[Thenewguy007]

I'd suggest you sell the Fostex TH-900 & the Sennheiser HD800 to add to your honeypot & invest in a Abyss 1266.
The bass of the Fostex & the soundstage of the HD800. With midrange better than both.

It has the positives of both without any of the negatives, all in one headphone.

 

[SeaWo|f]

Well except for finicky fitting that you must get right. Difficult to drive and many have comfort issues.

 

[B1ll]

If you are set on the HD800, I would suggest buying a Zana Deux Super and spend the rest on what you can afford from Denafrips, similarly priced Schiit equipment sounded thinner by comparison (which I considered king of the bargain until AXPONA). I might upgrade to the Terminator if I lose patience saving up for the DAVE. The Zana Deux S (with NOS Phillips ECC35) gives flesh and meat where other amps seem to be congested and thin, and it can be used as a preamp for speakers if you decide to add-on to your experience. I can't recommend the synergy from the HD800, ZDS, Yggy trio more emphatically, it's a wonderful bang-for-your-buck system.

 

[JoeinLA]

Thanks for all the input. Happy to keep getting suggestions.

Just as an update I went to the Schitt store and listened to the gungir multi + mjonir and also the Yggdrasil + ragnorok. I wanted to try just the DACs with my current headroom AMP but didn’t have all the connections easily available. I’ll go back this weekend or next and try again. It does seem like my DAC is quite outdated so i’m looking at that for now.

Thanks again And keep them coming. I find it hard to just pick a point of focus when there’s so many options.

 

[protoss]

Staxs = Facts !!

Well if you haven't notice yet...

HD800 is one of the greatest heaphones to be release in the 21st century. It will go down as a mighty legend. Like everyone mention. You need proper gear to feed that beast ! And once you do its pretty much over.

Next

STAXS !! ...

You said 4K is your max?

You can get . Schiit Ragnarok muti bit $799 + HD660 $600 + LCD2C $700 + Sundara $499 + Aeon $799 + Elear $600 = $3997

Cough staxs....

 

[SeaWo|f]

You should also look at the audio gd dacs, r2r7 and r2r1. 2600 and 800 respectively.

For tube amps I would also look at what AmpsAndSound, wolf's ear audio and decware are doing.

 

[Thenewguy007]

If you are set on the HD800, I would suggest buying a Zana Deux Super.

Yeah if going with an amp for the HD800, the Zana Deus Super $2,500, the DNA Stratus $3,000, or the Ampsound Mogwai SE $2,500 are within your budget & are highly recommended for the HD800.

 

[koven]

Thanks for all the input! I'm going to check out the Schitt store near me today - I might consider the DAC upgrade first since it sounds like the weakest link so far and the Headroom is a bit old on the DAC technology-front.

Re: the store that I went to, it's Shelley's Stereo in Woodland Hills near Los Angeles - they were a close-by Woo Audio dealer so I checked them out. they were friendly enough (and I was pretty close to getting the Firefly) until I ended up buying the MHA100 from Audiogon - I went back to look at stuff for my Stereo/HT setup and they were like "you wasted all our time on your headphone search, are you going to do the same thing with your stereo search?" (paraphrasing). The owner even said "I don't think you're the type of customer we want to build a relationship with" (pretty sure that's a direct quote). Heh What - I note that I went there 3 times and spent ~45 mins each time just going back and forth between their setups (i.e, it's not like I sat there for four hours taking up the store's time, eating chips, watching TV, etc. ). It's just a footnote to this discussion but, yeah, I've never been treated like that and I've purchased relatively high-ticket items (and I tend to go back a few times to make sure I'm comfortable with my decision, especially when I'm spending a decent hunk of change). Anyways, yeah, totally bizarre. Honestly, it all worked out b/c I ended up going somewhere else (Magnolia HiFi) and got talked into an MC452 *AND* 8207 - so I'll take the karma there.

Go to The Source AV in Torrance, they have nearly all high end gear for demo.

 

[B1ll]

You could contact Eddie Current and probably demo a Zana Deux Super if you are in the LA/Malibu area. Had a chance to listen to DNA+Yggy at AXPONA and while it sounded good, it didn't sound as fleshy or have as wide of a soundstage with pinpoint accuracy.

 

[Whitigir]

Amazing, no one mentioned Kimber Axios Silver 16 wires cables

 

[SeaWo|f]

It isn't really hifi unless your interconnects and HP cables cost more than the rest of your gear combined.

 

[336881]

My fav. is my C-2301. I feel like I could connect a turd input or output wise and it would sound like gold. Connect something of substance to it and it damn near brings me to tears.