[RenEh]

BTW, this is an excellent set up so it makes sense to send your money on headphones!

Noooooo begone temptress.

 

[okan]

Ordered on the 29th of August, my FA-10 finally arrived and I am extremely amazed at it. The bass and instrument separation on my HE1000 V2 from the FA-10 is fantastic, and is what I would consider the main draw if someone asks me about them. At 750 USD (+ shipping and paypal fees, total was iirc 880 USD), I am shocked that there aren't more people talking about it or even recommending it.

If you are interested in ordering an unit, the timeline was like this for me :
- 5 working days to receive order confirmation, don't be shocked if you don't get the confirmation within the day of payment.
- Another 5-7 (as per quoted by Vitaliy, looks like I got the best case scenario) working days to build (?, work on ? do something ? no idea) the unit
- About 2 days to dispatch/deliver (I opted for the UPS option, seems rather fast for me)

I was also considering the FA-10 PRO, and this is what Vitaliy had to say about them :


Another thing to note in my experience is, for the first 10 to 20 minutes it sounded pretty bad (bloated bass, some static, very sure its not the rest of the chain), but after that it sounded consistently good (break in?), been listening to it for about 4 hours straight without feeling any fatigue at all.

Very happy with the product.

I have also pegasus with flux fa-10 and he6se sounds really great. I don't think I'll touch my dac-amp-headphone combo for a long time. Does I2S connection make a huge difference? I am currently using pegasus over usb. I was thinking to buy matrix x-spdif 2 to use pegasus over I2S but I couldn't be sure if it is worth to buy a DDC device also. Good ones are expensive. Also, are you happy with the Iris? Any issues when you try to connect I2S?

 

[Ichos]

Noooooo begone temptress.

Hehe....

 

[Ichos]

Can the FA-10 be used with more sensitive things like IEMs and still have useable space on the volume knob?

I have tested with the FiiO FD3 which are sensitive.
The usable pot is about half way till it gets really loud.
But there is static noise even with the pot turned down to zero.

 

[RenEh]

I have also pegasus with flux fa-10 and he6se sounds really great. I don't think I'll touch my dac-amp-headphone combo for a long time. Does I2S connection make a huge difference? I am currently using pegasus over usb. I was thinking to buy matrix x-spdif 2 to use pegasus over I2S but I couldn't be sure if it is worth to buy a DDC device also. Good ones are expensive. Also, are you happy with the Iris? Any issues when you try to connect I2S?

I don't know how good USB implementation is on your DAC, but there are noticeable differences with USB, coax spdif and toslink on the ares2. If I could feed it I2S I would.

Usb-> Sounds noisy from a Mac Mini. Like an inaudible, but grating high pitch noise.
Toslink-> Softer presentation more laid back (compared to coax with Blue Jeans Toslink)
Coax Spdif-> Sharper transients gives the music a bit of edge. (This is my preference, I use a Blue Jeans coax)

IMO on Toslink the Ananda's lose too much much of their edge with this combo, but I could see toslink being the preferred choice depending on synergy.

 

[Flak]

I have tested with the FiiO FD3 which are sensitive.
The usable pot is about half way till it gets really loud.
But there is static noise even with the pot turned down to zero.

Thanks, and just to confirm that was also on low gain? Was hoping to go FA-10 to get HE6SEv2 on sale at Adorama.... I guess I'll just skip the HE6SEv2 and get an FA-22....

 

[Ichos]

Yes low gain.
Why do you need such an amp for iems?
I only use them with dongles or daps.

 

[RenEh]

Yes low gain.
Why do you need such an amp for iems?
I only use them with dongles or daps.

The Fa-12 in single ended works great with IEM’s.

 

[Ichos]

The Fa-12 in single ended works great with IEM’s.

Yes as from the single end is considerably less powerful than the FA-10 and way more silent with blacker background.
Still I don't use Iems with large amplifiers.

 

[nicastrino]

Yeah, difference is always minor with DAC's, its more about the features and form factor in my opinion. I would love to hear your experience with the FCN-10 because its one of the ones I was thinking about getting before I got my chain now.

