[ReAlien]

The earpads I have are the Dekoni Fenestrated lamskin ones. The main reason I changed pads was for comfort, as I fing the stock ones a bit itchy. The new pads are very close to the stock ones, but might have a tad more bass. The treble seems about the same to me.

I've found the treble reproduction of the thx to be kind of confusing to be honest. I'll use the 400i with it as a example like you wanted. When I turn the eq off and just use the 400i with balanced out and the source is the D50, the sound is 'brighter' than say the Asgard 2 was at the same volume level. The Asgard 2 btw is considered by many and myself to be a warmer amp. But the strange thing is that even though I hear more treble information in the thx than the Asgard, the Asgard is much more harsh and fatiguing than the thx. This is the strange thing. I'm someone who typically hates bright amps and headphones, but with the thx in the chain, even 'bright' pairings don't bother me as much. I still prefer to eq the 400i as I think it needs a sub bass and mid bass boost as well as a slight dip in treble to sound just right to me, but if I had to pick between the two amps without eq, I think i would still use the thx with the 400i over the Asgard 2.

So while i think eq definitely helps the 400i shine to my personal tastes, its still going to pair pretty well imo with the 400i in stock form, especially if you like hearing all the little details that might get lost in more hazy amps like the Asgard 2. I hope this helps you. Also I've found the loki to be a match made in heaven for the 400i no matter what amp I use. Its almost mandatory now that I have the loki in a chain when using the 400i. Its made the 400i go from my least favorite relatively 'high end' headphone to my second favorite, just shy of my Audeze lcd2c. That imo is a big achievement.

Thank you for such an extended reply! I'll report on my own listening experience in a couple of weeks. And thanks about Loki info, I've not heard about it before and will look into buying this thing if I decide to go into EQ business, which I usually shun.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Thank you for such an extended reply! I'll report on my own listening experience in a couple of weeks. And thanks about Loki info, I've not heard about it before and will look into buying this thing if I decide to go into EQ business, which I usually shun.

Happy to help! I was like you about eq before, and still kind of am when it comes to digital eq. The loki is nice analogue eq and only gives you 4 spots that are pretty much the most generalized spots people mess with. The treble adjustment on the loki just happens to perfectly line up to the 8k peak the 400i have in its frequency response measurements. This is why i say its such a good match up top. Eq is a great tool if used sparingly, just like putting a dash of salt and pepper on a nice meal

 

[jeremya]

Thanks for the info but I'm not sure what you mean by "ladders".

Wikipedia has a good write-up on resistor "ladder" circuits, including R2R for digital to analog conversion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor_ladder

MSB has an easy to follow write-up as well: http://www.msbtechnology.com/faq/why-ladder-dacs/

But in short, they're called a "ladder" because if you look at the circuit from a certain angle (usually 90 degrees from the way it's often drawn as a circuit diagram) it looks a lot like a ladder (albeit one missing a side...)

Modern ladder DACs tend to be expensive in audio applications because precision is paramount. To make a highly-precise ("bit perfect") ladder DAC that works with 16-bit (and higher) resolution sources, you need many discrete (individual) resistors whose performance and tolerances have been carefully selected and matched, and the accuracy requirements get tighter the more bits you require. An 8-bit ladder DAC can be made quite cheaply. A 16-bit ladder DAC less so (but still under $150 in raw materials -- I have friends who have DIY designed and implemented their own), meanwhile a 24 or 32 bit ladder DAC can be prohibitively expensive, especially when you factor in the customary corporate overhead: Research & Development costs, distributor and dealer network markups, marketing, branding, etc.

Companies like Schiit work around the prohibitive costs in two ways:
1) they re-purpose an existing integrated circuit (a medical/aerospace-targeted DAC chip: the Analog Devices AD5791) which has the resistor ladders built-in (so, no need for 'discrete' components),
2) they don't have distribution and dealer networks.

 

[jeremya]

Just got my amp in today.. here's my "average consumer" impressions.... so far.. money well spent.

Merry Christmas.

I also received mine on Christmas Eve (much to my surprise). What a wonderful present!

As I sent to some friends of mine, my initial impressions were:


Without music playing:

“Is this thing on?”

With music playing:

"Wow. Ok, that’s... impressive straight out of the box. Very precise sound. Nice to be able to change the gain on the fly. Knobs feel great."

Subsequent time spent listening have proved this to be a wonderful little box. I needed something with more oomph to drive a pair of HE-1000s and they deliver that in spades. Excellent detail retrieval and nuance. Authoritative bottom-end. Great sense of instrument placement. I'm finding lots of new things to follow in old, beloved music. And I just want to keep listening...

I think Massdrop hit it out of the park with this one.

 

[MissChristie]

How do you like the LCD-2F on this? Ordered one last night and currently considering maybe changing that order to the LCD-X instead.

The LCD-2F sounds fantastic. My version is the 2016 revision and I think they got an update since then. The bass became more punchy, with great texture. Soundstage is still intimate, like jazz club size, but it's incredibly realistic, and with more points of imaging than before. Sounds more detailed without being at the expense of it's treble balance. While the improvement with the LCD-2 wasn't as much of a night and day difference as with the 6xx, it was just a nice, across the board improvement to all the areas that the LCD2 already does so well.

