Denon AH-D2000 Question + Advice on a amp to power the denons - Page 3

uDAC may actually be a good fit for you. I don't know how it performs compare to the ones listed, but it has a warm sound and plenty of volume. It may just be warm enough to make the sibilance tolerable.

 

By the way I checked out the Suzie McNeil song you linked and I didn't find it that harsh. I think you just have more sensitive ears than everyone else.

 

Yes they do. I have the higher end version HDP and when I compared it uDAC had more bass. Fiio E7 is another good option. I believe it has a Wolfson DAC which is considered to be pretty warm too.

 

Whatever you get make sure to get a good return policy just in case.

You can pick up the FiiO E7/E9 combo for $200 and it will make those D2K's rattle your noggin.

Denons are nowhere near as simbilant as this thread makes them out to be.

 

This whole thread is one massive lol.

Based on the measured performance and a little theory (sorry haven't tried it myself), E7 by itself should be better than E7 + E9 for the AH-D2000. Performance of the E9 amp is respectable but not really any better than the E7. It just has more output power, which you won't be needing for driving the AH-D2000 into very loud volumes.

E9 has the disadvantage (though arguable) of around 10 ohms output impedance, significantly higher than the E7. This reduces the damping factor and is supposed to muddy the bass. (AH-D2000 have pretty flat impedance across the frequency range though.) Also, the E9's analog volume control is more liable to cause channel balance problems than the E7 digital volume control, at lower volume settings. Channel balance on the E9 is not really problematic though.

IIRC OP posted a link to a song that supposedly caused sibilance, but it didn't seem so bad to me, so it was assumed OP was more sensitive to these things.

I don't have any problems with sibilance on the D2k and E9 with my setup.  If anything the D2k seems a bit laid back in the upper range to me.  The E9 seemed to really tighten up the bass compared to only using the E7.  You shouldn't have any problem with volume with the E9, I rarely ever go over 9 o'clock on the dial.

So how did you find the E7/E9 combo with the D2K's?

BUUUUUUUUUUMP

 

Very interested in that. Should I just go for the Fiio E17? Valhalla looks sweet, especially since I don't need it to be portable, the D2000 are too bulky to go outdoors (not to mention the cable), but the $350 price tag ain't nice!