[GettingBuckets]

Haha you guys aren't making this any easier for me. There is just so many options right now to choose from. I guess it's not a bad thing considering that the Amp/DAC game has improved considerably to the point where most options are viable and high quality.

 

[urbino]

  Haha you guys aren't making this any easier for me. There is just so many options right now to choose from. I guess it's not a bad thing considering that the Amp/DAC game has improved considerably to the point where most options are viable and high quality.

 
Heh.  Sorry.
 
A few pages back, fjrabon posted a list of, like, 4 things just about all 400i owners have noticed these cans like.  One of them was Class A amplification.  Another was high current.  If you scan back through the pages looking for his avatar and a list (it's formatted as a list), you'll run across it pretty quickly.
 
Those could put some useful parameters around your search.

 

[Degenerator9000]

If I was gonna wind up dropping another 1k on an amp/DAD combo for these I'd probably just sell them and buy a nicer pair of headphones and something like an ODAC/O2 or M2U/M2U
 
Highly skeptical of the fact that 800 additional dollars sunk into upstream components would get me better sound than upping the phone tier by one or two. 

 

[mysticstryk]

If I was gonna wind up dropping another 1k on an amp/DAD combo for these I'd probably just sell them and buy a nicer pair of headphones and something like an ODAC/O2 or M2U/M2U

Highly skeptical of the fact that 800 additional dollars sunk into upstream components would get me better sound than upping the phone tier by one or two. 

Headphone upgrades will always give you the most immediate sound improvement.

 

[Degenerator9000]

Headphone upgrades will always give you the most immediate sound improvement.

Which is why I can't exactly recommend someone get a bifrost/asgard specifically for these lmao

 

[ChesterYonany]

  If I was gonna wind up dropping another 1k on an amp/DAD combo for these I'd probably just sell them and buy a nicer pair of headphones and something like an ODAC/O2 or M2U/M2U
 
Highly skeptical of the fact that 800 additional dollars sunk into upstream components would get me better sound than upping the phone tier by one or two. 

yea, i would also try other headphones before upgrading my AMP\DAC.
but, if a certain set of headphones is an End-Game for someone and there is some extra money to dump in i dont see the problem of trying to squeeze the last bit of performance from the HP.
 
i didnt try a lot of headphones myself, but i think that i would need to invest ALOT of money to get much better than my current setup (Modi2>Magni2>400i).
that diminishing returns thing

 
 
yesterday i came across a video in YT about the Liquid Gold (a 6.5K$ AMP) that paired with 5.5K$ headphone (Abyss or something like that).
how people afford that? XD

 

[Degenerator9000]

 
yea, i would also try other headphones before upgrading my AMP\DAC.
but, if a certain set of headphones is an End-Game for someone and there is some extra money to dump in i dont see the problem of trying to squeeze the last bit of performance from the HP.
 
i didnt try a lot of headphones myself, but i think that i would need to invest ALOT of money to get much better than my current setup (Modi2>Magni2>400i).
that diminishing returns thing

 
 
yesterday i came across a video in YT about the Liquid Gold (a 6.5K$ AMP) that paired with 5.5K$ headphone (Abyss or something like that).
how people afford that? XD

Yeah, I mean it's obviously gonna get a little different for people who have the flagship of their choice and can't really improve upon it any further, but the HE-400i being a 300 dollar headphone seems a bit far from that  

 
WRT the liquid gold and abyss... I dunno man, I just tell myself these people are real adults and I'll never understand their mysteries as a college kid lmao 

 

[NeoWilson]

  I just got these about a week and a half ago, and they are really impressing me. However, I'm in need of a DAC/Amp, and I know you guys have made many recommendations. Should I go straight for the Asgard+Modi? I saw the Massdrop for the Grace M9xx, so I was wondering if the extra $150 was worth it. I'm also considering the Ef100 hybrid amp among others in the <$500 budget too. Obviously I would like to save as much money as I can, so that is my main dilemma.

I asked this in the M9xx topic
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785553/grace-design-x-massdrop-m9xx-dac-amp-review-first-impressions/1035
 
I am still undecided whether portability is important for me, i am leaning towards the m9xx though. I am in Australia so the local price is higher since they factor in the shipping cost or something. Modi 2/Magni 2 Uber is us$195 each, Asgard 2 us$275 so I don't save much going with the Schiit stack

 

[spdtdl]

iFi iDSD Micro drove mine to perfection. Portable too.

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
yesterday i came across a video in YT about the Liquid Gold (a 6.5K$ AMP) that paired with 5.5K$ headphone (Abyss or something like that).
how people afford that? XD

Retracted as it was OT.

