[pbfreak422]

Hey everyone, I'm currently going to buy my first headphone setup, and I can really use some advice. I've been looking through a bunch of forums and have some baseline knowledge, but I'd love to see what everyone here thinks since there are so many knowledgeable people in this sub!

 

The three setups I'm considering:

HD 650 / Valhalla 2 / Modi 2 Uber

LCD-2 / Lyr 2 / Modi 2 Uber

LCD-2 / Lyr 2 / Bifrost Multibit

 

My Biggest Questions:

For a similar price range, are there other products I should be considering (assuming I don't want to build a crack)?

Is the jump from the HD650s to the LCD worth the $600, assuming that would be with the Modi 2 Uber?

Is the jump from the the Modi 2 Uber to the Bifrost Multibit worth $450? Would I really be able to hear the difference in each of the headphones?

Would the LCD-2s show the difference in DACs more than the HD650s?

 
Use:
I listen to a good mix of music, most being dance & electronic, funk, acoustic, rock, some jazz and classical too.
This is for casual listening at home only I will be mostly playing flac files from my computer.
I prefer more neutral headphones, but am not opposed to go a bit warm.

 

[WoodenSpoon]

Personally, I find everything in the Audeze LCD range to be far too dark to be considered anywhere near neutral. However, they will behave very well with those genres of music, especially with electronic, in my experience. That being said, it is rather difficult to justify a $600 price jump from the HD650, which are brilliant, in my opinion.
 
In that price range, you really won't find many better setups than the ones you have listed. If you like a warmer sound that goes well with the HD650, you might want to consider other OTL amps, such as the Little Dot MKIII and the Woo Audio WA3. However, the Valhalla does a brilliant job with the HD650 if you want a more neutral sound.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Personally, I find everything in the Audeze LCD range to be far too dark to be considered anywhere near neutral. 

 
If "neutral" is defined as "linear frequency response" (which it always is) then indeed, none of them are neutral.  Neither is the HD 650.  Neither the HD 650 or LCD-2F are the polar opposite of neutral either; I prefer neutral tonality but I can still enjoy the HD 650 and especially the LCD-3F (I never heard any LCD-2).
 
If you want neutral in this price range, get the HiFiMan HE-560 (and perhaps swap pads to FocusPad-A if it's too bright for you), Schiit Lyr 2 or Gustard H10, and the DAC I'd choose in that price range is the Parasound ZDac v.2 which is built much better than most DACs in that price range (PSU with a large toroidal transformer, good jitter reduction on all inputs, an upsampling design that's like what you find in DACs with a four figure price tag, XLR balanced outputs).  
 
But of course, you should audition all of these before listening to them.  You say you want neutral and listed a bunch of non-neutral headphones.  The last thing you want is some kind of high cost, unpleasant surprise, such as you not liking one of these headphones.

 

[fjrabon]

In that price range:
 
Schiit Bifrost4490 -> Magni2 Uber -> HiFiMan Edition X -> ~$2100 should be a consideration.
 
HEX is way more neutral with still satisfying planar bass than Audeze.  They don't require much pure power, so you can save with the amp.  
 
I used to own a Lyr2, and I ***LOVED*** it, but its biggest benefit is versatility for being able to drive lots of different headphones really well.  It can do tubes, solid state, low and high gain.  It can power everything from a ultra senstive CIEM, to Grado, to a HE-6 well.  But if you are only really using one headphone out of it, or headphones with similar amping requirements, it's going to waste.  Same thing with the Valhalla, but it's tube only (the Lyr can be converted into solid state with the LISST capsules).  Again, you will never, ever, ever hear me say a single bad word about the Lyr, but for a lot of people it's a swiss army knife when they really only use one blade.  I got to the point where I was only ever using the Lyr in low power solid state mode, at which point, for all intents and purposes, it's the Magni2 Uber.  
 
The HEX also has the benefit of still sounding good straight out of a phone if you ever desired.  Say you want to sit out in the back yard for just a minute, and not compromise on sound quality, yep, HEX can do that for you.