[Dr. Roberts]

Quote:

Hi
 
I got my LCD3s about a month ago (without an audition). At first i must admit that i wasnt overawed but now i am really pleased with them. They are suprisingly comfortable and provide that slightly dark sound that i was after, also good bass and definition. I use either a corda classic or a WA22 and both sound excellent. I also have Beyer T1s which are an awesome allrounder imo. Source is either Moon 300d Dac or Musical fidelity M6cd player.
 
I'd like to upgrade my amp but not sure what to get.......budget probably 3-4k. I listen to mainly metal and prog. No chance of auditioning high end headamps in perth unfortunately.
 
Any recommendations?...i dont have a real preference for SS v Tube
 
cheers

 
The two amps that I have in house that the LCD-3 sound wonderful with are the Leben CS-600 and the Bakoon AMP-11R. My preference is the Bakoon by far but that model is out of your stated price range.
 
However, you are in luck. Bakoon has just released a headphone only amp (based on the same Satri circuit of the 11R) that would work beautifully for you, and, the HPA-21 comes in at the low end of what you are willing to spend.
 
The Bakoon dealer in Australia is Audio Addiction. Do yourself a favor and listen to the LCD-3 through an HPA-21 before making a final decision. You will no doubt be stunned by the synergy and the presentation of the music!

 

[Loevhagen]

With the "right" DAC - both the Soloist and the Mjolnir will drive the LCD-3 to admirable levels. 

 

[grokit]

Have any of you WA22 people tried the LCD3 with a 596 rectifier tube?

 

[DarknightDK]

Quote:

Have any of you WA22 people tried the LCD3 with a 596 rectifier tube?

 
Yep. And they go very well with the 596 tube.

 

[grokit]

Thanks, I had a feeling!

 

[preproman]

I'm waiting for the Schiit Statement Amp.  Hoping it can improve on what the Mjolnir has accomplished with the LCD-3..  

 

[bbbonthemoon]

Any ideas on LCD-3 performance with RWA Bellina HPA?

 

[milarepa]

I know saraguie has returned his since it did not perform to his expectations.
Feel free to elaborate here sara!

 

[Saraguie]

Quote:

I know saraguie has returned his since it did not perform to his expectations.
Feel free to elaborate here sara!

Reserved..................

 

[Saraguie]

Still waiting to write.

 

[Saraguie]

Quote:

I know saraguie has returned his since it did not perform to his expectations.
Feel free to elaborate here sara!

 
 
Yes, I did sent back the Bellina with Pro DAC with a balanced connection after waiting with anticipation for over 30 days for it to be built. I followed the instructions for burn in, used good quality cables, and even bough an upgrade tube and was very disappointed. A/Bed against a Audio~gd 11.32 and after many hours and 50 songs the results were; sound quality was even for 40, of the remaining 10 songs there was about a 5% difference with the Bellina better on 7 and the 11.32 better on 3. I used the balanced connection on the Bellina and adaptor on the 11.32's single end out. (The single ended connection on the Bellina was extremely weak and 11.32 blew it away)
 
RWA Bellina (with upgraded tube) =  $4141.80 
Audio~gd 11.32                           =  $ 376.55
*** Hello, something is not right!  There is a $3765.15 difference! I understood the law of diminishing returns going in but there are no returns which are diminished!
 
Add to this, the fact that I paid $96.00 in shipping to send the Bellina back and RWA charged me $136.80 ($90 PayPal fee and $46.80 shipping), so it cost me $232.80 about 2/3 the price of the 11.32 to get disappointed.
 
Mr. Rossi said that the $90 PayPal fee he paid is non-refundable because the transaction is 60+ days old, and so he is passing it onto me. I called and spoke to PayPal and they say because it is a cancellation/refund the 2.9% charge has been refunded and his cost is a total of .30 cents. I asked the rep who took my call 3 different times to make sure and got a name and reference number.
 
I wrote him, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was under an incorrect impression, with the reference # of my call to PayPal, so he could verify. He still insists that the amount PayPal charges is not refundable. By his email response he DID NOT contact them to see what the story is. Rather he told me if "If you can get Paypal to reimburse me for the fee, I will gladly send it over to you." Not my obligation.
If the PayPal rep should be mistaken, I still feel that I should not be charged the $90 regardless that his terms and conditions (fine print) state it. But I don't know at this point whether it is a charge or not?
 
