[SLC1966]

Interesting that you hear a warm sound signature with the Bliss. I felt the Ferrum had much more of a "sound" to it - and that sound was warm. I feel like the Bliss is a lot more transparent and doesn't really impart much of its tone on anything and just lets the DAC shine

It might be just me hearing the warm then clarity of Bliss vs. the clarity then warmth of the Ferrum. Might also be the Yiggy/Ferrum combo vs. Spring/Bliss combo. But what is good is that I am enjoying both setups with Stealth and Expanse. Such a joy!!

 

[XVampireX]

It might be just me hearing the warm then clarity of Bliss vs. the clarity then warmth of the Ferrum. Might also be the Yiggy/Ferrum combo vs. Spring/Bliss combo. But what is good is that I am enjoying both setups with Stealth and Expanse. Such a joy!!

To me Bliss sounds more like Clarity first then Warmth...

 

[George Hincapie]

Oh, I'm running HQPlayer NAA (HQPlayer's custom endpoint OS) in Intel NUC. Then I connect NUC to May with USB as I heard that May has a really good USB implementation (galvanically isolated, will remove jitter etc.). I would probably connect May to my PC directly, but to support 1.536mHz and DSD1024 one needs custom kernel.

NAA is very easy to use. You can just install the NAA image into USB stick (with Rufus or similar) and boot it from there. No installation to HDD/SSD needed. NUC you can get for <100USD used. The only thing you need to consider is that if you buy NUC used, NAA doesn't work with like the very first NUCs (that are now super old). Google will help you to find the supported ones, but that basically means almost all of them.

And do you run Roon on the same NUC?

 

[Cardier]

I have Grado Hemp, and Bliss sounds just fine on 6.35, and on XLR. As a rule, I never use 6.35 though.

Many thanks. Jeff just told me xlr is specially optimized while 6.35 is also ‘good’. What i read from that statement is, xlr is better than 6.35 in terms of parameter. So I’m looking for some real experience how 6.35 sounds compared with xlr when listening.

 

[PcChip]

Interesting that you hear a warm sound signature with the Bliss. I felt the Ferrum had much more of a "sound" to it - and that sound was warm. I feel like the Bliss is a lot more transparent and doesn't really impart much of its tone on anything and just lets the DAC shine

100% agreed - to me the Ferrum was thick and syrupy, and the Bliss is just pure transparency with power behind it

 

[incredulousity]

Many thanks. Jeff just told me xlr is specially optimized while 6.35 is also ‘good’. What i read from that statement is, xlr is better than 6.35 in terms of parameter. So I’m looking for some real experience how 6.35 sounds compared with xlr when listening.

Or have the headphones modded to allow modular cable like mine have been.

 

[Rayon]

And do you run Roon on the same NUC?

No. I run Roon and HQPlayer itself on my main PC, which has 8700k as a processor. All the computing happens there. Intel NUC acts only as a NAA (HQPlayer's network endpoint).

 

[George Hincapie]

No. I run Roon and HQPlayer itself on my main PC, which has 8700k as a processor. All the computing happens there. Intel NUC acts only as a NAA (HQPlayer's network endpoint).

Right, I'm with you.I think that's what I shall do.

 

[auded33]

And do you run Roon on the same NUC?

I’ve just built a NUC12 i7 hosting Ubuntu 22.04 and Roon server plus HQ Player 4 Desktop. Tested with NUC supplied case with fan plus fanless Akasa case. Bottom line is NUC hosting both Roon server plus HQP can’t cope with HQP high sample rates - well it can (gen 12) reaching MHz sample rates but the cpu temps just get too hot. So, I’ve reverted back to hosting Roon server (Roon Rock) only on NUC and running HQP on my high end Intel i9 based desktop system.

 

[OneEyedHito]

I’ve just built a NUC12 i7 hosting Ubuntu 22.04 and Roon server plus HQ Player 4 Desktop. Tested with NUC supplied case with fan plus fanless Akasa case. Bottom line is NUC hosting both Roon server plus HQP can’t cope with HQP high sample rates - well it can (gen 12) reaching MHz sample rates but the cpu temps just get too hot. So, I’ve reverted back to hosting Roon server (Roon Rock) only on NUC and running HQP on my high end Intel i9 based desktop system.

Same.

 

[minibox]

What cable are you using?

Still up in the air. Planning on trying various digital outputs and cables until I find the flavor I enjoy the most.

 

[tcode]

For me the best sound I've get so far: PC with JCAT USB XE card, JCAT USB Enhancer, modified Singxer SU-2 DDC, Holo Spring 3 KTE with PLL off and NOS on, feeded with native DSD (no HQP mumbo jumbo super long filters and algorithms = DirectSDM).

 

[XVampireX]

How do you guys like your Caldera with the Bliss?

 

[SlothRock]

How do you guys like your Caldera with the Bliss?

Uh oh - you hopping on the new Caldera LTD’s?

 

[damascato]

we

How do you guys like your Caldera with the Bliss?

Divine