[RollinHard843]

I tried the atticus with lyr 2 and a garage1217 project polaris (their amps feature adjustable output impedance) and liked the lyr 2 the best by a slight margin.

What was interesting with the polaris is that i found the 0.1 ohm setting the best, much more so than the 30 ohm setting. Guess that speaks more about my sonic preferences than anything else!

 

[Valens7]

Interesting man! I love my atty but it just doesn’t sound as open as the Eikon or the Th900 to me. Do you personally hear more hight or width (or both) in the SS? Also what amp/Dac are you running with? I’m still looking for a descently priced SS amp to go along with my MJ2 so I can have he best of both worlds. Would love to hear the Atty on a good SS Amp that doesn’t break the bank. Any suggestions?

The Atticus has far less in the way of palpable air as compared to the TH-X00, and I’d imagine that’s equally true of the TH-900. Appropriate, as those are semi-open headphones. But there’s also less in the way of cup reverb, which is a major contributor to the “closed” sound that I’m describing. Probably due to different damping scheme employed, among other things.

The Eikon isn’t too different from the Atticus in terms of damping and it has a more present treble response. So I can certainly see why one might perceive it as sounding just as open, perhaps even more so. But the cup reverb seemed notably more pronounced than on the Atticus, imposing more of a perceptual boundary to its staging. Perhaps the Eikon’s sub bass emphasis has something to do with this? The Atticus sports a much darker, warmer sound. But the relative absence of cup reverb lends it a staging presentation that seems to float beyond the boundaries imposed by its closed design.

Of course, this is just how I heard the Eikon and Atticus side-by-side during a relatively brief ownership stint and on an occasion beside. Your mileage may vary and all that. I wound up with an Atticus alongside an Auteur, which I feel resolves my issues with the Eikon.

I’ve swapped among a variety of amplifiers of late, but as sources go I do like the Soekris dac1321 a great deal. I’d think the more expensive 1421/1541 might be similarly excellent performers. Unfortunately, it’s tough to unreservedly recommend an affordable, readily obtainable solid-state amp that handles the ZMF dynamics reasonably well, and I’ve not heard one that meshes with the Atticus in particular. Since the MJ2 with suitably agreeable tubes is already quite a good option, I’d just stick with that unless you’d prefer to step up to something higher end. As a hybrid, you’re effectively already getting the “best of both worlds” from it.

 

[227qed]

Would a mimby and micro ican (400 mW version) play nice with the Eikon?

Edit: I already own these.

I’ve settled on saving up for it, but am curious if it’d be better to wait til I can save up for a better dac and/or amp to go along with it and totally have my mind blown as I step into the world of “hifi” (from mid-fi) for the very first time.

 

[ProfFalkin]

Would a mimby and micro ican (400 mW version) play nice with the Eikon? I’ve settled on saving up for it, but am curious if it’d be better to wait til I can save up for a better dac and/or amp to go along with it and totally have my mind blown as I step into the world of “hifi” (from mid-fi) for the very first time.

IMO, it's always best to get the best transducer (headphone) you can which matches your preferences, then match DAC/amps to compliment it. The Mimby + ican should work fine. I would suggest the Lyr 3 instead of the Ican, but that's just my personal preference.

 

[Wes S]

IMO, it's always best to get the best transducer (headphone) you can which matches your preferences, then match DAC/amps to compliment it. The Mimby + ican should work fine. I would suggest the Lyr 3 instead of the Ican, but that's just my personal preference.

Really good advice!

 

[227qed]

IMO, it's always best to get the best transducer (headphone) you can which matches your preferences, then match DAC/amps to compliment it. The Mimby + ican should work fine. I would suggest the Lyr 3 instead of the Ican, but that's just my personal preference.

Thanks for the advice. Edited my post to reflect that I already have a mimby and ican. Just wouldn’t want to be “disappointed” with the Eikon if there was some bad synergy there.

Note. Coming from an X-00, I’m hoping to really be “wowed”.

And my planned upgrade path would eventually be the pro ican and a Gumby or other dac TBD. From what I gather though, a tube amp is best for the Eikon...

Does anyone have a good experience with the Eikon and pro ican?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Thanks for the advice. Edited my post to reflect that I already have a mimby and ican. Just wouldn’t want to be “disappointed” with the Eikon if there was some bad synergy there. And my planned upgrade path would eventually be the pro ican and a Gumby or other dac TBD.

Rest assured about the Eikon: it really is not especially picky about sources, at least in terms of amps. I've tried it with 4 SS & 1 OTL tube amp; it sounded terrific on all of them. It's a highly resolving headphone, so I could hear differences between amps (also slight/expected differences betw SE & balanced outputs on those amps that had both). But none of the amps was a "fail" w/the Eikon; each pretty much sounded like itself, as one would expect.

