[philo50]

Quote:

The Soloist is first class solid state.  The HA-160, I owned one for years, is mid-fi.  Not comparable.

+1

 

[milarepa]

Quote:

Quote:

Man will you be having a hard time doing anything but grooving! 

sorry, can't understand your idea. what does grooving means in your context? dictionaries can't help...

That would be grooving to the music! As in enjoying it immensely!  

 

[BRAC]

Quote:

I haven't had a chance to test out the Soloist with my HD800 yet, maybe tonight. I don't really care for my HA160 with the HD800, so I'm kind of curious to see if the Soloist can make me a believer again. After I got over that initial "holy crap the detail" phase, I really fell out of love with my HD800. The LCD2.2 is very full, and rich, with a musical quality that makes it so much more enjoyable to listen to, without any fatigue. The HD800 gives me headaches if I listen for too long.

My worst fears are coming true...lol.
 
After doing some extensive listening last night, I can conclude that the HD800 is very good with the Soloist. And, the best part is no fatigue whatsoever. That said, my goal to get to one primary headphone took a major step back last night. I feel like I would need both the LCD2.2 and HD800 to cover me for all the genres I enjoy listening to. Well, the LCD2.2 is going back regardless in favor of the LCD3, but I'm not sure what fate awaits my HD800. I suppose it will depend on whether the LCD3 can get me close enough...

 

[paradoxper]

No headphone does it all, so you might as well try to cover your arse in all areas.

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

No headphone does it all, so you might as well try to cover your arse in all areas.

Yeah, true. I think 4 you really like is a good quantity. More than that gets overwhelming, but some of us can't resist being promiscuous. It's natural.

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

[size=medium]I would like to provide an update to my situation with the lcd-3 powered by gungnir/mjolnir. I don’t want to give my full impressions yet as they are still young, but everything has been running now over the weekend and I should address my previous disappointment with the system.[/size]
[size=medium]First and foremost, going fully balanced (pyst balanced interconnect) made a huge difference than dac>amp unbalanced. Unbalanced, I actually preferred the lyr to mjolnir. There was a significant wall of sound aspect without the subtleties and lushness that tubes can provide. It was very hard sounding and I did not like the highs at all. With knowledge that the lcd-3 is a neutral/dark phone, I thought my hearing was shot as I heard them as very bright. Balanced changed all of this (and I’m sure burn-in did as well). I can now hear the magical layering in the music, and the lush qualities of the mids which I got a taste of in my loaner review with my old bifrost/lyr. The stage is now sooooo much wider than I was used to. It’s really stunning.. Depth is not as incredible, but I think that’s more a function of the lcd-3’s than the amplification. So overall, yes the gungnir/mjolnir (fully balanced)  is a big step up from the bifrost/lyr.[/size]
[size=medium]I’m starting to get a good feel for what the mjolnir is made of. I absolutely concur with other impressions that the amp is in your face and not laid back in the slightest. I also agree that this is an engaging amp, you can’t casually listen and fall asleep.. It grabs your ears and forces you to listen to everything. This does translate into some hard sounding highs with certain music though. If it’s in the recording it’s going straight to your ears without any glossing over.[/size]
[size=medium]I’m a lot happier with my purchases than I was last week, but it still isn’t perfect. I may need to get into the amp rolling game. I wanted a hit it and quit it system, but I realize this can be a process and takes time to find out what I like. More impressions to come soon.[/size]

 

[rgs9200m]

Yep, I run balanced too with my LCD3s and it seems to work well.

 

[LionTamer]

Hi all,
 
I just put in an order for my LCD-3's.  I heard them at Canjam at RMAF in October, and they've been on my mind ever since.  I did the best, longest "sleep on it" job I could do, saved up the funds, and ordered the headphones.  This, from a HiFi guy who is purely into speaker setups, and who was previously biased against headphones.  These LCD's seem like just the ticket in terms of delivering tonality on a level that good speakers do.
 
