $14, they'll be blown away how much of an improvement it is and they'll have such a much better headphone.
How many times have you answered that question or suggested it? I'm getting up there too.

[Badas]

Nice to see some HP chat here.

I'm in a funny place at the moment. Happy and not happy with my gear. Thinking of keeping some of it and looking at some changes.

What I'm happy with:

NightHawks. Love this HP.
Yggy DAC. My endgame. I've been through a fair few.
Violectric V281. Bloody German engineering is amazing. Endgame SS amp.

Not happy

Ether Flows. Close but not there. They do sound great but just some treble rich music can get grating. I like HP's that fit all music. I've discovered that Planar falls apart on tube amps. Planar needs SS power. Sounds remarkably better on the V281.

Woo WA22. I don't think I have the right HP for tubes. I have read they thrive with dynamic drivers rather than Planar. I have a set of Massdrop HD6xx HP's coming. So I will give them a go. If I'm not satisfied I think I will get the HD800s or Focal Elear. Both great dynamic drivers HP's.

I think the Ether Flows are on the chopping block. Possibly the WA22 as well if I can't find a HP to thrive on it.

[frogmeat69]

Hey guys. Nice seeing a little action here. I am in a purchasing rut as of late, have more than I need, way too many headphones, and anything I want I can't afford atm, lol.
I gotta try to sell some stuff and save the money I make for the iDSD Pro if it ever comes to light.
Not that I really need it, I am very happy with my iCan Pro hooked up to my TEAC NT-503, sounds sooo good to me, and I still have my iDSD Micro that by itself as the DAC/amp seems to pair perfectly with my Nighthawks for some reason, with the iCan Pro the bass becomes a bit overpowering.

[koover]

Dang, should have checked back earlier as I didn't think anyone would respond.

Badas, I'm starting to see that you're right with Planars and tubes. They do need a SS amp that I'm finding out. Tubes just don't do them justice and they just sound empty in a sense with lack of depth. They don;t hit as hard especially in the low end and they lose some sparkle at the top.

Now that I have the LYR2 and Jot, I've been contemplating selling the Jot but for reasons we both just mentioned, I won't. I have just way too many HP's all of a sudden and there's too much for me to listen too, especially with all the different tubes variants I've accumulated all of a sudden. I believe it's out of my system and I'm done.....for now at least. I think at times if I wouldn't have spent so much on these mid level HP's, I could have 3-4 TOTL HP's instead. But I can say each one has it's purpose and I truly enjoy each one.

And now with tubes, It's another world to me and it's actually overwhelming with all the different SS's. I just can't see myself getting rid of anything here in the near future at least.

I just know I need to stop the spending. Wife is starting to give me the look. Don't know if you guys know that look, but I can tell ya, you don't want it.

[koover]

Originally Posted by Badas

Nice to see some HP chat here.

I'm in a funny place at the moment. Happy and not happy with my gear. Thinking of keeping some of it and looking at some changes.

What I'm happy with:

NightHawks. Love this HP.
Yggy DAC. My endgame. I've been through a fair few.
Violectric V281. Bloody German engineering is amazing. Endgame SS amp.

Not happy

Ether Flows. Close but not there. They do sound great but just some treble rich music can get grating. I like HP's that fit all music. I've discovered that Planar falls apart on tube amps. Planar needs SS power. Sounds remarkably better on the V281.

Woo WA22. I don't think I have the right HP for tubes. I have read they thrive with dynamic drivers rather than Planar. I have a set of Massdrop HD6xx HP's coming. So I will give them a go. If I'm not satisfied I think I will get the HD800s or Focal Elear. Both great dynamic drivers HP's.

I think the Ether Flows are on the chopping block. Possibly the WA22 as well if I can't find a HP to thrive on it.

Your amp and Dac are just killer. I'd be happy too man.
I had the Nightowls and just couldn't get into them like I thought I would. I listened to a friends Nighthawk and really liked it. So I opted to go for the Nightowl instead thinking it would be a step up then ultimately landed up trading it for a Beyer T5p gen 2 then traded that. Wish I would have just bought the original Nighthawk originally.

[koover]

Originally Posted by frogmeat69

Hey guys. Nice seeing a little action here. I am in a purchasing rut as of late, have more than I need, way too many headphones, and anything I want I can't afford atm, lol.
I gotta try to sell some stuff and save the money I make for the iDSD Pro if it ever comes to light.
Not that I really need it, I am very happy with my iCan Pro hooked up to my TEAC NT-503, sounds sooo good to me, and I still have my iDSD Micro that by itself as the DAC/amp seems to pair perfectly with my Nighthawks for some reason, with the iCan Pro the bass becomes a bit overpowering.

Dude, like Badas, you have such killer equipment. I need to step up my game here.