• interestingly (and fortunately) enough, my next to cheapest SS amp, the Liquid Carbon v2, is probably my favorite amp for the Eikon. They lock in & make each other sound even better than usual

I happen to be a lover of multibit digital, so the only DACs I've ever heard the Eikon with are Audio GD NOS 19 (my primary DAC--love it) and DAC-19, my secondary system DAC (also very good, better than d/s for sure). IMHO the Eikon is one of those headphones that would benefit most from multibit goodness, because it's so resolving, so able to show subtle differences like d/s vs multibit; also because its sometimes slightly exuberant upper mids/lower treble (source & genre-dependent) smooth out a bit w/multibit compared to d/s, which often sharpens those very same frequencies.

 

[227qed]

Rest assured about the Eikon: it really is not especially picky about sources, at least in terms of amps. I've tried it with 4 SS & 1 OTL tube amp; it sounded terrific on all of them. It's a highly resolving headphone, so I could hear differences between amps (also slight/expected differences betw SE & balanced outputs on those amps that had both). But none of the amps was a "fail" w/the Eikon; each pretty much sounded like itself, as one would expect.

• interestingly (and fortunately) enough, my next to cheapest SS amp, the Liquid Carbon v2, is probably my favorite amp for the Eikon. They lock in & make each other sound even better than usual

I happen to be a lover of multibit digital, so the only DACs I've ever heard the Eikon with are Audio GD NOS 19 (my primary DAC--love it) and DAC-19, my secondary system DAC (also very good, better than d/s for sure). IMHO the Eikon is one of those headphones that would benefit most from multibit goodness, because it's so resolving, so able to show subtle differences like d/s vs multibit; also because its sometimes slightly exuberant upper mids/lower treble (source & genre-dependent) smooth out a bit w/multibit compared to d/s, which often sharpens those very same frequencies.

Great, thanks for the feedback. Not particularly worried, but if I’m going to be dropping the coin I want to have the best possible experience. Noticed a difference upgrading from the standard modi 2 Uber to the mimby, but it was definitely worth it as far as my ears remember. Bigger stage, smoother, heavier low end, and more resolving I think.

Anyways, I’ll rest assured and am looking forward to moving my way up the food chain. Will be interesting to see if TH900 successor comes out before I end up pulling the trigger (sometime in 2019).

 

[Jearly410]

While we are on the topic of amp pairing with the Atticus, my vote for best budget amp is the MCTH. $250 (or less if buying used) can feed the Atticus the power it needs. I actually bought the MCTH to be paired specifically with the Atticus as my ifi black label disappointed me with boomy bass and less cohesion.

 

[Rhamnetin]

To buy the new gorgeous LTD Eikon or not to buy...

 

[Arcamera]

Just another shout out for the Atticus here. I'm very treble sensitive, and so in part for that reason much prefer it over the Eikon (I still own both). For me, the Atticus is the coveted HD650 upgrade way to go. And I don't have a lot of amp rolling experience, but I can say I thoroughly enjoy the Atticus out of both my Woo WA2 and WA22. (I have the lovely WA3 as well, but since getting the others haven't given it much use). I'm also not much of a tube roller-- just find some smoother sounding ones, fit and forget.

 

[avsmusic1]

Just curious- Anyone try these w/ one of the Feliks offerings?

 

[jinxy245]

Just curious- Anyone try these w/ one of the Feliks offerings?

The search will probably help...I know Zach likes them, though maybe others can chime in.

The search gave me this:

https://www.head-fi.org/search/13874044/?q=Feliks&t=post&o=relevance&c[thread]=821782

Good luck!

 

[GrussGott]

Just another shout out for the Atticus here. I'm very treble sensitive, and so in part for that reason much prefer it over the Eikon (I still own both). For me, the Atticus is the coveted HD650 upgrade way to go. And I don't have a lot of amp rolling experience, but I can say I thoroughly enjoy the Atticus out of both my Woo WA2 and WA22. (I have the lovely WA3 as well, but since getting the others haven't given it much use). I'm also not much of a tube roller-- just find some smoother sounding ones, fit and forget.

which of the woo 2s do you prefer? does your choice change with the HP (eikon or atticus)? Also, ever hear the WA8 and how would you compare? thanks!!

 

[Arcamera]

which of the woo 2s do you prefer? does your choice change with the HP (eikon or atticus)? Also, ever hear the WA8 and how would you compare? thanks!!

Overall, the WA22 is a better (and more expensive) amp-- more powerful, detailed, dynamic, versatile--yet I usually prefer the Atticus with the OTL WA2. I don't listen to the Eikon much now but when I do I generally prefer it with the WA22. Not sure why. I also enjoy my ZMF Ori on the WA22 (although I could imagine the Ori doing even better with even more power).

I've only heard the WA8 at a show-- didn't give it enough time (Was already pretty content with my other amps).