xXxDanXx
New Head-Fier
I presently possess Sennheiser HD-600 headphones which demand something to drive it. I was going to start with baseline modules like the Schiit Modi 2 Uber and Magni 2 Uber stack but a friend corrupted my ears. Now my 7.1 Bose speakers sound like complete garbage. But I’m here looking purely to drive the HD-600 connected to my PC playing lossless. I’m trying to stay under a budget of $500 because I know where I’d like to go in a few years. Instead of spending $2-3k on middle ground components now, I’d prefer to stay in the 70-80% performance range and in 2 years down the road interchange with the impossibly perfect arrangement paralleling friend’s soundstage, avoiding ever listening to his future upgrades.
What’s the finest I’ve listened too? Schiit Gungnir Multibit dac, Linear Tube Audio microZOTL2.0 Amp paired with Sennheiser HD-800s headphones. Currently that’s my gold standard and at nearly $5-6k with a couple other components tying it together I don’t need to hear what better sounds like (for my wallet’s sake) until I retire and need a fulltime hobby. To see where my current components stand in his setup we interchanged the HD-600 and Modi 2 Uber into his stack as well as isolating some of the components. The HD-600’s were relatively 85-90% of the performance to the hd-800s, something I can live with for now at a fraction of the price. That 10-15% certainly completed the setup though. So, I recognize why people justify purchasing $1k plus on cans. The Schiit Modi 2 Uber didn’t fare well contrasted to the Gungnir Multibit. Respectively, the Modi 2 Uber performed 80% of the Gungnir Multibit in most genre’s, however the few it didn’t do well, it did appallingly as low as 50% of the performance, so much it stressed me to prolong listening, but again that was a $150 component paired in a $5-6k setup attempting to take on a $1250 dac.
Unfortunately, I have no assessment of where Schiit Bifrost, Bifrost Multibit and Gungnir Non-Multibit compare. You could say 90% but since I know the Gungnir Multibit was the best I’ve heard I’m sort of willing to hold off since it’s not an unreasonable price. Nevertheless, if the Schiit Juthenheim performs better than the Modi 2 Uber paired with the Schiit Asgard or the Aune X7s I’d go that route and sell the Modi 2 Uber.
I’m reaching out to this community to help inform my decision from your experiences with audio components in the sub $500 range. If you think the difference isn’t worth the cost or to similar or this or that pairs better and so forth. Below are most of the combinations I’ve been considering. There are a lot of other brands I’ve read about that seem to be popular. I drifted away from tubes because they don’t seem to execute nearly as well in clarity on the lower end compared to solid states.
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Magni 2 Uber Amp | Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Schiit Asgard Amp |
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Aune X7s Amp | Schiit Juthenheim Dac/Amp | Aune X1s Dac/Amp |
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Gustard H10 ($290 Massdrop) Amp |
What’s the finest I’ve listened too? Schiit Gungnir Multibit dac, Linear Tube Audio microZOTL2.0 Amp paired with Sennheiser HD-800s headphones. Currently that’s my gold standard and at nearly $5-6k with a couple other components tying it together I don’t need to hear what better sounds like (for my wallet’s sake) until I retire and need a fulltime hobby. To see where my current components stand in his setup we interchanged the HD-600 and Modi 2 Uber into his stack as well as isolating some of the components. The HD-600’s were relatively 85-90% of the performance to the hd-800s, something I can live with for now at a fraction of the price. That 10-15% certainly completed the setup though. So, I recognize why people justify purchasing $1k plus on cans. The Schiit Modi 2 Uber didn’t fare well contrasted to the Gungnir Multibit. Respectively, the Modi 2 Uber performed 80% of the Gungnir Multibit in most genre’s, however the few it didn’t do well, it did appallingly as low as 50% of the performance, so much it stressed me to prolong listening, but again that was a $150 component paired in a $5-6k setup attempting to take on a $1250 dac.
Unfortunately, I have no assessment of where Schiit Bifrost, Bifrost Multibit and Gungnir Non-Multibit compare. You could say 90% but since I know the Gungnir Multibit was the best I’ve heard I’m sort of willing to hold off since it’s not an unreasonable price. Nevertheless, if the Schiit Juthenheim performs better than the Modi 2 Uber paired with the Schiit Asgard or the Aune X7s I’d go that route and sell the Modi 2 Uber.
I’m reaching out to this community to help inform my decision from your experiences with audio components in the sub $500 range. If you think the difference isn’t worth the cost or to similar or this or that pairs better and so forth. Below are most of the combinations I’ve been considering. There are a lot of other brands I’ve read about that seem to be popular. I drifted away from tubes because they don’t seem to execute nearly as well in clarity on the lower end compared to solid states.
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Magni 2 Uber Amp | Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Schiit Asgard Amp |
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Aune X7s Amp | Schiit Juthenheim Dac/Amp | Aune X1s Dac/Amp |
| Schiit Modi 2 Uber Dac + Gustard H10 ($290 Massdrop) Amp |