preproman
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
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Weakest link? Good point. In a chain what is the weakness link if everything is up to snuff?
Weakest link? Good point. In a chain what is the weakness link if everything is up to snuff?
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
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.
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.
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
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.
If your new DAC will have AES input, you should try the PUC2.
What's a PUC2?