[AnotherFineMess]

mainly rock/prog rock?
Utopia is very comprehensive, but Grado PS1000 or Ps2000 may be more direct
Empyrean or Elite are very good and smooth headphones, but sorry, they need a headphone amplifier.

Thanks, I hadn't considered Grados, but I'll certainly look into those.
Yes, mainly rock/prog rock.

I love the sound of my Meze Elite straight out of Dave. It's a great all rounder for my taste of different genres and has great detail retrieval which is what I like. For the genres you mention, you may be better suited to the Empyrean though. There is also the new Empyrean 2 but I am yet to hear those.

Half the fun is auditioning until your ears find something you like, so have fun.

That's what I'm looking for, a good all rounder for a variety of different styles. I don't have the finance to have multiple pairs of headphones for different styles and many people here do, so I'll need to get one versatile pair that sounds great with all kinds of music. Though I gather from what I've been reading here that each headphone has its strengths and weaknesses - I might get good resolution, but at the expense of bass and/or soundstage, for example. I want a revealing headphone that doesn't sound too bright, if such a thing is possible. I've heard good things about both the Empyrean and Elite, though I also heard that the bass on the Empyrean is slightly exaggerated. That's not so great, a more balanced pair would be better. Perhaps the new Empyrean 2 addresses this issue.

At the moment, Focal Utopia and Meze Empyrean and Elite are high on my list, but I need to look into Sennheiser, Grado and HiFiMan.

Unfortunately, auditioning is difficult for me due to work/time pressure and geography - It would take me about 4 hours to travel to somewhere where I can audition.

 

[JTbbb]

At the moment, Focal Utopia and Meze Empyrean and Elite are high on my list, but I need to look into Sennheiser, Grado and HiFiMan.

By the sounds of it your HiFi budget needs to go far, I would suggest to try Sennhieser HD800S. I have a DAVE and these Sennhieser’s, plus I’ve had the Utopia’s. They Senn’s are very good value and are great straight out of DAVE.

 

[shaylin3]

Thanks, I hadn't considered Grados, but I'll certainly look into those.
Yes, mainly rock/prog rock.

That's what I'm looking for, a good all rounder for a variety of different styles. I don't have the finance to have multiple pairs of headphones for different styles and many people here do, so I'll need to get one versatile pair that sounds great with all kinds of music. Though I gather from what I've been reading here that each headphone has its strengths and weaknesses - I might get good resolution, but at the expense of bass and/or soundstage, for example. I want a revealing headphone that doesn't sound too bright, if such a thing is possible. I've heard good things about both the Empyrean and Elite, though I also heard that the bass on the Empyrean is slightly exaggerated. That's not so great, a more balanced pair would be better. Perhaps the new Empyrean 2 addresses this issue.

At the moment, Focal Utopia and Meze Empyrean and Elite are high on my list, but I need to look into Sennheiser, Grado and HiFiMan.

Unfortunately, auditioning is difficult for me due to work/time pressure and geography - It would take me about 4 hours to travel to somewhere where I can audition.

You can also try LCD5 if you have the chance
Super powerful response speed in Speed metal

 

[AnotherFineMess]

By the sounds of it your HiFi budget needs to go far, I would suggest to try Sennhieser HD800S. I have a DAVE and these Sennhieser’s, plus I’ve had the Utopia’s. They Senn’s are very good value and are great straight out of DAVE.

Yeah, the DAVE, even used, will take a huge chunk out of my budget. I'll then need to save up some more for further upgrades. I needd a new amplifier too, and that will get priority. Thinking of maybe a Luxman integrated, 505uxII or L-507. I currently have a tube amplifier that I bought in around 2000. It works but needs replacing imo, I want to go a solid state integrated this time.

You can also try LCD5 if you have the chance
Super powerful response speed in Speed metal

So they should be able to handle something like Dream Theater
The headphone decision isn't going to be easy. I need to do some more research and try to audition is possible.

 

[thePhones]

Since I am super happy with my headphone setup right now, that being all Headphones straight out of Dave, now I would like to get as close as possible to the transparency magic with speakers. My room is treated, my speakers nicely decoupled, no frequency goes on my nerves. But there is still a lot missing to me when compared to headphones out of Dave. I know there are limitations, the room will always have some influence, headphones are more detailed…so on.
My next long term step would be to simplify the analog section after the dac. To the guys having both TT2 and Dave and also Rob: What would give me more transparency; Dave with external class A amp to “Pearl Acoustics Sibelius” (a full range single driver speaker without crossover) or TT2 directly driving said speaker? Also would possibly Dave be able to drive these speakers directly?
Impedance: 7.2 Ohm
Efficiency: 87db @ 1W @ 1 meter
That would maybe be the best solution if it works.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Thanks, I hadn't considered Grados, but I'll certainly look into those.
Yes, mainly rock/prog rock.

That's what I'm looking for, a good all rounder for a variety of different styles. I don't have the finance to have multiple pairs of headphones for different styles and many people here do, so I'll need to get one versatile pair that sounds great with all kinds of music. Though I gather from what I've been reading here that each headphone has its strengths and weaknesses - I might get good resolution, but at the expense of bass and/or soundstage, for example. I want a revealing headphone that doesn't sound too bright, if such a thing is possible. I've heard good things about both the Empyrean and Elite, though I also heard that the bass on the Empyrean is slightly exaggerated. That's not so great, a more balanced pair would be better. Perhaps the new Empyrean 2 addresses this issue.

