Amp recommendations for Audeze LCD-2 - Page 331

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

 

You are absolutely right about that.  As far from a tubey sound there is..

wow..that GS-X is double the price of a V200. Im trying to get something around the low 1k range. The max i could do is 1.6~1.8k because I have to consider a DAC upgrade down the line as well. (actually its the dac that would come first, and the amp is smth im looking into on the side)

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by justie 

wow..that GS-X is double the price of a V200. Im trying to get something around the low 1k range. The max i could do is 1.6~1.8k because I have to consider a DAC upgrade down the line as well. (actually its the dac that would come first, and the amp is smth im looking into on the side)

 

May not be popular, but I think you should keep saving for a little bit more. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by justie 

wow..that GS-X is double the price of a V200. Im trying to get something around the low 1k range. The max i could do is 1.6~1.8k because I have to consider a DAC upgrade down the line as well. (actually its the dac that would come first, and the amp is smth im looking into on the side)

 

First you have to nail down the sound sig your looking for.  

Colored amps (tube sounding amps - but not)

V200

Burson

M^3

"others I don't know about"

To a lesser degree B22

Neutral amps (no where close to the tubey sound)

GS-1

GS-X

Auditor

Mjolnir

Bryston

"others I don't know about"

Quote:

Originally Posted by justie 

wow..that GS-X is double the price of a V200. Im trying to get something around the low 1k range. The max i could do is 1.6~1.8k because I have to consider a DAC upgrade down the line as well. (actually its the dac that would come first, and the amp is smth im looking into on the side)

 

The GS-1 would fit that price range.

Haha, well I am technically saving up while looking for options  but yeah, i think i shld save more too XP

On the flip side, Liquid Fire is definitely the most SS sounding tube amp I have heard.

Hmm, main reason I prefer SS waS because tube rolling was a hassle and because some tubes (like my lyr) dont have a black background. Is it possible to get a tube amp (with tubey sound :P) that has a silent background and doesnt require tube rolling?

Quote:

Originally Posted by justie 

Hmm, main reason I prefer SS waS because tube rolling was a hassle and because some tubes (like my lyr) dont have a black background. Is it possible to get a tube amp (with tubey sound :P) that has a silent background and doesnt require tube rolling?

tube amps will never be as quiet as ss, altho some hybrids can come reasonably close.  you can get reasonable performance with the stock tubes provided with a number of diff. amps, but in almost all cases you can tailor the signature to your preference through rolling.  i would recommend attending a meet & trying various amps (tube, hybrid, ss) before committing. 

if you are not comfortable performing the routine maintenance (in many, but not all instances) that ownership of tube amps invariably involves, then you are better off sticking with ss.  in my case i did not have the patience for tube amps until after i had retired.  now, my amps have at least 1 tube.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geetarman49 

tube amps will never be as quiet as ss, altho some hybrids can come reasonably close.  you can get reasonable performance with the stock tubes provided with a number of diff. amps, but in almost all cases you can tailor the signature to your preference through rolling.  i would recommend attending a meet & trying various amps (tube, hybrid, ss) before committing. 

 

if you are not comfortable performing the routine maintenance (in many, but not all instances) that ownership of tube amps invariably involves, then you are better off sticking with ss.  in my case i did not have the patience for tube amps until after i had retired.  now, my amps have at least 1 tube.

 Thanks for ur reply :)

Thats wat i thought too about the time and money associated with tubes which is why I initially looked for suggestions for SS (even though i love the warm tube sound sig)

Though there might be possible to avoid all the hassle with some tube amps but oh well, Ill keep looking for SS amps

Gone thry the tubes and its a real pain, and the NOS tube prices have become absolutley ridiculous.

Objective 2 amp...$144....world class performance for cans, totally transparent....allows you to get back to the music.

No warm up etc. no tubes shorting out, no tuning to your sound type....

Straight wire with gain...back to the music.

Simple and straight forward and lots of money left over to buy music!!

and yes i have LCD2's.

Alex

So after reading the last few pages of this thread it seems the V200 is a very popular choice for the LCD2, but from what i can tell it doesnt offer balanced output! Isn't that a big drawback?

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

 

 

First you have to nail down the sound sig your looking for.  

 

Colored amps (tube sounding amps - but not)

V200

Burson

M^3

"others I don't know about"

To a lesser degree B22

 

Neutral amps (no where close to the tubey sound)

GS-1

GS-X

Auditor

Mjolnir

Bryston

"others I don't know about"

The LCD2s are colored headphones, so wouldnt a neutral amp be a better pairing than a colored amp? I was almost dead set on getting the Moljnir to go with my soon-to-be-had LCD2s but after reading the comments about it having a pretty bad sound stage i think i might check it off my list. The Bryston BHA-1 intrigues me, it has both single and balanced outputs for headphones too. Anyone with the Bryston + LCD2 combo wanna say a few words on it?

LCD2's have a very flat freq curve and are not 'colored'.

There are many "opinions" on this topic....thousands of posts.

The V200 and the LCD2's is a great pairing...

There are less expensive options that would do just as well as the V200.

All the best..

Alex

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaver316 

 

The LCD2s are colored headphones, so wouldnt a neutral amp be a better pairing than a colored amp? I was almost dead set on getting the Moljnir to go with my soon-to-be-had LCD2s but after reading the comments about it having a pretty bad sound stage i think i might check it off my list. The Bryston BHA-1 intrigues me, it has both single and balanced outputs for headphones too. Anyone with the Bryston + LCD2 combo wanna say a few words on it?

I'm not sure about coloured but compared to a lot of headphones or even speakers the LCD-2 does have less treble presence and is not hyper revealing like a STAX 009 or HD800.  I would not describe them as coloured as such but they are perhaps less analytical than the other flagships.  Because of this some may prefer to pair them with a more revealing and analytical DAC and amplifier.  Other may prefer to make them even more romantic and present by using smoother or warmer equipment.

I did not find the Mjolnir to have a bad soundstage - in fact I found it to be about on par with my AudioGD Master 6.  I only had a very quick audition mind but I found no problem with the soundstage.  I did find it quite forward as opposed to laid back so maybe this is what is at play.  In fact a quick search revelaed this post, as well as this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, I can't really see much of a consensus that eh Mjolnir has a small soundstage at all (all of those posts linked are impressions that it has a good soundstage)