[ThanatosVI]

Look at my signature! I hope it's the last amp upgrade i'll do, period. Only some tube swaps with that monster!

Go Feliks Envy or go home!
Good choice

 

[africanicola]

Hi everyone, I'm about to get my Hypsos&Orr by Exekuhtor.
Meanwhile I was reading some posts and I fund a lot of you using a preamp like the Khozmo; actually I own the schiit Valhalla 2, may I use it as tube preamp?
Could it be at the level of the Khozmo?

 

[plumpudding2]

Hi everyone, I'm about to get my Hypsos&Orr by Exekuhtor.
Meanwhile I was reading some posts and I fund a lot of you using a preamp like the Khozmo; actually I own the schiit Valhalla 2, may I use it as tube preamp?
Could it be at the level of the Khozmo?

A tube preamp will add a tube flavor which you might like or might not, but comparing it to a Khozmo is apples and oranges.
Before you spend money on a Khozmo I would urge you to try preamping digitally with Roon/HQplayer, for me it's the most clean and dynamic sound but results are very dependant on the linearity and noise floor of your DAC.

 

[africanicola]

A tube preamp will add a tube flavor which you might like or might not, but comparing it to a Khozmo is apples and oranges.
Before you spend money on a Khozmo I would urge you to try preamping digitally with Roon/HQplayer, for me it's the most clean and dynamic sound but results are very dependant on the linearity and noise floor of your DAC.

I still use bluray audio, dvda or Cds in the 90% of the listining. So the digital preamp doesn't fit me at the moment.
About the khozmo or Valhalla, I didn't mind to compere a tube pre with the Khozmo. My question was more like: would the improvement be noticeable even with the Valhalla as preamp without adding any sort of distortion, or it will be better to go straight with a dedicated preamp like the khozmo?

 

[JohanE]

Demoing an Oor at home now kindly loaned to me by a local dealer.
It sounds great with all of my headphones and I especially like the combination with my Focal Clear OG. Excellent amp!

Still to try my Aeon 2 Noire with it.
A big step up from my Singxer SA-1.

Dac being used is the Gold Note DS-10 Plus fed with their linear powersupply Gold Note PSU-10 Evo.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Demoing an Oor at home now kindly loaned to me by a local dealer.
It sounds great with all of my headphones and I especially like the combination with my Focal Clear OG. Excellent amp!

Still to try my Aeon 2 Noire with it.
A big step up from my Singxer SA-1.

Dac being used is the Gold Note DS-10 Plus fed with their linear powersupply Gold Note PSU-10 Evo.

FWIW, I love all my DCAs on the Oor/Hypsos stack. From my various Aeons to the Stealth and Expanse, they pair very nicely with the Ferrum gear. I don't have the Noires, but I just picked up a pair of Aeon 2 Closed after selling my previous pair before I bought the Stealths and they've never sounded better.

Be sure to let us know how you like the Noires with the Oor. It will add another useful opinion to this thread.

 

[JohanE]

FWIW, I love all my DCAs on the Oor/Hypsos stack. From my various Aeons to the Stealth and Expanse, they pair very nicely with the Ferrum gear. I don't have the Noires, but I just picked up a pair of Aeon 2 Closed after selling my previous pair before I bought the Stealths and they've never sounded better.

Be sure to let us know how you like the Noires with the Oor. It will add another useful opinion to this thread.

Listening through the Noires now. Yeah you were right. They've never sounded better. I thought my Singxer SA-1 was a great match but this is just better.
Crazy good synergy!

 

[africanicola]

about the volume control with a preamp, is it better to keep at max the Oor volume and adjust it with the preamp knob? or the way round?

 

[Exekuhtor]

Normally: Always adjust the volume at the last step, so at the Oor if you bring in a preamp (for example a tube preamp), i would adjust the volume via the normal amp (Oor) and have the preamp between 9 o'clock to maxed out, depending on what you want / how the chain behaves. I think that's the normal "preamp way". You bring in a bit of flavour but you generally don't use the preamp for more raw power.
There are situations where you want to adjust the volume on the preamp / DAC module, for example if you use a tube amp and have some noise / humming at a specific volume adjustment but not if you max that amp out.

 

[bluenight]

Do you also hear some faint humming from hypsos when powered on like i do, when standing around 0,5-1 meters from it. Or is yours completely quiet?

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Listening through the Noires now. Yeah you were right. They've never sounded better. I thought my Singxer SA-1 was a great match but this is just better.
Crazy good synergy!

That's been my experience, too. I went on a search through quite a lot of gear to find the perfect match for the Stealths and the Oor/Hypsos stack was the answer I found. The synergy seems to hold true for all my DCA headphones. They just sound awesome!

 

[bluenight]

Im looking for a higher end closed back for OOR. Dca stealth might just be it.
I wonder though is stealth worth it over ÆON 2 Noire? One youtuber at headphones.com preferred ÆON 2 Noire over stealth.

How about the expanse? i thought dan clark said it had some damping so that it dont leak out that much sound, so is stealth necessary then, if expanse sound better?

What level are they?
HD800 S won't embarrass them?

Also i am only shopping for vegan HP so this narrows selection.

 

[Exekuhtor]

DCA is notorious for very bad dynamics, if you are fine with that, then you can be happy, of course on the Hypsos & Oor it's a bit better. Details and tonality is very good though. There are very few closed back planars in the market that are very good in every aspect (tonality & technicality). You might need to test a lot of stuff or get a dynamic driver, obvious candidates are Denon AH-D9200, ZMF closed backs, Focal stuff, etc. Sound isolation is only decent with most of them, but of course way better than an HD800. Most manufacturers offer a vegan pad option.
There are also IEM's, those are closed backs and can do sound stuff that headphones cannot.

Maybe a closed back Caldera / the closed back SJY higher end model will be the highend closed back planar i truly love, both are some time away.

 

[akukula]

I have been using my HE1KV2 and HD 800s with my Ferrum stack and Pegasus DAC and have been very happy. Even tried my IEMs and they all sound wonderful. Never ever considered close backs. You guys are making me rethink and want to try a close back and see if they will give me a different sound signature

 

[bluenight]

DCA is notorious for very bad dynamics, if you are fine with that, then you can be happy, of course on the Hypsos & Oor it's a bit better. Details and tonality is very good though. There are very few closed back planars in the market that are very good in every aspect (tonality & technicality). You might need to test a lot of stuff or get a dynamic driver, obvious candidates are Denon AH-D9200, ZMF closed backs, Focal stuff, etc. Sound isolation is only decent with most of them, but of course way better than an HD800. Most manufacturers offer a vegan pad option.
There are also IEM's, those are closed backs and can do sound stuff that headphones cannot.

Maybe a closed back Caldera / the closed back SJY higher end model will be the highend closed back planar i truly love, both are some time away.

Thanks that's good advice.
The closed back calderas looks promising indeed also been eyeing the atrium closed.
Iems i think I will avoid as i allready sleep with earplugs so i want to rest the ear canal the rest of the day.

Hifiman Audivina looked promesing but has poor sound leakeage and dont convince me with there sound quality because many people dont seem to like it.
Akg K371 will have to do until the right one come along for me with my picky interests.