I guess the thing about this amp is that it's neutral, but in a transparent way where you're headphones are what shapes the sound signature, as opposed to "neutral" like some amps where any signal run through it comes out sounding boring. Really lets you get the most from the rest of your equipment.

I wish I knew enough about the LCD-X to comment on which would be the better option in this case. I will say that the deals I saw on the LCD-X ($1100 or so) are pretty nice, and I probably would have gone with those if they were available for that price when I was in the market. But I have absolutely no idea if that would have been the better choice.

 

[AndrewM888]

Okay so I may end up joining the next drop for this amp but my Aune X7S has a balanced headphone out and I'm going to buy the Periapt 4 pin XLR cable for my Sennheiser 6XX and 58X. But I'm also wanting to buy a 4 pin XLR to 1/4" adapter but I don't see that offered by Periapt. Does anyone know where I can get one? I've seen Zeos use one of those adapters on a few of his videos so I know it exists.

4-pin XLR to 1/4" adapters aren't made/sold because they'll short a balanced amplifier. Don't do it!

 

[MacMan31]

4-pin XLR to 1/4" adapters aren't made/sold because they'll short a balanced amplifier. Don't do it!

Well I found one on Amazon with overall great reviews so I bought one. I want to compare the different between SE and balanced output.

 

[AndrewM888]

Well I found one on Amazon with overall great reviews so I bought one. I want to compare the different between SE and balanced output.

Can you post a pic or link showing the adapter you bought?

 

[BrotherKathos]

Well I found one on Amazon with overall great reviews so I bought one. I want to compare the different between SE and balanced output.

Why not do it the right way and just get a balanced headphone cable instead? Save yourself lots of heartache later if you damage the amp?

 

[MacMan31]

Can you post a pic or link showing the adapter you bought?

This is what I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KQRN306

Why not do it the right way and just get a balanced headphone cable instead? Save yourself lots of heartache later if you damage the amp?

I bought a balanced XLR cable from Periapt.

 

[BrotherKathos]

This is what I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KQRN306




I bought a balanced XLR cable from Periapt.

That adapter you bought seems to be pointless if you have the thx amp. That adapter converts the se output to use with a balaced cable. Why would you do that when you have a balanced output ready to use already on the amp? You are not going to get any benifit from using a balanced cable with a SE output. Most likely the sound would only be worse?

 

[ReAlien]

That adapter you bought seems to be pointless if you have the thx amp. That adapter converts the se output to use with a balanced cable. Why would you do that when you have a balanced output ready to use already on the amp? You are not going to get any benefit from using a balanced cable with an SE output. Most likely the sound would only be worse?

As I see it, he just buys it to try both versions even knowing that the balanced one would be better. Some testing frenzy, I guess. But I do not understand why he would not use his current SE cable.

 

[ayobreezie]

The LCD-2F sounds fantastic. My version is the 2016 revision and I think they got an update since then. The bass became more punchy, with great texture. Soundstage is still intimate, like jazz club size, but it's incredibly realistic, and with more points of imaging than before. Sounds more detailed without being at the expense of it's treble balance. While the improvement with the LCD-2 wasn't as much of a night and day difference as with the 6xx, it was just a nice, across the board improvement to all the areas that the LCD2 already does so well.

I guess the thing about this amp is that it's neutral, but in a transparent way where you're headphones are what shapes the sound signature, as opposed to "neutral" like some amps where any signal run through it comes out sounding boring. Really lets you get the most from the rest of your equipment.

I wish I knew enough about the LCD-X to comment on which would be the better option in this case. I will say that the deals I saw on the LCD-X ($1100 or so) are pretty nice, and I probably would have gone with those if they were available for that price when I was in the market. But I have absolutely no idea if that would have been the better choice.

Thanks. I ordered the LCD-X's. Yeah, that's the thing with this amp. I loved my DT 1990s before the amp, still do.. But they now can get fatiguing and I can now notice the brightness in the headphones that weren't as harsh without the amp.

One thing I'm hoping for is the weight of the LCD's not to be an issue. Would hate for that to be the killer if sound quality turns out to be what I'm looking for.

 

[BrotherKathos]

As I see it, he just buys it to try both versions even knowing that the balanced one would be better. Some testing frenzy but not criminal in my view.)

The thing is he is testing the same output, and not both outputs, so he only at best going to hear the difference in cables and what the adapter does to the sound. If he wants to test the difference between balanced and single ended, then just plug the balanced cable into the balanced output, and the single ended cable into the single ended output. That's why I said its pointless. He might as well just buy a 'hifi' single ended cable instead as he would be more likely to hear a difference if any at all that way vs what he is doing currently.

 

[MacMan31]

That adapter you bought seems to be pointless if you have the thx amp. That adapter converts the se output to use with a balaced cable. Why would you do that when you have a balanced output ready to use already on the amp? You are not going to get any benifit from using a balanced cable with a SE output. Most likely the sound would only be worse?

As I see it, he just buys it to try both versions even knowing that the balanced one would be better. Some testing frenzy, I guess. But I do not understand why he would not use his current SE cable.

My purpose is to compare SE and balanced sound quality without unplugging the cable from the headphone itself.