The admonition that portable amps can't compete with desktop amps, as a general statement, is ridiculous, in my opinion, for most headphones. The 15V-powered Stepdance family of portables can compete even with the Meier Classic or any orther desktop amp with all but the most inefficient headphones, like the HE-6, or with high impedance headphones like the Beyerdynamic T1. There are other reasons to get a desktop amp than just wanting "more power." Those reasons, such as a desire for a less neutral, warmer frequency response, to compensate an overly bright DAC or headphone, for example, lead people to get tube amps as a good match for the HD800 or T1.
The LCD-2 and LCD-3 sound great on the 15V Stepdance. Can they sound better still with more power? Abolutely, but you can find yourself enjoying the additional bass control and improved dynamics that accompany lots of power, while losing out on desireable traits offered by the Stepdance. The Schiit Lyr puts our lots pf power, but it destroys fine detail - and it doesn't matter what tubes you roll, that amp is low-rez - low enough that I can hear the loss of resolution compared to the 15V Stepdance when using the not so highly resolving LCD-2. The higher resolving LCD-3 would be even more revealing of the Lyr's "fuzziness." For me, the Lyr's dynamics that come with more power are had at too great a cost, so I'd rather listen to the LCD-2 with a 15V Stepdance any day! And then there's the colorations added by the Lyr. For my tastes, the LCD-2 is already colored just perfectly or use with a neutral source and amp. If I want more power for the LCD-2, it simply must be as neutral and transparent (grainless) as the Stepdance.
I sold my Burson Soloist, despite the craftsmanship and discrete electronics, because with only 1.28 Watts rms per channel into 50-Ohms, it didn't offer any real improvement in dynamics for a headphone that can handle up to 13 Watts per channel. In fact, I found it to be so "relaxed" and unassertive as to have less dynamics than my 680mW per channel into 50-Ohm CEntrance DACmini CX, which sells for $200 less and includes a very nice DAC. The Soloist was "boring" to my ears, with a 10th-row sound staging vs. the DACmini CX or Stepdance putting me right on stage. About the only thing I miss with the Soloist's absense is its incredibly smooth yet still very detailed highs - yes, better than the Stepdance in this one trait and definitely better than the DACmini CX, which sounds just a liitle bit etched in the treble - barely detectable with LCD-2 or LCD-3, but moreso with the unforgiving Beyer T1 and, I suspect with the HD800.
Otherwise, the DACmini CX remains the only amp I've bought that has the same neutral, highly resolving, and (nearly as) transparent sound of the Stepdance. In fact, I've often commented that CEntrance and Meier seem to have the same design goals.
I'm about to sell an Emotiva Mini-X a-100 because it's just too bright and harsh in the treble for my tastes, even though it offers terrific resolution, as well as the bass control and dynamics one would expect with about 8 Watts per channel into the LCD-2's 50-Ohm impedance. So, this particular solid state amp is even more powerful than the Schiit Lyr hybrid and has none of the Lyr's "fuzziness" or warmth, but came with other problems that simply don't exist with the spectacularly neutral and transparent Stepdance.
You might be wondering why I haven't tried the Meier Classic... It's because I've repeatedly heard that the Classic is warm - warm enough to fix the coldness of a Beyerdynamic T1, for example - that's supposed to be a great match - one of the few solid state amps that works as well with the T1 as many tube amps that serve that purpose well.
Again, I want a Stepdance on steroids - neutral, highly resolving and transparent, with a lot more power - because the LCD-2 scales so well to additional power (up to 13 Watts). I want improved dynamics without losing anything that the Stepdance brings to the game. The message here is that the Stepdance is "perfect" with any heaphone that sounds good to your ears with a neutral amp and source of your choosing, as long as the headphone is efficient enough to offer no improvements by going to more than about 700mW rms per channel into 50-Ohms (my estimate of what the 15V Stepdance/2Stepdance/QuickStep can deliver.)
Four days ago, in my continued quest for more power and nothing but more power, I took delivery of another speaker amp, a TBI Millenia MG3 - rated at 32W into 8-Ohms or about 5W into 50-Ohms. I'm waiting for a custom impedance match to be delivered, so the jury is out, but the MG3 sure sounds awesome with 8-Ohm speakers.
WAV > Foobar 2000 WASAPI event mode > USB > Moon Audio Blue Dragon USB cable > CEntrance DACmini CX Line Out > Emotiva RCA interconnects > TBI Millenia MG3 > KnuKonceptz Kord 10-AWG 462-strand OFC > Definitive Technology SM45 monitors (with the MG3 powered by a four-cell 1000 mAh LiPo pack that produces 16.8V at full charge, requiring recharge at 12.0V)
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue67/tbi_millenia.htm
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/definitive-technology-studiomonitorsm-45-loudspeakers-hi-fi/
I hope this dissertation sheds some light on just how impressed I am with the Stepdance. It has remained, for me, the benchmark to beat!
Mike
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