[jjshin23]

Got mine from Razordog for $350 which arrive today and I know someone mentioned no burn in but not sure I like them that much more than my AKG 272 HD closed cans. The highs are much more controlled but the lows seem a bit flatter. I've only had them for an hour so more listening will be needed. I am listening to them on the O2 with ODAC as well as fiio e11 right now. The Annies are more comfortable and sound stage is better but imaging on the 272 HD seem better. We'll see from more listening with other genres as well.

 

[HaVoC-28]

Quote:

 
I think they should be very efficient and easy-to-drive, they were created to be like that as far as I know... I hope someone else will respond as well but I personally don't think you need to spend much on amplification with them. I would definitely invest in a better DAC though
 
Nevermind, I thought you were talking about HE-400... K702 anniversaries could benefit from more current I think (K7xx are difficult to drive, they are similar to orthos). And a better DAC.

 
Better DAC , well for some . Not every one need a "better DAC"  , for amping them hum i used an Auditor with them and it was a nice pairing , but i don't think that there is a such huge gap beetween an O2 and my former Auditor ...
 
And as far as i know HE-400 is an ortho 35 ohms / 92.5 db sensitivty , not very far from a K702 ... y a peraphs K70X scalles more with a better amp , but don't expect a night and day difference .
 
Placebo effect can be very strong in this hobby , right now i would swear that there thing that i never heard why my current setup   , na it's not the DAC when i a/b former ODAC and my current sptifire HD , they sounded exactly the same ... (droped odac with regret due to a need a of spdif) . K702 not the first time i had it so

, many times it's on the head ...
 
Quote:

Got mine from Razordog for $350 which arrive today and I know someone mentioned no burn in but not sure I like them that much more than my AKG 272 HD closed cans. The highs are much more controlled but the lows seem a bit flatter. I've only had them for an hour so more listening will be needed. I am listening to them on the O2 with ODAC as well as fiio e11 right now. The Annies are more comfortable and sound stage is better but imaging on the 272 HD seem better. We'll see from more listening with other genres as well.

 
Well their is brain bruning for sure , we need some time to accomodate a new headphone , and for mechanical burning it's much more debatable ... i never burn anything , hey when i got my goods , i am too exited , have to try them right in the moment , why wait for "burning" ... if burning does anything it will not be day and night , it's more in head than anything else IMO .

 

[RustA]

Quote:

 
Better DAC , well for some . Not every one need a "better DAC"  , for amping them hum i used an Auditor with them and it was a nice pairing , but i don't think that there is a such huge gap beetween an O2 and my former Auditor ...
 
And as far as i know HE-400 is an ortho 35 ohms / 92.5 db sensitivty , not very far from a K702 ... y a peraphs K70X scalles more with a better amp , but don't expect a night and day difference .
 

 
Have you seen one's profile? Look at the "Source Inventory" section... Nobody is talking about spending hundreds or thousands. Asked for improvement, I gave a quite straightforward answer since upgrading the DAC section could really lead to bigger improvement than upgrading from Magni.
 
As for the power requirements, I haven't ever mentioned "night-n-day" improvements... I just said that Annies COULD sound better with more current, that's all. O2 is a great amp btw, especially on 1x gain!

 

[HaVoC-28]

Quote:

 
Have you seen one's profile? Look at the "Source Inventory" section... Nobody is talking about spending hundreds or thousands. Asked for improvement, I gave a quite straightforward answer since upgrading the DAC section could really lead to bigger improvement than upgrading from Magni.
 
As for the power requirements, I haven't ever mentioned "night-n-day" improvements... I just said that Annies COULD sound better with more current, that's all. O2 is a great amp btw, especially on 1x gain!

