[Stillhart]

  You guys do know there is a dedicated thread to debate this on, right? 

Hey, I think Evs should make a movie about the differences between the Mixamp, Recon and DSS.

 

[Change is Good]

 
Hey, I think Evs should make a movie about the differences between the Mixamp, Recon and DSS.

 
I would so love to see Ev in an action movie! Using Recon to fight off Mixamp and his DSS soldiers!!!
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[Stillhart]

   
I would so love to see Ev in an action movie! Using Recon to fight off Mixamp and his DSS soldiers!!!
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 
Oh I was picturing something more like this...
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

[Change is Good]

   
Oh I was picturing something more like this...
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 
Hahaha! Nice! Coming this summer to a theater near you!
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

​

 

[Napalmhardcore]

   
Hahaha! Nice! Coming this summer to a theater near you!
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

​

I was going to ask where I was, but it now seems so obvious. I'm a ninja!

 

[Evshrug]

Hey, I think Evs should make a movie about the differences between the Mixamp, Recon and DSS.

Funny you mention, I was also just thinking Evs should do the same. I shall watch episodes of "GadgetMan" on YouTube for inspiration.

I would so love to see Ev in an action movie! Using Recon to fight off Mixamp and his DSS soldiers!!!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Oh dear...
I mean, I like tubes, but I think this might be going about it too —

Hahaha! Nice! Coming this summer to a theater near you!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

​

OH DEAR.
This is why I can't show Head-Fi to my girlfriend, the Renaissance Festival starts in a few weeks and some variation of this could actually come to life.
Chico looking devilishly handsome as always.

 

[grumpy1471]

Stillhart,
How are you liking the Omni? Does the Omni>Optical Modi>M-Stage work well for music? I'm thinking of purchasing an Omni and Optimodi as well as the Vali for the ultimate PC virtual surround setup. You have it going from USB to Omni to Optical out on the Omni and then on to the Modi then out to the amp, correct?
 
Not sure whether to buy an internal or external sound card for my PC. I definitely have room for an internal as I'm not running my GPUs in SLI. I'm thinking of keeping the Mixamp as my console gaming device and buying either the Omni, another external 5.1 card or an internal card. Not quite sure which route to go though.

 

[Stillhart]

  Stillhart,
How are you liking the Omni? Does the Omni>Optical Modi>M-Stage work well for music? I'm thinking of purchasing an Omni and Optimodi as well as the Vali for the ultimate PC virtual surround setup. You have it going from USB to Omni to Optical out on the Omni and then on to the Modi then out to the amp, correct?
 
Not sure whether to buy an internal or external sound card for my PC. I definitely have room for an internal as I'm not running my GPUs in SLI. I'm thinking of keeping the Mixamp as my console gaming device and buying either the Omni, another external 5.1 card or an internal card. Not quite sure which route to go though.

 
The simple answer is yes, it works VERY well for music.  The order you have things there is correct.
 
The more complicated answer is that I don't think the Modi is enough of an improvement over the Omni to validate the $100 price tag.  It is an improvement, but it's not dramatic.  If you already have the Omni, I'd recommend saving the money on the Modi.  Moving up into a more expensive price bracket is probably the way to go, but it seems weird to have a $300 DAC with a $120 Amp.  You're probably better off spending $200 on a used M-stage or Asgard and using the Omni for your DAC.
 
I'm going to keep mine for now because I am enjoying the sound, but I can definitely see myself upgrading in the future.
 
Regarding internal vs external sound cards... I basically got the Omni over the Z simply because it was cheaper.  They're basically the same thing.  I got mine "Like New" from AWD for $65.

 

[Murder Mike]

  Stillhart,
How are you liking the Omni? Does the Omni>Optical Modi>M-Stage work well for music? I'm thinking of purchasing an Omni and Optimodi as well as the Vali for the ultimate PC virtual surround setup. You have it going from USB to Omni to Optical out on the Omni and then on to the Modi then out to the amp, correct?
 
Not sure whether to buy an internal or external sound card for my PC. I definitely have room for an internal as I'm not running my GPUs in SLI. I'm thinking of keeping the Mixamp as my console gaming device and buying either the Omni, another external 5.1 card or an internal card. Not quite sure which route to go though.

 
If you can buy an internal Sound Blaster Z or X-fi Titanium for less than you can get an Omni for, I would do that. If you want to stick to Dolby Headphone, you can grab a Xonar DGX for even less. 

 

[Evshrug]

My Omni just returned from a loaning spree, also just last night finished reprogramming my "hotwired" wifi for my computer, and then this morning $1000 worth of mail packages arrived (just before work, didn't have time to open)...

It's interesting, going from using my Q701 straight out from my Recon3D USB (sometimes using the E12) for a few months to finally getting to use the Omni, I'm pretty comfortable saying the sound is sweeter and easier on the ears... with the Q701 just plugged straight in. I am again impressed by the Omni.

Soon I will also be chaining my optical DAC (one of the mail packages) to my Omni, and reconnecting my Tube Amp for the first time since moving, and I've got my K712 back (in the other mail package, along with another borrowed headphone for review), so hopefully the heavens will open up and rain "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" upon my spine

But seriously, my Omni plugged straight into my USB3 port on my desktop computer IS clearly an upgrade from the console processor/DACs. Those are no slouches and adequate for gaming, but the Omni is more fun And, I did not notice much difference going from SB Z to Omni. I say pick one of those two, since you can later upgrade as high as you want later with an Optical DAC and external amp. I chose the Omni because it's also Mac-compatible, so I can use it with whatever next computer I get or share with laptop users.

