Nice looking amp BUT 8000.00 is a little steep for me.

I experience the exact opposite you do. Im running my P7W through a Woo WA7 and WA7tp and hear ZERO hiss. In fact its deafining quiet.

About summed up my thoughts as well! Lol You know I heard the AK 380's Copper is actually mined exclusively by magical dwarfs and you can hear the difference! Lol

Not defensive just wary of getting into a pissing match over whom the better HP is. It's all subjective anyway.

This is going to turn into a Chevy vs Ford rivalry! Lol

I listen to a lot of jazz and dynamic type of jazz fusion / steely dan type stuff and I loved the Elears compared to anything Sennheiser 

I agree! Since I've been waiting for this fictional update I've saved and bought a Woo WA7 and WA7tp never the less an AK300. So now my DFR is totally outclassed and redundant. I really considering just selling it with the Apple adapter and calling it a day.

After slogging through all this scientific argument I must say I feel pretty good about my 48 year old hearing because I cant hear half the crap you folks are arguing about and therefore ignorance is bliss and these days Im very blistful! :)

I had the HD650's a while ago and gifted them to my 90 year old Dad. I never liked the Sennheiser sound but I do love the B+W P7w sound and the Elears. I have not heard the Utopias in person

I agree 100%. The law of diminishing return. I cant justify 4000.00 for earphones that arent 3000.00 better than the Elears. I just did the Woo WA7 and WA7tp with upgraded tubes, the Elears and dropped almost another grand on my AK300 so Im going to have to have to slow it way down before Im...

Would love something like a Chord Dave but without costing more than my Harley Davidson and the Science fiction looks.

I prefer a wee bit warm over neutral and more dynamic than flat. I listen to stuff like Steely Dan and jazz ,jazz fusion as opposed to symphonies. Budget for a DAC is around 2k and would like something in the 24/352 range.

I am considering purchase of a WA5 LE set up and was wondering what you folks that have the WA5 recommend for a DAC?

Yeah ummm If in his mind that approach works but Id put more trust in a more scientific approach as opposed to tuning sound while craving a cheese burger.

I agree 100%.  I went to the only place in CT that actually had a set of the Elears to audition them. Im a closed back type of guy and as a whole not impressed with open back cans BUT I must say that these cans sounded great and neutral to MY imperfect ears. I will be getting a set at the end of...

Ok so how does this info help me? lol I gather I'm going to have to spend another 699 just to get higher gain. As far as the JRiver syncing issue goes Im still trying to figure out why the darn thing wants to duplicate every file when I sync and why it wont play 24/352 and why it wont down...

Purchased my AK 300 from Moon Audio and it shipped quickly and had zero hassles. A real pleasure to deal with.

New portable rig as of Yesterdaay. Astell & Kern AK300 and Klipsch x20i IEMs

Running the 1.20CM Firmware. And running a Dragonfly Red on my iphone 7 plus was deafining above 80 volume

I even got to knock the volume to 140 to get it loud enough and that's with a +5db on the EQ.

My AK300 just came in yesterday. What I notice so far? Well for one Jriver runs into errors every time I try to sync it with the AK300. And so after screwing around for hours I still can't get it to sync all the way. The sound from what I did get to sync is fabulous BUT I damn near have to max...

Gee on the iPhone 7 plus I have to jack the volume almost 90% on the DFR to get it loud with my Klipsch x20i's. Is this a Android issue only???

I keep hearing of a firmware update. "Its coming soon" To me its NOT even breathing hard yet so I am paying no attention to the "coming soon" hype. I imagine it will eventually show up. Just like the UPDATED windows 10 drivers for my Woo WA7s it probably depends on a 3rd party developer ( xmos...

You mean the infamous software update from Audioquest thats over a month late??

Wish granted but you run into financial problems caused by Mark Zuckerberg and you are forced to sell the island to him or North Korea for pennies on the dollar.   Wish there were not so many "snowflakes" on Head-fi