AT WHAT COST?

Stopping point? Highly subjective subject....

Mine would be at about $20,000. To clarify, phones, amp, DAC, transport, music server.

My dream setup would be Blue Hawaii SE amp > Stax SR-009 phones. I'm not sure about the other devices yet.

I suppose that in time it would change and I would need to start over due to technological advances.

At the moment I have (financially) plateaued at $4000 with a low-end Stax & Koss ESP-950 setup

hooked to a Neko D100 Mk2 DAC and KGSSHV amp, using my clunky desktop as a music server.

I still keep a few cheap dynamics laying around. HD-555 & Audinst DAC for the office

and AKG K702's for when I want to change it up from the stat sound or use as a reference phone.

I'd just stop whenever you're happy. Too bad happiness tends to fade away with new flagship releases from Stax =P.

It would be something like $13k for me, some decent sauce > DIY T2 > SR-009 + SR-007

It's best to think of things as 'different' and not 'upgrades', as everything is horses for courses in this hobby.

I have a sneaky suspicion that if we ONLY cared about sound quality, and getting an enjoyable sound, we'd find the "high-end" much more obtainable.

It's easy to start hunting for something "more & better" down the back alleys of balanced connections, tube rolling, silver cables, op-amps and differently flavored DACs and headphones when in fact all we're achieving is a different kind of high-end sound. Then comes the question if this “different” sound proves better or more enjoyable in the long run, it rarely does… but it sure is fun to keep trying.

I once heard an audiophile say that "we are hunting for something, we are trying to catch it, you think you have it, for a moment maybe you do, but then... it slips away".

He-he. I'm very happy. I know that I could be happier!

Timely question.  How much money would I be willing to pay for a dedicated amp that would make my LCD-2s sound as good as almost everyone else says they do?  I have two headphone amps I like very much with my K-701s.  So, do I ship my headphones to a real pro and get him to build me a 2A3 headphone amp for, say, $8-10K (average quoted price), or do I come to grips with the fact that, no matter what amplification I use, these cans are just not for me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frihed89 

Timely question.  How much money would I be willing to pay for a dedicated amp that would make my LCD-2s sound as good as almost everyone else says they do?  I have two headphone amps I like very much with my K-701s.  So, do I ship my headphones to a real pro and get him to build me a 2A3 headphone amp for, say, $8-10K (average quoted price), or do I come to grips with the fact that, no matter what amplification I use, these cans are just not for me?

 

The LCD-2's are probably just not your cup of tea mate.

I'm gonna get attacked by some hamsters, but in *MY* experience, the LCD-2's don't change much with amplification. If you didn't like em with whatever you've got now, you probably won't like em no matter what amplification you use. They just aren't terribly difficult to drive (STAY AWAY HAMSTERS, THAT'S NOT A CRITICISM). Whether I used em right out of a computer sound card or a balls to the wall balanced b22, they still sound like LCD-2's. Do they show improvements? Sure, but it's far from a drastic change in sound signature.