 

[GettingBuckets]

  I asked this in the M9xx topic
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785553/grace-design-x-massdrop-m9xx-dac-amp-review-first-impressions/1035
 
I am still undecided whether portability is important for me, i am leaning towards the m9xx though. I am in Australia so the local price is higher since they factor in the shipping cost or something. Modi 2/Magni 2 Uber is us$195 each, Asgard 2 us$275 so I don't save much going with the Schiit stack

Yea I'm leaning towards the m9xx since they are available on Massdrop right now. They seem to do a lot of things right, and I know it will be several years down the road when and if I ever get any flagship headphones so this probably would work for any other cans I decide to buy or experiment with in the process.

 

[iScream]

Headphones have diminishing returns as the price increases, just like source components.  And without source components of some baseline quality level, you are not going to be able to hear even the detail of the HE400i.
 
Now, what that baseline quality level is can be debated all day.  In my opinion, the analog headphone out on an iPhone, iPad, etc, does not even come close.  You might as well save your headphone money and get something much cheaper than the HE400i.  I just got one of the lightning to USB connector for my iPhone and hooked it up last night to get digital out of my phone to my USB DAC.  The difference is huge compared to the analog out.
 
So, I believe a DAC and headphone amp is needed for the HE400i.  You can probably get a desktop unit with both for $150 dollars that will give you 95 percent of what these headphones are capable of delivering.  And probably 95 percent of what the HE560 is capable of delivering too.  Personally, I decided to go a step higher with a Modi 2 Uber and Asgard 2.  That is still only a $400 setup but I believe it will bring out just about all the HE400i has to offer and will do the same with higher end headphones, should I decide to upgrade or get an additional pair so I have one upstairs and one downstairs.
 
Personally, I'm really happy with these cans.  I really doubt a more expensive model is going to offer anything that makes listening to music more enjoyable to me.  
 
It's fun to listen to the technology sometimes and for many people comparing technology is their hobby, not actually listening to music.  I like some of both.  In my car I have a three way setup in both doors with Scanspeak mids/tweaters and Dayton Audio 8" mid bass.  I built fiberglass pods for the mids and tweaters and built a custon fiberglass enclosure for my Image Dynamics ID Max subwoofer.  The system is fully active with a pretty nice DSP and I've spent many hours tweaking the parametric EQ for each individual channel.
 
But with headphones, once you get to the level of the HE400i and a Schiit stack, or something equivalent, you already have the sound quality of a multi thousand dollar setup in the floor standing speaker world.  And you don't have to worry about room acoustics or the absolutely horrible acoustics of a car.  There just isn't room to climb a lot higher in sound quality.  Much of the difference between headphones and equipment is intentional coloring of the sound anyway.
 
So figure out what you want from your headphones.  Do you want to listen to music reproduced at a very high quality or do you want to learn about the differences between amplifier classes, headphone driver types and converting digital signal to analog so you can interact with other people who also enjoy talking about the tech?
 
If you really just want to hear high quality music, what are you normally doing when you listen?  If you are sitting in a chair focusing on the music, maybe a little higher end equipment will have value for you.  If you're on the computer, or watching TV, or whatever most of the time when you listen you are not going to notice little nuances between a $300 HE400i and a $800 whatever.  If you like the voicing of the more expensive model better but you aren't going to be sitting and just listening to music, use an EQ to get the frequency response you enjoy from something like the HE400i, or maybe even something cheaper.
 
I guess I'm done rambling now.
 
-Chris

 

[sghound]

  Yea I'm leaning towards the m9xx since they are available on Massdrop right now. They seem to do a lot of things right, and I know it will be several years down the road when and if I ever get any flagship headphones so this probably would work for any other cans I decide to buy or experiment with in the process.

 
exactly

 

[iScream]

  Yea I'm leaning towards the m9xx since they are available on Massdrop right now. They seem to do a lot of things right, and I know it will be several years down the road when and if I ever get any flagship headphones so this probably would work for any other cans I decide to buy or experiment with in the process.

 
That thing does seem to offer a lot of performance for the money.  What part of Tennessee is home for you?  If it's around Nashville, buy that thing then look me up when you're home and we'll compare to the Schiit stuff I just bought.  I would expect the performance to be very similar.

 

[mike138]

Right before I bought my 400i, I asked Steve Gutenberg from CNET if he thought the Schiit Magni/Modi 2 Ubers would drive the 400i, and he was nice enough to tweet back that they absolutely would, but the Asgard would sound better. 
 
I can report I'm very happy with the Magni/Modi stack, but will probably upgrade to the Asgard at some point.