[chicolom]

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Nah. That and I'm trying to minimalize my equipment in size and quantity (well...except headphones themselves, lol). The Schiit stack will be gone soon, and hopefully so will the SA-31, though I'm downgrading...there.

 

 
Wow, the Audio GD amps are ridiculously huge. 
 
I think I prefer having the AMP and DAC seperated.  I trust the stand-alone DACs more then integrated ones. 
 
If it were me, I would probably keep either the ODAC or Modi, then sell everything else and get a slightly warm solid state amp in the $300 range. 
 
I'm still a little suspicious of Audio GD stuff because they seem to try and make amps with the longest signal path/most components possible.  Plus all the jumper/flavor switches and what not.  It all just seems a little snake oily, and it makes my spidey sense tingle.

 

[Rambobbybob]

Quote:

Buying them from amazon.com ain't an option?

 
They don't send Mixamp or whatever that comes from Astro in France!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Wow, the Audio GD amps are ridiculously huge. 

I think I prefer having the AMP and DAC seperated.  I trust the stand-alone DACs more then integrated ones. 

If it were me, I would probably keep either the ODAC or Modi, then sell everything else and get a slightly warm solid state amp in the $300 range. 

I'm still a little suspicious of Audio GD stuff because they seem to try and make amps with the longest signal path/most components possible.  Plus all the jumper/flavor switches and what not.  It all just seems a little snake oily, and it makes my spidey sense tingle.

In the end, the changes in sound are incredibly subtle. Hell, the jumpers to warm up the sound... I couldn't really notice a changs. Still, the two A-GD devices I have owned were the best sounding. There is a richness to the sound that is so pleasant, they have made me a fan. I loved my NFB5. Seriously, if it had analog inputs, I would have never sold it. In fact, I was considering getting the upgraded NFB-5, and keeping the Magni as my Mixamp juicer.

I like having an amp/dac all in one. Less clutter and cable management. Actually, I'd keep the ODAC and use an A-GD amp alone, but there aren't any outside of the Compass 2, SA-31, that have analog inputs AND a volume knob. I wish they still sold:

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/C-2SA/C2SAEN.htm

Then there's the power. There are no amps in their price range that has as much power as the A-GD amps. The Lyr, but I certainly don't want to deal with tubes.

 

[SoAmusing777]

Idk if you all knew about it at all, but I just wanted to give a shout out to MOG. It's the best I could find in terms of a subscription based streaming/downloading site with the highest quality. I realize there may be other sites with better quality like lossless, but, I don't know of any other way outside of buying the CD's.

 

[Evshrug]

I hate to say it but if someone finds that diagram to hard to follow they probably shouldn't be on head-fi. Technology is only getting more complicated and to get the most out of what you have is, I feel, always going to take some tweaking to get it just right.

It's not that people couldn't figure it out. People had been figuring out PC gaming pretty easily for ages, yet consoles are way more popular gaming devices because it's a simple, streamlined, cheap setup with very little setup required. The same "convenience" perception applies to that diagram... The truth is the setup is simple as Xbox--->audio optical out--->surround processor--->amp---> headphone, with a mic optionally either plugged directly into the Xbox controller (like mine) or connected through the surround processor. The illusion of that diagram is that you'll have to find and buy a whole bunch of things, and that once you do, your gaming area will be absolutely cluttered with wires. I guess I'm mostly trying to say the diagram looks messy.

I think I will try the recon 3D ! You have convinced me ^^ As it's compatible with consoles and pc, and quite cheap, it's the best option for me!
In France I can have the mixamp for 190 euros (so expensive... astro don't sell it without a headphone and I didn't find any website to import it), and the recon 3D for 60 euros...
I will probably go with recon 3D, amp (I don't know which one for the moment but I will search) and the Q701! 
Thank you very much for yours replies!
And not bad for the French

Glad to help, thanks for complimenting my French! Btw, you CAN use the Q701 right out of the Recon3D until you get a new amp and it will sound pretty good, but I thought the treble sounds could be harsh & painful sometimes. Once you do add an amp, you'll notice an improvement in detail, soundstage depth, bass authority, and a "natural" feeling that makes reacting to game sounds an instinct. Music ought to also grab your heart and either pin you to the floor or lift you up to soar in the sky! at least it did for me

I wrote a post on finding the best settings for the Recon3D in this thread, let me see if I can link it for you...

