I can see how to some this would be the case. With headphones I actually take the opposite approach from what you described with the counterbalancing darkness and use the bright detail sparkle I hear in the J2S with SS2590 to enhance head phones that have a similar nature to it. An example is I have a pair of Grado RS1X headphones which I like a lot on a lot of gear but I LOVE on the Geshelli stack which is the J2S with the SS2590 connected to the Archel 3 Pro which also has the SS2590 opamps in it. That combo to me is mind bending with certain types of music. To me that stack also works wonders with most IEMs. I love it with more neutral sounds too like my Sennheiser HD600. I also have a set of headphones with a complete opposite sound signature, the JM Audio XTC2 with the Biowool driver and soft fuzzy pads. These have a deep thick wide detailed sound signature that to me works supremely well with things like class A amps and R2R dacs but they do not work well with the geshelli stack I mentioned. It brings it to a neutrality which I don't like. Those headphones have a very unique falvor and I don't want to lessen that experience by bringing it closer to balance. I am a big fan of have a collection of hear and finding what headphones I have that can be my personal ideal match with certain gear. It to me is a purely subjective practive based around what I as an individual want when I listen so I totally can understand how it might be too much for some. I like the headphne/component conbo to work in harmony as more of a percision tool to listen to certain types of music or to give me what sound I want on certain days when I'm in certain moods. To me the J2S with the SS2590 is not always the sound signature I want but when it is I'm eternally grateful I have it.
That said, when i deal with componenets I very much do agree that the J2S with SS2590 can add some sparkle and a little flavor to a system with other colder or sterile components. I have read on this thread soemwhere about users who have one type of opamp in one output (rca) and a different type of opamp in the other output (XLR) which is a cool idea I want to do but have not yet done. I think, if I remember right, they had SS2590 in one output and one of the Burson opamps in another. Two flavors in the same system all we gotta do is switch from XLR to RCA, way cool idea. I have heard the J2S with the SS2590 connected to colder darker headphone amps and I very much like the sound that comes from that. I have a frined who is obsessed with neutrality so he has the Topping D90 and the toppoing A90D and that is all he wants. Both componenes are super good for what they do, amaziong at times, but that clinical sterile sound is not at all what I want. I like a little flavor. I took my J2S with SS2590 over to his place and connected it and to me it breathed a bit of life into what was a great but cold setrile combination. It's way cool. He now has the J2S with SS2590 so that he has both falvors when he wants them so I can confirm that people do use it to sweeten up a colder system. I have not yet been over there with hte Aechel 3 pro that has the SS2590 opamps to connect it to the D90 but I want to. I imagine it'll do a similar thing which could be pretty special. I have also connected the J2S SS2590 to a tube amp from time to time and to me that is great as well. I love it more connected to my tube amp when its connected to speakers but for headphones it also sounds amaizng. The characteristics of the SS2590 to me enhance an already wonderful sound of my tube amp.
Question. Have you every trued the Burr Brown OPA2134PA? I built up a DIY preamp and power amp a couple years back and had those in it and loved them. I would roll opamps sometimes in the preamp going from the BB OPA2134PA to the SS2590 to one of the Burson V6 opamps but I would always come back to listneing with the BB OPA2134PA. I always wanted to try them in the J2S and might order some. To me they are one of the great values in HIFI for opamps. Nothing stands out about the sound signature, no spikes or particualr areas of the sound heightened over others, so it's not leaning in any one direction, not super sparkly and bright, not fatiguing. They to me just presented the honest open very clear natural sound in a non cold non sterile way. I'd recommend that because you can find them for like $20-$40 each. Could be a cool idea. Also have you tried the lesser sparkos dual opamps, the SS3602? If there are parts of the flavor of the SS2590 that you like but find them to be too much of that, this might be a good idea. I started the J2s journey listening to the stock OPA 1656 and like you I was very impressed. I went up to the SS3602 and liked the change a lot. To me it was like a middle ground between the OPA 1656 and the SS2590 which I ended up keeping in the J2S. I have my 3 SS3602 sitting around unused if you want to try them. Private message me and I'll mail them your way if you want to give them a shot no prob. I'd much rather them going to use than sitting around collecting dust.
. In recent years my coming to the realization that an audio chain is like an organism where all parts contribute to the final sound, I've been able to reach new sonnic heights without necessarily breaking the bank nor laser focusing on any one individual component.
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