I can do little else than do me. Don't see where you received a personal attack, but c'est la vie.
I am curious, what would you recommend as a review DAC/amp stack, and would you keep it static or change it up depending on the headphones you're trying to review?
I can do little else than do me. Don't see where you received a personal attack, but c'est la vie.
I am curious, what would you recommend as a review DAC/amp stack, and would you keep it static or change it up depending on the headphones you're trying to review?
How should I know? I am not a reviewer. If I were, I would pick something people can access and verify for themselves and not a dac from China that you have to buy first. To be frank, Jeff was just a rando a few years ago so pardon my suspicion.
I also think it’s not the best to use integrated for headphone unless you use a conversion box. Just a random advice from a former EE.
@Sajid Amit have you heard any Kennerton cans? I've had the Rognir (both planar and dynamic) and two Gjallerhorns - the LSA HP-2 and the new GH40. Would be curious if you had any thoughts on them. I still have the Rognir Planars - they're amazing closed-backs and are currently in a deathmatch with my VCs for best closed-back cans I've ever heard.
Edit: I'm also curious about your amp testing with the Susvaras. I know you said there's a lot in the FB discussion, but I refuse to use Facebook as of a couple of years back. I've tried a few with them - Magnius, Pro iCAN, SMSL SH-8, Conductor 3XP, and (hopefully tomorrow) a Quicksilver headphone amp - and all drove them OK to really good. I like how they sound with the Conductor, and at my main setup I go back and forth between the iCAN and the speaker taps on my Luxman R-117.
Hello and thanks for your perspective on your shootouts. They are very helpful in understanding what I could experience in an alternate reality.
For now, I am perfectly happy where I am as an all in one user. I understand there are always compromises and the limits are well understood with each of your descriptions.
I appreciate that you tried eq on some, however, I wished you did on all. As I am a tinkerer, I would do this on any phone whether head or on my Galaxy Fold 3. It would be nice to know what all of them could do with eq. As such, I would be curious if your assessment correlates with Resolve in that the bass was not as good or better than LCD5, or 009S could reach near enough bass quantity/quality as TC when eq'd. Or, if TC could be eq'd to have as good or near the vocal/tonal quality of LCD5.
In the end, for me, if eq'd bass is close enough to TC and better than Sus as some have stated, that is enough for me to keep the 5's without having to dabble in breaking the bank for power.
They sound amazing with both my genres, breakbeat and Alicia Keys. lol. Bass and vocals both are highest importance and sound great with any of the eq's out there, ex: Oratory/Resolve/Chrono are all very similar with Oratory as my current favorite but still adding .5 db to the bass frequencies to appease my bass needs.
anyone criticizing sajid here is really making a mistake...he is a real nice guy who loves the music and works hard to bring his opinions to people...personally I have different preferences than he does but I respect his work and love his enthusiasm.
Has anyone compared Holo to the usual suspects? I have not come across any such comparison myself.
I am generally nervous when I see an unknown guy (ie a rando) coming up with a dac that is supposedly killing giants - have heard this story too many times.
The following site has published a lot of DAC reviews, and notably also rates the Holo May very highly. I generally like the guy's reviews, although he tends to base his listening impressions on modern electronic music, whereas I typically throw in a lot of acoustic stuff when I want to hear what a component is really about.
Hello and thanks for your perspective on your shootouts. They are very helpful in understanding what I could experience in an alternate reality.
For now, I am perfectly happy where I am as an all in one user. I understand there are always compromises and the limits are well understood with each of your descriptions.
I appreciate that you tried eq on some, however, I wished you did on all. As I am a tinkerer, I would do this on any phone whether head or on my Galaxy Fold 3. It would be nice to know what all of them could do with eq. As such, I would be curious if your assessment correlates with Resolve in that the bass was not as good or better than LCD5, or 009S could reach near enough bass quantity/quality as TC when eq'd. Or, if TC could be eq'd to have as good or near the vocal/tonal quality of LCD5.
In the end, for me, if eq'd bass is close enough to TC and better than Sus as some have stated, that is enough for me to keep the 5's without having to dabble in breaking the bank for power.
They sound amazing with both my genres, breakbeat and Alicia Keys. lol. Bass and vocals both are highest importance and sound great with any of the eq's out there, ex: Oratory/Resolve/Chrono are all very similar with Oratory as my current favorite but still adding .5 db to the bass frequencies to appease my bass needs.
EQ’d bass on LCD5 gets it close to TC in terms of bass quality, texture and to a degree, impact. But TC still reigns on all three, especially impact.