Just wanted to share my excitement. I just ordered all of the components including some upgrades from Mouser to build my own Objective 2 Amp.
I also ordered the chassis, front plate, knob, and PCB from JDS Labs. All done shipping and all for about $80!!

I'm excited for you too! I've never assembled electronics before (I don't think a computer build counts, you just plug things in together, no soldering required), but I think it would be a great project! What kind of "upgrades" did you go for?

 

[Evshrug]

Happy New year!

 

[SoAmusing777]

Quote:

Happy New year!

 
Lol, same to you and everyone else.

 

[ronswanson]

I had a hunch that's what you meant by that earlier post about the three of us having something to look forward to from you soon, but now I'm sure.

This ought to be an interesting introduction to orthodynamics, and also a way to find out how much planar driver designs are similar-and different-between those that use electromagnetic forces and those that use electrostatic forces to move the diaphragm.

As an aside, why do PS3 game patches take so long to download? Steam never takes quite this long to download gigabytes upon gigabytes of data. It's even worse when you can't multi-task during download and installation.

It didn't seem so bad 'til I decided to plunk down for PS+ and suddenly find myself with all these free games ready to download...

Since you have plus, you can let it auto patch overnight. You just need to open the game, cancel the patch, and exit the game to get PS+ to recognize it.

As long as you have ps+ auto updates turned on ( somewhere in system settings), it'll install the patches overnight.

 

[Noks]

Quick question if no one minds, i have the AD700 plugged into my O2 amp and while it sounds great, the audio is inverted. Things i should hear from the left are on the right and vice versa. This wasn't a problem on PC when playing Diablo 3. I plugged the PS3's composite cable into female RCA -> 3.5 mm jack to 02 (red in red and white in white). I guess i'll have to try to invert those 2 but can't be bothered checking for now, so i though i'd ask here first. It's kind of a weird issue.

 

[Heretic817]

Where did your O2 come from

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

In the end, the changes in sound are incredibly subtle. Hell, the jumpers to warm up the sound... I couldn't really notice a changs. Still, the two A-GD devices I have owned were the best sounding. There is a richness to the sound that is so pleasant, they have made me a fan. I loved my NFB5. Seriously, if it had analog inputs, I would have never sold it. In fact, I was considering getting the upgraded NFB-5, and keeping the Magni as my Mixamp juicer.

 
Hmm.  You're welcome to borrow my M-stage some time to see how it compares to the Audio GD stuff...
 
There are a couple more slightly warm solid state amps, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I wouldn't want them to be too warm. I like the A-GD's warmth. It's still close to neutral. Just a very slight hint of warmth. Which shaves off just some top end sizzle without being what I'd consider smoothened out.

 

[Noks]

Quote:

Where did your O2 come from

Comes from JDS Labs, but like i said, i dont recall having any audio problem on PC. So i don't think it's the amp.

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

I wouldn't want them to be too warm. I like the A-GD's warmth. It's still close to neutral. Just a very slight hint of warmth. Which shaves off just some top end sizzle without being what I'd consider smoothened out.

 
I don't know if you can get too warm with a solid state amp.  It seems like they're all still pretty close to neutral.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, no lie. The MOON op-amp I used on my NFB-5 was supposed to give it a tube warmth and smoothness. I couldn't tell the difference between it and the stock 'neutral-ish' op-amp.

Op-amp rolling seems like snake oil, really. If you really wanna change an amp's sound, just get a tube amp, which does sound quite different from SS amps.

Crap... I realize that I have to make a decision. Do I buy the Compass 2 early? If I don't, and I sell my SA-31, I will be left ampless for both my HE-400 and K702 Anniv until I get the Compass 2 which takes quite a bit of time.

But I'm afraid that if I get the Compass 2 and no one buys my SA-31, I will have a $500 amp that I'm not using... :frown: