A lot of wildly contradicting claims here...

That's gonna be your chain. I use SS amps and mostly silver cables and still don't get any sibilance.

I've said it before, but to get the best out the HM1 make, sure your DAC outputs 5-6v minimum. The headroom is almost limitless, and the more input signal you give it, the more power that gets to the headphones.

Very curious how resolving and how far scaling these actually are. I enjoyed my DianaTCs a lot, but they definitely lost that game to Susvara and one had to go.

At 50 Ohms that seems a but doubtful, but who knows. I think the MR was designed for compatibility with portable devices.

I did have an MSB Discrete next to my EMM Labs DA2, and the EMM was the better DAC and more to my tastes personally. The Premier is probably more on par, but MSB is a warmer, chunkier, and "gooer" sound. The DSD DACs tend to be more fast and fluid, and smoother, but less warm. The DA2 was much...

My understanding is they upsample to a really high PCM rate, do some proprietary filters, then to DSD and to the converter at a super high rate. It is a bit opaque, but I know that much is true. Playback seems mostly the same, but slightly different filter algorithm, and they downsample back...

I've heard similar things, but it is surprising that some software would do a better job than Playback/EMM's algorithms, since that is their primary game. Could be that it moves the processing noise out of the DAC. I do know that not all DSD upsamplers are equal. The much lauded HQPlayer never...

Yeah, you definitely don't want more than one Master Fuse in your system, maybe two if it super dark or muddy. Pink replaces Purple, and the Master complements both.

There are definitely changes in sound with the different plate designs etc over the years. IMO the best Mullards are 1950s and 60s, esp the long plates. 70s are are very good too. The easiest to find an cheapest are 80s short/box plate military manufacture, and they are are not as good, but they...

Don't listen to any of the other ones.

Since I'm too risk averse for the Swiss Digital, I'm really curious how those Synergistic Pink fuses sound once people start using them.

I wouldn't doubt that this sounds the best vs fuses. But, this one actually seems too risky for me. If that breaker fails at all, ever, for any reason...you, your gear, and home are in danger.

Thinking of the HM1, I did find there are tweaks to remedy most of the things Koji didn't like. DAC synergy, fuses, and esp grounding both chassis to something like a Shunyata Altaira bring out deeper black background and more musical quality. It seems like what makes it sound more pro-audio in...

I haven't watched them all, but it seemed like from the get-go he did not favor the HM1 over the Bliss, his tube amps, or later the Wells. That much seems consistent. I think he also preferred the Bliss over AHB2. It does seem that he went through a process of escalating higher and more...

I have the inverse issue with the headfi market. Having grown up with headphones and very much enjoying the ear to ear, wrap around imaging and detail, I get disappointed with all the amps tuned for 2 channel people that have a crap ton of crosstalk and present and narrow mono-ish image. If I...

It will be some time before I can try an AIC-10, but one question I have that is crucial, yet seems almost never mentioned about HP amps: How mono is the presentation? The specs I've seen are like -50db crosstalk, which is very high. If you listen at 80db, there will be 30db of opposite channel...

I love the Prion4, but with Diana TC and solid state amps it was very unflattering and bright, and the SC was a lot better. Chimera has a lot more body to it, and is a little smoother.

I've noticed the NS1 does change its sound with different power cables, conditioners, grounding etc, ethernet cables, switches, even with the Optilink. I still find it to be the cleanest connection, though, so it's more likely noise from (or to) the NS1 via the AC line.

I use the Optilink connection with my DA2, which is about the best you can do for electrical isolation. Streaming via ethernet is the noisiest but, I think simply having the processors inside the DAC for ethernet, and to a lesser extent USB, probably generates noise.

I haven't heard the the Mass Kobo 465, and don't know how the MA2 and MA3 stack up, but I suspect the issue with MA3 is the internal noise from having a network card. I think even the DA2/DV2 suffer from this somewhat despite being superior from previous generations in other ways, by virtue of...

The only thing is Class A+Servo does scoop the midrange somewhat to give you that bass and treble extension, and tighter grip.

Not everyone does, but I definitely prefer this presentation because the bass just sounds right to me, low ear-fatigue, and that transient-accurate fast and fluid sound.

Not an exact comparison, but I had an EMM Labs DA2, which is very similar to the MPD-8 save for power supply, output sample rate, and the exact upsampling algorithm, next to an MSB Discrete. The DSD DACs are faster and smoother, and have a bigger soundstage. The MSB is warmer, richer, and...

The Chimera is definitely not a thin cable. It has the best bass I've ever heard, though I haven't heard the Viola. It has a full, but flat/balanced frequency response. Unfortunately, my reference point is Nirvana, but that cable had way more added low midrange, all the stuff between 200hz and...