[preproman]

Weakest link?   Good point.  In a chain what is the weakness link if everything is up to snuff?

 

[Greed]

  Weakest link?   Good point.  In a chain what is the weakness link if everything is up to snuff?

 
Your ears. 

 

[preproman]

   
Your ears. 

 

 it would be wouldn't it 

 

[citraian]

   

 it would be wouldn't it 

 
I know a guy that knows a guy that can solve that for you
 
Back to the subject, I'd prefer having a Soloist and a Da Vinci instead of the best amp and a M51

 

[preproman]

   
I know a guy that knows a guy that can solve that for you
 
Back to the subject, I'd prefer having a Soloist and a Da Vinci instead of the best amp and a M51

 
The Soloist is not really a Schiit amp to start with.  What would you call the best amp?

 

[XVampireX]

You folks, go watch a movie with your LCD-3's and let me know how do they compare to the HD800 in terms of liveliness and somewhat of a "soundstage" (Of course the HD800 might win here on the second, but I'm talking about the overall combination)
 
The HD700 at times sounds rather muffled in case of SQ maybe I'm doing something wrong, but what really shines in the HD700 is the soundstage part. Maybe the DAC I'm using is what makes things worse (STX).
 
Anyway, go and do it, I'm waiting.

 

[citraian]

   
The Soloist is not really a Schiit amp to start with.  What would you call the best amp?

 
The best amp for LCD-3 considering that I don't like tubes is most probably GS-X. 
 
At this point I would rather exchange the Conductor with a Soloist and a 3k-4k DAC than upgrade to the GS-X for the same money. I think that the DAC is the biggest bottleneck even with the Hydra.

 

[negura]

If your new DAC will have AES input, you should try the PUC2. 

 

[dan.gheorghe]

   
The best amp for LCD-3 considering that I don't like tubes is most probably GS-X. 
 
At this point I would rather exchange the Conductor with a Soloist and a 3k-4k DAC than upgrade to the GS-X for the same money. I think that the DAC is the biggest bottleneck even with the Hydra.

 
I think that is the way to go . 
 
After I get my dream DAC I will get an amp too, however )
 
Guys did anybody try the Master 8? I am really curios how it stacks up against the gsx mk2 or soloist.

 

[mowglycdb]

  I'll have to second Dan's opinion on this one. The HD 800 does seem to scale higher and I'm not sure that I need my M8/Ref8 to get the most out of the LCD-3. Both require approximately the same amount of power from the M8 (8-10 on low gain), but I feel that the hyperdetailed nature of the HD 800 calls for a cleaner power supply and a better DAC.
 
I'm starting to think that DACs may be more important than amps for all but the most budget setups. The first chain that I really liked my HD 800 on was SA-1 -> Apex Arete/Volcano. I lent the SA-1 to a friend for a week and was not pleased with the DAC performance of the HUD-MX1 that I threw in to replace it (this was noticeable on HD 580, LCD-2, HE-6, and HD 800). The music sounded much flatter and the lows tended to blur into some sort of one note bass.
 
This is not a knock on the Audinst - it was my office unit for a long time and is quite admirable for a small budget all in one running off a wall wart. However, it cannot really compete with bulky dedicated units with overbuilt PSUs.

 
So how did those tests go with LCD-3 and M8?

 

[citraian]

  If your new DAC will have AES input, you should try the PUC2. 

 
If I get a 4k DAC I hope I won't need a PUC2

 

[negura]

   
If I get a 4k DAC I hope I won't need a PUC2

 
Fortunately it doesn't cost a lot either. You never know. You'd think a 4k DAC (on paper) like PWD2 won't need that. Think again.
 
I want to hear the Auralic Vega next. Or exasound e20mk3.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

   
Fortunately it doesn't cost a lot either. You never know. You'd think a 4k DAC (on paper) like PWD2 won't need that. Think again.
 
I want to hear the Auralic Vega next. Or exasound e20mk3.

 
Msb Analog Dac and Moon 650D didn't need any usb interface fortunately...but they are over 4k )

 

[preproman]

  If your new DAC will have AES input, you should try the PUC2. 

 
What's a PUC2?

 

[negura]

   
What's a PUC2?

 
http://www.yellowtec.de/products-lp/puc2-lp/puc2-lite.html
 
This fellow has spent some time with it:
http://2channelaudio.blogspot.com/2013/04/yellowtec-puc2-lite-usb-to-aesspdif.html
 
I was going to post my impressions but at the moment I am lazy. Just got back from holiday and the first day of work was ******* awful... as always.
But in very brief: Resolution, focus, dynamics, transparency have all been dramatically improved on my PWD2. It took away that sh***y warmness on the stock USB, but without grain or any digital harshness. Nice product.