[Bazaar]

Not with hd800 but with HD800s, good amount of body and air and also the whole space of hd800s was filled up.

Same for me as well.

 

[Sam Spade]

I just realized that mqa format is may be 0,1% of my collection (which is in many cases can be replaced by a normal hi-res files). So I would prefer to have a better non-mqa DAC than a lower level full mqa DAC.

Espoec4ialy when jury is out on MQA beina a scam. My LG V30 hardware natively decode MQA. Reviewers i respect say its bunkum. I'm not convinced

 

[sabloke]

Fellows, please help me out here... Do I go for the Soloist 3X or stretch for the GS-X Mini? Money not an issue and my cans are not particularly hard to drive. Will pair with RME ADI-2 FS DAC. I like the looks of both but so far didn't get a chance to listen to either of these amps. All I want is to improve the the fun factor in my listening sessions on headphones and active studio monitors. Using Sony MDR-Z1R, EIR-Z1R, Meze 99 Classics, Oppo PM-3 and Fostex TH-X00.

My active monitors are Focal Shape 6. According to one reviewer, the Soloist is worth it as it makes monitors sounding better. I would guess that might be the case with the GS-X as well, if at all true that more power into active speakers makes that much of a difference.

I heard my MDRs sounding better with a SPL Phonitor e Headphone Amplifier and that tells me more power than my ADI-2 can manage would be welcome. Not talking about volume here of course, the RME can drive any or my cans to stupid levels, but somehow I feel something's missing.

 

[Sam Spade]

Fellows, please help me out here... Do I go for the Soloist 3X or stretch for the GS-X Mini? Money not an issue and my cans are not particularly hard to drive. Will pair with RME ADI-2 FS DAC. I like the looks of both but so far didn't get a chance to listen to either of these amps. All I want is to improve the the fun factor in my listening sessions on headphones and active studio monitors. Using Sony MDR-Z1R, EIR-Z1R, Meze 99 Classics, Oppo PM-3 and Fostex TH-X00.

My active monitors are Focal Shape 6. According to one reviewer, the Soloist is worth it as it makes monitors sounding better. I would guess that might be the case with the GS-X as well, if at all true that more power into active speakers makes that much of a difference.

I heard my MDRs sounding better with a SPL Phonitor e Headphone Amplifier and that tells me more power than my ADI-2 can manage would be welcome. Not talking about volume here of course, the RME can drive any or my cans to stupid levels, but somehow I feel something's missing.

I can highly recommend the burson conductor3x ref and single ended should be about same performance for cans and cheaper. Plus its a hfull heaqd amp and pr amp. Balanced gives you advantage with connecting components in home and pro. Except where you already have a balanced unit like A&K SP1000M. then balanced headphone cable doubles your power. The burson conductor pre/dac one box combos are great. Might blow budget. And absolutely love my chord qutest but would that work? I also have that running through a sparko aries.

 

[sabloke]

I can highly recommend the burson conductor3x

I was looking into that when the Conductors were launched but to be honest I am not willing to give up on RME. I have also learned that the amp section of the new Burson all-in-ones is not as good as the new Soloist. So you see, all I need is a decent amp to slightly improve my RME DAC's amp section, that's all.

Cables wise I am ready to run all cans balanced if that improves things. As you may know, the RME DAC is se only for cans but has balanced outputs to my monitors.

 

[Sam Spade]

I was looking into that when the Conductors were launched but to be honest I am not willing to give up on RME. I have also learned that the amp section of the new Burson all-in-ones is not as good as the new Soloist. So you see, all I need is a decent amp to slightly improve my RME DAC's amp section, that's all.

Cables wise I am ready to run all cans balanced if that improves things. As you may know, the RME DAC is se only for cans but has balanced outputs to my monitors.

Yes the soloist slightly edges out the conductor as an amp from what ive read. I havent found anyone concluding the soloist + composer beats the two DAC conductor though.
https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/burson-conductor-3-reference-review-calm-like-a-bomb/

This might suit you better. I love it. Andrew Sparko is great to deal with.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAFegQICxAC&usg=AOvVaw3V1_O8QEiXJdW-r9YsEbXS

As i run this with the chord qutest and the composer is a built in dac i havent properly compared the amp sections yet. The Sparko /qutest makes my LCD4s sound like I'm in the room. And the top version has balanced pre outs

 

[Sam Spade]

I was looking into that when the Conductors were launched but to be honest I am not willing to give up on RME. I have also learned that the amp section of the new Burson all-in-ones is not as good as the new Soloist. So you see, all I need is a decent amp to slightly improve my RME DAC's amp section, that's all.

Cables wise I am ready to run all cans balanced if that improves things. As you may know, the RME DAC is se only for cans but has balanced outputs to my monitors

Sparko and qutest have one downside. Neither have remotes. But as its desktop use for me thats an ok tradeoff.

