That I can easily agree. For an high end open back, the HD800S or a Focal Elear is very reasonable in the current market. Sad but true. Denon's new flagship D7200 is leading the way to non-insane money closed back, imo.
What made my 800S to die for was getting a R2R DAC instead of a Delta Sigma DAC....major difference! I use to tell people that I could not hear the Harshness & Digital Glare of the ESS Sabre DAC in my Oppo HA-1 and my Oppo 105 Disc player. ...until I got a new DAC.....mine is the Yggy (Schiit Audio Yggrdasil) some of you may have heard about. The difference was dramatic and startling!!~!~!!!
I love my 800S with my new setup it has all the Bass I want and a glorious sound stage! Vocals are also startling and like you are there in the room with the vocalist!!! The Yggy has given new dimensions to my speaker listening as well!
What made my 800S to die for was getting a R2R DAC instead of a Delta Sigma DAC....major difference! I use to tell people that I could not hear the Harshness & Digital Glare of the ESS Sabre DAC in my Oppo HA-1 and my Oppo 105 Disc player. ...until I got a new DAC.....mine is the Yggy (Schiit Audio Yggrdasil) some of you may have heard about. The difference was dramatic and startling!!~!~!!!
I love my 800S with my new setup it has all the Bass I want and a glorious sound stage! Vocals are also startling and like you are there in the room with the vocalist!!! The Yggy has given new dimensions to my speaker listening as well!
About a year and a half ago I got my HD800S and Bimby multipib at about the same time, so not sure of comparison to the past. But I absolutely love my system. Yggy is one of the highest reviewed DACs in the world. I don't think you can do better, with the possible except of upgrading to Schiit's USB Gen5 if you use USB. I will probably be upgrading to Gumby sometime in the future. HD800S RULES
What made my 800S to die for was getting a R2R DAC instead of a Delta Sigma DAC....major difference! I use to tell people that I could not hear the Harshness & Digital Glare of the ESS Sabre DAC in my Oppo HA-1 and my Oppo 105 Disc player. ...until I got a new DAC.....mine is the Yggy (Schiit Audio Yggrdasil) some of you may have heard about. The difference was dramatic and startling!!~!~!!!
I love my 800S with my new setup it has all the Bass I want and a glorious sound stage! Vocals are also startling and like you are there in the room with the vocalist!!! The Yggy has given new dimensions to my speaker listening as well!
People say that headphones is the biggest upgrade. I would say multibit DAC is a close second.
I prefer a mid-fi hifiman HE-400i through a balanced Yggdrasil/Ragnarok stack instead of HD-800s through a single ended Hegel HD12.
The Yggdrasil more than makes up for the crap highs/upper mids of the HE-400i(crap in my opinion).
That being said. I haven't tried any other r2r dacs other than the Yggdrasil and I'm itching to try the HD-800s with one.
About a year and a half ago I got my HD800S and Bimby multipib at about the same time, so not sure of comparison to the past. But I absolutely love my system. Yggy is one of the highest reviewed DACs in the world. I don't think you can do better, with the possible except of upgrading to Schiit's USB Gen5 if you use USB. I will probably be upgrading to Gumby sometime in the future. HD800S RULES
I run Tidal in exclusive mode, but can't really say if that makes a difference in SQ. What does make a significant improvement is using the USB bypass function of my ASUS soundcard, which bypasses USB entirely and feeds Bimby with coax. If I keep Bimby for a while I will either upgrade it to Schiit's USB Gen 5 or buy an Eitr and see how that compares to the ASUS.
Just you guys know.....My digital files begin life in a 12 VDC MAC Mini > (USB Out) Audiobyte Hydra Z DDC> (AES In)Yggy>Oppo HA-1> HD 800S . I will get the GEN 5 USB DIY install for my Bimby/Jot >Audioengine 5+ Active speakers setup in my office!
Have been using the HD800S for around a week now. I am glad to report that I never once encountered the harshness issues that pushed me away from the HD800 and T1.
If they are brand new, they will sound better after 100 hours of music be pumped through them.....But you being a Stax owner you must be familiar with break-in......almost all Brand New electronics sound better after 100 hours of use...IMO...
If they are brand new, they will sound better after 100 hours of music be pumped through them.....But you being a Stax owner you must be familiar with break-in......almost all Brand New electronics sound better after 100 hours of use...IMO...
Nope.....I have had Speaker wires sound absolutely horrid right out of the packaging. Took over two full weeks to get them back to where I was with the old wires then another week before I noticed a substantial difference in timbre and voicing.....definitely Not in my head... My Yggy took almost a month before it started sounding very sweet....As always....YMMV
I run Tidal in exclusive mode, but can't really say if that makes a difference in SQ. What does make a significant improvement is using the USB bypass function of my ASUS soundcard, which bypasses USB entirely and feeds Bimby with coax. If I keep Bimby for a while I will either upgrade it to Schiit's USB Gen 5 or buy an Eitr and see how that compares to the ASUS.
On the yggy the exclusive mode makes quite a big difference, makes the yggy change its sample rate to match the input. It's easy to hear the change in SQ. I'm not sure if that's the only reason the difference is audible, so that's why I asked
Nope.....I have had Speaker wires sound absolutely horrid right out of the packaging. Took over two full weeks to get them back to where I was with the old wires then another week before I noticed a substantial difference in timbre and voicing.....definitely Not in my head... My Yggy took almost a month before it started sounding very sweet....As always....YMMV
Nope.....I have had Speaker wires sound absolutely horrid right out of the packaging. Took over two full weeks to get them back to where I was with the old wires then another week before I noticed a substantial difference in timbre and voicing.....definitely Not in my head... My Yggy took almost a month before it started sounding very sweet....As always....YMMV
The Yggdrasil gets factory burned in and doesn't need it. What it does need though is to reach optimal temperature and that may take a while. How long? Long enough that it's easier to just leave it on and never turn it off.
The ragnarok only needs about 30mins. The yggy, a lot more..
As someone else said in another thread, isn't it funny how "burn in" always results in improvements in sound? You never hear anyone say: they sounded great the first hour but crappy after 100 hours! Sorry, but I am skeptic too regarding appreciable and objectively measured changes in sound after burn in.
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