Moondrop Line W 3.5(headphone side) to 4.4 cable.

Talking about wars... Do you remember when a Italian guy called Kevin Gilmore a technician? :L3000:

That is extremely unlikely. They switched DAC/AMP chip for 131. This time, they spend a lot of time to do 4 in one SIP. If they develop another one it likely will take much longer and will be W5 or W6.

Got to try LCD-5 for an hour, rather disappointing. I feel all that made LCD-4 special is gone now and in exchange you get a difference FR and lower weight.

Benchmark DAC3 to HPA4 and WA22 and Topping D90 to A90.

I agree if you EQ the bass a lot it can be very rumbly, but it really loses tightness and the controlled punch. If rumble is what you want, EQ can get you that, if you want a base that can stay tight, punchy and can still rumble when boosted with EQ, look to HE6/SE.

That can't be done. Unless your hub takes optical input and convert it to USB, which in most cases is a bad idea.

In term of sound signature I feel V2 is closer to HD800s, it got bigger sound stage, leaner sound etc. I would actually lament the discontinue of V2 if HD800/S does not exist.

Now you got a great point, one thing hub would help is power. Same W4 connect to my phone was unable to draw as much power as when it connect to my laptop. This whole clean up signal thing is unproven but the power difference is easily measured.

Good idea, but unless you measured this unit, it could be adding jitters and other crap to the signal...

I completely agree, HEKSE or any of the HE1000 does NOT take EQ well. Even just EQ the bass I had to to careful, I found anything more than 3db boost on the low end will start to make the bass less tight, less controlled and borderline boomy, this is true for SE, V2 and Stealth(never had V1 in...

2 completely different classes of products, not even comparable, RME is built better and has so many great functions.

RME pairs with just about anything well to me. It's also extremely well built and not too expansive.

Chord is also a rather old design, if you want newest and highest spec DAC chip, get a topping.

RME is the way to go.

If you like songs that only poor recording exists. I would suggest getting a LCD-3 instead. Any of the HE1000 or even Arya is too detail focused for this purpose.

Two Gain level both too high for vast majority of headphones. If they have 3 gain level like A90 would be great.

What DAC are you using when you game with your HEKSE?

You are entitled to your subjective opinion, but objective facts like lower impedance and higher sensitivity of Stealth over V2 cannot be explained by simple change of magnet's shape.

Not true, Susvara has the gold trace tech from HE6, one reason why it's so hard to drive. While SE is easiest to drive of all HE1000 Physical difference looking from their website: V2 = Asymmetrical Non Stealth magnets, SE = Symmetrical Stealth magnets, Stealth = Asymmetrical Stealth magnets.

No, H1000 Stealth is a direct upgrade to HE1000 V2 as it's based on HE1000 V2 and not based on Arya. Also while being a direct upgrade to V2, the HEK Stealth sounds a bit more like SE. I wouldn't say Any of the three HEK is really close to Arya or any of them is completely different from Arya.

If you want to stay Hifi Man, HE-6 SE/V2 is very very different. About ZMF, and most of their selections are above 2k, and I personally usually avoid the lowest end headphones from a brand. Get He1000Se and sell Arya make sense. Unless you already heard HEK Stealth and like SE more, I would...

If you are keeping Arya, a HE-6 SE/V2, Focal Clear or HD800s. Heard good things about audaze MM500 but still looking for a chance to hear it myself. Any of the HEK is still somewhat close to Arya, you are not getting something completely different. Another Arya is even worse idea unless you...

They are so close in term of technical ability it's really a preference thing. You need to hear both. I was about to buy SE because I know I like SE more than V2 and some of the new Stealth review saying how SE are so much better in term of details an resolution that it's on another level. Then...

I see. In that case, good luck finding anything smaller and cheaper.