Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
Will the Loki work inserted between a dap and a amp ? Thanks
Loki Mini Impressions
- Thread starter CarlosUnchained
- Start date
The Loki Mini has RCA in. So if your DAP has analog out and you have a cable that can work between the two, I guess it should work.
Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
Thanks all. The Loki is ordered. It will have a 10 day trial period to make my Senn 800s sound better.
bluemansegundo
New Head-Fier
Maybe the Loki max with motorized pots will have the ability to retain presets via remote
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Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
So far the Loki is very good. 800s cans through a violectric amp. I can now listen to classic rock. Never could before as this genre needs bass.
sjbrook
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 20, 2007
- Posts
- 48
- Likes
- 89
Not a lot of activity here lately so here's my .02...
Spent a lot of time and energy over the past two years upgrading and tweaking my desktop setup. Pandemic sent me from 40% to 100% wfh and music is pretty critical to getting through the day. I have found that over time I prefer near field speaker listening to headphones while working. Cans can be too involving and I tend to lose focus and drift into the music which, pleasant though it is, is a productivity suck.
I did find nirvana when I finally found APO with Peace. Made my 80th anniversary Wharfedale Dentons really sing (rear ports plugged, distance from wall is only 7”) and also let every set of headphones find their own magic (running tape out from mid-90's Kenwood avr to a Liquid Spark). But this just brought more frustration in that every set of headphones I own seems fundamentally deficient in one or more aspects when used in the place I really want them – the living room.
I have never been concerned with the absence of tone controls on my preamp (Anthem Pre2L, 4xE88CC Golden Lion). I don't buy into the notion that having tone controls is a bad thing but I have never really needed them in my current setup (ET LFT8b with B&W ASW1000). But the lack of them is a distinct disadvantage with many headphones. When I used to use a DAP the availability of a decent set of eq controls was essential. I guess I need to turn in my audiophile purity pledge card.
I hemmed and hawed a little about the Mini+ vs a Lokius but after exhaustive reading (including this entire thread) I decided the Mini+ would probably do what I wanted and not drive me crazy with too many choices. The unit has one knob (8kHz) slightly off TDC but I am not concerned. I did opt for the black chassis so I could actually see where the knobs are set. The LED is bright enough to blind a 747. Two layers of blue painter's tape cured that.
Signal path: Pioneer PD-65==>Coax==>Topping D30==>Mini+==>Anthem Pre2L
The headphone output of the Anthem runs from the tubes and while it is a design from the 1990's it is very pleasant and will adequately drive anything I have ever connected to it. The Mini+ does not introduce any discernible noise. I generally listen to the PD-65 from its onboard dac into a different input on the preamp. The D30 exists primarily for the usb interface and occasional computer source use. Implementing the Mini+ this way allowed me a completely separate signal path.
Below are settings and observations on various cans. Assuming TDC as 0 I see attenuation as "–" and gain as "+", on a scale from 0 to 5 in either direction. This is utterly imprecise but let's be fair, if you want/need super precise gradations this is not the device. It is, despite what it may be called, a tone control. It is not an eq in the sense of any fully parametric multi-band device or dsp room correction.
I will rate this as a worthwhile investment, for me, YMMV. It is not a dramatic signal alteration, just some control where it is needed. I mark the success of a change or new gizmo by the smile factor. If you find yourself wanting to sit there and listen to music and your mind keeps racing “now I want to hear this and next I want to hear that and after that I want to hear...” So far it is scoring well on that metric.
These settings are all specific to me and my hearing and musical tastes and are not meant to be any sort of reference. I have more headphones but so far these are the only ones I have bothered with.
Sennheiser HD650 (drop HD6XX)
20Hz +4
400Hz -1
2kHz +2
8kHz +3
This was unsurprising on the LF but very surprising on the HF. Adding a bit of sparkle up top really brought some life to it.
AKG K240 Monitor 600 Ohm w/Shure 1540 Alcantara pads
20Hz +5
400Hz -1
2kHz +3
8kHz +4
Better, pleasant, but still no where near their capability. Using APO in the office with the Sextett settings actually make these sing out of their weight class.
Koss (Drop) KSC75x with Kramer mod diffusion plates and Yaxi pads on PE headband
20Hz +4
400Hz 0
2kHz 0
8kHz -2
These already have decent bass because of the Kramer but still light overall. Pulling back the high end is a kindness. The mids just show how absurdly spot on they already are and continue to underscore one of the most underrated driver price/performance units on the market.
Grado SR80e (all 10 driver holes vented, cups and magnets damped with adhesive backed felt) on current X series F(lat) pads.
20Hz +3
400Hz -1
2kHz +1
8kHz +1
The vent mod already gave these 80e's a significant bass bump but pushing the 20Hz definitely needed the pull back at 400 to keep from bloating. Overall I get better results with these on APO and they are mostly used at desktop.
Grado SR225x with L pads.
20Hz +4
400Hz -1
2kHz +1
8kHz 0
Perfectly enjoyable but not earth shattering.
Grado SR225x with G pads.
20Hz +4
400Hz 0
2kHz +2
8kHz +0
Goddamn. I just keep spinning tunes and sitting here grinning like a dog.
Spent a lot of time and energy over the past two years upgrading and tweaking my desktop setup. Pandemic sent me from 40% to 100% wfh and music is pretty critical to getting through the day. I have found that over time I prefer near field speaker listening to headphones while working. Cans can be too involving and I tend to lose focus and drift into the music which, pleasant though it is, is a productivity suck.
