[doctorjazz]

Dragonfly or Geek Out should hold you while you save those shekels...

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Long time looker / reader, first time posting. Just ordered myself one of these awesome amps: order #100000888.

This is my first ever Head-fi product / purchase, after reading this entire thread and reading reviews and nothing but good things on the web I didn't want to miss out on this run.

I'm in the same boat as James I have no DAC as of yet will the Audioquest Dragonfly V1.2 cut the mustard short term? Long term aim will be a Chord 2qute DAC.
My sources will be my Oneplus One (Android phone) running Tidal via OTG USB, or my Sony Z3 tablet compact running the same, I also have a Sonos Connect.

Thanks in advance.

 
Yes, the Dragonfly will be a fine stop gap, till you acquire a better DAC down the road.  Most likely for a "pseudo line out", you'll just run the Dragonfly at full volume.
 
What headphone are you getting this amp for?

 

[s7uart]

Dragonfly or Geek Out should hold you while you save those shekels...

Yes, the Dragonfly will be a fine stop gap, till you acquire a better DAC down the road.  Most likely for a "pseudo line out", you'll just run the Dragonfly at full volume.

What headphone are you getting this amp for?

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, just found a Geek out 1000 on eBay that I'll keep an eye on.

Jeff, currently got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 but this is short term, I'm either going to get a pair of EL8 open back or a pair of LCD-2.2s, or I'll stick with the M2.0 save my pennies and get a pair of LCD-Xs or Ether's. I've heard the Audeze range and liked what I heard, especially LCD2.2s and up. Although reading all of positive things about Ether's so far, they are tempting me.

 

[J4MES]

Priced up a Yggdrasil today to see if I could in one go" end game" my DAC. Once I included import duty/vat it added £600 to the £1600 cost.

Jeff, currently got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 but this is short term, I'm either going to get a pair of EL8 open back or a pair of LCD-2.2s, or I'll stick with the M2.0 save my pennies and get a pair of LCD-Xs or Ether's. I've heard the Audeze range and liked what I heard, especially LCD2.2s and up. Although reading all of positive things about Ether's so far, they are tempting me.

I'm looking at the Ether myself. Ether with 10' XLR DUM Cable once imported to UK it will be £1500 which is LCD3 money. Just struggle with that when HD800 are online for £700.

Still don't know what to do. Gladi have 2 months to figure this out.

 

[pippen99]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, just found a Geek out 1000 on eBay that I'll keep an eye on.

Jeff, currently got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 but this is short term, I'm either going to get a pair of EL8 open back or a pair of LCD-2.2s, or I'll stick with the M2.0 save my pennies and get a pair of LCD-Xs or Ether's. I've heard the Audeze range and liked what I heard, especially LCD2.2s and up. Although reading all of positive things about Ether's so far, they are tempting me.

I originally had had the LCD-2f myself.  I auditioned both the LCD-X and the Ether at the Nashville meet.  The Ether was very impressive with great sound and most of all the best comfort of any headphone I've tried.  Ultimately I sold my LCD-2f and moved up to the LCD-X.  I found the X sound to fit my ears better than the Ether.  I have had the X for about three weeks and couldn't be happier.  I also got a Norne Draug v2 balanced cable to pair with the balanced output of the LC.  I can't rule out owning the Ether at some point.

 

[audiofrk]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, just found a Geek out 1000 on eBay that I'll keep an eye on.

Jeff, currently got a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 but this is short term, I'm either going to get a pair of EL8 open back or a pair of LCD-2.2s, or I'll stick with the M2.0 save my pennies and get a pair of LCD-Xs or Ether's. I've heard the Audeze range and liked what I heard, especially LCD2.2s and up. Although reading all of positive things about Ether's so far, they are tempting me.

If your gonna use the geek for a dac only get the 450 you don't need the extra power of the 1000.
 
 
If you want an open back planner my suggestion is to try the 400s before the other two its a damn good phone.

 

[doctorjazz]

I have the Geek Out Special Edition, has enough juice to drive the Hifiman HE-1000 very nicely, thank you (it's an upgraded GO 1000). But, makes sense on the LC Thread, where you presumably will use the LC as an amp out of the DA portion, to go for the cheaper 450 (unless you have something to drive NOW and don't want to wait, but that doesn't seem to be the case).

 

[mandrake50]

   
 
If you want an open back planner my suggestion is to try the 400s before the other two its a damn good phone.

 Have you got a chance to hear the 400s? I am curious about it. I have the 400, 4000i and 560. Wondering what the "S" brings to the party?

