[Rossymusic4]

 
@bigfatpaulie
 , based on your sig, I noticed that you are now a proud owner of the Chord DAVE.

How would you compare its internal headphone amplifier to the Stratus when paired with the HD800?

Well, I just took delivery of the DAVE on the 28th so I guess it is still in its break in phase.  Apparently the DAVE is slow to hit its stride (many say 300+ hours).  I haven't done much critical listening with it yet but from what I've heard thus far the DAVE deserves the hype.  This is an absolutely incredible piece of gear.  It is the ONLY solid state system I've heard that I can plug my HD800's (unmodded) into and actually enjoy them - a lot.  A lot, a lot.

The DAC section is leagues ahead of anything I've heard (MSB Analog, Lampizator, Bricasti M1, and a few others) so comparing the Stratus with any of those DAC's vs the DAVE is moot.  I have always had a bit of a DAC issue - I've changed DAC's more than any other component in my system - the show never quite fit.  The Bricasti was very, very close.  Near perfect infact.  But the DAVE...

The real question will be what does the Stratus sound like with the DAVE behind it vs the DAVE straight out.  I don't have an answer for that...  yet.  I want to get to know the DAVE better (and let it burn in) then add the Stratus to the mix.  I also have a Stellaris on order so that will be interesting to see as well.

What I can say right now, for sure, is that the DAVE straight out leaves nothing to be desired.  It's smooth, fast, detailed (like, you have no idea what "detail" means until you hear this), it's extremely natural sounding.  And the sound stage...  Oh my gosh the sound stage.  I'm gushing, and maybe it's new toy syndrome, but this has been an honest eye opener for me.  The last time I felt this way about a piece of gear was the Stratus.  I hated the HD800's until the Stratus came along.

If these characteristics can be preserved through the Stratus only adding that tube lushness or light bloom that can, we are in very, very good shape.

Gulp...sigh. I don't know what I found more unsettling, your early review of the Dave or the mere mention of the Stellaris. Hey congratulations !

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Gulp...sigh. I don't know what I found more unsettling, your early review of the Dave or the mere mention of the Stellaris.

Hey congratulations !

 
Hahaha, Thanks!!  (I think...  

)
 
Donald has been sending me some early pics of the Stellaris and it looks like a Stratus on steroids.  He had to use thicker metal for the chassis so it is going to be a tank.

 

[Rossymusic4]

Thanks for taking the lead. No doubt there are a few of us here that will be eagerly waiting to hear your impressions.

 

[vc1187]

Thanks for the impressions, Paul. I was just curious because I saw that your signature had DAVE -> Stratus -> HD800 instead of DAVE -> HD800, so I figured that maybe you preferred the Stratus as an amplifier for the HD800 over the DAVE's headphone amplifier.

Looking forward to more impressions once the DAVE has had proper burn in, and while I don't intend to spend the price premium on a DAVE, it's always good to know that the Stratus is a steal at its price point.

 

[listen4joy]

vc1187, i dont have a lot of expericne with amps and defenitly not at your scale fleet of amps, but otherwise as i had the BH+speedball, i also heard the Luxman P-1u, the Lehamnn BCL and now schiit vali 2 that i had now, i dont know if its better , maybe diffrent, according to my knowledge chord dave is solid state Dac/amp and the stratus is tubes, at any price point they will sound diffrent , what i heard that any solid state will sound analytical and organic compare to tube amp that is more musical that give the songs a little coloration and vivid "life", there others that claim that the music is not natural, , but i consider to know that good tube amp "coloration" is not twisted that organic and natural character its just give it more warm edge and fun listening expericne in my opinion, for this reason alone a Lot of HD800 owners prefer tubes amps because its virtues, to trasfer music to more live and vivid and still natural and not so colored, so i  think its more apples vs oranges and personal preference, i will alyways will prefer tube amp for hd800 becuase its "bright" chracter other than solid state amp that will sound more analytic and  "boring,  maybe with other headphones solid state amps will fit but for hd800 i think tubes is the best, you as owner of stratus is already in audio nirvana (-:...
my 2 cents.

 

[froger]

   
You're welcome my friend.
 
Fortunately for me, it seems i'll soon be able to enjoy the same experience than you and I hope I'll be as happy as all Stratus owners here. 
 
@jsgraha : Did you change your fav' tube combination after the "Superdupont" mod ? What are you using right now ?   

Just received the Superdupont mod from Sorrogje. Excellent work! The mod took away the unnatural edge that HD800 may sound at times while keeping its strength. The mod was really simple and only took a few minutes without any mess. I may still prefer HE1000 with KR Audio tubes, but the new modded HD800 with my Psvane 275 tubes is really close at less than half the price.

 

[Sorrodje]

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the result!

 

[stuart1927]

Regarding the Musical Paradise MP-D2 dc......Yes that's a philips 5R4GYS rectifier tube in the original post! The implementation looks very good. Spacing is good between components and it doesn't tend to get very hot. The casing is huge for a dac!
 
