[Spawn300Z]

One day, when I travel to europe, there will be a time I go to a cafe, and someone beside me set a HM1 on the table. I would love to see that haha.

I get all kinds of questions when I travel. I set up the Chord Hugo 2/ Cayin C9 Combo and headphone of choice that day. People can’t help but to stop and talk. Be careful they also want to hear the setup too.

 

[mrspeakers]

As I have received a lot of questions about how the Lotoo performs with the two flagships from DCA
I'll let you know.... is on its way to me

NOMAX

PS.lol

We enjoyed the sound of the Lotoo products a lot when we listened in Munich...

 

[Nomax]

We enjoyed the sound of the Lotoo products a lot when we listened in Munich...

As I said, I'll listen to it again in more detail with stealth/expanse/utopia
There was nothing interesting for me in Munich 2023.....only the little Lotoo
Last year it was the ZÄHL HM1, because of the soundstage knob

NOMAX

 

[DarginMahkum]

I have great results even with my Qudelix T71, which is a little wonder - I think the most innovative portable device in the last few years. Many of the DSP features are still in development but even as it is, it is excellent. I am seriously considering selling my DAPs. You need to push the volume up but the result is quite satisfactory with Expanse.

 

[iamoneagain]

I've still never gotten to try the Stealth, would love to get to compare at a meetup someday. I'm always an open back guy but Stealth seems like one closed back even open back people love. My only closed backs are Lirics and they only get used if there's background noise.

You can get the Expanse to mimic the Stealth with Dan’s EQ settings posted here. Please note, while sounds close to the real Stealth, it’s not exact. I never heard real one long enough to know exact differences.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dan...easurements-impressions.964852/#post-17140155

I personally preferred the Expanse stock sound over the Stealth EQ. It essentially removes the bass hump. You end up with more clarity, pin-point soundstage, little more air, and bigger space. But the trade off is loss of bass impact, a touch of warmth and weight. Depending on genre, like classical, Stealth EQ can be an improvement. But for rock, I greatly prefer stock Expanse.

 

[adrianm]

You can get the Expanse to mimic the Stealth with Dan’s EQ settings posted here. Please note, while sounds close to the real Stealth, it’s not exact. I never heard real one long enough to know exact differences.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dan...easurements-impressions.964852/#post-17140155

I personally preferred the Expanse stock sound over the Stealth EQ. It essentially removes the bass hump. You end up with more clarity, pin-point soundstage, little more air, and bigger space. But the trade off is loss of bass impact, a touch of warmth and weight. Depending on genre, like classical, Stealth EQ can be an improvement. But for rock, I greatly prefer stock Expanse.

Not sure if I'll regret owning both, but my Expanse should be on its way if Dan had time to ship it. Hoping there's more between the 2 besides just that EQ adjustment. Stealth bass has crazy impact for me when I turn the dac to 6V (And my baseline here is Z1R, not Susvara type "slam"). The downside is bass tends to be a bit too much compared to 2v, to the point where I wonder if 6v is too much for the Oor and Hm1, as the effect is the same on both. Bass overshadows the rest of the FR a bit when it does hit. With 2v, everything seems more coherent, even if I turn the volume up to compensate.
@GoldenOne could you comment if there is some kind of distortion going on using a 6v for the HM1?

 

[GoldenSound]

Not sure if I'll regret owning both, but my Expanse should be on its way if Dan had time to ship it. Hoping there's more between the 2 besides just that EQ adjustment. Stealth bass has crazy impact for me when I turn the dac to 6V (And my baseline here is Z1R, not Susvara type "slam"). The downside is bass tends to be a bit too much compared to 2v, to the point where I wonder if 6v is too much for the Oor and Hm1, as the effect is the same on both. Bass overshadows the rest of the FR a bit when it does hit. With 2v, everything seems more coherent, even if I turn the volume up to compensate.
@GoldenOne could you comment if there is some kind of distortion going on using a 6v for the HM1?

As long as you're not in high gain no. HM1 can accept upto just over 10V input in low gain without issue.

