Hi All,
I’m brand new to the hobby and this forum. As a bit of background, I used to enjoy a modest stereo setup in the loft of my apartment (had a Wadia PowerDAC and later a Hegel H95 powering a pair of Dynaudio X12’s up there - I do miss that setup). Fast forward to now, and unfortunately I don’t have the time or space to set up a dedicated speaker system. As I do miss sitting down to listen to music, I decided to take the headphone approach as I do spend significant time at my desk.
After a fair bit of research, I decided on a set of HD660s2’s and the Atom 2 stack (with the Subjective 3 preamp thrown in) as my system, both of which I ordered and are on the way. I looked at other options but this setup seemed the most bang for the buck, based on several reviews and I had some very good interactions with JDS Audio via email, which ended up being the deciding factor.
However, I had it in the back of my head that I wanted a separate amp (tube amp) to play around with as a significant portion of my music collection is jazz and acoustic. I ended up getting an XDuoo TA-22 for this purpose, though it happens to be an integrated unit. I haven’t owned a tube amp before but have always been intrigued by the sound (for the record, I am aware the TA-22 is a hybrid and not a pure tube amp, so I guess the level of “tubiness” will be constrained by a fair bit).
First thing I will do is connect the xDuoo to my Mac and let it burn in for at least a week or maybe two and run in the headphones while I’m at it. Then I will sit down and do some critical listening. Also do some A to B comparisons with the Atom 2 stack.
I’m thinking the Atom 2 stack may be a bit more detailed but arguably less spacious and airy in terms of the soundstage than the TA-22, but who knows? It will be an interesting journey. If any of you have any experience with this (or similar) setup, I’d appreciate your opinions.
To anyone who may have experience tube rolling with the TA-22, I read somewhere that someone claimed very good results swapping the stock tubes with a pair of RCA Clear top 12au7’s. Does anyone have insight or recommendations for tubes on this unit?
I am after a “3-d” holographic soundstage and layering/space above all else. I do understand that as my HD660s2’s are drivers and not planar magnetics, they won’t be the best for this necessarily, but I’d like to achieve their potential. If there are any other tweaks/hacks/settings that anyone can recommend, I’d be interested.
For reference, my setup is/will be:
SOURCE :
Mac Mini M2 running FLAC files (haven’t decided on player yet, I used to use Audirvana and might stick to that but open minded if anyone has recommendations)
ATOM 2 SETUP:
OEM USB C to C from source to DAC, JDS Audio interconnects all the way through
XDUOO TA-22 SETUP:
USB B to C cable from source (SKW Cable from Amazon - gotta start somewhere)
Thanks!
I’m brand new to the hobby and this forum. As a bit of background, I used to enjoy a modest stereo setup in the loft of my apartment (had a Wadia PowerDAC and later a Hegel H95 powering a pair of Dynaudio X12’s up there - I do miss that setup). Fast forward to now, and unfortunately I don’t have the time or space to set up a dedicated speaker system. As I do miss sitting down to listen to music, I decided to take the headphone approach as I do spend significant time at my desk.
After a fair bit of research, I decided on a set of HD660s2’s and the Atom 2 stack (with the Subjective 3 preamp thrown in) as my system, both of which I ordered and are on the way. I looked at other options but this setup seemed the most bang for the buck, based on several reviews and I had some very good interactions with JDS Audio via email, which ended up being the deciding factor.
However, I had it in the back of my head that I wanted a separate amp (tube amp) to play around with as a significant portion of my music collection is jazz and acoustic. I ended up getting an XDuoo TA-22 for this purpose, though it happens to be an integrated unit. I haven’t owned a tube amp before but have always been intrigued by the sound (for the record, I am aware the TA-22 is a hybrid and not a pure tube amp, so I guess the level of “tubiness” will be constrained by a fair bit).
First thing I will do is connect the xDuoo to my Mac and let it burn in for at least a week or maybe two and run in the headphones while I’m at it. Then I will sit down and do some critical listening. Also do some A to B comparisons with the Atom 2 stack.
I’m thinking the Atom 2 stack may be a bit more detailed but arguably less spacious and airy in terms of the soundstage than the TA-22, but who knows? It will be an interesting journey. If any of you have any experience with this (or similar) setup, I’d appreciate your opinions.
To anyone who may have experience tube rolling with the TA-22, I read somewhere that someone claimed very good results swapping the stock tubes with a pair of RCA Clear top 12au7’s. Does anyone have insight or recommendations for tubes on this unit?
I am after a “3-d” holographic soundstage and layering/space above all else. I do understand that as my HD660s2’s are drivers and not planar magnetics, they won’t be the best for this necessarily, but I’d like to achieve their potential. If there are any other tweaks/hacks/settings that anyone can recommend, I’d be interested.
For reference, my setup is/will be:
SOURCE :
Mac Mini M2 running FLAC files (haven’t decided on player yet, I used to use Audirvana and might stick to that but open minded if anyone has recommendations)
ATOM 2 SETUP:
OEM USB C to C from source to DAC, JDS Audio interconnects all the way through
XDUOO TA-22 SETUP:
USB B to C cable from source (SKW Cable from Amazon - gotta start somewhere)
Thanks!
