BEST $3,000 Amp/DAC that money can buy in your opinion?
Apr 8, 2017 at 11:12 PM Post #16 of 31
Well guys, I was not that impressed with the IFI I Can pro out of the box at first but after a week of warming up, it has turned into something incredible IMO. I just wish there was a bigger difference when switched to tubes, but IFI claims that when all three modes are broken in, the difference will be more noticeable. I liked that they responded to comments here on head fi!

And I saw a Yggdrasil on here in February that made me stare at for a long time (had a black quantum fuse and Nordost power cable). I mean, just a normal Yggy made me excited but this was an upgrade on that (not sure how big of one, but still got my attention). It sold within a day, maybe a few hours if I remember right and guess what, the guy who bought it put it up for sale last Wednesday! He said it works great, he seems like the type that switches stuff around pretty often, and wanyed to try something new, and I bought it immediately!

I will try it with my Jotunheim, but will probably end up pairing it with the iCAN pro. I love it and not everyone has one (yet). It was on sale and the Yggy was used, so more like $3500 than the $4,000 sticker price and I think I will be very happy with it! But I would love to hear any more ideas if anyone has them. Especially for amps that would go great with Yggy (besides Ragnarock of course).

One that I am curious about is the master 9 or 11 (has a built in dac). Or some of the other high end Audio gd stuff. Should have the Yggdrasil in a day or two. I will probably be selling my Mojo and Mimby soon (even though both are practically new) and maybe the Jot, but that's a hard one.

One last thing, what headphones (under $2,000) would you recommend for that pairing (for edm, rap, rock. Lots of bass stuff) and any other advice would be great, I've learned a lot on here since starting just a few months ago and want to thank all on here for the help!
 
Apr 8, 2017 at 11:18 PM Post #17 of 31
averageguync said:
 
​Well I'm mainly looking for a good dac to go with the IFI iCAN pro, but considering selling/trading it towards a great dac for the Jotunheim instead. I'm wondering if the iCAN will scale better than the Jot with a high end dac?
But I could just sell it all and go for a whole new setup and just keep the headphones... -
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I really enjoy the Nuprime Dac-10 (dac only no headamp) it's one of the finest sounding dacs I've heard well worth a listen..enjoy 
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 5:43 PM Post #19 of 31
Unfortunately, I did not have Ygg and PWD at the same time so can't do direct comparison.
what I can tell you is that IMO Ygg was a step up from PWD MKii in many way but again, Technically better does not mean you'll like it.
Well easy way to put it is that, I enjoyed the most when I had PWD MKii + DNA Stratu compare to any other set up I've had.
Since your Ygg is on it's way, give it a try. You might like it or you might prefer it's younger brother.
As for the headphones, I think you are in right direction. If you like to listen to rock music, you might want to consider T1 as well.
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 8:38 PM Post #21 of 31
Not balanced, but my Wells Audio Milo and Metrum Musette is a stellar combination for around $3k.
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 9:22 PM Post #22 of 31
mwhals said:
Not balanced, but my Wells Audio Milo and Metrum Musette is a stellar combination for around $3k.
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I don't understand having for inputs as an option and a 4 pin xlr out but not balanced. But it still love to hear one. If I sold this iCAN it would be a top choice. They are about impossible to find used to try out. But that probably says something
 
Apr 10, 2017 at 10:32 PM Post #25 of 31
mindbomb said:
  Speaking for the objectivist community, the benchmark dac3 and neurochrome hp1.
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People who claim to be objective usually aren't.....
 
Apr 12, 2017 at 5:32 AM Post #26 of 31
averageguync said:
Do u have a neurochrome? I saw one a guy had built for sale on here and it looks like a cool little amp, would love to know what it sounds like
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I have two (one built by Tom, the designer, and another I built myself). It sounds as close to the mythical "wire with gain" as I've heard. It really shows you what your headphones are capable of and what your sources sound like. It's an incredible value at ~$800 in parts if you can build it yourself, or the price that Tom charges for the completely assembled ones.
 
Apr 13, 2017 at 1:42 AM Post #27 of 31
strangecargo said:
I have two (one built by Tom, the designer, and another I built myself). It sounds as close to the mythical "wire with gain" as I've heard. It really shows you what your headphones are capable of and what your sources sound like. It's an incredible value at ~$800 in parts if you can build it yourself, or the price that Tom charges for the completely assembled ones.
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I saw that you can build it up from se to balanced and a couple other options. Is the 800$ one se?
 
Apr 13, 2017 at 1:59 AM Post #28 of 31
averageguync said:
I saw that you can build it up from se to balanced and a couple other options. Is the 800$ one se?
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I think there's only one way to build it, other than making your own case. It has both SE and balanced inputs and outputs. The internal design of the amp is not balanced; the balanced inputs are summed before going through the amp, and the primary advantage of the balanced outputs is that the left and right channels do not share the same ground plane. It's not like the Jotunheim or GS-X mkII where the SE output is the output of only half of the amplifier.
 
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