[Solude]

Not quite sure what you are saying but I think you are inferring that if Kingwa does ACSS/CAST well that Bakoon does as well by virtue of having done it first?  Again we were talking Master which except for the connection between components is voltage drive.

 

[XVampireX]

It's a bit early but here's a question and I've got many of those later on P)
 
I'll be getting the Audeze LCD-3 very soon, and from what I've heard and read that amps do improve sound quite a bit, perhaps the most after the headphones themselves. So I thought about matching them with an amp, well duh, I'm in this thread! haha.
 
So I've heard the LCD-2 through a Leben CS-600 amp and it was really interesting, everything opened up and you can feel the tube sound.
 
Right now I'm interesting in pairing an amp to my HD700 and upcoming LCD-3, I'll be using my Xonar STX card as DAC until I decide to get better DAC, unless there's some excellent dac/amp combination.
 
So far I've looked and there are some decent amps in israel where I live, I'm talking about: Bryston BHA-1 or Leben CS-300X
Also as a possibility is Burson Soloist either SL or regular don't mind.
 
I need the best bang for the money, CS-300X being the most expensive out of all of these.
 
Also need to mention that I'm an all-rounder in terms of what I'm listening to, but leaning towards progressive rock/metal and some electronica like Enigma/Deep Forest/etc... as well as some classical and jazz. Bass is somewhat important, but not beats style bass. Would be nice if it is good for movies, too.
 
What do you people suggest?

 

[MacedonianHero]

  It's a bit early but here's a question and I've got many of those later on P)
 
I'll be getting the Audeze LCD-3 very soon, and from what I've heard and read that amps do improve sound quite a bit, perhaps the most after the headphones themselves. So I thought about matching them with an amp, well duh, I'm in this thread! haha.
 
So I've heard the LCD-2 through a Leben CS-600 amp and it was really interesting, everything opened up and you can feel the tube sound.
 
Right now I'm interesting in pairing an amp to my HD700 and upcoming LCD-3, I'll be using my Xonar STX card as DAC until I decide to get better DAC, unless there's some excellent dac/amp combination.
 
So far I've looked and there are some decent amps in israel where I live, I'm talking about: Bryston BHA-1 or Leben CS-300X
Also as a possibility is Burson Soloist either SL or regular don't mind.
 
I need the best bang for the money, CS-300X being the most expensive out of all of these.
 
Also need to mention that I'm an all-rounder in terms of what I'm listening to, but leaning towards progressive rock/metal and some electronica like Enigma/Deep Forest/etc... as well as some classical and jazz. Bass is somewhat important, but not beats style bass. Would be nice if it is good for movies, too.
 
What do you people suggest?

 
Honestly, there's about 55 pages on this thread with recommendations and impressions. Have a look.  

 
Just a quick synopsis of my experiences with amping the LCD-3s:
 
Schiit Lyr: Great with the LCD-2s and "meh" with the LCD-3s (and yes, I've tube rolled in some very pricey tubes....some came close to the amp itself).
 
WA22: "Meh" with stock tubes and really good with about $1100 in tube upgrades
 
LF: Not bad, but overpriced at $3250 + $500 in upgrade tubes...found better for less $. 
 
GS-X: Wow...really really good.
 
GS-X MKII: Best I've heard
 
Soloist and the Bryston BHA-1 are two in the $1200 ish range that were fantastic with the LCD-3s.
 
While I haven't heard the Schiit MJ, might be a good option for those on a budget. 

 

[XVampireX]

What is this GS-X amp? I haven't heard of it?
 
Weird, their website says some 1/4 deposit it's at $745 which would mean that it costs about $2980 apparently.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  What is this GS-X amp? I haven't heard of it?

 
This is the photo of the older model (GS-X):
http://www.headamp.com/home_amps/gsx/
 
You can read up more on the GS-X and GS-X MKII here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/632948/the-headamp-gs-x-thread

 

[XVampireX]

Well anyhow, as good as this headamp gs-x mk2 is good atm it seems pricey and I can't test it before I buy it, so I'd prefer something that's at least cheaper and is known to be good, so the big fight is this: Bryston or Soloist for LCD-3 with whatever I said are my requirements? the biggest plus is that I might be able to catch a listen to the bryston, the soloist, well we don't have a distributor here.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Well anyhow, as good as this headamp gs-x mk2 is good atm it seems pricey and I can't test it before I buy it, so I'd prefer something that's at least cheaper and is known to be good, so the big fight is this: Bryston or Soloist for LCD-3 with whatever I said are my requirements? the biggest plus is that I might be able to catch a listen to the bryston, the soloist, well we don't have a distributor here.

 
Between the Bryston and Solosit, I don't think there is a wrong choice. 

 

[Hi Rez]

  Right now I'm interesting in pairing an amp to my HD700 and upcoming LCD-3, I'll be using my Xonar STX card as DAC until I decide to get better DAC, unless there's some excellent dac/amp combination.
 

Don't short change the DAC either.  With the LCD-3, the DAC is likely just as important as the amp.  The LCD-3 could easily end up being the least expensive component in your system....

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Don't short change the DAC either.  With the LCD-3, the DAC is likely just as important as the amp.  The LCD-3 could easily end up being the least expensive component in your system....

 
We'll worry about that after he's dropped about $3k on the LCD-3s and a new amp. 

 

 

[XVampireX]

Well everyone was saying the the STX DAC is fine and any improvement to that I'll have to go up in price quite a bit. My IDEAL DAC would have DSD support... for some reason I'm physically attracted to this format
 
You guys making fun of me, I'm making a huge step up here right now I have the HD700 here and running them through the STX and I'm mostly fine, except the sibilance in the headphones, of course I know quality could be so much better...
 
I'm thinking I'll be going the Bryston way only if the these bastards figure out that Bryston doesn't cost 7990 ILS (That really doesn't translate to 1395 USD) otherwise, Soloist... I'll get it from ebay or one of you people or the Bryston in the end through these places... yeah

 

[Solude]

LCD-3 amp on a budget... Burson Soloist, hands down.

 

[XVampireX]

  LCD-3 amp on a budget... Burson Soloist, hands down.

 
Says the one who has a long chain of audio products that terminate in an Audeze LCD-3 but no mention of Burson Soloist anywhere XD But yeah, that would be much cheaper to get if they won't look at pricing on the Bryston... http://www.aviyaffe.com/product/2210/402/Bryston/BHA-1-Balanced-Headphone-Amplifier
 
I reckon I can get the  Burson Soloist cheap for $1000 tops

 

[Argo Duck]

^ Did you read Solude's about page?

The soloist is listed.

He's owned/tried seemingly everything. Sometimes more than once

 

[Solude]

He's owned/tried seemingly everything. Sometimes more than once

 
Yup.  The Burson is my number 2 amp behind the GS-X mk2.  The Bryston I never tried partially because I don't like the design and partially because of comments here.  If I could trade or sell my B22 for a third Soloist, I would.

 

[kkcc]

Vampire, check out the audio-gd products.  Probably an NFB-10.33 or NFB-10ES2 can do wonders and help you decide to REALLY spend on quality dac/amp.  For less than USD600 you get a decent fully balanced DAC (dual wolfson 8741, or ESS9018), with fully balanced amp that output 6W for the LCD3.  Should do well for the HD700 too. 
 
A recent review:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/audio-gd-nfb-10es2-balanced-desktop-amp-dac/reviews/9481