[doctorjazz]

Don't know if it would be bad long term, though I'd guess not. I have 1 pair of headphones that are balanced, the HEK. I use my single ended acs Encore through the LC much more often, sounds really nice. Eventually EVERYTHING wears out...
On that cheerful thought, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[cskippy]

Thanks, I know that Alex would demo the Carbon with everything so it should be alright.  I just need to find a cable for my HD650 that isn't as much as the headphone.  Happy New Year to you too!!!!!!!!!

 

[sheldaze]

I think my homework assignment was to listen to my (new-to-me) HD800 balanced from the Liquid Carbon, while fed sound from a few different DACs and DAPs. Unfortunately my DAPs both decided to take a vacation, so I'm only now getting back to the thread. In my preferred order from least-liked to most-liked:
 

1. Chord Mojo - this DAC seemed to have the poorest balance from its lowest to its highest frequency. It seems a little forward on the high, which is an attribute I appreciated with my HD650 headphones. It was the only setup that made the HD800 seem a little bright, through the Liquid Carbon. There's lots of detail, which I love when it is executed correctly. The Mojo does this! It only loses to the other two options in terms of frequency balance. I'll need to listen to the naked Mojo into HD800 at some point.
2. Pono - this only beats out the Mojo due to a better low to high frequency balance. Details are definitely dialed back - this is the least detailed of the three options. And, at the same time as I would claim the details are a little less, the details that come through are slightly more etched. Sometimes when reading a review, one might conclude that there are dramatic differences between products. That is not the case - only in direct comparison would I use the words dialed back and etched to describe the sound. The sound is really quite good enough to be end-game. I could easily listen to this for hours!
3. Schiit Gungnir Multibit (balanced) - there's more meat to the sound. The sound is balanced from the highs to the lows. Perhaps there is less detail than the Mojo, but I find the Mojo's concept of details to often be false - perhaps a little more processed into existence than really there in the recording. Again, don't read too much into this - I like the Mojo. And it might be more interesting to compare the level of detail between the Mojo and my Yggdrasil, to see if perhaps the Gungnir is actually just a little dialed back.

 
TL;DR - Mojo has the most detail, but seems a little hot on the treble. Pono beats it (to my ears) by being more balanced, and is good enough for end-game into the Liquid Carbon. Gumby adds more depth to the individual sounds, and is my end-game (for today) with my non-planar headphones (i.e. HD800).

 

[Youth]

Have you tried the DAC-19?

 

[sheldaze]

  Have you tried the DAC-19?

I'd love to hear it, but no one at the local meets has one.

 

[sling5s]

I think my homework assignment was to listen to my (new-to-me) HD800 balanced from the Liquid Carbon, while fed sound from a few different DACs and DAPs. Unfortunately my DAPs both decided to take a vacation, so I'm only now getting back to the thread. In my preferred order from least-liked to most-liked:

• Chord Mojo - this DAC seemed to have the poorest balance from its lowest to its highest frequency. It seems a little forward on the high, which is an attribute I appreciated with my HD650 headphones. It was the only setup that made the HD800 seem a little bright, through the Liquid Carbon. There's lots of detail, which I love when it is executed correctly. The Mojo does this! It only loses to the other two options in terms of frequency balance. I'll need to listen to the naked Mojo into HD800 at some point.
• Pono - this only beats out the Mojo due to a better low to high frequency balance. Details are definitely dialed back - this is the least detailed of the three options. And, at the same time as I would claim the details are a little less, the details that come through are slightly more etched. Sometimes when reading a review, one might conclude that there are dramatic differences between products. That is not the case - only in direct comparison would I use the words dialed back and etched to describe the sound. The sound is really quite good enough to be end-game. I could easily listen to this for hours!
• Schiit Gungnir Multibit (balanced) - there's more meat to the sound. The sound is balanced from the highs to the lows. Perhaps there is less detail than the Mojo, but I find the Mojo's concept of details to often be false - perhaps a little more processed into existence than really there in the recording. Again, don't read too much into this - I like the Mojo. And it might be more interesting to compare the level of detail between the Mojo and my Yggdrasil, to see if perhaps the Gungnir is actually just a little dialed back.

TL;DR - Mojo has the most detail, but seems a little hot on the treble. Pono beats it (to my ears) by being more balanced, and is good enough for end-game into the Liquid Carbon. Gumby adds more depth to the individual sounds, and is my end-game (for today) with my non-planar headphones (i.e. HD800).

