After extensive auditioning I just preferred the HD800+Trilogy 933 over anything else, other than Stax, possibly. I didn't find that just 'going balanced' per se offered any improvement over SE.

A quick thank you & recommendation for the replacement HD800 cable supplied to me by Custom Cans. Superb build quality, sound & customer service. When used with my Trilogy 933, there is a noticeable SQ Improvement over the original Sennheiser cable. :)

On my desk at work I have a D90 connected to an A90 with short XLRs. The A90 was driving Beyerdynamics T1, which I modified to be balanced (4 pin XLR) or HD800. I'm often alone in the office so I also have a Rotel power amp driving KEF Q350 speakers. My intention was to use the D90 as a fixed...

Thanks, but I love my Trilogy amps. My 933 is probably my end game amp.

After owning the A90+D90 for a while, it's unfortunately time for me to say goodbye to the A90. Not because it's not good; it is. Just because I now definitely prefer single ended, class A amplification for my HD800 & T1 headphones. The A90 is a very good product. My only criticism is that I...

Thank you all. Really useful. I've found an old (smelly) pair of T1 1st generations, which I'm refurbishing. They match quite well. But I will be auditioning all those above too.

I've been living with an A90 on my work desk for a while now. I love my HD800 best but since I need some sound isolation at work I paired it with my semi-open DT880 600Ω and an old Audiophonics PCM5102 DAC that was lying around & had served me well. (I know, very unbalanced matching.)...

I currently use HD800 & DT880 600Ω driven by Trilogy 931 (adore them), Topping A90 & an Emotiva A-100 solely used as h/p amp ( à la Zeos). Mainly classical music, very dynamic. While being a lovely, clean sounding little amp, the A90 struggles to drive my headphones well, even at high gain...

In my silent office, my colleagues complained about hearing my music when I used my HD800 but are quite happy when I use my DT880.

Agreed. I use the Little Dot Mk3. Now you've got me itching to try the 4.

True. If you want an amp just for the DT880 600ohm then the A-100 is almost certainly the best value. This is the combo I will use in my office. But I feel the A90 offers more for those who already have a range of cans, including those with balanced cables.

I just spent a lovely day listening to DT880 600Ω & HD800 powered by various amps, including Trilogy 931, Topping A90, Little Dot Mk3 & Emotiva A-100. I find the DT880 stunningly good headphones at the price but I still wouldn't part with my HD800. It's all about the pairing. And to my ears...

I completely agree. I stuck with Audiophonics so only received my A90 today but after 6 hours listening I'm really impressed with it. DT880 600ohm still sound slightly better with more power. In this case, unfortunately, I have to agree with Zeos. But even so, A90+DT880 is a stunningly good...

Thanks. Looks like it's scrap and start from scratch then. :unamused:

+1 to this. I felt that the sound using the stock PSU was very close to using a battery, so I've not looked into LPS or alteratives. After a while on battery I decided it was possibly missing a tiny bit of edge, which I enjoyed when switching back to stock. But the sound was so close it could...

My son has asked me this, so I'm throwing the question open, because I don't know the DT880 (600ohm) and I don't listen to metal. For years he's been using my old Fiio E7+E9 combo with the 880s, so he's now used to that (sloppy?) sound. But he says the volume is limited on the Fiio, so time to...

gino, I can understand your preference. I'm sure we've all experienced poorly implemented Micro-USB ports and cables. I'm not best placed to comment on this matter but I have read that some design engineers actually favour micro USB connectors for their durability, among other reasons. When...

See below pic, which shows the two micro USB ports on the back of the DAC. In short, if possible, both ports should be used for best performance; one for data, the other for power. I think it would be a gross injustice to the designer(s) to assume that this DAC relies on USB power. I suspect...

SMSL Sanskrit 10th anniversary Mk2 DAC arrived in my PC 'work at home' headphones system this morning. It replaces a 5-yr old Audiophonics DAC PCM5102 (on battery). So, now the setup is: HP Spectre W10 laptop running Roon remote->SMSL via USB->Trilogy 931->Sennheiser HD800. See pic. I've...

It's on my to do list. Thank you. For now, I'm just living with Qutest in my speaker system, and loving it so far.

Qutest 1V output = considerably less attenuation = better SQ (more 'life') through my speaker system. Could be expectation bias but double blind tests suggest not.

@ecwl Good shout. After just a short while replacing 2Qute with Qutest, double blind tests prove that I'm very pleased with the upgrade, both through my favourite HP amp and through my (limiting) nCore class D power amps. My plan was to sell the 2Qute but after using it to directly drive my...

@ecwl: Yes, Chord tech support strongly advised me to always bypass JRiver volume control. Fairly obvious. Maybe Foobar is better, IDK. I've known for some time that what I really want is a Hugo TT2. The price is off putting but I might later seriously reconsider everything, building a new...

ecwl, thank you again for another interesting post. Your assumptions make sense, but are actually wrong. I won't derail this thread by discussing my system much but the DAC is my only source. I ended up with the MFA as an attenuator only because of its minimal influence. I might have a complete...

Thank you very much for your comprehensive and informative reply. I'll start auditioning other amps once I have the Qutest installed. I also run the 2Qute into a Trilogy class A HP amp driving HD800, a combination that also sounds great to me. But I note Rob Watts saying that's not ideal...