[A-Rebirth]

The only planar magnetic headphone I've tried with the Essence III is the Audeze LCD-X. It sounded great, but it's an easier to drive headphone than the LCD-4, so probably not all that helpful of a reference. I looked at the specs for the LCD-4 and Susvara, and it looks to me like the Susvara is way more demanding than the LCD-4. The Susvara has 14db lower sensitivity. So I think the Essence III will have enough power for the LCD-4, but not enough for the Susvara. For higher-end headphones, I don't think the power output will be the ultimate limiting factor. I still use the Essence III every day, but I bought a SPL Phonitor X to use as headphone amplifier & pre-amp for my speakers. With the HD 800 the Essence III amplifier sounds congested and dynamically compressed compared to the Phonitor X. So if you're interested in the Susvara, getting a separate headphone amplifier might be a good idea. It wouldn't just give you the power to drive the headphones, but you'd also get the most out of the Essence III since the amplifiers on the dac don't show you everything the dac is capable of.

@TheManko, to be honest I didn't own HD800 when I was writing it. BUT I was about to pick it up (right now I actually own it) and I was on a demostration like 3 years ago. Your impressions in this thread and when I listened to it made me pull the trigger to finally buy it. Thank you for that!! BTW, I'm also from Sweden. So possibly we bought it at the same place? "Reference Audio" in Stockholm. As far as I know the only store that activly promoted this specific setup. And I'm their "stamkund" since I been their more or less active customer for about 10 years. Last month I bought a Naim Mu-So QB to my GF for her kitchen for instance.

I got the HD800 and Essence III connected to my media server now. It runs PLEX and Roon with decent hardware and 1x4 TB + 4x10 TB NAS Drives from Western Digital. It's packed with with mainly FLAC and MKV files. I got a Van den Hul Optocoupler Mk2 toslink cable. I use Foobar2000 with WASAPI. I noticed the sound gets a lot better (about any track/genre) using a Foobar2000 preset called "Punch & Sparkle".

I think it's this one:

https://github.com/Jackson-soft/Foobar2000/blob/master/Equalizer Presets/Punch & Sparkle.feq

(I found it somewhere else on Google)

Except using it as a media server I use it as a workstation when I'm working websites. I noticed I don't want to have it in front of the computer while I working. Since I'm so focused on the process I do not fully enjoy the music. I rather like to have a "listening corner" so I plan to get the Rega Aria RIAA with a Rega P3 or P6. I also think this setup (and using E3 as a power amp for HD800) could be a "step up" sound-wise. Both because I acutally pay a lot more and also because I really (personally) love the vinyl sound. I THINK the warm vinyl sound might be a good fit for HD800 and it's detailed/clinical sound.

Since it takes time for me getting those thing, I will update this thread later in maybe 3-4 years or so lol.

However, I also plan to get a Mini XLR cable instead of the Stock cable.

I might order this one in a few months or so if I not going for Aria first:

https://axios.kimber.com/store/axios-cu-sennheiser-hd800-3pinminixlr

I am not the kind of a "cable dude" that believes in differences in nice cables. I had a lot of cables both expensive one in more expensive setups and really cheap ones. I never experience any difference at all. However I'm a furnishing dude and I'm a gadget snob. So I like anything that is expensive (and where I getting a value for it) so exlusive details, long lasting built quality, a the "wonderfull feeling" is what I like to pay for nomatter if it's much money. But in this case maybe I believe there is a sounding difference.

Have I understood it correctly? Do the different outputs (Mini XLR) using different op-amps than the ordinary tele output? So I will just be able to enjoy MUSE op-amps if I will be using the Mini XLR output? Or am out with my bicycle now? (Swedish expression!)

 

[TheManko]

@TheManko, to be honest I didn't own HD800 when I was writing it. BUT I was about to pick it up (right now I actually own it) and I was on a demostration like 3 years ago. Your impressions in this thread and when I listened to it made me pull the trigger to finally buy it. Thank you for that!! BTW, I'm also from Sweden. So possibly we bought it at the same place? "Reference Audio" in Stockholm. As far as I know the only store that activly promoted this specific setup. And I'm their "stamkund" since I been their more or less active customer for about 10 years. Last month I bought a Naim Mu-So QB to my GF for her kitchen for instance.

I might order this one in a few months or so if I not going for Aria first:

https://axios.kimber.com/store/axios-cu-sennheiser-hd800-3pinminixlr

I am not the kind of a "cable dude" that believes in differences in nice cables. I had a lot of cables both expensive one in more expensive setups and really cheap ones. I never experience any difference at all. However I'm a furnishing dude and I'm a gadget snob. So I like anything that is expensive (and where I getting a value for it) so exlusive details, long lasting built quality, a the "wonderfull feeling" is what I like to pay for nomatter if it's much money. But in this case maybe I believe there is a sounding difference.

Have I understood it correctly? Do the different outputs (Mini XLR) using different op-amps than the ordinary tele output? So I will just be able to enjoy MUSE op-amps if I will be using the Mini XLR output? Or am out with my bicycle now? (Swedish expression!)

That's right, I bought the Essence III, my HD 800, my HDVD 800 (which I sold when I bought the Phonitor X), and my Velodyne SPL-1000 Ultra subwoofer all at Reference Audio in Stockholm. I haven't been there for a few years now, but by coincidence I talked to the same seller every time I bought something there so I also got a very friendly reception from them.

When it comes to cables I've only heard a difference when there's been something obviously wrong with the cable. Like for example, I bought the cheapest possible 5 meter RCA cable from Kjell & Co and it was absolutely terrible. It was like an interference magnet. So I went back and bought one of their "premium" 5 meter RCA cables instead and it had no such problems at all. I can certainly understand buying a nice cable just for the look and feel. This is especially important when it's a headphone cable, as you touch and feel the cable every time you use the headphones. When I want to use the balanced headphone amp on the Essence III I use a horrible combination of adapters to make it work. I use the Asus mini-xlr to 3-pin xlr, then an xlr gender swap adapter, then a 3-pin xlr to 4-pin xlr adapter. It's not pretty, but it works! And it was cheap.

With the Essence III the balanced out uses different op-amps compared to the 6.3mm jack, so you'll certainly hear a difference. It doesn't use Muses02 op-amps for the balanced outs but instead uses 4 x OPA2227P op-amps. Even though these are different op-amps, the overall style of the sound will sound similar. It's clear to me that Asus were going for a specific kind of sound character for all the outputs on the DAC.

I've read all the press and user reviews of the Essence III, and they all praise the bass while some found the treble a bit lacking in comparison to other high end DACs. Now that I've owned the DAC for years and done many, many op-amp comparisons, it's clear that this was a deliberate decision by Asus. They were trying to create a smooth but also massive and powerful sound, which can in some cases sound a bit congested.

It's easy to change the treble with op-amp switching. But it comes at the cost of making the sound less natural on the whole. This is something I've grown to appreciate more as I've improved my speaker system. The most dramatic upgrade came when I installed room treatments. It enabled me to hear more clearly that op-amp switching was more like a sidegrade or a downgrade, whereas before I believed I was hearing improvements. But the true sound coming from the dac was being mixed in with room reflections, so when I switched op-amps I was merely compensating for deficiencies in my listening environment.

Edit November 3rd 2018: I've modified the post to reflect my current feelings on the Essence III.

 

[vidysammy]

If anyone wishes to sell it's essence III unit, I am interested in buying one at a good price We can discuss details through private messaging. I'm from Europe.

 

[mrjalfrezi]

Does anyone else still own this DAC and they are using it as a pre-amp to a power amplifier/speakers?