I found the Mojo slightly on the bright side too compared to the dac19. I found dac19 best for hd800. All the details were there but more relaxed presentation compared to the forward presentation of the Mojo. But I like both Dac 19 and Mojo for different reasons.

 

[Stillhart]

   

1. Schiit Gungnir Multibit (balanced) - there's more meat to the sound. The sound is balanced from the highs to the lows. Perhaps there is less detail than the Mojo, but I find the Mojo's concept of details to often be false - perhaps a little more processed into existence than really there in the recording. Again, don't read too much into this - I like the Mojo. And it might be more interesting to compare the level of detail between the Mojo and my Yggdrasil, to see if perhaps the Gungnir is actually just a little dialed back.

 
 

 
This is a good example of D-S vs R2R right here.  That sort of "false detail" is a symptom of both the forward highs and the digital D-S chip.  It's going to be even more obvious with something like a Sabre chip.
 
Nice comparisons.  Interesting that you find the Mojo more resolving but prefer the Pono due to its more balanced presentation.  I'm assuming this is simply because forward treble on the bright HD800 can be awful.  On other headphones, I'd guess you'd prefer the Mojo.

 

[sheldaze]

   
This is a good example of D-S vs R2R right here.  That sort of "false detail" is a symptom of both the forward highs and the digital D-S chip.  It's going to be even more obvious with something like a Sabre chip.
 
Nice comparisons.  Interesting that you find the Mojo more resolving but prefer the Pono due to its more balanced presentation.  I'm assuming this is simply because forward treble on the bright HD800 can be awful.  On other headphones, I'd guess you'd prefer the Mojo.

Yes! I can hear plenty of detail just from the design of the headphones. Any boosted treble, even if it is clean, does me no favors on the HD800.
And I don't know if I would prefer the Mojo over the R2R, even with a dark headphone like the HD650. I've been very surprised at what I prefer, and the musical reasons why, of late. I'll give it a whirl later.

 

[Stillhart]

  Yes! I can hear plenty of detail just from the design of the headphones. Any boosted treble, even if it is clean, does me no favors on the HD800.
And I don't know if I would prefer the Mojo over the R2R, even with a dark headphone like the HD650. I've been very surprised at what I prefer, and the musical reasons why, of late. I'll give it a whirl later.

 
Sorry, I meant Mojo vs Pono.  I have no doubt that the GMB is better than either of those two.

 

[santacore]

If you're not already running the Pono in balanced output mode, you should.

 

[doctorjazz]

I love my Pono, use it balanced with sine headphones (HEK, LE Zen V2), and single ended into LC (don't have the balanced cables for that at this point). I'm on the Mojo tour, it will be interesting to compare (different headphones, could be different impressions. Mostly use acs Encore ciem and the HEK out of the LC. Bright is definitely NOT how I would describe either of these).

 

[sheldaze]

I used the mini-to-mini cable that came with my HeadRoom Total AirHead, connected from the Pono line output into the 3.5mm input on the rear of the Liquid Carbon.
I think you're talking about using the Pono directly into a headphone?

 

[yage]

  I used the mini-to-mini cable that came with my HeadRoom Total AirHead, connected from the Pono line output into the 3.5mm input on the rear of the Liquid Carbon.
I think you're talking about using the Pono directly into a headphone?

 
It might be interesting to get (or make) a 3.5 mm to 3 pin XLR cable to connect the Pono balanced to the LC. After hearing your Pono in balanced mode at the last D.C. mini-meet, I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[doctorjazz]

I use it line out single ended into the LC, (balanced with 2 headphones direct), but I'm also curious how balanced cables into the LC would sound.

 

[sheldaze]

What the Doctor does is what I do, too. I have (too) many custom Pono cables, including one for HD650, one for EL-8, and another to go from dual 3.5.mm to 4-pin XLR. All you need is something like the link below to feed into the balanced part of the Liquid Carbon:
 
https://www.audeze.com/products/accessories/4-pin-dual-3-pin-adaptor-cable
 
The question is can Pono even support balanced line-out? I've been fighting Pono issues the past two days (and still fighting playlist import, which is actually just filename recognition in a Pono playlist), and I'm just none-too-eager to go digging deeper into the bowels of Pono - great player, but terrible firmware/software 

 
 
I say we just trust in Cavalli and the summation, for now