[Ervinos]

Hello, for various reasons I have been away from this hobby for about 15 years but have recently bought a set of Hifiman Devas. I am running them through an oldish Meier Audio Cordia Aria headphone amp/USB DAC and they sound great to me. My question is, though - has technology moved on? Would a modern amp/DAC in the £200 region be better than the one I have? If so, then like much better or just marginally better? Any advice / opinions appreciated, thanks.

 

[NA Blur]

Leaps and bounds not only by measurement, but by learned listening as well. Always great and eye-opening to do a side by side comparison between old and new gear.

 

[Ervinos]

thank you

 

[Ervinos]

Always great and eye-opening to do a side by side comparison between old and new gear.

I’ve ordered an ifi zen dac v2 so I will try the old vs new when it arrives!

 

[CJG888]

I would beg to disagree. Some of the best DACs on the market at the moment are based on 1980s technology!

Nevertheless, the DAC section in your amp was always a bit of an afterthought, and using a dedicated DAC into the amp‘s line inputs should yield a significant improvement.

 

[tubebuyer2020]

Technology was in decline 15 years ago but now vacuum tubes are back in fashion.

 

[CJG888]

…and R2R DACs!

 

[Ervinos]

I would beg to disagree. Some of the best DACs on the market at the moment are based on 1980s technology!

Nevertheless, the DAC section in your amp was always a bit of an afterthought, and using a dedicated DAC into the amp‘s line inputs should yield a significant improvement.

That’s interesting. The Dac in the Aria (from iphone - cck) sounds much better to me than the Apple lightning adapter one. I’m looking forward to comparing with the zen dac

 

[Ervinos]

‘using a dedicated DAC into the amp‘s line inputs should yield a significant improvement’ - yes, planning to do that!

 

[iFi audio]

I’ve ordered an ifi zen dac v2 so I will try the old vs new when it arrives!

Thanks for giving it a go

I would beg to disagree. Some of the best DACs on the market at the moment are based on 1980s technology!

Sure, they are. But stuff like power supplies, regulators, USB receivers and devices used in output stages also changed

 

[Ervinos]

Thanks for giving it a go

Arrived today & sounds great!

Always great and eye-opening to do a side by side comparison between old and new gear.

New wins by a (surprisingly) long way. Like regaining hearing or something!

 

[iFi audio]

Arrived today & sounds great!

Please enjoy the heck out of it