[thyname]

Thyname is right. However, I do not believe the mimby or bimby would be an upgrade to the Deckard's dac. I do believe to Gumby would be. The Deckard's DAC is good. So are the mimby and bimby. The Gumby is a great DAC equal to the Musette in quality, albeit a different sound sig... IMO.

I had Deckard, and did not care much for it. Overpriced. Have the Matrix combos (M-stage HPA-3B Amp and Quattro II for DAC), much better for the price. Deckard is made by Matrix (OEM), without the design and price markup.

Bimby would definitely be an upgrade to Deckard DACs. And possibly Mimby. Multibit, and its "cousin " R2R / Ladder in my ears, is an improvement to delta sigma chips.

 

[geoffalter11]

I had Deckard, and did not care much for it. Overpriced. Have the Matrix combos (M-stage HPA-3B Amp and Quattro II for DAC), much better for the price. Deckard is made by Matrix (OEM), without the design and price markup.

Bimby would definitely be an upgrade to Deckard DACs. And possibly Mimby. Multibit, and its "cousin " R2R / Ladder in my ears, is an improvement to delta sigma chips.

That is what makes the hobby so great.  We all hear different things.  I found the Deckard DAC a touch shouty in the upper registers and I would fatigue easily after 90 min or so.  Since moving to the Musette as the DAC, that is gone.  
 
I didn't care for the Mimby.  I found it too digital sounding.  I can see the Bimby being an upgrade.  And the Gumby would be of close relation to my Musette in price and performance.  As an amp, The Deckard is quite good.  Natural, clean and a touch warm.  

 

[gward4]

I am using the Deckard AMP and DAC with my LCD3s (Tidal lossless from MacBook).

Do you guys think it would be an improvement to use the Emotiva Stealth DC-1 as the DAC (while still using the Deckard as the amp)?

Thanks!

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

I have read through this thread a couple times here and there, Because I was on the fence on purchasing one of these units when I was having issues with my balanced rig. I use ZMF omni's( or now oris) planar headphones, and I wanted to ask has any one used with this with the HD650? or the HD6XX ? because I have been using that headphone past few days just to get a change from the ZMF since it has been my only full size for quite some time after selling off my other gear.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Current setup is an audio interface (Steinberg UR22) into an Elemental Watson feeding my LCD-2F. I love the tubes, always have. 
 
HOWEVER, I'm so intensely curious about the synergy between these two. I'm positive the DAC would be an improvement, but can't decide if it's worth it and if I'll lose the nice warm/impactful sound I get with the Watson. Any thoughts?

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Well, pulled the trigger. Upgraded a good bit actually. Deckard -> LCD-X. I actually feel confident in my end game.

 

[Povell42]

Anyone ever compare the Deckard Amp vs. Aune X7s?

I am currently using: Schiit Fulla 2 (DAC) > Aune X7s (AMP - 4 pin XLR) > LCD-3. I am really curious about the Deckard paired with my LCD-3.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Anyone ever compare the Deckard Amp vs. Aune X7s?

I am currently using: Schiit Fulla 2 (DAC) > Aune X7s (AMP - 4 pin XLR) > LCD-3. I am really curious about the Deckard paired with my LCD-3.

I can't say 100%, but my inclination is the Deckard is gonna do better largely because it's a significantly better DAC than the Fulla. You'd lose the balanced output but for the life of me I could not hear a difference going balanced/unbalanced on a Questyle CMA800R so I would wager the overall increase in power and fidelity would be the better option.

Plus, hey, it's made BY Audeze, it's a good bet they tuned it with their products, right? I'm loving it with my LCD-X.

 

[Povell42]

I'm shocked there still hasn't been a comparison with the Schiit Jot yet!

I went ahead and bought the Deckard. It will be at my house on Friday! It kinda worries me see that some think it pairs worse with the LCD-3 vs. the 2

I will compare the Amp capabilities and compared it to the $250 - $300 Aune X7s.

If the Aune amp is on par, or better, I would most likely return the Deckard and buy a Bimby instead. That would be the same rough price Bimby + Aune X7s. Might just be the next best bang for buck combo.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I'm shocked there still hasn't been a comparison with the Schiit Jot yet!

I went ahead and bought the Deckard. It will be at my house on Friday! It kinda worries me see that some think it pairs worse with the LCD-3 vs. the 2

I will compare the Amp capabilities and compared it to the $250 - $300 Aune X7s.

If the Aune amp is on par, or better, I would most likely return the Deckard and buy a Bimby instead. That would be the same rough price Bimby + Aune X7s. Might just be the next best bang for buck combo.

I was really torn between Jot and Deckard, just because the balanced appealed to me, but I cannot possibly imagine how it would pair badly with the LCD-3. The thing was made for their own products.

 

[Povell42]

Updated thoughts:
I got the Deckard this weekend and compared it with my current options.

I could tell a difference in the Deckard's DAC compared to the Fulla 2. The Deckard DAC seemed to be a little brighter and tighter than the Fulla 2. It seemed to mostly cure my complaint of some songs sounded a little congested in comparison to the Fulla 2.

I could not tell a real difference between the Deckard and the Sound Blaster X7 DACs. They shared the same signature and improvements to the Fulla 2.

However.... I compared the AMP in the Deckard to my AUNE X7s and I could not tell a difference. I used the pre-out of the Deckard into my Aune and volume matched them. A/B-ing the two with the 1/4 inch connection, the Aune amp did reflect the Deckards DAC without any changes to my ear.

When I swapped to the Balanced output on the AUNE X7s with the Deckards amp it seemed to be even better then the Deckard's output.

So...I believe the best route for me is to get a better DAC and use my Aune X7s amp instead of the Deckard.

One other very weird thing that happened with the Deckard. After having it on for about 8 hours, it suddenly just lost it's power. By this i mean the sound went very quite. I turned it to high gain, and volume all the way up and it was still very soft in sound. It even did this from the Pre-out. My Aune had to be turned all the way up with the Deckard volume all the way up...and it was still soft.

I checked the connections, turned it off and disconnected the power.... it would still do it. About 24 hours later, it was working properly again?

It is enough of a concern that I would probably return it either way.

 

[zackzack]

All this talk of Deckard having too much treble energy: maybe Deckard is especially designed that way to power dark-sounding orthodynamics like the LCDs?

 

[WilCox]

All this talk of Deckard having too much treble energy: maybe Deckard is especially designed that way to power dark-sounding orthodynamics like the LCDs?

I have both the Deckard and the Jotunheim. I find them both to be excellent amps for Audeze and Sennheiser phones. So good in fact that I have sold my Bryston BDA-2/BHA-1 combo as well as my Schiit Gungnir/Mjolnir combo.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

All this talk of Deckard having too much treble energy: maybe Deckard is especially designed that way to power dark-sounding orthodynamics like the LCDs?

I've heard it's tuned specifically to the LCD-X. Maybe so, because the X sounds goddamn incredible with it.

 

[Gamergtx260]

I own the XC and X, currently using them with Marantz HD DAC1. The XC sounds beautiful as the HD DAC1 is warmer sounding, was wondering if I should stick with it or should get the deckard? As the deckard is clearly more powerful but I really like the warmer sounding Marantz, though the HD DAC1 can get loud at high gain.

Suggestions?