Only thing I've gotta figure out? How to plug in both the amp and DAC to clean power, plugging into my Monster power strip adds noisiness and weirdness.

 

[grumpy1471]

My Omni just returned from a loaning spree, also just last night finished reprogramming my "hotwired" wifi for my computer, and then this morning $1000 worth of mail packages arrived (just before work, didn't have time to open)...

It's interesting, going from using my Q701 straight out from my Recon3D USB (sometimes using the E12) for a few months to finally getting to use the Omni, I'm pretty comfortable saying the sound is sweeter and easier on the ears... with the Q701 just plugged straight in. I am again impressed by the Omni.

Soon I will also be chaining my optical DAC (one of the mail packages) to my Omni, and reconnecting my Tube Amp for the first time since moving, and I've got my K712 back (in the other mail package, along with another borrowed headphone for review), so hopefully the heavens will open up and rain "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" upon my spine

But seriously, my Omni plugged straight into my USB3 port on my desktop computer IS clearly an upgrade from the console processor/DACs. Those are no slouches and adequate for gaming, but the Omni is more fun

And, I did not notice much difference going from SB Z to Omni. I say pick one of those two, since you can later upgrade as high as you want later with an Optical DAC and external amp. I chose the Omni because it's also Mac-compatible, so I can use it with whatever next computer I get or share with laptop users.

Only thing I've gotta figure out? How to plug in both the amp and DAC to clean power, plugging into my Monster power strip adds noisiness and weirdness.

What optical DAC did you end up getting? You'll have to let me know how much it helps with the Omni. I want to know whether or not to buy a DAC as well when I end up ordering the Vali (it costs the same for shipping to order one Schiit product as it does to order two). 
 
Also, when I use my Mixamp with my K712s, the harshness of the highs seems to be increased a bit. Did you see a noticeable reduction in harshness with the tube amp and your AKGs? Does the Omni also reduce the harshness?

 

[conquerator2]

  What optical DAC did you end up getting? You'll have to let me know how much it helps with the Omni. I want to know whether or not to buy a DAC as well when I end up ordering the Vali (it costs the same for shipping to order one Schiit product as it does to order two). 
 
Also, when I use my Mixamp with my K712s, the harshness of the highs seems to be increased a bit. Did you see a noticeable reduction in harshness with the tube amp and your AKGs? Does the Omni also reduce the harshness?

I can confirm that warmer sources/amplifiers/op-amps/etc. do help to tame the highs in general [i.e. my K612s so the same would apply for K7XX or any other headphone].
Obviously tubes are classified as one of the warmer [if not warmest] sources but a few tubes make an exception to the rule [usually not the stock ones though, so getting a sound that is less warm usually requires tube rolling]

 

[benbenkr]

My Omni just returned from a loaning spree, also just last night finished reprogramming my "hotwired" wifi for my computer, and then this morning $1000 worth of mail packages arrived (just before work, didn't have time to open)...

It's interesting, going from using my Q701 straight out from my Recon3D USB (sometimes using the E12) for a few months to finally getting to use the Omni, I'm pretty comfortable saying the sound is sweeter and easier on the ears... with the Q701 just plugged straight in. I am again impressed by the Omni.

Soon I will also be chaining my optical DAC (one of the mail packages) to my Omni, and reconnecting my Tube Amp for the first time since moving, and I've got my K712 back (in the other mail package, along with another borrowed headphone for review), so hopefully the heavens will open up and rain "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" upon my spine

But seriously, my Omni plugged straight into my USB3 port on my desktop computer IS clearly an upgrade from the console processor/DACs. Those are no slouches and adequate for gaming, but the Omni is more fun

And, I did not notice much difference going from SB Z to Omni. I say pick one of those two, since you can later upgrade as high as you want later with an Optical DAC and external amp. I chose the Omni because it's also Mac-compatible, so I can use it with whatever next computer I get or share with laptop users.

Only thing I've gotta figure out? How to plug in both the amp and DAC to clean power, plugging into my Monster power strip adds noisiness and weirdness.

 
You can get a power filter like this - http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/amp/Power%20filter/PowerEN.htm
 
Don't need to nessasarily get the Audio-GD one as it is very expensive, something from APC will be fine.

 

[Evshrug]

Tubes aren't inherently warm... Cheap ones can be kinda wooly, but good NOS ones (steals are available on eBay!) can have a superior sense of detail and soundstage separation... But there's a lot more variety in tubes than in SS-amps.

Sometimes, you don't have to reduce the treble (via EQ or a dark amp) to avoid fatigue; sparkle isn't mutually exclusive from sweetness and smoothness.

 

[martin vegas]

Tubes aren't inherently warm... Cheap ones can be kinda wooly, but good NOS ones (steals are available on eBay!) can have a superior sense of detail and soundstage separation... But there's a lot more variety in tubes than in SS-amps.

Sometimes, you don't have to reduce the treble (via EQ or a dark amp) to avoid fatigue; sparkle isn't mutually exclusive from sweetness and smoothness.

We want to know what's in those little packages..put us all out of our misery!