At the moment, Focal Utopia and Meze Empyrean and Elite are high on my list, but I need to look into Sennheiser, Grado and HiFiMan.

Unfortunately, auditioning is difficult for me due to work/time pressure and geography - It would take me about 4 hours to travel to somewhere where I can audition.

If you are looking for good around then the LCD-5 is a good option. They responds to EQ extremely well so you can change the characteristics to suit your mood or music. I do tend to run mine without EQ as the sound signature from DAVE suits me perfectly.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Since I am super happy with my headphone setup right now, that being all Headphones straight out of Dave, now I would like to get as close as possible to the transparency magic with speakers. My room is treated, my speakers nicely decoupled, no frequency goes on my nerves. But there is still a lot missing to me when compared to headphones out of Dave. I know there are limitations, the room will always have some influence, headphones are more detailed…so on.
My next long term step would be to simplify the analog section after the dac. To the guys having both TT2 and Dave and also Rob: What would give me more transparency; Dave with external class A amp to “Pearl Acoustics Sibelius” (a full range single driver speaker without crossover) or TT2 directly driving said speaker? Also would possibly Dave be able to drive these speakers directly?
Impedance: 7.2 Ohm
Efficiency: 87db @ 1W @ 1 meter
That would maybe be the best solution if it works.

Have you considered near field speakers? I run Genelec from DAVE in my office and it is a pretty good setup.

 

[AnotherFineMess]

If you are looking for good around then the LCD-5 is a good option. They responds to EQ extremely well so you can change the characteristics to suit your mood or music. I do tend to run mine without EQ as the sound signature from DAVE suits me perfectly.

I will certainly look into those. Thanks

 

[thePhones]

Have you considered near field speakers? I run Genelec from DAVE in my office and it is a pretty good setup.

I am sitting 3,5m from them and have no way of changing that setup. Also I want a speaker without any electronics, not active, no crossover, just one driver with a cable to the terminal. I would solder the driver directly to the pulse array if I could

 

[Jawed]

Also would possibly Dave be able to drive these speakers directly?
Impedance: 7.2 Ohm
Efficiency: 87db @ 1W @ 1 meter

It'll definitely work but it will be a bit quiet, for two reasons: the low efficiency and your fairly far listening distance (which implies a room that is not "small").

Use the RCA sockets, as they provide the same power as the headphone socket.

For example you can make a "dongle" that uses, say, 10cm of speaker cable to convert an RCA phono plug into a pair of banana style speaker sockets. Then plug your usual speaker cable into the dongle's two banana sockets, one dongle per channel.

It's well worth a try and you'll then get an idea of how transparent your power amplifier is.

 

[thePhones]

It'll definitely work but it will be a bit quiet, for two reasons: the low efficiency and your fairly far listening distance (which implies a room that is not "small").

Use the RCA sockets, as they provide the same power as the headphone socket.

For example you can make a "dongle" that uses, say, 10cm of speaker cable to convert an RCA phono plug into a pair of banana style speaker sockets. Then plug your usual speaker cable into the dongle's two banana sockets, one dongle per channel.

It's well worth a try and you'll then get an idea of how transparent your power amplifier is.

The test is not possible at the moment as my current speaker goes down to 2 ohm which is too much for Dave. That is why I want to make a plan first. If I just need the speakers I could buy them now but if I also need TT2 to drive them sufficiently, I would much rather buy the new scaler first. Maybe the dx amps are available in 1-2 years, then this discussion would be finally obsolete. “DX, for future products” it says in my manual. I never thought in 2018 that we’d still be waiting now.

 

[Jawed]

The test is not possible at the moment as my current speaker goes down to 2 ohm which is too much for Dave. That is why I want to make a plan first. If I just need the speakers I could buy them now but if I also need TT2 to drive them sufficiently, I would much rather buy the new scaler first. Maybe the dx amps are available in 1-2 years, then this discussion would be finally obsolete. “DX, for future products” it says in my manual. I never thought in 2018 that we’d still be waiting now.

Well at least this way DX amps, if they ever appear, will benefit from what Rob has learnt in making Ultima DAC.

TT2 can be considered a DX amp - it benefited from research Rob was doing on DX amps, way back then.

 

[miketlse]

The test is not possible at the moment as my current speaker goes down to 2 ohm which is too much for Dave. That is why I want to make a plan first. If I just need the speakers I could buy them now but if I also need TT2 to drive them sufficiently, I would much rather buy the new scaler first. Maybe the dx amps are available in 1-2 years, then this discussion would be finally obsolete. “DX, for future products” it says in my manual. I never thought in 2018 that we’d still be waiting now.

During the early stages of this thread, Rob was predicting 'next year' for the DX amps, and John Franks was predicting 'several years away'. True covid threw a spanner into everyones predictions, but even now '1-2 years away' feels optimistic.

 

[Reactcore]

During the early stages of this thread, Rob was predicting 'next year' for the DX amps, and John Franks was predicting 'several years away'. True covid threw a spanner into everyones predictions, but even now '1-2 years away' feels optimistic.

Ive said it before.. John might not want the (long time ready?) DX amps to be released as they could undermine the sales of his own amp designs.

Then again the coming Ultima DAC might be able to act as a power amp.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Ive said it before.. John might not want the (long time ready?) DX amps to be released as they could undermine the sales of his own amp designs.

Then again the coming Ultima DAC might be able to act as a power amp.

Hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm