[loki993]

Asgard 3 what DAC and headphones?

Had a JDS Element, first generation...It was flat. It produced tons of clean power but the power it provided was clinical, un engaging and not musical. It basically sucked all the life and fun out of the music. It taught me that I dont like analytical or clinical amps. Also from researching JDS this is basically their house sound so I think JDS stuff just isnt for me.

Magni 3 and a Modi multibit...the schiit stack. The sound was just too dark, to ...far away sounding...it had great depth but everything sounded a bit distant, it was definitely better then the element still but I needed to bring everything closer. Is that what a laid back sounds like? If so I dont like it. I added an eitr and it helped by adding some dynamics, some better separation and clarity, a fair bit actually, but everything still felt distant. It was also a rev 1 modi multibit and that may have been an issue too but again I haven't heard a v2 to see if there was any discernible difference to my ears.

So Im not sure another modi multibit is the answer for a DAC.

a bifrost 2 is too expensive, Im not interested in spending 700 dollars on a dac regardless of how good it is. Thre isnt anything schiit has in between the modi and bifrost

No topping stuff, I dont like it and I wont buy it. Any suggestions for topping will be ignored.

Im using the K7xx right now but I want something with more bass, more clarity and overall more engaging sound.

dac Im looking at an SDAC maybe to keep things cheap but I could go more up to say 300 for something nice.

Headphones I dont even know probably up to 400 too but again id like to keep things relative cheap unless its for something really good.

 

[Monsterzero]

You can look into some of the Audio GD amp/DACs. The R2R-11 has a warm,engaging,musical sound to it,and it wont break the bank.

As far as headphones go,what type of music are you into? Open backs or closed?

 

[loki993]

I dont want to deal with the back and forth the china thing either if there is an issue with the DAC.

There arent a alot of really great lower cost options I can think of off the top of my head...there is the sdca, mimby, which I may not like, jds stuff which I know I dont like I guess I can check massdrop to see what the new hotness over there is.

I like open usually. I dont have a need for isolation so I usually go for the extra soundstage. I do like bass though so I know closed is better for that. That said I tried to listen to my old DT770s a while back and if it was warm at all in my room they made my head sweat something fierce....its like wearing earmuffs. So I loved the sound of them but I had to go back to my k7xxs because I was sweating so bad.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I dont want to deal with the back and forth the china thing either if there is an issue with the DAC.

Violectric V281. Has a lot of power, has the kind of "slightly err on the side of warm than make a headphone with a peak between 2500hz and 10,000hz sound worse" sound.

 

[loki993]

Violectric V281. Has a lot of power, has the kind of "slightly err on the side of warm than make a headphone with a peak between 2500hz and 10,000hz sound worse" sound.

so you're recommending a 2200 dollar amp before I put a DAC in it? Thats a far cry from a 200 dollar Asgard 2

 

[ProtegeManiac]

so you're recommending a 2200 dollar amp before I put a DAC in it? Thats a far cry from a 200 dollar Asgard 2

Violectric V200 - the tonal qualities you want, not overdone, still get comparable power. Just not as much as the V281's output (which is already double the V200's).

If you don't mind a little less power than the Magni3 but get more refinement, there's the Meier Jazz FF. Forgot the math on it but if you convert Meier's figures on it IIRC it comes to about half the Magni3's power. If you get loud without distortion on the JDS Element, the Jazz FF isn't going to run out of power.

You can use any decent DAC as long as you don't have any USB power or software issues. Anything with good feedback here is likely to not have severe issues that will be immediately noticeable. And unless you can really notice imaging improvements theres's not a lot of difference between decent DACs.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

I dont want to deal with the back and forth the china thing either if there is an issue with the DAC.

There arent a alot of really great lower cost options I can think of off the top of my head...there is the sdca, mimby, which I may not like, jds stuff which I know I dont like I guess I can check massdrop to see what the new hotness over there is.

I like open usually. I dont have a need for isolation so I usually go for the extra soundstage. I do like bass though so I know closed is better for that. That said I tried to listen to my old DT770s a while back and if it was warm at all in my room they made my head sweat something fierce....its like wearing earmuffs. So I loved the sound of them but I had to go back to my k7xxs because I was sweating so bad.

A new headphone will bring the most benefit.

Not without a bias, i'd recommend the Quad Era-1 to reenjoy your listen experience.
There's no need for much power, but the more the better, in my experience.

 

[loki993]

Those most certainly look like a nice headphone, but a bit on the expensive side for me right now

 

[pichu]

Those most certainly look like a nice headphone, but a bit on the expensive side for me right now

Ill try to add something to the convo, but dismissing Schiit, JDS, Topping, AudioGD/ chinese sellers, you're making this hard when you consider your budget. With those requirements, go for the SDAC and pair with Eddie Current ZDT jr and 6xx. thats a clean setup until youre able to spend couple grand or more. ZDT jr will help make your music dynamic, but 6xx will keep everything clean, and SDAC wont color the sound crazy.

Cheers,

Jonathan

 

[loki993]

You are right I am and that wasn't my intention really. Actually a bit of an update I think maybe the issue I was having with the Schiit stack was my headphones. The more Ive read about thing the more I see that the AKGs have some FR oddness that can make them sound distant, which sounds exactly like what was happening on the stack. That said oddly enough this wasn't something I noticed on any of the other amps or DACs Ive used. Could it have been the other amps for whatever reason weren't capable of resolving that? Maybe but unlikely, but for some reason the Schiit did.

Also initially I wanted to get away from the schiit house sound just to hear something different, the most obvious choice in my mind is liquid spark and an SDAC. Or maybe a THX AAA 789 and like an SDAC but Ive read that THX may be a bit too linear and clinical for my taste so Ive shied away from spending the 350 to 400 it requires to get one.

but if my headphones had be messing it up the whole time I need to try again.

Also I thought I sold my Modi and I didn't so Im sending it back to schiit to have the firmware updated and I picked up a cheapish used Magni 3+. So basically Im giving the stack another chance. That said I need some phone to use with them so I can actually see of the real issue are the AKGs.


So this is a search for headphones now so with that in mind and this:

"more bass, more clarity and overall more engaging sound. relativity close in presentation" likely open back. Hopefully under 400 dollars, used is ok, 200 range is better because I may be able to try multiples.