Next step...amp!  Based on what I heard at Canjam - these are not the world's pickiest headphones.  They sounded fantastic out of the Soloist, Mjolnir and WA22 that I listened to - with the Mjolnir being a slight step behind the other 2, and the WA22 focusing more on depth of texture whereas the Soloist had a slightly thinned out but detailed/refined tonality to it (compared to the Woo).  While I like both presentations - I'm leaning towards the Woo side.  My plan is to break in my headphones over a couple of weeks, and then bring them to the Montreal audio show's Canjam in late March to determine my amp.
 
I have a question though...and that's how to best integrate my vinyl setup into the system.  I'm currently using the phono stage that's integral to my Shindo preamp as my phono stage.  Given that it's orders of magnitude better than most separate phono stages out there, I'd like to use it for headphone listening as well.  Of course, headphone amps all have integrated preamps...so...Is it a bad thing to drive a headphone amp with a signal from a preamp rather than directly from a source?  I have a good DAC to drive the headamp directly - so it's just a question of the phono, where I would be using a pre-amp'd signal.
 
Any help is appreciated...and I can't wait to start using my LCD3's!

 

[TheWuss]

LionTamer, this is the age-old conundrum.
 
how to get a headphone rig to be either parallel with a good 2-channel rig, or integrated seamlessly therein.
 
the truth is, with the traditional TT / preamp / mono blocks rig, there's nowhere for a headphone amp to fit in without much compication - switching boxes, splitters, etc.
and we audiophiles would worry endlessly about signal loss, etc. with those kinds of things...
 
so, i have gone the route of separate rig for headphones.
which of course means another source, cables, and anciliaries.
 
another option would be an integrated amp with headphone jack.
but, that is a compromise, both to the speakers being driven, and to the headphones as well.
something like a Leben would be nice enough.  but i'm sure preamp/monoblocks is considerably better...
 
congrats on pulling the trigger on the LCD-3s.

 

[Dr. Roberts]

Quote:

another option would be an integrated amp with headphone jack.
but, that is a compromise, both to the speakers being driven, and to the headphones as well.
something like a Leben would be nice enough.  but i'm sure preamp/monoblocks is considerably better...
 
 

 
I have seperate loudspeaker and headphone rigs which includes 2 power amps (SS Theta Dreadnaught and tubed BAT VK-55SE), 2 integrated amps (tubed Leben CS-600 and SS Bakoon Amp 11-R), and one dedicated headphone amp, (tubed EAR HP-4). For SACD I prefer the LCD-3 with the Leben and for Redbook prefer the Bakoon with the tubed EAR Acute CDP. For certain recordings and movie soundtracks I prefer the Leben powering my Harbeths. It is all about synergy!

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

Hi all,
 
I just put in an order for my LCD-3's.  I heard them at Canjam at RMAF in October, and they've been on my mind ever since.  I did the best, longest "sleep on it" job I could do, saved up the funds, and ordered the headphones.  This, from a HiFi guy who is purely into speaker setups, and who was previously biased against headphones.  These LCD's seem like just the ticket in terms of delivering tonality on a level that good speakers do.
 
Next step...amp!  Based on what I heard at Canjam - these are not the world's pickiest headphones.  They sounded fantastic out of the Soloist, Mjolnir and WA22 that I listened to - with the Mjolnir being a slight step behind the other 2, and the WA22 focusing more on depth of texture whereas the Soloist had a slightly thinned out but detailed/refined tonality to it (compared to the Woo).  While I like both presentations - I'm leaning towards the Woo side.  My plan is to break in my headphones over a couple of weeks, and then bring them to the Montreal audio show's Canjam in late March to determine my amp.
 
I have a question though...and that's how to best integrate my vinyl setup into the system.  I'm currently using the phono stage that's integral to my Shindo preamp as my phono stage.  Given that it's orders of magnitude better than most separate phono stages out there, I'd like to use it for headphone listening as well.  Of course, headphone amps all have integrated preamps...so...Is it a bad thing to drive a headphone amp with a signal from a preamp rather than directly from a source?  I have a good DAC to drive the headamp directly - so it's just a question of the phono, where I would be using a pre-amp'd signal.
 
