[Dubstep Girl]

i found wa6-se and wa22 both inadequate for he-6, of course i listen slightly louder than most people and need more dynamic range and volume range.

the wa6-se, absolutely no way, clipped before got loud and sounded thin and bright.

the wa22 did pretty well and more people could live with it, still not ideal for me, I believe Ardilla has a wa22 with he-6 he uses...

 

[SilverEars]

I can't believe you are a Dubstep Girl with HE-6  

 
I didn't think it has that much bass.

 

[zachchen1996]

 
 
Master 7  (one of the best out there at that price)
 
A used PWD mk2 (not worth the asking price - but a steal at the 2K mark)
 
NAD M51 (really good digital volume control)
 
Hilo (lots of features - and good sound to go with it)
 
John Kenny Ciunas DAC (SE only) but has a great USB input - Great for a lower cost solution
 
Schiit Gungnir with the new Gen2 USB board (I heard the Gen1)
 
Lavry DA11 (was going to get)
 
Metrum Octave mk2   (I really like this one)
 
Mytek DSD DAC  (really technical - a bit on the bright side for me)
 
Ayre QB-9 ( the mk2 is at the 3K mark)  (the mk1 is a really good DAC - only has a USB input thou)

 
In your opinion, which of these DACs has the best SQ regardless of price?

 

[Dubstep Girl]

I can't believe you are a Dubstep Girl with HE-6  :eek:

I didn't think it has that much bass.

you are correct, but the bass that the he-6 has is some of the best ive heard, i love its decay in particular it gets it hust right. works very well for electronic music

 

[preproman]

   
In your opinion, which of these DACs has the best SQ regardless of price?

 
AMR DP-777 and the LampizatOr 

 
 
Audio Note DACs..

 

[zachchen1996]

   
AMR DP-777 and the LampizatOr 

 
this a good deal for a lampi?

 
http://app.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-lampizator-level-4-generation-4-2014-04-22-digital-11375-forest-hills-ny
 
 

 

[preproman]

I've noticed the only reason people are selling their Lampis' is to move up to a higher level.

 

[preproman]

OMG:
 

  I love these DACS..
 
http://app.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-audio-note-dac-3-1x-ii-balanced-very-low-hours-omg-it-s-that-good-and-a-great-price-2014-04-27-digital-10977-chestnut-ridge-ny

 

[Cante Ista]

you are correct, but the bass that the he-6 has is some of the best ive heard, i love its decay in particular it gets it hust right. works very well for electronic music

TOTALLY the best bass for electronic music,! But also excellent at laying out all various harmonies, detail and low-level (seemingly hidden) sounds in so much of the electronic music I that I like. The bass in HE6 does not get in the way of everything else. 

 

[zachchen1996]

 

TOTALLY the best bass for electronic music,! But also excellent at laying out all various harmonies, detail and low-level (seemingly hidden) sounds in so much of the electronic music I that I like. The bass in HE6 does not get in the way of everything else. 

 
I remember hearing your m51 -> F3 -> HE6 rig with some Amon Tobin at a meet last year, bass was definitely very visceral
How do you feel the m51 pwdmk2 compare? Does the m51 come pretty close?

 

[Cante Ista]

  OMG:
 

  I love these DACS..
 
http://app.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-audio-note-dac-3-1x-ii-balanced-very-low-hours-omg-it-s-that-good-and-a-great-price-2014-04-27-digital-10977-chestnut-ridge-ny

+1! WOW! You getting it! I know how much you want to! I know you love this DAC!

 

[preproman]

I wish I had an extra 5 G's laying around..   For those who can not afford the Audio Note DACs and love their sound.  The AMR and LampizatOr are great alternatives.

 

[Happy Camper]

AMR DP-777 and the LampizatOr 

Audio Note DACs..

I wish I had the money when I was searching. The 3.1 balanced kit with E core transformers was like $3.5k and I was trying stay around $2k.

Yes, you get what you pay for.

 

[Clemmaster]

   
I remember hearing your m51 -> F3 -> HE6 rig with some Amon Tobin at a meet last year, bass was definitely very visceral
How do you feel the m51 pwdmk2 compare? Does the m51 come pretty close?

Darryl can comment on that. I would be interested, too.
I noticed the PWD can be had for $1,800 every week on the Gon nowadays. That could be a good deal!
 
I have the OR5 now so I could use the I2S HDMI output with it (unless the USB input is good enough?).

 

[Theogenes]

  The Hilo looks like nice, no frills professional piece of kit provided you've got a use for the A->D functionality which you obviously do but I can imagine most people wouldn't.  Would you still have purchased it in case you didn't need that?  I'm passively on the lookout for something a bit more neutral than my V800 (otherwise very good but not the ultimate in resolution) but came to the conclusion that I'd need to spend A LOT of cash (>3k USD) to do substantially better.  Of course if someone can prove me wrong I'm all ears.  Looking for neutrality, resolution and transparency.  Doesn't need to have the latest and greatest in filters etc but functionality that would allow me to select the level of up sampling or deactivate it totally would be nice, as well as a hardware solution that enables me to set output gain.  Oh, and XLR out connectivity.

 
Couldn't say, since I decided pretty early on that if I was going all-out, that was part of what I wanted. I did, for a while, look at getting a separate ADC, but I couldn't really get the same level of SQ if I got two separate devices and stay at the same budget, so I scrapped that plan and went for an all-in-one. I will say that in the relatively short time I've had the Hilo, I've never used the ADC (don't have my turntable set up at the moment), and I still have just loved it. My experience is certainly limited compared to what some of the guys around here have heard, but I love mine. Plus, you can get a pretty significant discount (under $1900) for being a Head-Fi member if you know where to go .