*** Now, please remember these are  MY EARS and only MY opinion. I have a hearing loss and this could have affected the comparisons. However, I can tell the differences when using LCD3 vs a $200 headphone and I can tell the differences between all my IEMs.

 

[milarepa]

Quote:

Quote:

I know saraguie has returned his since it did not perform to his expectations.
Feel free to elaborate here sara!

 
 
Yes, I did sent back the Bellina with Pro DAC with a balanced connection after waiting with anticipation for over 30 days for it to be built. I followed the instructions for burn in, used good quality cables, and even bough an upgrade tube and was very disappointed. A/Bed against a Audio~gd 11.32 and after many hours and 50 songs the results were; sound quality was even for 40, of the remaining 10 songs there was about a 5% difference with the Bellina better on 7 and the 11.32 better on 3. I used the balanced connection on the Bellina and adaptor on the 11.32's single end out. (The single ended connection on the Bellina was extremely weak and 11.32 blew it away)
 
RWA Bellina (with upgraded tube) =  $4141.80 
Audio~gd 11.32                           =  $ 376.55
*** Hello, something is not right!  There is a $3765.15 difference! I understood the law of diminishing returns going in but there are no returns which are diminished!
 
Add to this, the fact that I paid $96.00 in shipping to send the Bellina back and RWA charged me $136.80 ($90 PayPal fee and $46.80 shipping), so it cost me $232.80 about 2/3 the price of the 11.32 to get disappointed.
 
Mr. Rossi said that the $90 PayPal fee he paid is non-refundable because the transaction is 60+ days old, and so he is passing it onto me. I called and spoke to PayPal and they say because it is a cancellation/refund the 2.9% charge has been refunded and his cost is a total of .30 cents. I asked the rep who took my call 3 different times to make sure and got a name and reference number.
 
I wrote him, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was under an incorrect impression, with the reference # of my call to PayPal, so he could verify. He still insists that the amount PayPal charges is not refundable. By his email response he DID NOT contact them to see what the story is. Rather he told me if "If you can get Paypal to reimburse me for the fee, I will gladly send it over to you." Not my obligation.
If the PayPal rep should be mistaken, I still feel that I should not be charged the $90 regardless that his terms and conditions (fine print) state it. But I don't know at this point whether it is a charge or not?
 
*** Now, please remember these are  MY EARS and only MY opinion. I have a hearing loss and this could have affected the comparisons. However, I can tell the differences when using LCD3 vs a $200 headphone and I can tell the differences between all my IEMs.

 

[hainss]

Do you think my amp Darkvoice 3322, with good tube rolling, can make a good sound with LCD3; just for waiting the time of my wallet have much money for buying a good amp?

 

[Gary in MD]

I'm trying to decide if I want to spend small bucks (<$500), middling bucks (<$1K) or nearly big bucks (~$1.5K) on an amp for my LCD-3s.  Big bucks (>$2K) are not an option:  I've been using the headphone jack of my ancient Adcom pre-amp for the past 9 months, because it sounded as good to me as the Burson HA-160 I demo'ed.  But all of you head-fiers have almost convinced me that I need an amp. 
 
I'm using an Emotiva XDA-1 DAC that can output single-ended or balanced.  Is there anything that will have particularly good synergy with my DAC?  I'd really prefer to avoid replacing it, since it is also 9 months old and works fine, but if it is going to be a problem, then I guess I could replace it too.  If I do, it would have to fit within the same $ outlined above -- i.e., whatever I spend on a DAC would come out of my amp funding pot.
 
I'm listening mostly to rock: classic, indie, some pop, some jazz, some classical.  I don't like overactive treble or harshness anywhere (that's why I own LCD-3s), so I'm a bit worried about the Mjolnir/Gungnir combo.  I don't know if I'm just over-reacting to some of the descriptions I've read around here, so if any of the Schiit amps would be fine for me, feel free to recommend them.  I'd particularly like to hear opinions on whether the I'd really notice much difference between Asgard 2 and Mjolnir.  But I'm also interested in any other options out there.
 
I will be using stock Audeze cables and cheap interconnects from DAC to amp, since the run will be a foot or less.  Sorry, you might pervert me, er, I mean convert me to believing that an amp will make a difference, but I will never be a cable believer.
 
Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[Operakid]

Try the outputs of your speaker amplifier.  Read the thread on speaker amps for headphones.  This will give you another valuable data point to judge how important amps are in the sound of your LCD-3s.