Just a comment. I have never found the T1 to have any sparkle… I found them warmly natural sounding. Perhaps the sparkle is coming from your electronics. Just a thought.

That is a beautiful rig.

That is an analog to digital converter for guitars. You have a very strange collection of stuff.

The Gjallarhorn’s description sounds interesting. Give us a report when you get them. They look easy to drive and have high sensitivity.

The Topping is an amp and a DAC. You should experiment with the equipment you have in various combination. Learn how to connect them, and judge differences you observe.

The description of the M-12 is off-putting. They are designed to studio monitors... be extremely revealing... for a music lover this translates into emphasize the high frequencies to show mastering, venue and details. So, in particular if you have less than stellar equipment driving them it’s...

I think everyone is trying to be helpful here. High end audiophile headphones costing $1,300 are made to be connected to a big expensive rig designed to power them. Many of us here have them and are aware of the pitfalls of really good headphones without the associated gear. So it brings up the...

OK. What happens in the 'breaking in' period? The sound becomes less crisp, more natural. The bass tightens. The noise floor drops which makes the soundstage open up. Many of the sounds become smooth sounding instead of rough.

@Strayngs ”THe sum of the story is they both sound amazing fed with high end stuff....I just find it fascinating that your system makes them them sound so similar And in mine they are so different.” Yes, both headphones do sound amazing. When I swapped the headphones around all the different...

@Strayngs I am not familiar with your equipment. But think about it. Both Sennheiser and Focal have made all out attempts at perfect reproduction of the input signal. So, if given the same input signal, shouldn’t they sound very similar? How could one sound more trebly? They did something...

@stayngs “Curious if you mean there is not much difference in the treble or in the sound all together. I find that the Utopia is a vastly different headphone than the 800s. Anyways you give great advice to the OP” I was surprised myself. Basically every aspect... except the soundstage was...

If you are truly looking at 800s as an option then you should consider spending a thousand on a headamp DAC and the rest on headphones. Sennheiser are good but as mentioned hard to drive. Perhaps Woo fireflies / and Sennheiser Hd with what you have left the HD 300 series or there bouts. The...

I have to agree. In general, desktop DACs are much better than even very high end DAPs. I have a A&K SP1000 and it is good for travel but all my deskops have been better.

Glad to hear things are improving. It is very frustrating to spend money and not get a positive experience. With something that sounds good now hopefully you can forget about equipment for a while and just enjoy your system. You have some good equipment there.

Yes, definitely, it is complicated. The implementation in each device matters as well as the interactions. While I don’t know... since you would have to have long-term experience with many devices. It’s just a generalization intended to help simplify the world. Ultimately you have to listen. But...

Whether to use USB or AES/ SPDIF varies from system to system. Since USB has the DAC re-time the bitstream and the others use the bitstream as it comes from the streamer, the component with a better clock (over Simplified I am sure) is likely to sound better. For instance my Aurender WE20se AES...

Sounds like you really have a challenge... sounds like the components may not be synergistic as you said. I would like to suggest that when possible to acquire a good streamer. I highly recommend an Aurender. I own a couple... I used to own an Auralic Aries G2. while this is easier to advise...

Thank you, you are correct. I moved it.

Wrong thread.

Sorry to hear how disappointed you are with the DAC. Since a DAC is a low power device you don’t need to spend on a large current design, but do want a cord with noice reduction. A friend of mine reached out to Shunyata and the actually talked him out of a very expensive cord and into this one...

I have used my Utopias with a bunch of different amplifiers. While because of their efficiency they sound good with my high-end A&K SP1000 (with the add-on amp), they sound a bit sterile. Put a tube amp behind them and they sound a lot more natural, put a massive solid state amp and slam...

I agree. I have never heard of such a thing. There would quickly become a mater of replacements when they change models. Then they would have to keep a large inventory of old drivers for potential warrant. I have worked in high tech manufacturing for 40 years. It moves on..

I would think / hope one would never need a warranty twice. I have had more than a half dozen high end headphones and never had an issue with any of them... which is the way high end products should work.

I have never experienced a piece of equipment sounding worse after breakin. I will say it is very difficult to hear breakin on inexpensive equipment and very easy and completely reproducible on high end equipment. It is like a fine instrument the more sensitive the instrument to more obvious all...

Glad to hear the discussions calmed down to thoughtful. People's tastes change over time. Music is incredibly complex if you attempt to take an analytical approach. There is the treble, bass, mid-range, balance, slam... etc. We all heard something when we were younger that interested us in...