[chargedcapacitor]

Which DAC would you advise I should get for the Ferrum stack? Spring 3 KTE Vs Gustard X26 pro? Electronic music listener so I don't care to much about vocals or if a violine, guitar, piano... sounds like in a "natural setting". Macro/micro detail, depth, engaging impactful representation, bass quality of course are all important.
Coming from a Questyle twelve with Clear OG.
Thanks!

A lot of electronic music is extremely simple tones and beats, so even poor equipment can replicate the sound with relative ease. That being said, you should test out different DACs with your music to see if you can even hear a difference. Maybe focus more on the transducer first, and DAC later down the road.

 

[krude]

Which DAC would you advise I should get for the Ferrum stack? Spring 3 KTE Vs Gustard X26 pro? Electronic music listener so I don't care to much about vocals or if a violine, guitar, piano... sounds like in a "natural setting". Macro/micro detail, depth, engaging impactful representation, bass quality of course are all important.
Coming from a Questyle twelve with Clear OG.
Thanks!

I listen to a lot of electronica and went with May L2 and it's great. Deep bass without that digital grain found in many delta sigma dacs.

Btw electronica can be really complex and textured.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

Btw electronica can be really complex and textured.

True, it depends on what kind he listens to. For example, Deadmau5 will be mostly electronically created tones with few non-electronic samples. Such music will have little sonic presence at or above 10khz. On the other hand, artist such as Daft Punk will have very complex electronic music.

Either way, one should always try before they buy.

 

[ChJL]

I listen to a lot of electronica and went with May L2 and it's great. Deep bass without that digital grain found in many delta sigma dacs.

Btw electronica can be really complex and textured.

Yeah, what a broad term right. But try to explain techno etc. to an audiophile. Kind of a problem when reading on forums, magazines and YT videos. I kinda feel the same way when reviewers explain how gear sounds with chosen music. "You actually listen to this"... What a funny hobby, the same gear could satisfy two totally different folks alike.

 

[krude]

Yeah, what a broad term right. But try to explain techno etc. to an audiophile. Kind of a problem when reading on forums, magazines and YT videos. I kinda feel the same way when reviewers explain how gear sounds with chosen music. "You actually listen to this"... What a funny hobby, the same gear could satisfy two totally different folks alike.

Indeed, there's a lot of subgenres, from Skalpel through Neelix, Astrix to Black Sun Empire, Blu Mar Ten to Massive Attack, Portishead and Amon Tobin. I went through pretty much everything and there are some amazing geniouses in every genre. In recent years I've grown to love Phaeleh and chillout in general for example. Anyway, for electronica you want smooth presentation and good soundstage and imaging. Holo stuff is great all around. Also heard good things about Rockna bjt haven't heard their stuff personally.

 

[801evan]

Anything with a lot of distortions sounds wider, because stuff that needs to pop in dynamic music is burried under tons of distortion.
This is not magic of class a or tube magic... Just pleasant distortion effect.
Dirty window effect...

That is correct in some way. Distortion can bring in fake soundstage width, which some headphones capitalizes on. Telling fake soundstage width from proper soundstage extension is hard to tell if one hasn't heard the latter. What's very consistent though is the more proper my upgrade path is, the less depth (z-axis) there is in the presentation.

 

[Tom75]

Just ordered the musician pegasus for the Oor/hypsos.
Still have the Erco here, so I'll do a comparison on my own

 

[801evan]

Just ordered the musician pegasus for the Oor/hypsos.
Still have the Erco here, so I'll do a comparison on my own

It will not pair well since Pegasus has a high output impedance.

 

[miuywu]

Been a/b testing the Ferrum oor + hypsos against the Xi audio Broadway balanced. Choosing between them is going to be my first super hard decision in this hobby.

My main setup is rme adi 2 akm + external Amp and abyss diana Tc. I do want to upgrade my dac but haven't found a suitable replacement yet.

In short, the Ferrum oor + hypsos and Broadway both sound engaging and detailed and are worthy of being end game experiences (that or I've sated my spending lust atm). While same in being super great, both have some wins over the other.

The Ferrum oor + hypsos stands out in its elegance, sounding overall refined. I would guess that most audiophiles would choose it over the Broadway.

Bass - deep extension & full sounding and some physical "mmph", round shape​

Mids - not overstated but tear jerking "real" vocals. Voices are defined well and I was able to hear the "air" in the singing. First time listening to music made me imagine the unknown face of the singer, or the existence of a piano in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and controlled. Only the worst recorded tracks I had could sound sharp(literally clipping instruments). Everything else was refined and controlled.​

​

The Broadway in comparison stands out in its blast energy and vocal forwardness. The intimate mids and impact energy are making it so hard to leave this guy.

Bass - so much energy and great texture some heavy tracks gave the feeling of pressure on the ears. Extension actually wasn't naturally as big as oor but slight eq to lift the sub bass made every aspect of Broadway bass significantly superior to oor.​

Mids - intimate in-my-head vocals. The oor is like a beautiful singer on stage(not that far but still some distance). The Broadway is like a personal seranade right in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and refined.​

The oor is more natural, beautiful in its nuance and controlled sound gives a feeling of elegance.
The Broadway is somewhat surreal. Some sound effects and percussions don't sound like a recording, they sound like they're in the room with you. But that somewhat recesses the non-impact bass (which is why it doesn't seem to extend as far as oor) and also pushes back everything surrounding the vocals. If you listen to a busy track / mix, the vocals are very clearly cut out and presented in front of you.

