[totungs]

For French or European Afficionados : you can experience the HE1 in Paris, until october in the Peninsula Hotel..

In the lobby, near the restaurants... no appointment needed since nobody knows about it : no marketing anywhere about it. The problem is that the provided source si a "small" T+A (T+A Elektroakustik) CD player. You may bring in your portable source - don't forget your cable, they only have a 10USD poor RCA cable)...otherwise the listening session could be disapointing.
I'll take time in another moment to share my listening impression, and comparison to the former Orpheus..
No queue, no appointment.. direct road to Heaven.

Enjoy !
TP

 

[raypin]

Most Dave owners seems to prefer the USB input which is the only input with GI. Have you test it?

Mm..With other systems, yes. I try to use the DAVE usb input as much as possible.

 

[chinsettawong]

Hi Raypin,

I have a KG T2 and SR009 here in Bangkok, Thailand. If you wanna come and test them, you're welcome to. You can also try out my DIY headphones too.

 

[raypin]

Mm...thanks for the invite. Maybe later this year. Love to visit Bangkok.

 

[Matez]

if were to say that i think the he 1's dac is "right up there with the rest" without having tried it, then my opinion would be about as informed as yours

I merely wanted to say that in case of integrated solutions there's always some trade-off somewhere. And knowing how well today's best DACs sound and what they need to perform so (power supply and output stage can be huuuuge), I simply don't see that happening in HE1. Yes, I know, theorycrafting in audio is a no-go in general and in 99% scenarios I'm as far from this as I possibly can. Still, when it comes down to sources, well, I've heard many great ones, I own an amazing one and am aware that it needs certain things to deliver what it delivers. There's no way around it. If HE1 sported, say, circuitry from Dave, Aqua Formula or mid-tier TotalDAC, I'd be silent

But OK, I get your point. If one day I'll get surprised by HE1's d/a part, I'll say here in bold letters that I was dead wrong. You have my word

 

[raypin]

Mm...audition the HE 1 extensively before jumping to that conclusion. You will change your mind. Guaranteed.

 

[bmichels]

Mm...audition the HE 1 extensively before jumping to that conclusion. You will change your mind. Guaranteed.

Do you mean that the internal DAC is up to the task ?

 

[up late]

I merely wanted to say that in case of integrated solutions there's always some trade-off somewhere. And knowing how well today's best DACs sound and what they need to perform so (power supply and output stage can be huuuuge), I simply don't see that happening in HE1. Yes, I know, theorycrafting in audio is a no-go in general and in 99% scenarios I'm as far from this as I possibly can. Still, when it comes down to sources, well, I've heard many great ones, I own an amazing one and am aware that it needs certain things to deliver what it delivers. There's no way around it. If HE1 sported, say, circuitry from Dave, Aqua Formula or mid-tier TotalDAC, I'd be silent

But OK, I get your point. If one day I'll get surprised by HE1's d/a part, I'll say here in bold letters that I was dead wrong. You have my word

well hearing is believing in this hobby. i hope that you have the opportunity to test your preconceptions about the he 1's dac implementation in the foreseeable future.

 

[Matez]

Mm...audition the HE 1 extensively before jumping to that conclusion. You will change your mind. Guaranteed.

Not a conclusion as this would require me to have a listen as you wrote, but my mindset towards d/a circuitry in integrated headphone decks mixed with some guessing game, that's all.

Edit: ... and my daily DAC is crazy good

well hearing is believing in this hobby. i hope that you have the opportunity to test your preconceptions about the he 1's dac implementation in the foreseeable future.

You betcha. I look forward to that.

 

[Articnoise]

Not a conclusion as this would require me to have a listen as you wrote, but my mindset towards d/a circuitry in integrated headphone decks mixed with some guessing game, that's all.

Edit: ... and my daily DAC is crazy good

Ok, what DAC do you have and which other DACs have you compare it too?

 

[mulder01]

Everyone looked at the DAVE when it first came out and underestimated it's ability to drive headphones well, but people that have actually tried it, have been surprised by what they've heard. So if the Dave's amp section (although it seems like it's just thrown in for convenience) is up to the task, then maybe the HE1's DAC section is up to the task too. You would hope a company with world class engineers working on a cost-no-object project should have a fair idea of what they're doing.

 

[ubs28]

@raypin

How does the HE-1 sound in comparison to the Chord Dave + Focal Utopia?

Is the Focal Utopia + Chord Dave bad or is it still listenable next to the HE-1?

I was thinking about buying the HE-1 when I heard it, but I wasn't sure how much better it was than my current setup (I couldn't do a direct comparison between the two )

 

[Ali-Pacha]

Chord are very energetic gears all around (that's what make them very impressive on first contact), and Utopia are also very punchy cans. HE1 are smooth e-stat cans, so I doubt you can really compare both.

Ali

 

[raypin]

Mm...I have not touched my other headphones (including the Utopia and Stax 009) since gettIng the HE 1 last month. Will do so once I've grown tired with the HE 1.

 

[Matez]

Ok, what DAC do you have and which other DACs have you compare it too?

LampizatOr Golden Gate, fully upgraded. It was compared to AMR DP-777SE, COS Engineering D1, Metrum Pavane, TotalDAC d1-integral-headphone, LampizatOr Atlantic and old Level7, Audio-Gd Master7, PS Audio DirectStreamDAC and some other less expensive sources and this is the list of what I actually had heard at my place.