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New HD 800 very different than the old HD 800
Jun 14, 2014 at 1:27 AM Post #316 of 425
lugbug1 said:
Matrix M-stage would be my recommendation. Other say that the Schiit Vali is a good and cheap starting point. You could go for a little Dot MKIII but then there is the price of finding good tubes to replace the cheap stock ones...    
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Oh nice suggestions. I looked into all of them. I'm a middle aged guitar played, totally aware and weary of the NOS tube fiend.

I lately switched to the Kemper profiling amp, never thought I'd start selling my analog gear!

I'm no stranger to burning in guitar speakers and having that magic moment. I believe my 800s just kicked into another level of magnificence last night. I think the UA headphone amp deserves more credit than I afford it.

I'll wait to save and get something rather more spectacular soon. I'm pretty satisfied right now. Gotta hand it to the Germans, between the Kemper, Sennheiser and Universal Audio they got me covered.

Thanks and Cheers!
 
Jun 14, 2014 at 7:04 AM Post #317 of 425
twangsta said:
Oh nice suggestions. I looked into all of them. I'm a middle aged guitar played, totally aware and weary of the NOS tube fiend.

I lately switched to the Kemper profiling amp, never thought I'd start selling my analog gear!

I'm no stranger to burning in guitar speakers and having that magic moment. I believe my 800s just kicked into another level of magnificence last night. I think the UA headphone amp deserves more credit than I afford it.

I'll wait to save and get something rather more spectacular soon. I'm pretty satisfied right now. Gotta hand it to the Germans, between the Kemper, Sennheiser and Universal Audio they got me covered.

Thanks and Cheers!
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I'm a middle aged guitar player too :)
 
It's good that you are getting satisfaction at this point because this hobby can get very expensive. IME, although the HD800's scalability is well documented, you can still get a very good sound by not spending too much. I'm very happy with my vintage NAD amps and Arcam/Beresford dacs. IMO once you get to a certain point, you have to spend a lot more to get little improvement. 
 
beerchug.gif

 
Jun 15, 2014 at 6:21 AM Post #319 of 425
lugbug1 said:
I'm a middle aged guitar player too :)

It's good that you are getting satisfaction at this point because this hobby can get very expensive. IME, although the HD800's scalability is well documented, you can still get a very good sound by not spending too much. I'm very happy with my vintage NAD amps and Arcam/Beresford dacs. IMO once you get to a certain point, you have to spend a lot more to get little improvement. 

:beerchug:
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Hey hello there!

Totally agree. I'veto stop thinking about more gear.

Kemper killed my GAS for amps and stomboxes.
Lentz killed my GAS for guitars.

I'm. A happy camper :D
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 3:11 AM Post #324 of 425
rb2013 said:
How do the HD800s sound on the Boombox? :wink:
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:rolleyes:

That's just it, I have no way to express myself in terms of gear folks here are familiar with.

I am satisfied to say the least. I have a theory which I will test against a lyr 2 soon, doh! Damn you :D

It goes like this. The AU is loud, I hardly go past 12 on the dial. The UAD DSP is as good as it get with the best plugins in pro audio. I sometimes use a bit of the Pultec EQ vEry low down to add a bit of thud. This is an expensive test but I'm getting the amp to AB my theory; that a bit of pro audio magic could give me similar results. Would love to know if anyone's tried this out.

I don't believe I'll be looking for NOS tubes again.!
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 11:02 AM Post #325 of 425
twangsta said:
:rolleyes:

That's just it, I have no way to express myself in terms of gear folks here are familiar with.

I am satisfied to say the least. I have a theory which I will test against a lyr 2 soon, doh! Damn you :D

It goes like this. The AU is loud, I hardly go past 12 on the dial. The UAD DSP is as good as it get with the best plugins in pro audio. I sometimes use a bit of the Pultec EQ vEry low down to add a bit of thud. This is an expensive test but I'm getting the amp to AB my theory; that a bit of pro audio magic could give me similar results. Would love to know if anyone's tried this out.

I don't believe I'll be looking for NOS tubes again.!
Click to expand...
Time for a new shelf! He he! I played around with an EM 1616m and Steinberg's Wavelab 6.0. It was fun, but ss has a flatish sound stage compared to tubes. The Lyr with good tubes is way better! :)
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 12:07 PM Post #326 of 425
twangsta said:
rolleyes.gif


That's just it, I have no way to express myself in terms of gear folks here are familiar with.

I am satisfied to say the least. I have a theory which I will test against a lyr 2 soon, doh! Damn you
biggrin.gif


It goes like this. The AU is loud, I hardly go past 12 on the dial. The UAD DSP is as good as it get with the best plugins in pro audio. I sometimes use a bit of the Pultec EQ vEry low down to add a bit of thud. This is an expensive test but I'm getting the amp to AB my theory; that a bit of pro audio magic could give me similar results. Would love to know if anyone's tried this out.

I don't believe I'll be looking for NOS tubes again.!
Click to expand...

LOL dw I see them KRK's and the Iso Acoustics. Try out a DM Source if you ever need something like that. Sublime with HD800. It also drives my monitors perfectly.
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 1:39 PM Post #327 of 425
Don't you dare lol my KRKs :D
I need the UAD2 stuff. The KRKs are very pleasing with the kemper and single coils.
But yeah they're boom boxes.

I might have a bunch of NOS 5157s around, use them in my Ghia.
But I'm thinking of just getting an asgard2. If I listen to you guys I'll be homeless.
Is there really such a massive difference?
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 2:15 PM Post #328 of 425
twangsta said:
Don't you dare lol my KRKs
biggrin.gif

I need the UAD2 stuff. The KRKs are very pleasing with the kemper and single coils.
But yeah they're boom boxes.

I might have a bunch of NOS 5157s around, use them in my Ghia.
But I'm thinking of just getting an asgard2. If I listen to you guys I'll be homeless.
Is there really such a massive difference?
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Not sure about your other gear, but the DM Source kills the Asgard2. The built in DAC goes up against $2000 DACs. I'm not saying that as an exaggeration. I personally liked it over NAD M51, Bryston BDA-2 and Arcam D33. The Source has an excellent DAC, very neutral and natural. Nothing sounds fatiguing on it, unless the recording is really bad. Great controller as well. It will improve your KRK's as well, not to mention that out of the 30+ headphones I've tried so far with the Source, the HD800 is the best so far. The HD800 + Source is one of the most neutral setups I've ever heard. Yet it sounds exceptional for casual listening as well. The treble is so well controlled on the HD800. The Asgard cannot really satisfy the HD800 IMO.
 
If you could afford it, I'd hands down go for it.
 
Jun 17, 2014 at 3:54 PM Post #329 of 425
Too many choices, think I'll take a some time out to figure all this out. The thing is I'm writing form India, auditioning high end headphone gear is a near impossibility, spending so much sight unseen is a bit daunting, while having done it in the past with other gear, the results haven't always been favourable.
 
I'll give it some more thought, more research etc. I have an RME interface that's got a commonly well regarded DAC, I'll concentrate my efforts around an amp, after which I'll know one DAC from the other to start with.
 
Thanks for all the help folks.
 
Back on topic, was there any consensus about the old vs new HD800s?
 
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