[Sebastian.Athea]

Help me choose the reference headphone amplifier and dac to drive: Focal Elear, Audeze LCD-X, and Sennheiser HD800.
Both CORDA CLASSIC-ff & CORDA DACCORD-ff stack and Lake People HPA RS 08 & Lake People DAC RS 06 stack have very similar and good reviews, on paper only difference is that one is balanced and the other is not.
I'm also not against mixing and matching;
CORDA DACCORD-ff with all of it's unique features like crosstalk and balanced HPA RS 08 amp doesn't sound like bad combo. nor does paring Lake People DAC RS 06 that has more "serious" features like selectable digital filters and resampling options with CORDA CLASSIC-ff that has all the same features of Corda dac (crosstalk and so on) and it's single ended which means that in theory it would have less parts than balanced amp and those parts could be of an higher quality.
I'm going to buy whatever option wins in the poll.
Have fun voting and debating!

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

I have found the used OPPO HA-1 in my area, and added it to the poll

 

[Rhamnetin]

I see your Lake Peoples and raise you a Mjolnir Audio Dynalo. No opamps in this signal path, just one of the purest and best measuring headphone amp circuits ever designed and with a lot of power to back it up.

And my DAC vote goes to the Chord Mojo, never heard a better one for under $1,000.

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

I see your Lake Peoples and raise you a Mjolnir Audio Dynalo. No opamps in this signal path, just one of the purest and best measuring headphone amp circuits ever designed and with a lot of power to back it up.

And my DAC vote goes to the Chord Mojo, never heard a better one for under $1,000.

Sorry friend, but I can't find a single review, measurement or photo of Mjolnir Audio Dynalo's internals and I'm not into buying my gear blind.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Sorry friend, but I can't find a single review, measurement or photo of Mjolnir Audio Dynalo's internals and I'm not into buying my gear blind.

Balanced version is measured here:

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/katzs-corner-episode-18-icelandic-wonder

For that specific one, email him at spritzer@mjolnir-audio.com and ask. He'll actually provide photos. You'll be buying much more blindly with Lake People. Note that Mjolnir Audio amps are all made by Birgir Gudjonsson who has worked side by side with Kevin Gilmore, improving on some of his old designs. One of the most proven headphone amp designers out there.

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

For that specific one, email him at spritzer@mjolnir-audio.com and ask. He'll actually provide photos. You'll be buying much more blindly with Lake People. Note that Mjolnir Audio amps are all made by Birgir Gudjonsson who has worked side by side with Kevin Gilmore, improving on some of his old designs. One of the most proven headphone amp designers out there.

Ok I'll do that

I have a feeling like there is animosity towards the Lake people in this forum in general, and I don't get why. Their equipment is used in a lot of studios, especially in Europe, and Lake People DAC RS 06 & Lake People HPA RS 08 have very good reviews, I really don't get it.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Ok I'll do that

I have a feeling like there is animosity towards the Lake people in this forum in general, and I don't get why. Their equipment is used in a lot of studios, especially in Europe, and Lake People DAC RS 06 & Lake People HPA RS 08 have very good reviews, I really don't get it.

There isn't. This forum is largely positive about them, especially the Violectric sub-brand. I just think there's better out there.

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

There isn't. This forum is largely positive about them, especially the Violectric sub-brand. I just think there's better out there.

That's good to know

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

Most people seem to think that single ended amp is the way to go for sub 1k EUR category instead of balanced, I'm curious to why that is? Wouldn't balanced have some advantages even with amps that cost less than 1000 EUR?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Most people seem to think that single ended amp is the way to go for sub 1k EUR category instead of balanced, I'm curious to why that is? Wouldn't balanced have some advantages even with amps that cost less than 1000 EUR?

For the most part the balanced circuit would push out more power. But then again, some SE circuits like the Lyr3 can push out more power than, say, the Jotunheim, and both are running Class A/B anyway.

Best bang for the buck would be NFB-28 - it's balanced, it runs in Class A, and if you don't need Crossfeed and can make your own cables or you don't mind the cost, then might as well get this over the Meier.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Most people seem to think that single ended amp is the way to go for sub 1k EUR category instead of balanced, I'm curious to why that is? Wouldn't balanced have some advantages even with amps that cost less than 1000 EUR?

Because true balanced requires, in many parts of the amp including the PSU, double the amount of components. So if you want to do balanced, you have to compromise on component quality and perhaps more.

Take the Dynalo for reference; Mjolnir Audio has one for $655, HeadAmp has one for $500 (the Gilmore Lite Mk2). Both give up quality on the power supply (the latter only uses a wall wart) and volume control. The balanced next step up from these is $1,795 for the HeadAmp GS-X Mini and $2,200 for the Mjolnir Audio Pure BiPolar, which have excellent but not even dual mono PSUs.

