Tks popzeus for your explanation. Appreciate it.
I have gotten a denafrips dac. Its a pure dac. I just need an amp now. What would you recommend. Tks again.
No prob. Happy to offer my two cents! It all depends on how you prefer your sound. If you prefer a warmer tone, I’d go with the Audio-gd NFB-1 or the Massdrop LCX. There’s also the Monoprice Liquid Platinum if you are feeling the tubes. I’m a big fan of Cavalli and Audio-gd house sound, if you can’t tell. Even though the LCD2C is not a bright headphone, I’d probably go with one of the above amps.
Of course, no amp recommendation can go by without at least mentioning the THX AAA 789. People have called it neutral and transparent, which could read to some as a bit bright, but like with any pairing, it all depends on the DAC and headphones in your chain and your, uh, relationship with treble, since tone is such a subjective call. It specs incredibly well though, and it seems to audibly deliver on that spec sheet’s promise. I don’t know much about denafrips, so I have no idea what the tone of the analog signal is coming out of that DAC. It is a resistor ladder DAC though, so it has some of that tonality I’m sure.
One thing to note about these choices: the NFB and 789 have SE outputs that are almost as good as their balanced counterparts. I think the Cavalli amps tend to be designed around and favor the balanced circuit.
I have found the HP stage of the R2R-11 to be almost Tube-like in sound quality, and as a Class-A amp you are getting all the goody. I use my R2R-11 as my HP amp, as I could not hear a difference than with my Vali-2 HP amp with a 6SN7 tube. Kingwa has made the sound warm and inviting--and this is without the "warm" jumpers. My two-pennies worth...
That’s a good point. I’m not super familiar with tubes outside of a guitar amp context, but there is a smooth sweetness to the 11’s NOS sound that’s tube-like, with none of the hassle of tube rolling or wear & tear. I just made the vinyl analogy because it’s a more common touchstone.