[knorris908]

...And "Yes", I still have to clean up the cable MESS to appease my wife, but for the moment, I just want to enjoy some music now that everything's finally all in ONE PLACE instead of burn-in, testing/evaluation, or restoration where I can attach the long-run XLR breakout behind the couch and just lay-back and... ENJOY.

 

[bagwell359]

Have your experienced ears experienced the Arya v3 yet?

No. I'd like to.

 

[trellus]

No. I'd like to.

I count you personally as a HiFiMAN expert because you’ve had a pretty good sampling of HFM cans I’ve owned or considered purchasing.

 

[Skylah]

They finally came in the mail. And WOW, they sound incredible oh my god

Everything I wanted from a headphone sound wise is in here... the sound signature out of the box is practically *perfect*. The technical detail is all here too. So glad I bought the Schiit Ragnarok 2, these headphones sound way too soft on the first gain setting. Love them.

 

[bagwell359]

They finally came in the mail. And WOW, they sound incredible oh my god

Everything I wanted from a headphone sound wise is in here... the sound signature out of the box is practically *perfect*. The technical detail is all here too. So glad I bought the Schiit Ragnarok 2, these headphones sound way too soft on the first gain setting. Love them.

I haven't had the Rag 2 in my hands long enough to verify what I will say about the gain stages of the Rag 1 and assume of the two.

Gain 1 to me sounds like the Pass Aleph amp series or the Adcom GFP-750 pre-amp. Like there is no line stage engaged. Very pure and transparent, but sagging at the freq extremes. Very cool for mid centric music. No go for larger scale music.

Gain 2 has the LS turned on, but delivers admirable levels of clarity. However LS on does not explain all the extra gain, so there is some strapping or a different circuit path where it picks up some db. I listen to all my cans about 95% in this mode. Note: Rag 1 first 4 watts is Class A, then slides to AB. Rag 2 is Class A for 1 watt, then AB. That can be heard in this Gain. In the Rag 1 I think its all Class A. Can't say for the 2. You can drive the HE-6 or HE-6se here, even though the volume knob gets to 4 O'Clock at times on the 1, and the specs say the 2 has even a bit more kick than the 1 in this gain.

Gain 3 Much louder, must be a strapping. I find it potent, but lacking detail and finesse you find in the other two stages. Basically for speakers. I never use it on cans

This is my take, never could get any details from the Schiit boys, or reviews, so take it for what its worth.

 

[Skylah]

I haven't had the Rag 2 in my hands long enough to verify what I will say about the gain stages of the Rag 1 and assume of the two.

Gain 1 to me sounds like the Pass Aleph amp series or the Adcom GFP-750 pre-amp. Like there is no line stage engaged. Very pure and transparent, but sagging at the freq extremes. Very cool for mid centric music. No go for larger scale music.

Gain 2 has the LS turned on, but delivers admirable levels of clarity. However LS on does not explain all the extra gain, so there is some strapping or a different circuit path where it picks up some db. I listen to all my cans about 95% in this mode. Note: Rag 1 first 4 watts is Class A, then slides to AB. Rag 2 is Class A for 1 watt, then AB. That can be heard in this Gain. In the Rag 1 I think its all Class A. Can't say for the 2. You can drive the HE-6 or HE-6se here, even though the volume knob gets to 4 O'Clock at times on the 1, and the specs say the 2 has even a bit more kick than the 1 in this gain.

Gain 3 Much louder, must be a strapping. I find it potent, but lacking detail and finesse you find in the other two stages. Basically for speakers. I never use it on cans

This is my take, never could get any details from the Schiit boys, or reviews, so take it for what its worth.

Yep, the Ragnarok 2 slides from Class A to Class AB, but it doesn't affect me personally. The sound on the second gain is exactly where I want it, personally. On quieter recordings I have to use the third gain, but for most recordings, the second gain is plenty enough

 

[bagwell359]

Yep, the Ragnarok 2 slides from Class A to Class AB, but it doesn't affect me personally. The sound on the second gain is exactly where I want it, personally. On quieter recordings I have to use the third gain, but for most recordings, the second gain is plenty enough

I don't listen that loudly. I can't really hack Gain 3 on cans - too much detail lost. Not objectionable on speakers for whatever reason. The crystalline purity of Gan 1 on say string quartets/duos/solos is worth the effort to change the gain from 2 to 1 - to me.

