Yes, being disappointed initially with the SZ2000, i was surprised to see such a performance with the HD800 !
Looking for DACs now... i think i should go for a stand alone unit with RCA out.... but i have no clue as to
how much i should spend to get a 80-90% of the performance. Should i bother with DSDs or just a quality DAC? Is there a significant difference in sound quality buying a DAC from $200 to $800 ?
Musical Fidelity V90 ($200) ? Audiolab M-DAC ($800) ? Audiolab Q-DAC ($400) ? iFi nano iDSD ($250) ? oppo HA-2 does not have an RCA out,and i am afraid that the Lehmann will not like that
very confused ...
one more thing, The HA-200 officially has a 3.2 x gain but some reviewers said in practice is more like 2 x which in fact is 6dB. But even if we say that 10dB is the correct gain for the HA-200.is still much less than the Lehmann which goes up to 20 dB.
This is a low-traffic thread, so we'll see how long we can get away with this off-topic dialog...
Again, I'm just one guy (with one opinion) and I've tried to qualify my tastes, learning that yours are a bit different - which is perfectly valid. We've learned that you prefer more bass energy than the HD800 delivers, so I feel as if I have to answer your questions for both the HD800 and all the headphones that aren't as revealing and intolerant as the HD800, including your bass-heavier JVCs.
If you're still interested in the HD800, I can say that I've only experienced two DACs that are worthy: The $1200 Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII (NOS DAC) and the $299 Oppo HA-2 (DAC amp). Every other DAC in my profile, currently owned and previously owned, is flat out
incompatible with the HD800, in my opinion, unless your one of those HD800 owners who smears the typically brittle treble that comes from oversampling DACS (non-NOS DACs) with a cheap tube amp or a really soft solid state amp - a strategy (OK, let's call it a taste) which makes no sense to me, as you could accomplish the same thing with an HD600.
And get this - for the HD800, my favorite DAC is the ES9018K2M in the $299 Oppo HA-2, not the Metrum Acoutsics Octave MkII. In fact, I'm using the portable HA-2's DAC with every amp and every headphone that I regularly use, whether desktop or portable. In my opinion, if you're looking for value in a DAC, then get the Oppo HA-2! It's USB receiver is far superior to the USB input of the Oppo HA-1, which is a little bit grainy, as heard with the HD800, even though it's fine with every other (less resolving) headphone. You can use the HA-2's DAC with a Windows or Mac machine or with an iDevice or Android as inputs - and the iDevices do not require a CCK - the HA-2 accepts direct input from iDevices. I also use it to pull FLAC files from a Sony NWZ-A17 DAP, bypassing the Sony's proprietary DAC and extremely weak amp.
iPod Touch 6 for streaming Tidal HiFi 44.1/16 FLACs to the Oppo HA-2's DAC (for both portable and desktop use with either the internal amp or an external amp).
Sony NWZ-A17 DAP, used strictly as a card reader with a terrific, bug-free UI, for playing 44.1/16 and 96/24 FLACs from 128GB microSD cards - with USB emulation digital output to the Oppo HA-2's DAC (for both portable and desktop use with either the internal amp or an external amp).
Regarding DSD, I can't hear the difference between any of the (very expensive and space-consuming) DSD files I've downloaded and 96/24 PCM files. And I also cannot hear any improvements in going to higher sampling rates than 96 kHz. For the record, 44.1/16 is much more difficult to convert to analog than higher sampling rates, with DSD being the easiest. So, there are a lot of cheap DSD-capable DACs out there that sound just as good with (expensive, space-consuming) DSD files as much more costly DSD-capable DACs that can do circles around the cheap DACs when converting (affordable, space-thrifty) 44.1/16 files.
Even the Metrum Acoutsics Octave MkII struggles with 44.1/16 files compared to 88/24 and 96/24 files - due to its NOS design. There are a lot of NOS DAC enthusiasts who make life easier for their DACs by up-sampling their 44.1/16 files to 88/24 (on the storage media) before playing them in their NOS DACs. In my opinion, a lot of really cheap sigma-delta DACs (like the ESS9023-based Stoner Acoustics UD100, the JDS Labs Objective DAC or Audioquest Dragonfly) also sound better when you "enable" them by up-sampling to 88/24 in advance. Again, 44.1/16 is that hard to do well. Of course, none of this may be detectable if you're using a soft amp or headphone that is not as resolving as the HD800.
So do you want to spend your money on hi-res files that consume a lot of storage -or- on a DAC that can do just as well with 44.1/16 files as it does with 96/24? I'll assume you'd prefer the latter, and then we enter into the question of how much bang for the buck you're seeking. My advice, if you're trying to satisfy the HD800, is to just get the Oppo HA-2 (and also enjoy it in many ways beyond what a dedicated desktop DAC can do.)
Regarding the HA-2's lack of RCA analog output: My Metrum Aurix (amp) has RCA inputs and I routinely drive it with the Oppo HA-2's 3.5mm Line Out jack (switch setting "C" in the photo, above):
http://www.amazon.com/Audioquest-Golden-Gate-Mini-to-RCA-1-0m/dp/B005VQNEOM
If you're talking about meeting the requirements of a less-resolving headphone, then you could get away with trying lesser DACs.
Regarding the gain of the Lehmann vs. that of the HA-200, my HD800 sounds great with only
1V rms Line Out of the Oppo HA-2 and the Metrum Aurix set to
either 10 dB or
0 dB gain. I wouldn't be able to use the 0 dB gain setting of the Aurix with far less efficient planars, like the LCD-2 rev.1. But for those, the more power you give them, the better they sound - which is why I use the Oppo HA-2's amp for that duty.
Buy it. Try it. Compare it. Keep it or sell it. Repeat, ad infinitum.
