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Lavry DA10 -> balanced HD 650 impressions after 1 minute.

post #1 of 62
12/8/06 at 5:22am
Thread Starter 
Oh...

...my...

...God.



Never, ever, have I heard sound this good. It is absolutely amazing.

I would say that the Lavry's XLR outs brutally tear the HD 650's drivers into molecular shreds, for such is the sense of control, but it all happens ever so smoothly, ever so delicately, it is almost like a tender, loving display of divine power.

Absolutely amazing. I'm repeating myself.
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post #2 of 62
12/8/06 at 6:55am
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post #3 of 62
12/8/06 at 8:08am
Enjoy the music....all ways...

Sure am glad this is working out for you.
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post #4 of 62
12/8/06 at 8:20am
what's the setup?. Is it necessary and external balanced amp?. Thanks
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post #5 of 62
12/8/06 at 8:32am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by slwiser View Post
Enjoy the music....all ways...

Sure am glad this is working out for you.
Well you should be. It was because of your persistence that I took this leap. ...my poor wallet...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cortes
what's the setup?. Is it necessary and external balanced amp?
The setup is this: Foobar -> E-MU 0404 coaxial out -> Lavry DA10 -> Sennheiser HD 650.

There is no external amp involved. The Senns are connected to the Lavry with a special cable terminated in two XLR connectors.

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post #6 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comfy View Post
There is no external amp involved. The Senns are connected to the Lavry with a special cable terminated in two XLR connectors.
umm that's very nice indeed. Because this solution does not seem so expensive. I'would have thought that the difference would be subtle, glad to here there is a wow jump .
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post #7 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:07am
Oh man, my desire to get the Lavry just increases that much more...

Comfy, does the soundstage change at all?
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post #8 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:08am
Thread Starter 


Even the Koss dude is pretty impressed.
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post #9 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:38am
I agree the HD650 driven by the Lavry DA10's XLR outputs sounds good. It's full-bodied, smooth, warm and bassy.

I use a Zu Mobius with XLRs to connect the HD650 to the Lavry.

However, I also think the HD650 sounds good single-ended driven by a Lehmann BCL or RSA Raptor. It's not very different than balanced drive from the Lavry.

I'm guessing that as good as the DA10 and HD650 combination is, a balanced amplifier makes the HD650 even better.

I've never heard a balanced amp.
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post #10 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Monkey View Post
Comfy, does the soundstage change at all?
According to my impressions, there is more going on in the outer areas of the soundstage. Things that used to be faded in the background, are now alive and active aswell.

So it's not really that the soundstage gets wider or so, it just sounds more populated. It sounds pretty amazing with some differently panned tunes, like Hendrix' Foxy Lady, where it sounds like there's a little Jimi singing on the outside of the left earcup.
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post #11 of 62
12/8/06 at 9:50am
Listening to the HD650 balanced out of my Benchmark DAC1 (and also from Vic's Lavry) got me on the balanced road. If you think what you are hearing now is good wait till you get to try a balanced amp and a better source too!


Steve
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post #12 of 62
12/8/06 at 10:02am
Thread Starter 
If you think what you are hearing now is good, wait until you stick your head inside a bass drum at a Slayer concert.... Aargh... The Head-Fi curse!

But on a more serious note, this is my setup. I chose this to be my headphone setup because of it's versatility and minimalism. It'll also work as a source and preamp for my upcoming speaker rig.

I don't really believe in better sources or amps. It's all nuances once you reach a certain level. I also believe that Dan Lavry is a master of his craft, and a no nonsense guy, which is a rare feature in the high end audio world.

I've always been a "best-bang-for-the-buck" -oriented audiophile, which is probably inherently against the definition, so let's say audio enthusiast instead. Anyway, I had already planned to downgrade my headphone setup into something just musical and comfortable enough, and this is much more than what I was looking for.

I'm done.
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post #13 of 62
12/8/06 at 1:37pm
Congrats Comfy. Welcome to the club.

I've said this before, but I preferred the DA10>HD650 balanced overall to the DA10>NX01/HR2>HD650 single ended. The MPX3 or Zana Deux added to the mix beat it, but then you're at another price jump. Anyway, I think it's a great inexpensive (by Head-Fi standards) combo and makes a great laptop transportable setup.

Course never heard a balanced amp.

Another interesting difference is while I thought the Zu Mobius moved the HD650 up over the stock by a not subtle margin while being single ended, I temporarily had several cables to compare and thought the stock balanced and Zu balanced were comparable. I just preferred the warmer stock sound (though it would have been interesting to have both around). For whatever that's worth, selling the Mobius helped pay for the DA10 upgrade.
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post #14 of 62
12/8/06 at 7:02pm
wait till you hear a modded zhaolu!
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post #15 of 62
12/8/06 at 7:21pm
So the line-level (or whatever you call it) is adjustable? If so, how? Via the toggle at the front which also controls the headamp volume?

I'm glad you're happy about your new toys
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