[ra990]

Noise floor is lower for sure on the front SE output so @801evan and you are both correct about the distortion to my ears but my point was more about power and dynamics that the last 10 pages are littered with in the comments, especially re: the RME AIO unit. I find the headroom scalable to more power from a cleaner amplification like the AHB2 I have used in the past. The Stealth are great, they are not as emotion evoking as the Susvara to me but they fill my need for a TOTL Closed back incredibly well..........right now

I'm glad you're enjoying my Stealth I'm enjoying the Soli P but they're not as much of a technical achievement as the Stealth. I'd describe them as a higher end Empyrean Elite. @OneEyedHito and I traded some weeks back because I couldn't use the closed back all day at home. I'm waiting on some kind of open back Stealth, come on DCA, let's do this.

 

[801evan]

So...you want more perceived power and dynamics via noise? I can't argue with that actually coz that's what everyone else is doing esp with doing high gain on a ahb2 on a pair of susvara that gets to 104dB on 142mw.

If the Stealth needs 100mw (for example) for the peaks, it won't ask for anymore. Going balanced and seemingly give it more headroom is headroom any HP won't ask for. If an HP happens to ask for more power at the peaks than the amp can provide, then it'll simply clip or distort.

 

[OneEyedHito]

I’ll report back on the IHA-6 and the Stealth tomorrow if FedEx does their job.

 

[elira]

I have had good results with the Gilmore Lite mk2, Hugo 2 also works fine, so I don't think you need absurd amounts of power, just a decent amp.

 

[bearcatsandor]

What changes that makes it superior.

The description of the Cayin IHA-6 on headphones.com states that its "Solid chassis with aluminum alloy and sand blast finishing, can eliminate exterior interference effectively." I'm guessing that the texturing of the sand blasting pushes those audiable magnetic fields past the amp. *nods sagely*

 

[GoldenSound]

IHA-6 would be a kinda ironic amp to use with the stealth
Ultra low distortion headphones with a very high distortion amp

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

IHA-6 would be a kinda ironic amp to use with the stealth
Ultra low distortion headphones with a very high distortion amp

I wouldn't call it a very high distortion amp. Sure, it has higher distortion than the sort of THX and Topping amps that prioritize measurements above all else but don't make it seem like a 1980s receiver. I've listened to it many times with multiple hifiman and audeze headphones. It works well with insensitive planars because of its powerful design. I wouldn't use it for sensitive dynamic headphones though.

Also, the balanced output is the only useable one for most people because the output impedance on the single ended outs are very high (0.3 ohms on the balanced vs 10 ohms or 100 ohms on the single ended outputs) but that's by design to benefit headphones that desire a high output impedance. Cayin could probably throw some 5 way binding posts on it and turn it into a little speaker amp if they really wanted to. It's a pretty purpose built machine that works with some headphones much better than others. Cayin really made it for difficult to drive loads exclusively.

 

[GoldenSound]

I wouldn't call it a very high distortion amp. Sure, it has higher distortion than the sort of THX and Topping amps that prioritize measurements above all else but don't make it seem like a 1980s receiver.

I'm not just referring to the topping stuff.

It has a THD spec of 0.02% (-73dB). So it's far higher distortion than various non- measurement focused stuff like a Ferrum OOR, schiit Asgard 3, Rebel amp etc

I'd be curious to try one though

 

[ericx85]

Have to agree with a lot of what Goldy and Currawong said. REALLY did not enjoy the stealth until I had a Soloist GT (I'm very sure this amp is a distortion factory on steroids too considering the 3xp was a measurement disaster and I absolutely loved it). The headphones just sounded distant and muffled on my singxer sa1 at listening levels/high gain. I know the amps are very different but I would assume the stealth sounds a lot better due to getting proper power from the GT.

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

I'm not just referring to the topping stuff.

It has a THD spec of 0.02% (-73dB). So it's far higher distortion than various non- measurement focused stuff like a Ferrum OOR, schiit Asgard 3, Rebel amp etc

I'd be curious to try one though

It's actually a very clear and revealing amp. THD is important but not everything. Great detail with tons of power while managing to stay under the $1K price point is a victory in my book. It's quite a bit of a step up from the Jotunheim 2 in resolution which I consider to sort of be a cheaper version of it with the same type of usecase. Perhaps I'll send one to you for review.

 

[GoldenSound]

It's actually a very clear and revealing amp. THD is important but not everything. Great detail with tons of power while managing to stay under the $1K price point is a victory in my book. It's quite a bit of a step up from the Jotunheim 2 in resolution which I consider to sort of be a cheaper version of it with the same type of usecase. Perhaps I'll send one to you for review.

I'm sure it is.
I'm not making any implications of the sound. Other amps like the enleum 23R are also quite high distortion but very resolving.

I'm merely saying it's an ironic pairing. Not that it would necessarily be a bad pairing.

Sometimes those sorts of things work very well. I'm currently using a tube preamp with an Ahb2 which is also an ironic pairing but works fantastically

If you would be happy to send the iha-6 in for review I'd be extremely grateful!
Thank you very much.

Jot 2 seems to get some pretty stellar feedback. Unfortunately in the UK schiit stuff is quite hard to come by but I'll try one in September at least

 

[Halimj7]

Has anyone successfully tried Stealth with a DAC dongle? If so which one/s?

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

Has anyone successfully tried Stealth with a DAC dongle? If so which one/s?

Uhh. . . . . . .

 

[Death_Block]

Cardi B is the greatest lyricist of our time

Is this for real? First post of this whole thread I saw lmao

 

[Currawong]

I'm sure it is.
I'm not making any implications of the sound. Other amps like the enleum 23R are also quite high distortion but very resolving.

I'm merely saying it's an ironic pairing. Not that it would necessarily be a bad pairing.

Sometimes those sorts of things work very well. I'm currently using a tube preamp with an Ahb2 which is also an ironic pairing but works fantastically

If you would be happy to send the iha-6 in for review I'd be extremely grateful!
Thank you very much.

Jot 2 seems to get some pretty stellar feedback. Unfortunately in the UK schiit stuff is quite hard to come by but I'll try one in September at least

That's the thing though: With headphones, short of modding them, you can't control what distortion they add. You can with an amp. Adding bunch of even order harmonics (people have a mentality, because it is referred to as "distortion" that it is "bad") can make listening more pleasant. You have control over that. For example, I sometimes use the TT2 direct to headphones, and sometimes use the Studio Six, depending on how I feel.

Has anyone successfully tried Stealth with a DAC dongle? If so which one/s?

The W2 and RU-6, the latter of which has more power. But not with any highly bass-heavy music. And this is way more ironic than GO's example above.
I think that the Centrance Dacport HD has a higher output still than the RU-6.

I've attached a PDF I made with rough graphs showing the power requirements of a few headphones, including the Stealth. It helps with visualising what is required to run them, though it'd be a bit of effort to actually find out how various devices deal with voltage and current peaks.