 

[alxw0w]

Not sure if I'll regret owning both, but my Expanse should be on its way if Dan had time to ship it. Hoping there's more between the 2 besides just that EQ adjustment. Stealth bass has crazy impact for me when I turn the dac to 6V (And my baseline here is Z1R, not Susvara type "slam"). The downside is bass tends to be a bit too much compared to 2v, to the point where I wonder if 6v is too much for the Oor and Hm1, as the effect is the same on both. Bass overshadows the rest of the FR a bit when it does hit. With 2v, everything seems more coherent, even if I turn the volume up to compensate.
@GoldenOne could you comment if there is some kind of distortion going on using a 6v for the HM1?

Nah, it cannot be.
Gurus from YouTube said that it has no impact, dynamics are equal to zero.
They must be right, aren't they?

 

[adrianm]

Nah, it cannot be.
Gurus from YouTube said that it has no impact, dynamics are equal to zero.
They must be right, aren't they?

To be fair, besides everything being subjective...everything also matters. Oor didn't have as much slam as the HM1, and even on the HM1, the way I use it now (plugged into high current sockets of Isotek Aquarius), it does take a bit of the impact away, but it sounds much cleaner than the wall. A Plixir 1500 i have on loan is the best of both worlds amp wise, but if I plug the dac into it, I again lose some bass perception due to noise via the dac/clock(main culprit from what i've noticed). So terrible value for me personally.
Will see in a few months if the dedicated circuit in the new place means I can finally get rid of this power stuff (that most people don't "believe in") , but I can definitely see how people can get to conflicting opinions.
Tons of biases around and people treat this hobby like a religion. And yes, I do realize i also sound like a crazy person but 8 years later, I still keep doing blind tests on myself and the fiance, which is good enough for me.

 

[Nomax]

No point in mucking around. You want a Mjolnir.

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[AlfeedE]

I tried the fabeled Expanse several days ago at my local headphone shop with my Astell & Kern SP3000 together with the AK PA10. Luckily I can say that this combo can drive the cans. Unfortuantely I find the sound of the Expanse rather harsh and unpleasant and lacking musicality. I also tried the Final D8000 Pro and now this was a really pleasant surprise. Simply great. I bought it immediately (the Ltd. Edition) and boy this is really excellent! And also a big step up from my former headphones the Abyss Diana TC.

 

[theveterans]

Luckily I can say that this combo can drive the cans. Unfortuantely I find the sound of the Expanse rather harsh and unpleasant and lacking musicality.

SP3000 and even SP2000 can make them loud, but not make them sing like a diva. Push pull or single ended triode amps are necessary for these if you want them to reveal their glorious musicality

 

[FritzS]

NOMAX

PS.lol

You won it in the lottery
->>
https://alpha-audio.net/personal-audio/2023/10/lotoo-mjolnir-dac-headphone-amplifier/
“The Lotoo Mjölnir costs €7999, noting that only 600 copies were made.“

Lotoo Mjölnir: Portabler Streaming-DAC & Kopfhörer-Amp ​

https://www.fairaudio.de/news/lotoo-mjoelnir-portabler-streaming-dac-kopfhoerer-amp/
Nice thing!

 

[adrianm]

I tried the fabeled Expanse several days ago at my local headphone shop with my Astell & Kern SP3000 together with the AK PA10. Luckily I can say that this combo can drive the cans. Unfortuantely I find the sound of the Expanse rather harsh and unpleasant and lacking musicality. I also tried the Final D8000 Pro and now this was a really pleasant surprise. Simply great. I bought it immediately (the Ltd. Edition) and boy this is really excellent! And also a big step up from my former headphones the Abyss Diana TC.

Fwiw I returned my D8k Pro Le because the Stealth wiped the floor with them, but to each their own High hopes for Expanse.

 

[gammi]

Fwiw I returned my D8k Pro Le because the Stealth wiped the floor with them, but to each their own High hopes for Expanse.

As someone who is considering grabbing a pair of the D8k Pro Le currently (they're so very pretty) and also owns and enjoys the Expanse, I'm curious to hear more about how it compared to the Stealth (and therefore presumably how it compares to the Expanse)