I did find nirvana when I finally found APO with Peace. Made my 80th anniversary Wharfedale Dentons really sing (rear ports plugged, distance from wall is only 7”) and also let every set of headphones find their own magic (running tape out from mid-90's Kenwood avr to a Liquid Spark). But this just brought more frustration in that every set of headphones I own seems fundamentally deficient in one or more aspects when used in the place I really want them – the living room.
I have never been concerned with the absence of tone controls on my preamp (Anthem Pre2L, 4xE88CC Golden Lion). I don't buy into the notion that having tone controls is a bad thing but I have never really needed them in my current setup (ET LFT8b with B&W ASW1000). But the lack of them is a distinct disadvantage with many headphones. When I used to use a DAP the availability of a decent set of eq controls was essential. I guess I need to turn in my audiophile purity pledge card.
I hemmed and hawed a little about the Mini+ vs a Lokius but after exhaustive reading (including this entire thread) I decided the Mini+ would probably do what I wanted and not drive me crazy with too many choices. The unit has one knob (8kHz) slightly off TDC but I am not concerned. I did opt for the black chassis so I could actually see where the knobs are set. The LED is bright enough to blind a 747. Two layers of blue painter's tape cured that.
Signal path: Pioneer PD-65==>Coax==>Topping D30==>Mini+==>Anthem Pre2L
The headphone output of the Anthem runs from the tubes and while it is a design from the 1990's it is very pleasant and will adequately drive anything I have ever connected to it. The Mini+ does not introduce any discernible noise. I generally listen to the PD-65 from its onboard dac into a different input on the preamp. The D30 exists primarily for the usb interface and occasional computer source use. Implementing the Mini+ this way allowed me a completely separate signal path.
Below are settings and observations on various cans. Assuming TDC as 0 I see attenuation as "–" and gain as "+", on a scale from 0 to 5 in either direction. This is utterly imprecise but let's be fair, if you want/need super precise gradations this is not the device. It is, despite what it may be called, a tone control. It is not an eq in the sense of any fully parametric multi-band device or dsp room correction.
I will rate this as a worthwhile investment, for me, YMMV. It is not a dramatic signal alteration, just some control where it is needed. I mark the success of a change or new gizmo by the smile factor. If you find yourself wanting to sit there and listen to music and your mind keeps racing “now I want to hear this and next I want to hear that and after that I want to hear...” So far it is scoring well on that metric.
These settings are all specific to me and my hearing and musical tastes and are not meant to be any sort of reference. I have more headphones but so far these are the only ones I have bothered with.
Sennheiser HD650 (drop HD6XX)
20Hz +4
400Hz -1
2kHz +2
8kHz +3
This was unsurprising on the LF but very surprising on the HF. Adding a bit of sparkle up top really brought some life to it.
AKG K240 Monitor 600 Ohm w/Shure 1540 Alcantara pads
20Hz +5
400Hz -1
2kHz +3
8kHz +4
Better, pleasant, but still no where near their capability. Using APO in the office with the Sextett settings actually make these sing out of their weight class.
Koss (Drop) KSC75x with Kramer mod diffusion plates and Yaxi pads on PE headband
20Hz +4
400Hz 0
2kHz 0
8kHz -2
These already have decent bass because of the Kramer but still light overall. Pulling back the high end is a kindness. The mids just show how absurdly spot on they already are and continue to underscore one of the most underrated driver price/performance units on the market.
Grado SR80e (all 10 driver holes vented, cups and magnets damped with adhesive backed felt) on current X series F(lat) pads.
20Hz +3
400Hz -1
2kHz +1
8kHz +1
The vent mod already gave these 80e's a significant bass bump but pushing the 20Hz definitely needed the pull back at 400 to keep from bloating. Overall I get better results with these on APO and they are mostly used at desktop.
Grado SR225x with L pads.
20Hz +4
400Hz -1
2kHz +1
8kHz 0
Perfectly enjoyable but not earth shattering.
Grado SR225x with G pads.
20Hz +4
400Hz 0
2kHz +2
8kHz +0
Goddamn. I just keep spinning tunes and sitting here grinning like a dog.
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Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
loki made my 800s cans a end game scenario.
I just noticed it - it seems to me that the Loki EQ family must have fixed Q for each filter section with just gain being variable. Otherwise there would be a drastic increase in price and size of chassis to accommodate the additional LC parts, and another set of 4 setting controls.
Having a Loki, Loki+, and Lokius.....dear god one thing that annoys me is how much noise these things create. I barely push up the bass & mids and the noise floor hiss goes through the roof. Doesn't matter if I hold the unit feet away from my amp and use a different outlet for power, or unplug inputs so its just direct into my amp sending only its natural noise. Are there any alternatives or are there any methods to mitigate this?
ST33L
100+ Head-Fier
I had the 4 band Loki, which I really liked. I later purchased the 6 band Lokius and did not like it. I thought the extra 2 bands would provide greater adjustability, but they seem to adversely affect the overall tonality. Stick w/the Loki
I had the 4 band Loki, which I really liked. I later purchased the 6 band Lokius and did not like it. I thought the extra 2 bands would provide greater adjustability, but they seem to adversely affect the overall tonality. Stick w/the Loki
I agree, that's why I got a Loki+ for this current build - but they're all equally noisy a.f.
guildenstern
100+ Head-Fier
I have Loki+, two of them in fact. Just tried turning up all the dials, with Magni amps on high gain and volume set way higher than I would normally go -- no noise, just silence through the headphones (Senn HD 600 and Beyerdynamics). They introduce no hiss or other noise -- it's just silent till the music starts.
Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
My Loki added the much needed bass to my senn 800s
HWB3
1000+ Head-Fier
I like mine. It fits in well with my Vali 2++ and Modi Mulitibit2. Nice little play toys.
Magni likely doesn't have enough power to notice tbh
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