This was an internal view before I installed the larger Philips rectifier. (stock rectifier on the left)
 

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Did someone say HUGE DAC's?
 
 

 

 
This is a monster...

 

[stuart1927]

With a monster price too!  Quote:

  Did someone say HUGE DAC's?
 
 

 

 
This is a monster...

 

[sibelius4th]

Regarding the Musical Paradise MP-D2 dc......Yes that's a philips 5R4GYS rectifier tube in the original post! The implementation looks very good. Spacing is good between components and it doesn't tend to get very hot. The casing is huge for a dac!

This was an internal view before I installed the larger Philips rectifier. (stock rectifier on the left)

I've been looking into this dac since you first posted about it. It's an attractive prospect - I've always wanted to hear akm dac chips, and the feature set is great for the price. I'm not sure it's enough to make me want to switch from my Grace m920 but I'm considering it. The Grace is a little white sounding on dsd, but remarkably good otherwise (and not bad on dsd but I somehow believe dsd can be better).

Are you in Canada or another country? If another, what was the shipping process like? Import fees?

 

[stuart1927]

I've been looking into this dac since you first posted about it. It's an attractive prospect - I've always wanted to hear akm dac chips, and the feature set is great for the price. I'm not sure it's enough to make me want to switch from my Grace m920 but I'm considering it. The Grace is a little white sounding on dsd, but remarkably good otherwise (and not bad on dsd but I somehow believe dsd can be better).

Are you in Canada or another country? If another, what was the shipping process like? Import fees?

I'm in Houston, tx and shipping was 3-4 days from China by DHL. No import fees. I've had many shipments from China by DHL and they are second to none in my opinion.I haven't played too much with DSD yet as my music streamer doesn't support it, but I have tested it with some dsd music on my laptop and it sounded great, but I haven't done any A-B comparisons. 

 

[sibelius4th]

I'm in Houston, tx and shipping was 3-4 days from China by DHL. No import fees. I've had many shipments from China by DHL and they are second to none in my opinion.I haven't played too much with DSD yet as my music streamer doesn't support it, but I have tested it with some dsd music on my laptop and it sounded great, but I haven't done any A-B comparisons. 

Thanks for the info. I assumed it would ship from Canada based on the .ca domain. I'm in the US as well.

I don't have to make a decision any time soon. I'm 11 to 12 months out before the Stratus arrives. Until then, I like having the headphone amp in the Grace dac.

You must be enjoying it paired with your recently arrived Stratus. I'll be looking forward to your impressions - at least I hope you'll post your impressions!

 

[Frihed89]

For me it's quite an easy choice. If you're just going for sound then I'd pick the Stratus or a new production Eddie Current if you want to hear what Craig can do these days. If on the other hand you want a unique slice of history (I have a few such headphones, so I understand), then the Moth is really the only choice ain't it?

Ask him to open it up and take a picture of the insides.  Craig's circuit layouts were sometimes sloppy, sometimes excellent.

 

[stuart1927]

So I'm a few weeks in with my new Stratus and thought I'd post some more initial impressions. I suspect it takes quite a long time to really "hear" the stratus in terms of understanding what it does differently to other amps.
 
I have a few pretty nice headphone amps and they all sound excellent, the Icon Audio HP8 mk II, the Doge 6210 mk II and the Cavali liquid carbon. When I first heard the Stratus, I was impressed, but not immediately blown away. Part of that may have been down to lack of burn in, tube selections etc. but I now think I just wasn't properly calibrated (in my head!)
 
After a few weeks, my over-riding sonic impressions are the absolute background quietness of the amp....the noise floor really is beyond the basement. It's the single feature that leaves my other amps standing. I'm starting to understand how critical the noise floor is to many of the other sound attributes....it accentuates a massive sound stage with killer dynamics. 
 
I've been listening to a lot of Vaughan Williams recently, specifically his 2nd, 6th and 8th symphonies (The Richard Hickox versions are stunning) and these recordings are truly breathtaking on the Stratus. Another feature of this amp is that I sometimes forget I'm wearing headphones...the sound is notably more open than with any of my other amps.  I have Alpha Prime headphones, which are closed cans, but they sound open on the Stratus.
 
The detail resolution is also stunning, I can hear faint background noises that I didn't notice before. Musicians shifting on their chairs and sounds of their breathing.....very cool!
 
Unfortunately I had an unexpected failure of one of my KR audio 2a3 tubes so swapped out for my Nos Svetlana 2C4C tubes. These are great tubes and I'm really enjoying them. They are quite rare I think and were the russian military version of the 2a3.
 
So after a few weeks, I'm still learning about the capabilities of this amp, but it is worth every cent and worth the wait. For those of you who are waiting...you won't be disappointed!
 
Stuart