[Whazzzup]

I nominate double the budget, thats easy.

 

[AverageGuyNC]

I'm a Hifiman Fan (although their reliability can be suspect if you get a bad pair). HEK or HEX-V2 (used to save a lot) and then a GSX Mk2 plus a Gumby or Yggy or other DAC

I think this would be a great system, but would like to make sure op understands the GSX is a powerful amp and the Hex would not need anything close to that. Would go with the Hek, even if going with a lesser dac (gumby would still be great). But if you ever get headphones that need there juice, u got it.

 

[336881]

ECP dsha-2 $1750
Demo hd800 $1000
Mjolnir Octave v2 $1250
Used Stax sr-404le $600

 

[thecrow]

First post was over 5 weeks ago.
OP only posted one follow up post

I think we, like him, can move on from tgis thread

Or just keep it as “one of those threads” on gear hypotheticals

 

[Hifi Boy]

Yeah, this thread has gone on far longer than I expected.

And I'm still contributing to it!

Anyways, here's my honest opinion to anyone getting into this hifi business for the first time without any prior knowledge of what's what.

If you have some money, buy Hugo2 and HEK/Utopia/Susvara. If you have quite a lot of money, buy Dave and HEK/Utopia/Susvara.

That's my honest opinion. Everything else is just meaningless for your first buy because you will always want to upgrade, so make sure your first purchase counts. After that any amp you add, that's good enough, will result in you having an endgame system.

Before that happens you will still be immensely enjoying yourself with what you have.

 

[pichu]

My apologies for not getting back to you all!

Im going to go with the Yggy into a Glenn OTL fully upgraded with a ZMF Autuer!

I went over my 'budget' by $1900 but I honestly had some good room to play with anyways.

Going to have it all hooked up to a Keces power isolater and conditioner and not sure yet what im going to do about cables. I have to decide if cables really do make a difference in the quality. Considiering the price of the setup, it may not hurt to throw some cash into some power, interconnect, and USB cables!

 

[D2Girls]

If it's not too late to return your order get Utopias and Hugo 2

 

[ufospls2]

If it's not too late to return your order get Utopias and Hugo 2

Why??? What he ended up buying sounds like an awesome set up???

 

[AverageGuyNC]

Keces power isolater - how big of a difference can you tell with it yet? I understand you may have it all yet, but what are some of the better conditioners for the money?

And congrats on finding your system! I'd love to hear it, it sounds like a winner!

 

[pichu]

Keces power isolater - how big of a difference can you tell with it yet? I understand you may have it all yet, but what are some of the better conditioners for the money?

And congrats on finding your system! I'd love to hear it, it sounds like a winner!

Hey!

So user @project86 told me about the Keces conditioner. He knows his stuff when it comes to power isolaters and has owned and tried many. They offer different ranges of power supplies. The tiers are also based on how many receptacles / duplexs are avalaible to plug into. I went ahead and got the $1300 one as it gives me enough outlets if I ever want to add more amps or speakers to my audio setup.

I feel that people really underestimate how important it actually is to clean up your power sources. If you’re paying moderate to good money it doesn’t hurt to fix up the power coming from your wall. Keces smallest conditioner is like $300 or $400. It has two outlets I believe. It’s totally worth it if you are looking for that extra cleanup and surety in the nirvana of your music.

He likes Keces a lot and also is a fan of Equi-core conditioners. PS Audio uses the same tech as Keces and Equi-Core, but they go for a lot more money and have a lot more Watts. They are for big old hifi speaker systems really. Keces does a good job with getting your headphone gear setup. I’m happy with it and no retreats putting one into my system.

He also made a point that he is a fan of he balanced isolation that Keces and Equi-Core offer. Cheaper conditioners like Furman and the PS Audio Dectet don’t offer this conversion.

Hope it helps

- Jonathan

 

[AverageGuyNC]

I have a basic $20 Belkin power strip. If I ran it out of a small Keces, do you know if it would still give me nearly the same benefit in sound? Instead of buying one with a lot of plugs?

And I had never heard of a Glen amp before, and it looks like a very good quality piece. Especially if you upgraded it further. I don't use high impedance headphones to use an OTL amp, but might look into one of his other offerings.

 

[pichu]

I have a basic $20 Belkin power strip. If I ran it out of a small Keces, do you know if it would still give me nearly the same benefit in sound? Instead of buying one with a lot of plugs?

And I had never heard of a Glen amp before, and it looks like a very good quality piece. Especially if you upgraded it further. I don't use high impedance headphones to use an OTL amp, but might look into one of his other offerings.

By connecting the power strip to the isolater your possibly creating more noise nd youre losing the advantages of the Keces. I asked them same question too, but theres a reason they want you to plug the equipment directly into the Keces power conditioner rather than from conditioner > power strip > equipment. They got a whole bunch of isolation and stuff going on in the conditioner itself. If you run from the strip itll cause a chain that loses the benefit and I wouldn't even be surprised if you ended up with something worse. What DAC/Amp or other equipment r u trying to run through it?

 

[AverageGuyNC]

I'm using PC (USB) Yggdrasil (XLR) IFI ican pro --- headphones

 

[pichu]

I'm using PC (USB) Yggdrasil (XLR) IFI ican pro --- headphones

I'm using PC (USB) Yggdrasil (XLR) IFI ican pro --- headphones

You would definitely benefit from the Power conditioner then. Why not get the cheapest one? It has two outlets. one for your Yggy, and then one for your iFi?

 

[AverageGuyNC]

You are using a $200 usb? Have u really noticed that big of an improvement (Not try to start argument people plz, just asking a question)? I have a LH Labs USB and a cheapo USB. There is a difference but might be looking for something different. Not sure on how much I will spend tho