[frogmeat69]

Originally Posted by koover

Dude, like Badas, you have such killer equipment. I need to step up my game here.

The iFi stuff is great equipment, and for $500 (or less), you can't go wrong with the iFi iDSD Micro. Haven't tried the Black Label, have read that it's even better than my original silver model.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by koover

Dang, should have checked back earlier as I didn't think anyone would respond.

Badas, I'm starting to see that you're right with Planars and tubes. They do need a SS amp that I'm finding out. Tubes just don't do them justice and they just sound empty in a sense with lack of depth. They don;t hit as hard especially in the low end and they lose some sparkle at the top.

Now that I have the LYR2 and Jot, I've been contemplating selling the Jot but for reasons we both just mentioned, I won't. I have just way too many HP's all of a sudden and there's too much for me to listen too, especially with all the different tubes variants I've accumulated all of a sudden. I believe it's out of my system and I'm done.....for now at least. I think at times if I wouldn't have spent so much on these mid level HP's, I could have 3-4 TOTL HP's instead. But I can say each one has it's purpose and I truly enjoy each one.

And now with tubes, It's another world to me and it's actually overwhelming with all the different SS's. I just can't see myself getting rid of anything here in the near future at least.

I just know I need to stop the spending. Wife is starting to give me the look. Don't know if you guys know that look, but I can tell ya, you don't want it.

The more I listen the more I have made my mind up that tubes are better suited to dynamic drivers.

I'm not too concerned that I haven't got the right HP for the Woo yet. The V281 and Ether/Hawks sound great.

I get that occasional time when using the Hawks (dynamic driver) and tubes that magic absolutely happens. Usually after the tubes have been on 90 minutes or so. When that happens simply nothing can touch the sound quality. So stunning. Tubes do have their place.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by koover

Your amp and Dac are just killer. I'd be happy too man.
I had the Nightowls and just couldn't get into them like I thought I would. I listened to a friends Nighthawk and really liked it. So I opted to go for the Nightowl instead thinking it would be a step up then ultimately landed up trading it for a Beyer T5p gen 2 then traded that. Wish I would have just bought the original Nighthawk originally.

Hawks are a funny beast. I get some of the negative feedback.
However they seem to work for me. I can stick them on for 8 hours or so and not hear one song that I didn't enjoy. On some music the Flows render technically nicer and do sound better than the Hawks. However any treble rich music I find the Hawks run circles around the Flows. Some music on the Flows sounds bad. I almost want to throw them.

[Vracer111]

Except for bass impact/body lacking to my preference, I really like the above combo. Should have a Schiit Loki soon (trading the Meier JAZZ-ff amp for one is currently being worked out), so that should solve the lack of bass problem for me with the HD700 and I will also be able to play around with the M1060 some...

[koover]

I’m so intrigued now to just comb the Head-Fi classifieds for the hawks. I’m gonna try to trade my AT 1000X woddies for them. But it seems when you own them, you don’t give them up. I’m “hoping”’someone will bite. You’ve actually kinda inspired me to own a pair now.

[koover]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Except for bass impact/body lacking to my preference, I really like the above combo. Should have a Schiit Loki soon (trading the Meier JAZZ-ff amp for one is currently being worked out), so that should solve the lack of bass problem for me with the HD700 and I will also be able to play around with the M1060 some...

Looking good man. I’d REALLY like to know how you like the Loki.
That is on my short list and really want one. I trust your opinion so I’m gonna wait until you play with it a while then hopefully you’ll post what you think man.

[koover]

Originally Posted by Badas

The more I listen the more I have made my mind up that tubes are better suited to dynamic drivers.

I'm not too concerned that I haven't got the right HP for the Woo yet. The V281 and Ether/Hawks sound great.

I get that occasional time when using the Hawks (dynamic driver) and tubes that magic absolutely happens. Usually after the tubes have been on 90 minutes or so. When that happens simply nothing can touch the sound quality. So stunning. Tubes do have their place.

I’m just lovin’ the entire tube thing. I enjoy nabbing just the right tube that makes any one of my HP’s performs to their max. I just picked up a pair of Bendix 2c51 and they make the Sony MDR Z7 sing. Same with the Meze 99 classics. They sound incredible.
But I do like a darker SS overall and tubes help a ton. I especially love the tube sound with the TH900 and Th-X00 because they’re so much brighter then most everything I own.’A warmer tube with these and they both just kill it.

[Badas]

Originally Posted by koover

I’m so intrigued now to just comb the Head-Fi classifieds for the hawks. I’m gonna try to trade my AT 1000X woddies for them. But it seems when you own them, you don’t give them up. I’m “hoping”’someone will bite. You’ve actually kinda inspired me to own a pair now.

Damn.

I don't like it when people act on my impressions. I hope you like.

Luckily I live to far away for you to get me.