 

[normie610]

Fellows, please help me out here... Do I go for the Soloist 3X or stretch for the GS-X Mini? Money not an issue and my cans are not particularly hard to drive. Will pair with RME ADI-2 FS DAC. I like the looks of both but so far didn't get a chance to listen to either of these amps. All I want is to improve the the fun factor in my listening sessions on headphones and active studio monitors. Using Sony MDR-Z1R, EIR-Z1R, Meze 99 Classics, Oppo PM-3 and Fostex TH-X00.

My active monitors are Focal Shape 6. According to one reviewer, the Soloist is worth it as it makes monitors sounding better. I would guess that might be the case with the GS-X as well, if at all true that more power into active speakers makes that much of a difference.

I heard my MDRs sounding better with a SPL Phonitor e Headphone Amplifier and that tells me more power than my ADI-2 can manage would be welcome. Not talking about volume here of course, the RME can drive any or my cans to stupid levels, but somehow I feel something's missing.

I had the same thought previously and I went for Soloist. Bear in mind that I haven’t done any audition on both, I just go with my gut feel (plus the Soloist was in stock at that time). I have zero regrets with Soloist, it is one outstanding amp, especially considering its price and it drives both my Diana V2 and Susvara beautifully.

 

[godmax]

Fellows, please help me out here... Do I go for the Soloist 3X or stretch for the GS-X Mini? Money not an issue and my cans are not particularly hard to drive. Will pair with RME ADI-2 FS DAC. I like the looks of both but so far didn't get a chance to listen to either of these amps. All I want is to improve the the fun factor in my listening sessions on headphones and active studio monitors. Using Sony MDR-Z1R, EIR-Z1R, Meze 99 Classics, Oppo PM-3 and Fostex TH-X00.

My active monitors are Focal Shape 6. According to one reviewer, the Soloist is worth it as it makes monitors sounding better. I would guess that might be the case with the GS-X as well, if at all true that more power into active speakers makes that much of a difference.

I heard my MDRs sounding better with a SPL Phonitor e Headphone Amplifier and that tells me more power than my ADI-2 can manage would be welcome. Not talking about volume here of course, the RME can drive any or my cans to stupid levels, but somehow I feel something's missing.

If you (plan to) have headphones/IEMs with low impedance + higher sensitity (>100dB/mW) you migth favor the GS-X mini, since the Soloist 3X tends to pickup audible noise/hiss on medium and high gain (low is fine), while the GS-X mini does not. Regardless of this, both amps are very good and "better" than the integrated amp of the RME ADI-2.

 

[Sam Spade]

I was looking into that when the Conductors were launched but to be honest I am not willing to give up on RME. I have also learned that the amp section of the new Burson all-in-ones is not as good as the new Soloist. So you see, all I need is a decent amp to slightly improve my RME DAC's amp section, that's all.

Cables wise I am ready to run all cans balanced if that improves things. As you may know, the RME DAC is se only for cans but has balanced outputs to my monitors.

Actually that means i can highly recommend the soloist. As an amp the C3XRef and soloist would probably sound the same to most listeners. But The soloist has the 3 gain feature and slightly more power.

The Sparko Aries is probably a touch better though. I havent got the right cable yet to back to back compare C3X ref and Aries. But putting the sparko pro op amps into the conductor improves it.

 

[Garak]

I had the same thought previously and I went for Soloist. Bear in mind that I haven’t done any audition on both, I just go with my gut feel (plus the Soloist was in stock at that time). I have zero regrets with Soloist, it is one outstanding amp, especially considering its price and it drives both my Diana V2 and Susvara beautifully.

Same boat here, deciding between Soloist and GSX mini for my Diana V2/Verite Closed. I know the GSX mini works really well with both of those cans, but not sure about the Soloist. I assume you can drive Dianas on low? Wondering if this audible hiss everyone keeps mentioning on med/high is present, or if they're not high enough sensitivity for that.

 

[godmax]

Same boat here, deciding between Soloist and GSX mini for my Diana V2/Verite Closed. I know the GSX mini works really well with both of those cans, but not sure about the Soloist. I assume you can drive Dianas on low? Wondering if this audible hiss everyone keeps mentioning on med/high is present, or if they're not high enough sensitivity for that.

Diana V2 have 91dB/mW(42Ohm) and VC 99dB/mW(300Ohm): you will probably not hear any hiss regardless of gain setting on both headphones with the Soloist 3X and you probably need medium/high gain on these anyway.

 

[qsk78]

My Snorry NM-1 are 40 ohm, 93 dB- high gain on Soloist 3XP

 

[normie610]

Same boat here, deciding between Soloist and GSX mini for my Diana V2/Verite Closed. I know the GSX mini works really well with both of those cans, but not sure about the Soloist. I assume you can drive Dianas on low? Wondering if this audible hiss everyone keeps mentioning on med/high is present, or if they're not high enough sensitivity for that.

I’m using high gain when driving the Diana V2 and it’s completely free of any hiss (which should be the case since they have low sensitivity).

 

[Garak]

I’m using high gain when driving the Diana V2 and it’s completely free of any hiss (which should be the case since they have low sensitivity).

Thanks all, that clears it all up, appreciate it!