 

[audiofrk]

I have the Geek Out Special Edition, has enough juice to drive the Hifiman HE-1000 very nicely, thank you (it's an upgraded GO 1000). But, makes sense on the LC Thread, where you presumably will use the LC as an amp out of the DA portion, to go for the cheaper 450 (unless you have something to drive NOW and don't want to wait, but that doesn't seem to be the case).

yeah that's what I meant, if you only want to use as a dac no need for the 1000. One headfier I know has the 450, 720, 1000, and the SE. Another guy I know has the liquid glass. We check them and as just a dac the 450 works best.

 

[audiofrk]

 Have you got a chance to hear the 400s? I am curious about it. I have the 400, 4000i and 560. Wondering what the "S" brings to the party?

Yeah I heard them at the Newport show. Compared to the 400i they have less tremble (also got rid of the tizzy artifact, most pronounced when you hear symbols). Mids are more present and now has a hearty bass, less then the bass from my friends modded he6 but still good. Soundstage has better height and and and slightly better width.

Compare to the ether they have better bass. But the ether is more resolving and clarity.


The ether was out of the yggy+carbon. The he400s out of my portable stack.

 

[zaintachik]

Okay I guess a DAC is now on my priority list thanks for the help. I guess I'll head to the DAC thread, need something to read after finishing the 140 pages on this one.

Was hoping to wait for the Yggy trickle down Gungnir that people here have talked about.

I was not a believer of DAC before i got my dragonfly, now i think it's critical component. It's like im listening to the music for the 1st time. The sound staging is amazing.
 
I subscribe to the principle the components should be of nearly equal price to one another. Now i have to add a DAC to that equation. 

 

[Evshrug]

Well, my DAC cost me about as much as my headphones, but it is second hand late-90's vintage Theta DSPro Basic II which would have cost WAY MORE when new (still works, better than my Bifrost Über), and the LC cost more too. Nice to have headphones that scale up.

 

[s7uart]

  If your gonna use the geek for a dac only get the 450 you don't need the extra power of the 1000.
 
 
If you want an open back planner my suggestion is to try the 400s before the other two its a damn good phone.

 
Thanks for the advice on the GO 450 this makes perfect sense, in the mean time this would provide more than enough power to run my Sennheiser M2.0.
 
The more I read about the GO's the more I like them compared to the dragonfly, so I'm going to see if I can source a 450 for a reasonable price as an interim DAC / head amp.
 
I'll check out the HiFiman 400s headphones, thanks.
 

Priced up a Yggdrasil today to see if I could in one go" end game" my DAC. Once I included import duty/vat it added £600 to the £1600 cost.
I'm looking at the Ether myself. Ether with 10' XLR DUM Cable once imported to UK it will be £1500 which is LCD3 money. Just struggle with that when HD800 are online for £700.

Still don't know what to do. Gladi have 2 months to figure this out.

 
Ouch on the import costs! I'm UK based also, so we'll be paying import duty for our LC's.
 
Yeah I'll keep an eye on the Ether's and see how it pans out, ideally I'd love to compare them one day to the LCD-2 / X / 3 series.
 
Like you said we've got two months to find something in the mean time.
 

 
I originally had had the LCD-2f myself.  I auditioned both the LCD-X and the Ether at the Nashville meet.  The Ether was very impressive with great sound and most of all the best comfort of any headphone I've tried.  Ultimately I sold my LCD-2f and moved up to the LCD-X.  I found the X sound to fit my ears better than the Ether.  I have had the X for about three weeks and couldn't be happier.  I also got a Norne Draug v2 balanced cable to pair with the balanced output of the LC.  I can't rule out owning the Ether at some point.

 
Thanks for your input / recommendation, from what I've read I possibly may prefer the sound signature of the LCD-X also as I listen to a lot of dance / electronic music. As mentioned above hopefully I'll be luck enough to compare them some time in the future.
 
 
Thanks again to everyone, I really appreciate all of the feedback, advice & recommendations, what a great community!

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

I know this isn't the Cavalli DAC thread, but I thought I would mention the ALO "The Key" as another option.  It is a DAC only, not the typical DAC/amp combo that most of the these thumb drive style devices tend to be.  So no double amping...
 
http://www.aloaudio.com/dacs/the-key

 

[Stillhart]

As another suggestion for folks looking for a cheap DAC that will sound better than nothing, but won't break the bank:  Sound Blaster Omni.  This little sound card is USB/external so you don't have to worry about EMI in your case.  And when I compared it to the Schiit Modi, I couldn't hear any difference.  It's on sale for $50 on Amazon right now, which is a great deal.
 
As bonus, if you like to game or watch movies on your computer, this will give you SBX virtual surround.  It can output virtual surround from the optical port so if you get a DAC with an optical input, you can run your music AND your gaming/movies thru your nice DAC and Amp.
 
I'd recommend it over most any $100 DAC simply because it's cheaper, sounds about as good as any $50-100 DAC will sound, and you can continue to use it once you upgrade later.