So balanced just costs a ton more. I think the best sub $1,000 amps (not counting OTL tube amps which are only to be used with high impedance headphones) are the Mjolnir Audio Dynalo and probably the Bottlehead S.E.X. but I have never actually used this one at all.

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

For the most part the balanced circuit would push out more power. But then again, some SE circuits like the Lyr3 can push out more power than, say, the Jotunheim, and both are running Class A/B anyway.

Best bang for the buck would be NFB-28 - it's balanced, it runs in Class A, and if you don't need Crossfeed and can make your own cables or you don't mind the cost, then might as well get this over the Meier.

Yes I was thinking about that too, what about audio gd separates like paring NFB-1AMP with R-1 or D-77? And what is the difference between R-1 and D-77, well one is delta sigma and other is R2R, but how do they sound compared to each other?

Because true balanced requires, in many parts of the amp including the PSU, double the amount of components. So if you want to do balanced, you have to compromise on component quality and perhaps more.

Take the Dynalo for reference; Mjolnir Audio has one for $655, HeadAmp has one for $500 (the Gilmore Lite Mk2). Both give up quality on the power supply (the latter only uses a wall wart) and volume control. The balanced next step up from these is $1,795 for the HeadAmp GS-X Mini and $2,200 for the Mjolnir Audio Pure BiPolar, which have excellent but not even dual mono PSUs.

So balanced just costs a ton more. I think the best sub $1,000 amps (not counting OTL tube amps which are only to be used with high impedance headphones) are the Mjolnir Audio Dynalo and probably the Bottlehead S.E.X. but I have never actually used this one at all.

But wouldn't in theory balanced amp require 50% less powerful components to output the same power, for example balanced amp with dual 5watt amps and PSUs would output the same power as single ended 10w amp with single 10w PSU? Therefore balanced amp would require more components but in theory they could be less powerful and cheaper?

 

[Rhamnetin]

But wouldn't in theory balanced amp require 50% less powerful components to output the same power, for example balanced amp with dual 5watt amps and PSUs would output the same power as single ended 10w amp with single 10w PSU? Therefore balanced amp would require more components but in theory they could be less powerful and cheaper?

I suppose, but in that case you are missing out on a key benefit to balanced which is significantly more power.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Yes I was thinking about that too, what about audio gd separates like paring NFB-1AMP with R-1 or D-77? And what is the difference between R-1 and D-77, well one is delta sigma and other is R2R, but how do they sound compared to each other?

1. Cost. You're paying for two chassis and two sets of power stage circuits (transformers, caps, etc) as opposed to one box with one properly designed power stage that can handle both jobs.

2. Signal path. Separates means you need analog line cables to connect them. Singel DAC-HPamp means the signal goes from the DAC's output stage to the amp's input stage through short cables inside the amp if not just traces on the board (that depends on the design), either way it's a very short and likely noise-free signal path.

 

[Sebastian.Athea]

I suppose, but in that case you are missing out on a key benefit to balanced which is significantly more power.

Never mind, figured it out, bridging two mono amps will indeed double the power by doubling the voltage, power in w=amps*volts this means that amp wouldn't have enough current to drive low impedance phones.
Also the power and less crosstalk isn't the main benefit of balanced config, I have already explained it so I'm going to quote my self here.

Lower crosstalk and higher power aren't the main advantage of balanced, although they do help. Actually in electronics terms like balanced and fully balanced or differential amps don't exist, single ended amps are called stereo amps, amps with separate grounds are called mono mono amps and fully balanced amps are called bridged mono amps.
Let me try to explain the differences: Lets focus on single power mono block and ignore pre amp, vol control, and stereo. Our mono block will have a buffer amp that isolates it from the rest of the circuit, including the ground, and lets assume that signal and signal ground coming out of our buffer are perfect, our load is connected to mono block ground and phase (power) out. when we apply the signal to this config and attempt to drive our load the mono block's ground will get slightly disturbed (dragged up or down), and because our buffer amp is on the same ground as our power amp, the signal ground will get disturbed, that will cause the small distortion in the signal going into our power amp that will affect mostly the higher frequencies and quieter parts of our signal.
Now lets add an inverting buffer amp and another power amp to our mono block, now one of the our power amps is inverted and the other is not, we'll connect grounds of both our power amps together and the load to phase of each of our amps. when we apply the signal now one of our power amps will try to drag the ground up or down, but our inverted amp will try to drag the ground in exactly the opposite way, so when one power amps tries to pull our ground up the other will pull it down, hence the name "balanced", bridged mono amps are called balanced because their ground is always perfect or in balance.

1. Cost. You're paying for two chassis and two sets of power stage circuits (transformers, caps, etc) as opposed to one box with one properly designed power stage that can handle both jobs.

2. Signal path. Separates means you need analog line cables to connect them. Singel DAC-HPamp means the signal goes from the DAC's output stage to the amp's input stage through short cables inside the amp if not just traces on the board (that depends on the design), either way it's a very short and likely noise-free signal path.

What about sigma delta vs r2r DACs?