Yes for sure I will post my listening impressions on the FCN-10, and this is the exact reason I got it because it’s class A, powerful as heck, and is an all-in-one.

By the way what is your chain looking like?

 

[jonathan c]

[duplicate deleted]

 

[Bilo]

Yes for sure I will post my listening impressions on the FCN-10, and this is the exact reason I got it because it’s class A, powerful as heck, and is an all-in-one.

By the way what is your chain looking like?

D70s -> FA-12 / 887 -> Focal Clear, 6xx, Aeon 2

Went with the FA-12 to get some warmth in the chain. I absolutely love it with the Clears.

 

[RenEh]

D70s -> FA-12 / 887 -> Focal Clear, 6xx, Aeon 2

Went with the FA-12 to get some warmth in the chain. I absolutely love it with the Clears.

Could you tell me how the 6xx pairs with your chain?

I use to own an Elex and sold it due to reliability worries. I’m thinking of getting an hd600 as a replacement.

 

[ARCXENOS]

I have also pegasus with flux fa-10 and he6se sounds really great. I don't think I'll touch my dac-amp-headphone combo for a long time. Does I2S connection make a huge difference? I am currently using pegasus over usb. I was thinking to buy matrix x-spdif 2 to use pegasus over I2S but I couldn't be sure if it is worth to buy a DDC device also. Good ones are expensive. Also, are you happy with the Iris? Any issues when you try to connect I2S?

I did not do a scientific A/B tests, not even regular double blind tests, but comparing I2S vs Coaxial vs direct USB, I believe it sounds better on I2S. But with that said, I will not recommend people to spend money without trying it out first, because I myself don't know if its really a sonic improvement, or just psychoacoustics (but it did help me in the sense that I stop thinking about usb implementation woes )

If you do still want to get a DDC, please do find out if there is a local place for you to try it out first. Also do note, there is no industry standard for I2S pin layouts, so please be aware of what pins the DDC is using before buying. As for the Iris, I am happy with it, connecting the pegasus to iris has no compatibility issues, as mode 5 of the pegasus has the exact pin layout the iris requires, no latency whatsoever.

And yes, I think my FA-10 chain is what I would pretty much use up to the point when I am ready to go for the susvara. Then I can greatly consider the volot, because I believe in flux acoustic's ability to deliver.

 

[okan]

I don't know how good USB implementation is on your DAC, but there are noticeable differences with USB, coax spdif and toslink on the ares2. If I could feed it I2S I would.

Usb-> Sounds noisy from a Mac Mini. Like an inaudible, but grating high pitch noise.
Toslink-> Softer presentation more laid back (compared to coax with Blue Jeans Toslink)
Coax Spdif-> Sharper transients gives the music a bit of edge. (This is my preference, I use a Blue Jeans coax)

IMO on Toslink the Ananda's lose too much much of their edge with this combo, but I could see toslink being the preferred choice depending on synergy.

Thanks for the reply. Dac is already sounding awesome for my taste but if I2S would improve it, then I would definitely try I2S.

I did not do a scientific A/B tests, not even regular double blind tests, but comparing I2S vs Coaxial vs direct USB, I believe it sounds better on I2S. But with that said, I will not recommend people to spend money without trying it out first, because I myself don't know if its really a sonic improvement, or just psychoacoustics (but it did help me in the sense that I stop thinking about usb implementation woes )

If you do still want to get a DDC, please do find out if there is a local place for you to try it out first. Also do note, there is no industry standard for I2S pin layouts, so please be aware of what pins the DDC is using before buying. As for the Iris, I am happy with it, connecting the pegasus to iris has no compatibility issues, as mode 5 of the pegasus has the exact pin layout the iris requires, no latency whatsoever.

And yes, I think my FA-10 chain is what I would pretty much use up to the point when I am ready to go for the susvara. Then I can greatly consider the volot, because I believe in flux acoustic's ability to deliver.

Thanks. I don't think I'll be able to find any store to try it in Montreal. There are some shops but they mainly allow us to demo headphones or dacs. Maybe I can grab one as used and if it won't work for me I can sell it. Musician provided some DDC and streamers which work well with pegasus. Iris is not in the list. If it works with pegasus then iris might be a good choice to try.