 
Hum right ^^ i stoped at the magni didn't see the source iventory , i know that you are a former O2/ODAC user , corrupted by head -fi

 
i agree with you he should keep the magni and peraphs upgrade "DAC section "

 

[RustA]

Quote:

 
Hum right ^^ i stoped at the magni didn't see the source iventory , i know that you are a former O2/ODAC user , corrupted by head -fi

 
i agree with you he should keep the magni and peraphs upgrade "DAC section "

 
Owned O2/ODAC twice... Great combo! Wanted to try some affordable tubes (Torpedo amp) and they are nice but I just enjoy the technical side of HD800 more... Got StageDAC along and its crossfeed and conversion filters are brutal! Now hesitated to get O2 again but upgraded to Concerto due to Active balanced ground driving and digital volume control (got a killer deal here few days ago)
 
Of course, StageDAC alone as a DAC is a bit better than ODAC... That said, I really didn't upgraded due to bad quality of ODAC If ODAC featured toslink input and quality crossfeed, I would stay with it most probably
 
EDIT: I should add that I haven't tried iFi USBpower or any similar device... ODAC could maybe perform even better with one of those.

 

[jjshin23]

LoL you're right everyone needs a good brain burning and is a must for me. I think I set myself up a little after reading the good posts so more objective listening is needed tonight. It reminds me a lot of the Sennheiser HD650 from what I recall.

 

[Limniscate]

My brother and I could not tell the difference with the Annies on the O2/ODAC versus the ASUS Essence One.

 

[RustA]

Quote:

My brother and I could not tell the difference with the Annies on the O2/ODAC versus the ASUS Essence One.

 
That's great to hear... Using the stock (neutral-sounding) opamps?

 

[soundeffect]

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about me with Dac, but I haven't bother updating my profile because I've been using an ipad.  I have a modi, nothing extravagant, but I haven't felt the need to upgrade those yet as I'm still playing around with headphones and maybe amp.

 

[Limniscate]

Quote:

 
That's great to hear... Using the stock (neutral-sounding) opamps?

Yes, stock.  We couldn't tell the difference with the AudioTechnica W1000x or the HE400 either.  However, we could tell the difference with the HE500.

 

[RustA]

Quote:

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about me with Dac, but I haven't bother updating my profile because I've been using an ipad.  I have a modi, nothing extravagant, but I haven't felt the need to upgrade those yet as I'm still playing around with headphones and maybe amp.

 
Then you should definitely update your profile Yes, we thought you have no dedicated DAC for desktop usage... Ok, so you have Modi.
 
To be honest, I am not a guy who upgrades "just to get a bit better sound". From my previous response, you can derive that I am rather sensitive to features and technical specifications...
 
Therefore, my recommendation is to stay with what you have unless you want to try hardware crossfeed, dedicated audio PC, better playback sofware like Jplay, ... Those kind of things. Or you could find some high-current amp to try to get the best out of your phones but I think you are fine with what you have.

 

[RustA]

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However, we could tell the difference with the HE500.

 
What transformer you have for your O2/ODAC combo? And how would you describe the difference?

 

[Limniscate]

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What transformer you have for your O2/ODAC combo? And how would you describe the difference?

I have the Triad adapter for the O2/ODAC.  I'd describe the difference as the same as the difference with the Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ohm on the Total Bithead versus the O2/ODAC, i.e., everything just sounded cleaner.

 

[RustA]

Quote:

I have the Triad adapter for the O2/ODAC.  I'd describe the difference as the same as the difference with the Beyerdynamic DT880 on the Total Bithead versus the O2/ODAC, i.e., everything just sounded cleaner.

 
Yes but with orthos, amount of max current is as well important... You can get different transformers (adapters) for O2, you know. The stock one (WAU 12-200) is not ideal for orthos. You need at least 400ma output (WAU 16-400) to be safe. WAU 16-1000 would be even more safe!

 

[CFGamescape]

Ordered my Annies.  I currently have the Asus Xonar STX on my desktop and hoping that will be suffice to drive them.  I also ordered the Fiio E17 Alpen for my iPhone and understand it might be a little lackluster in driving the Annies with that setup in mind (E17 + iPhone).