Any help is appreciated...and I can't wait to start using my LCD3's!

Just guessing, but if you can afford a Shindo, go for a Pinnacle or Ray's B52 for your LCD3s (from my personal extensive experience and my absolute love of the LCD3s). And yeah, unfortunately you need to drive the headphone amp directly from the DAC or CD player or other source for best results and resolution.

 

[gjc11028]

Quote:

Just guessing, but if you can afford a Shindo, go for a Pinnacle or Ray's B52 for your LCD3s (from my personal extensive experience and my absolute love of the LCD3s). And yeah, unfortunately you need to drive the headphone amp directly from the DAC or CD player or other source for best results and resolution.

 
Hi.  Just FYI The decaware zen taboo description notes that it can be matched with preamps.  
 
[size=medium]

 OPTIONAL MATCHING PREAMP - We have a matching preamp that is very synergistic and transparent with this amplifier.  It is our model CSP2+[/size][size=small].  [/size][size=medium]I have not heard the decaware so cannot recommend, but would think you should be able to find an amp that lets you bipass the internal pre. [/size]

 

 

[Anthony1]

Quote:

LOL The amp is built and its just burning in. Steve told me he finished it so sometime next week it should be sent to me. I am really looking forward to hearing it. Steve redesigned this  for the planers and he told me he use high impedance cans also to voice it with the lcd 2.. He was telling me the lucid mode stages are pretty wild so I am excited to be getting it. It also wont need speakers to be hooked up as this was designed as a headphone amp foremost and will also do speakers. It pretty loade up and will also do balanced headphones.

Any update Frank I.

 

[DonaldLL]

Quote:

[size=medium]I would like to provide an update to my situation with the lcd-3 powered by gungnir/mjolnir. I don’t want to give my full impressions yet as they are still young, but everything has been running now over the weekend and I should address my previous disappointment with the system.[/size]
[size=medium]First and foremost, going fully balanced (pyst balanced interconnect) made a huge difference than dac>amp unbalanced. Unbalanced, I actually preferred the lyr to mjolnir. There was a significant wall of sound aspect without the subtleties and lushness that tubes can provide. It was very hard sounding and I did not like the highs at all. With knowledge that the lcd-3 is a neutral/dark phone, I thought my hearing was shot as I heard them as very bright. Balanced changed all of this (and I’m sure burn-in did as well). I can now hear the magical layering in the music, and the lush qualities of the mids which I got a taste of in my loaner review with my old bifrost/lyr. The stage is now sooooo much wider than I was used to. It’s really stunning.. Depth is not as incredible, but I think that’s more a function of the lcd-3’s than the amplification. So overall, yes the gungnir/mjolnir (fully balanced)  is a big step up from the bifrost/lyr.[/size]
[size=medium]I’m starting to get a good feel for what the mjolnir is made of. I absolutely concur with other impressions that the amp is in your face and not laid back in the slightest. I also agree that this is an engaging amp, you can’t casually listen and fall asleep.. It grabs your ears and forces you to listen to everything. This does translate into some hard sounding highs with certain music though. If it’s in the recording it’s going straight to your ears without any glossing over.[/size]
[size=medium]I’m a lot happier with my purchases than I was last week, but it still isn’t perfect. I may need to get into the amp rolling game. I wanted a hit it and quit it system, but I realize this can be a process and takes time to find out what I like. More impressions to come soon.[/size]

 
Thanks for the update Uncle... I currently have the Gungnir/Mjolnir/LCD-2s. I have ordered my LCD-3s; they are on the way. I am hoping this is a nice noticeable improvement on an already excellent rig.

 

[DKCon]

Doesn't look like anyone has mentioned the Fosgate here?
 
The Fosgate Signature drives the LCD-3s really well.  Very spacious and natural.