blind boy grunt
New Head-Fier
Newbie here... After 10-15 years of casually listening to Grado SR-80 and ATH-M50x directly out of my iPhone, I decided to upgrade. I spent a lot of time on these forums and ordered some equipment to audition:
Headphones: HD800s, Focal Clear MG and Grado GS1000X
DAC/amps: Valhalla 2 w/ Modi Multibit 2 and Mojo 2
I'm looking for wide soudstage and detailed instrument separation. And hopefully a nice, warm sound. From my forum research I expected to like the HD800s with the Schiit gear. I spent hours A/B testing whole tracks as well as special segments. Everything sounded nice but the Focals had a smaller soundstage and the HD800s kept sounding flat / not dynamic. Turning on the gain switch on the Valhalla helped (both amps needed the volume much higher to drive the HD800s). Did I pair the HD800s with the wrong amps? I have read positive feedback about pairing them with both Valhalla and Mojo. FWIW, I tried all three HPs with my PS Audio Sprout and found similar results. The HD800s are way more comfortable, more attractive and have removable cables -- I like everything about them better except for the sound. The Grados just sound perfect to me but if there is better sound out there, I want to find it.
I did a lot of comparing of the Schiit vs the Mojo and in many cases found a similar sound with some tracks slightly better with each amp. The Schiit edged out the Mojo overall but I'm planning on keeping the Mojo instead due to the portability and durability.
Thanks to the Head-Fi community for all past posts I used to research this and for any feedback you are able to provide here.
P.S. Details: No power conditioning, no high-end cables. Audition tracks are mostly classic rock (Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Dark Side of the Moon, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac), Vivaldi and Miles Davis.
Headphones: HD800s, Focal Clear MG and Grado GS1000X
DAC/amps: Valhalla 2 w/ Modi Multibit 2 and Mojo 2
I'm looking for wide soudstage and detailed instrument separation. And hopefully a nice, warm sound. From my forum research I expected to like the HD800s with the Schiit gear. I spent hours A/B testing whole tracks as well as special segments. Everything sounded nice but the Focals had a smaller soundstage and the HD800s kept sounding flat / not dynamic. Turning on the gain switch on the Valhalla helped (both amps needed the volume much higher to drive the HD800s). Did I pair the HD800s with the wrong amps? I have read positive feedback about pairing them with both Valhalla and Mojo. FWIW, I tried all three HPs with my PS Audio Sprout and found similar results. The HD800s are way more comfortable, more attractive and have removable cables -- I like everything about them better except for the sound. The Grados just sound perfect to me but if there is better sound out there, I want to find it.
I did a lot of comparing of the Schiit vs the Mojo and in many cases found a similar sound with some tracks slightly better with each amp. The Schiit edged out the Mojo overall but I'm planning on keeping the Mojo instead due to the portability and durability.
Thanks to the Head-Fi community for all past posts I used to research this and for any feedback you are able to provide here.
P.S. Details: No power conditioning, no high-end cables. Audition tracks are mostly classic rock (Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Dark Side of the Moon, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac), Vivaldi and Miles Davis.