I honestly wouldn’t want to EQ the TC or the SR009S. They lose their special sauce in my opinion. So when you EQ the 009S to bring its bass forward, it sounds less ethereal and euphonic. And the bass never reaches planar or dynamic levels of impact.
TC mids even when EQ’d don’t have the euphonic quality of a Susvara, but EQ-ing up the mids, esp upper mids, the width of stage can appear to close in.
LCD5 is the only one among these 4 headphones I would personally EQ.
YMMV.
@Sajid Amit have you heard any Kennerton cans? I've had the Rognir (both planar and dynamic) and two Gjallerhorns - the LSA HP-2 and the new GH40. Would be curious if you had any thoughts on them. I still have the Rognir Planars - they're amazing closed-backs and are currently in a deathmatch with my VCs for best closed-back cans I've ever heard.
Edit: I'm also curious about your amp testing with the Susvaras. I know you said there's a lot in the FB discussion, but I refuse to use Facebook as of a couple of years back. I've tried a few with them - Magnius, Pro iCAN, SMSL SH-8, Conductor 3XP, and (hopefully tomorrow) a Quicksilver headphone amp - and all drove them OK to really good. I like how they sound with the Conductor, and at my main setup I go back and forth between the iCAN and the speaker taps on my Luxman R-117.
Hey man, no, but would really like to hear Kennerton cans, especially the Rognir. How would you describe the sound in comparison to the VC or the Stellia?
As for my amp testing, I have tried a bunch. I prefer speaker amps with the Susvara, with the exception of the Ferrum OOR and Hypsos with a May. The May - OOR - Hypsos chain does something crazy to the Susvara. It becomes the archetype of pure, neutral and natural. As for speaker amps, I like Accuphase since they tend to be sweetly voiced while not being warm, especially if I have a May as the source. With Dave as the source, I like warmer amps like Hegel.
I have also owned a Pass Labs pre and power setup for a while, which was better with a more clinical DAC, since the Pass sound can be relaxed.
The Riviera AIC-10 and the May are also a nice combo with the Susvara off the speaker taps.
I am yearning to try the Primavera Trafomatic for both the Susvara and the TC. Will get one sooner or later, lol.
PSA, you are probably distorting the cans using the high output imp of speaker output driving relatively low imp cans. If you like the distorted sound that is fine but this practice is bad for long term durability of the diaphragm.
EQ’d bass on LCD5 gets it close to TC in terms of bass quality, texture and to a degree, impact. But TC still reigns on all three, especially impact.
I honestly wouldn’t want to EQ the TC or the SR009S. They lose their special sauce in my opinion. So when you EQ the 009S to bring its bass forward, it sounds less ethereal and euphonic. And the bass never reaches planar or dynamic levels of impact.
TC mids even when EQ’d don’t have the euphonic quality of a Susvara, but EQ-ing up the mids, esp upper mids, the width of stage can appear to close in.
LCD5 is the only one among these 4 headphones I would personally EQ.
YMMV.
PSA, you are probably distorting the cans using the high output imp of speaker output driving relatively low imp cans. If you like the distorted sound that is fine but this practice is bad for long term durability of the diaphragm.
Speaker output impedances are generally very low.
Between 0 5 and 2 Ohm for the 4 Ohm taps and 1 to 4 Ohm on the 8 Ohm taps.
At least that's a wide spread standard
Hey man, no, but would really like to hear Kennerton cans, especially the Rognir. How would you describe the sound in comparison to the VC or the Stellia?
As for my amp testing, I have tried a bunch. I prefer speaker amps with the Susvara, with the exception of the Ferrum OOR and Hypsos with a May. The May - OOR - Hypsos chain does something crazy to the Susvara. It becomes the archetype of pure, neutral and natural. As for speaker amps, I like Accuphase since they tend to be sweetly voiced while not being warm, especially if I have a May as the source. With Dave as the source, I like warmer amps like Hegel.
I have also owned a Pass Labs pre and power setup for a while, which was better with a more clinical DAC, since the Pass sound can be relaxed.
The Riviera AIC-10 and the May are also a nice combo with the Susvara off the speaker taps.
I am yearning to try the Primavera Trafomatic for both the Susvara and the TC. Will get one sooner or later, lol.
The Rognirs are crazy good. Soundstage is roughly the same as the VCs. It's got better clarity, with bass basically being outstanding planar bass vs. the VC's excellent DD bass. I think they complement each other nicely, and I couldn't tell you which I'd prefer to have if forced to choose.
The Rognirs are crazy good. Soundstage is roughly the same as the VCs. It's got better clarity, with bass basically being outstanding planar bass vs. the VC's excellent DD bass. I think they complement each other nicely, and I couldn't tell you which I'd prefer to have if forced to choose.
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