[Kane-DK]

I need a nice entry-level stationary amp for my home rig. I have been reading a lot and now I need to chose between these two.

But what amp should I go for?

Here are my thoughts so far.

The Arietta: I have heard a lot of the great synergy there is with Beyers and Meier amps. I know that the Arietta is a safe choice, but being a owner of a Porta Corda, I’m not sure if the Arietta give me anything that the Corda can’t provide? (or at least justify spending 225 euros).

The LD mk III: I would really like to try out tubes at some point, but I’m not sure if this is the right moment. I am thinking that the LD could bring a little warmth to the DT880s but I’m not sure that is the case – does anyone know if the DT 880 and the LD mk III will be a good match? And what about AT woodies if I ever got a pair of these?


My source is a NAD C521 BEE cdp and my main headphones is DT880, although I’m planning to bring in some Audio-Technica woodies in the future. I listen to a broad range of music, but mostly guitarbased popmusic.



(the true head-fi answer: Sorry about your wallet – buy both, need not reply. I just not an option right now

).

 

[Henry Flower]

Someone in one of the threads quoted Jan as saying that the Arietta is still better than the Move (not really a surprise, with it being both more expensive and stationary); the Move in turn seems to be a step up from the Porta Corda. So I'd expect there to be a substantial improvement, if not something completely different. I'd be eyeing up a Darkvoice myself.

 

[penguindude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kane-DK /img/forum/go_quote.gif I need a nice entry-level stationary amp for my home rig. I have been reading a lot and now I need to chose between these two. But what amp should I go for? Here are my thoughts so far. The Arietta: I have heard a lot of the great synergy there is with Beyers and Meier amps. I know that the Arietta is a safe choice, but being a owner of a Porta Corda, I’m not sure if the Arietta give me anything that the Corda can’t provide? (or at least justify spending 225 euros). The LD mk III: I would really like to try out tubes at some point, but I’m not sure if this is the right moment. I am thinking that the LD could bring a little warmth to the DT880s but I’m not sure that is the case – does anyone know if the DT 880 and the LD mk III will be a good match? And what about AT woodies if I ever got a pair of these? My source is a NAD C521 BEE cdp and my main headphones is DT880, although I’m planning to bring in some Audio-Technica woodies in the future. I listen to a broad range of music, but mostly guitarbased popmusic. (the true head-fi answer: Sorry about your wallet – buy both, need not reply. I just not an option right now ).

Read my review if you haven't already done so. I compared the Corda Headfive (extremely similar to Arietta) with the LD MKIII. http://gadgets-reviews.blogspot.com/...ve-review.html

Surprisingly both are rather similar in SQ, with the exceptions that:

MKIII:

Larger bass presence
Better soundstage
Mids are more silky

Headfive:

Better upper-mids
Better lower-highs
More transparent

 

[Negatron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kane-DK /img/forum/go_quote.gif I need a nice entry-level stationary amp for my home rig. I have been reading a lot and now I need to chose between these two. But what amp should I go for? Here are my thoughts so far. The Arietta: I have heard a lot of the great synergy there is with Beyers and Meier amps. I know that the Arietta is a safe choice, but being a owner of a Porta Corda, I’m not sure if the Arietta give me anything that the Corda can’t provide? (or at least justify spending 225 euros). The LD mk III: I would really like to try out tubes at some point, but I’m not sure if this is the right moment. I am thinking that the LD could bring a little warmth to the DT880s but I’m not sure that is the case – does anyone know if the DT 880 and the LD mk III will be a good match? And what about AT woodies if I ever got a pair of these? My source is a NAD C521 BEE cdp and my main headphones is DT880, although I’m planning to bring in some Audio-Technica woodies in the future. I listen to a broad range of music, but mostly guitarbased popmusic. (the true head-fi answer: Sorry about your wallet – buy both, need not reply. I just not an option right now ).

Penguindudes review of the MK III is a must read if you are considering an amp in that price range. As for you using DT880's that is one of the headphones that was used to design and voice the MKIII. I'm running an MKIII through a breakin right now going into day 5 non-stop and the Mids have gotten fantastic. Unmistakenly tube, very rich, yet an extremly neutral presentation that should compliment the '880's.

The high end is sensitive to interconnects and setting the amp on isolation cones also help high frequency detail quite a bit. The case and circuit board screwed together seem to have a resonant frequency that blurs the HF detail just a little bit. But an easy fix with cones or sorbathane hemispheres.

But if you are a fan of solid state the Meier is a very good choice for an amp.

 

[tbonner1]

The Little Dot amps are very dynamic. I have not heard the Arietta but I did hear the Aria. It sounded detailed, but the Beyer DT880 could take advantage of the full bass of the LD.

 

[Kane-DK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguindude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Read my review if you haven't already done so. I compared the Corda Headfive (extremely similar to Arietta) with the LD MKIII. http://gadgets-reviews.blogspot.com/...ve-review.html

Hi penguindude, great review. Actually it was your review that made me consider the LD mkIII in the first place. I didn't know that the Headfive and Arietta was more or less the same - but it gives some perspective.

With Dr. Meiers pricedump, the Aria came within me budget, so I have ordered one of these. I am thinking this will postpone me getting uptrade-itis a little more than if I had bought the Arietta.

I'm sure I'll own a LD mk III some day, but it is not time yet. Thank you (and others replying) for your help anyways.

 

[Kane-DK]

The Aria has arrived and it is absolutely wonderful, but it hasn’t saved me for the dreaded upgrade-itis!

The problem is the DAC. I didn’t think I would use it, but I gave it a try the other day, connecting the Aria to my computer. Playing lossless from iTunes the Aria/DT 880 rocked my world, and now I really don’t want to disconnect the Aria from my computer. So I have a problem (or at least my wallet does

), since the Aria was bought to be used in my main rig in my listening corner in the living room and not in a computersetup.

So the search for another amp (and properly also another set of cans, since it don’t want to move the DT 880 from one room to another all the time) has started. The LD mkIII could very well be in the picture again.