 

[FYFL]

Aside from power req, do you guys think that they benefit from “detail”, borderline sterile, punchy amp? They appear to lock a bit airiness and definition in upper treble. Or is it just me?

 

[hp4fun]

Aside from power req, do you guys think that they benefit from “detail”, borderline sterile, punchy amp? They appear to lock a bit airiness and definition in upper treble. Or is it just me?

You are not the only one

Power wise I am sure my amps are well above the bar. But the Rotel 1582 has a better handling of the music (esp. orchestra) and better separation, making music less busy and more enjoyable.

That said, I am waiting for someone to show an amp at a lower wpc outperforms another amp at a higher. There are some old receivers that are 50wpc but probably better than then 100-200 wpc amps we discussed here in terms of quality.

 

[shuto77]

I've always wanted to try the HE6 (with metal!) but never had a good enough amp. Is it worth trying with my Jotunheim 2?

 

[FYFL]

You are not the only one

Power wise I am sure my amps are well above the bar. But the Rotel 1582 has a better handling of the music (esp. orchestra) and better separation, making music less busy and more enjoyable.

That said, I am waiting for someone to show an amp at a lower wpc outperforms another amp at a higher. There are some old receivers that are 50wpc but probably better than then 100-200 wpc amps we discussed here in terms of quality.

Do you attribute those Rotel qualities to better instrument separation, dynamic range or specific tuning qualities?
Abundance of power is one aspect but is there a case to be made for proper “quality” over quantity in this case? If it’s a case of pure coincidence as far as finding that perfect match, it might take some time and luck to find that easy to acquire amp that bunch of us can get our hands on.

 

[FYFL]

I've always wanted to try the HE6 (with metal!) but never had a good enough amp. Is it worth trying with my Jotunheim 2?

They’re my go to for Rock and Metal. Not that they specifically excel in that area but my other evaluation hp are just not made for that type of music.

 

[hp4fun]

Do you attribute those Rotel qualities to better instrument separation, dynamic range or specific tuning qualities?
Abundance of power is one aspect but is there a case to be made for proper “quality” over quantity in this case? If it’s a case of pure coincidence as far as finding that perfect match, it might take some time and luck to find that easy to acquire amp that bunch of us can get our hands on.

Yes. The 7025 sounds loud but blurry, the adcom 545 sounds mixed, and Rotel does have better separation, dynamic range, etc.

It is just too hard to find more stereo amp to compare. For example I suspect Rotel 1552, which is 130wpc, has the same performance as Rotel 1582 and at 60% of the cost. But I probably could never make this comparison.

 

[hp4fun]

Yes. The 7025 sounds loud but blurry, the adcom 545 sounds mixed, and Rotel does have better separation, dynamic range, etc.

It is just too hard to find more stereo amp to compare. For example I suspect Rotel 1552, which is 130wpc, has the same performance as Rotel 1582 and at 60% of the cost. But I probably could never make this comparison.

Just want to add some examples: notes in La Campanella from "Nojima Plays Liszt" sound more vivid, touching, and separated in Rotel. Time in the Inception soundtrack has a better flow and smooth sound in Rotel. The "In questa reggia" in the Turandot by Pavarotti + Sutherland has a better control and nice dynamics without distortion at the climax.

Surprisingly, the 140wpc Marantz 7025 sounds slightly *louder* than the 200 wpc Rotel at the same DAC sound level. I believe this is because the 7025 has more energy in some frequency that mixes the sound source (in a bad way) but makes the sound feel louder. I could be wrong, though.

I used honeycomb grill but the factory pad in this testing.

 

[JoshG1217]

Hey all,

Nee he 6se owner. Got the adorama one. I have been underwhelmed by them. I got them at the same time as Z1r and mest mkii, so perhaps that's why. Driven from dx300 and ifi diablo. My zen dac seems to power them best but it's an intro DAC, so the actual dac in it is pretty basic. Wonder if I'd be better off with the Ananda just based on my current sources? Thoughts?

Thanks!