Also been struggling to hear the difference that the 22-30 volts and respective wattage changes in the oor but haven't tried the non variable power supply yet.

 

[801evan]

Been a/b testing the Ferrum oor + hypsos against the Xi audio Broadway balanced. Choosing between them is going to be my first super hard decision in this hobby.

My main setup is rme adi 2 akm + external Amp and abyss diana Tc. I do want to upgrade my dac but haven't found a suitable replacement yet.

In short, the Ferrum oor + hypsos and Broadway both sound engaging and detailed and are worthy of being end game experiences (that or I've sated my spending lust atm). While same in being super great, both have some wins over the other.

The Ferrum oor + hypsos stands out in its elegance, sounding overall refined. I would guess that most audiophiles would choose it over the Broadway.

Bass - deep extension & full sounding and some physical "mmph", round shape​

Mids - not overstated but tear jerking "real" vocals. Voices are defined well and I was able to hear the "air" in the singing. First time listening to music made me imagine the unknown face of the singer, or the existence of a piano in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and controlled. Only the worst recorded tracks I had could sound sharp(literally clipping instruments). Everything else was refined and controlled.​

​

The Broadway in comparison stands out in its blast energy and vocal forwardness. The intimate mids and impact energy are making it so hard to leave this guy.

Bass - so much energy and great texture some heavy tracks gave the feeling of pressure on the ears. Extension actually wasn't naturally as big as oor but slight eq to lift the sub bass made every aspect of Broadway bass significantly superior to oor.​

Mids - intimate in-my-head vocals. The oor is like a beautiful singer on stage(not that far but still some distance). The Broadway is like a personal seranade right in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and refined.​

The oor is more natural, beautiful in its nuance and controlled sound gives a feeling of elegance.
The Broadway is somewhat surreal. Some sound effects and percussions don't sound like a recording, they sound like they're in the room with you. But that somewhat recesses the non-impact bass (which is why it doesn't seem to extend as far as oor) and also pushes back everything surrounding the vocals. If you listen to a busy track / mix, the vocals are very clearly cut out and presented in front of you.

Also been struggling to hear the difference that the 22-30 volts and respective wattage changes in the oor but haven't tried the non variable power supply yet.

OOR clearly the superior one here.

 

[chargedcapacitor]

Been a/b testing the Ferrum oor + hypsos against the Xi audio Broadway balanced. Choosing between them is going to be my first super hard decision in this hobby.

My main setup is rme adi 2 akm + external Amp and abyss diana Tc. I do want to upgrade my dac but haven't found a suitable replacement yet.

In short, the Ferrum oor + hypsos and Broadway both sound engaging and detailed and are worthy of being end game experiences (that or I've sated my spending lust atm). While same in being super great, both have some wins over the other.

The Ferrum oor + hypsos stands out in its elegance, sounding overall refined. I would guess that most audiophiles would choose it over the Broadway.

Bass - deep extension & full sounding and some physical "mmph", round shape​

Mids - not overstated but tear jerking "real" vocals. Voices are defined well and I was able to hear the "air" in the singing. First time listening to music made me imagine the unknown face of the singer, or the existence of a piano in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and controlled. Only the worst recorded tracks I had could sound sharp(literally clipping instruments). Everything else was refined and controlled.​

​

The Broadway in comparison stands out in its blast energy and vocal forwardness. The intimate mids and impact energy are making it so hard to leave this guy.

Bass - so much energy and great texture some heavy tracks gave the feeling of pressure on the ears. Extension actually wasn't naturally as big as oor but slight eq to lift the sub bass made every aspect of Broadway bass significantly superior to oor.​

Mids - intimate in-my-head vocals. The oor is like a beautiful singer on stage(not that far but still some distance). The Broadway is like a personal seranade right in front of me.​

Highs - detailed and refined.​

The oor is more natural, beautiful in its nuance and controlled sound gives a feeling of elegance.
The Broadway is somewhat surreal. Some sound effects and percussions don't sound like a recording, they sound like they're in the room with you. But that somewhat recesses the non-impact bass (which is why it doesn't seem to extend as far as oor) and also pushes back everything surrounding the vocals. If you listen to a busy track / mix, the vocals are very clearly cut out and presented in front of you.

Also been struggling to hear the difference that the 22-30 volts and respective wattage changes in the oor but haven't tried the non variable power supply yet.

How did you set up the volume on the OOR? Did you set it in bypass and use the RME as a pre? Did you try turning the OOR on high gain with the volume all the way up?

 

[miuywu]

How did you set up the volume on the OOR? Did you set it in bypass and use the RME as a pre? Did you try turning the OOR on high gain with the volume all the way up?

Currently oor on bypass 27.9 volts with rme using -5db line out and pre sliding between -22 and -7 depending on the song. Mainly did it for ab easy volume matching and never found non pre out on rme anyway. Would use pot on oor for convenience in the future.

 

[Tom75]

It will not pair well since Pegasus has a high output impedance.

Surprised to hear that. Only based on the reviews, I expected that the Pegasus matches well.

 

[801evan]

Surprised to hear that. Only based on the reviews, I expected that the Pegasus matches well.

Impedance mismatch factor.

 

[SlothRock]

Looking up the Pegasus, I'm seeing the output impedance is only 3.5V RMS for balanced. Is that what you're all talking about? Doesn't seem too high to me.