jonstatt
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
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I have a bunch of external amps and I keep coming back to the Dave / M Scaler headphone out for Abyss. I have the Benchmark HPA4 on trial, and while it's the closest amp I've heard so far to the Dave output - the HPA4 has a hint of dryness to the midrange, whereas Dave is completely smooth.
I don't sense any lack of power or straining with the Abyss at any volume. Though with some dynamic recordings you just don't have quite the volume you need (I'm always super nervous to go past +3db and that I'll clip).
Rob - any news on the digital amps? There has got to be a way to maintain this quality while retaining the smoothness. I'm up for suggestions on headphone or speaker amps that I haven't tried that - while may not be 100% transparent - will not lose that smooth, analog feel.
I wish I could rig a TT2 to be a headphone amplifier for the Dave.
The HPA4 is as transparent as it gets, as you say. I don't see an alternative for the Abyss right now. You should find the soundstage opens up a bit compared to DAVE directly too. So it's better here and slightly not there. Overall it's still better.