[RagunaAsh]

My thoughts exactly! I'm planning on getting (or making) a desktop tube amp for home listening, which is when I'll care a lot more about the sound, anyway!
 
I use an SLR case for my (arguably even less portable) AD700s, so I'm hoping I can do the same with the Mad Dogs.

 

[GoldfishX]

I'm going to get the Mad Dogs for portable use. There are plenty of options for amping them on the go. If you absolutely need crazy power there's Ray Samuels and Alo Audio, and of course the Centrance. For me there's no reason to use the Mad Dogs at home as I don't need to restrict myself to closed cans at home.

My feeling is that the need for moar powah is overstated on these forums. I have some beefy amps, but I can listen to my HE-500s through my little Leckerton amp quite happily, they sound gorgeous. And I'm fairly certain that something simple and humble like the X3 / E12 will drive the Mad Dogs just fine. I believe MrSpeakers posted recently that the Mad Dogs sounded great straight out of an iPhone 5S. Sure if you pump in a few more watts/volts at home you might eke out a sliver of more performance, but when you're out and about I doubt you'd ever notice those subtleties.

My only concern for portable use is bulk and getting a decent case.

 
I see your point, but to me they equal a lot of open cans when amped properly. I have a pair of HE-500's on rental and I much prefer the Mad Dog right now, in various set-ups/listening conditions (I find the Dogs are more comfortable as well, no small consideration...The Audeze's aren't even up for consideration to me because of their fit) And while it's not an HD-800, I find it compliments that headphone nicely, with more of a different sound than a noticable drop in quality (small room good acoustics vs giant room and massive soundstage). Which beefy amps do you have onhand, jw?
 
And no, I'm not talking a "sliver of performance", I'm talking about it sounding like a whole new headphone depending on the amp and depending on how much power its fed. And most of that is centered on the bass performance. Lyr and Mad Dog is not a perfect pairing by any means, but it's a BIG, warm, lush musical sound that makes hours go by and while Magni isn't nearly as smooth, it's still a massive, near-openback sound.
 
Also not a knock on Mr Speakers (more on Fostex), but I don't find the design to be sturdy enough for portable abuse. They don't feel like they'd hold up being thrown in a backpack, lugged around, pulled out constantly, etc. I guess that's my one, lone issue with the Mad Dogs...Fostex's original build.

 

[geogga]

Was thinking about the mad dogs and the schiit stack(magni/modi)
based on a review by raven the magni was bright and paired well with bright headphones like the mad dogs. Also confirmed that via another random post. 

Another fellow said that the Vali will give the uppers/treble that the mad dogs don't have too much of, And it's only a $20 upgrade.
Speaking of that what are the +'s and ='s of the Vali and magni?

 

[kstuart]

  Was thinking about the mad dogs and the schiit stack(magni/modi)
based on a review by raven the magni was bright and paired well with bright headphones like the mad dogs. Also confirmed that via another random post. 

Another fellow said that the Vali will give the uppers/treble that the mad dogs don't have too much of, And it's only a $20 upgrade.
Speaking of that what are the +'s and ='s of the Vali and magni?

By memory - Vali has smoother treble, a little more quantity and quality of bass, and more detail, especially in the room sound.  The disadvantage of the Vali is worse instrumental timbre, shallow soundstage, and the microphonics (see Schiit Vali product page on latter).
 
I use the Vali with my Mad Dog 3.2.  Both have shallow soundstage, so it is a good pairing in that you are not losing soundstage depth by using the Vali.

 

[geogga]

 
By memory - Vali has smoother treble, a little more quantity and quality of bass, and more detail, especially in the room sound.  The disadvantage of the Vali is worse instrumental timbre, shallow soundstage, and the microphonics (see Schiit Vali product page on latter).
 
I use the Vali with my Mad Dog 3.2.  Both have shallow soundstage, so it is a good pairing in that you are not losing soundstage depth by using the Vali.

oh wow...hmm better bass but worse instrumental. What do you mean by shallow soundstage?
 
And thank you for replying, really appreciate.

 

[kstuart]

 

 
By memory - Vali has smoother treble, a little more quantity and quality of bass, and more detail, especially in the room sound.  The disadvantage of the Vali is worse instrumental timbre, shallow soundstage, and the microphonics (see Schiit Vali product page on latter).
 
I use the Vali with my Mad Dog 3.2.  Both have shallow soundstage, so it is a good pairing in that you are not losing soundstage depth by using the Vali.

oh wow...hmm better bass but worse instrumental. What do you mean by shallow soundstage?
 
And thank you for replying, really appreciate.

Soundstage is the placement of instruments between left and right, and quality equipment will place instruments closer or farther from you.  Closed headphones usually have a shallower soundstage than open headphones.
 
The recognition of a particular instrument comes from two things - the amplitude of its waveform, and the frequency content of its waveform ("overtones") - the latter is timbre (aka the "color" of the instrument).  The Vali is really good at the amplitude part and not so good at the timbre.  It's like a really high resolution black-and-white photo.  The really clear high resolution makes everything so easy to recognize, that you may not notice that the color is missing.  But you don't get anything better for anywhere near the $120 cost of the Vali.  It's very nice for modern music like Daft Punk, where there are not that many different instruments and not much soundstage depth in the recording.

 

[geogga]

 
Soundstage is the placement of instruments between left and right, and quality equipment will place instruments closer or farther from you.  Closed headphones usually have a shallower soundstage than open headphones.
 
The recognition of a particular instrument comes from two things - the amplitude of its waveform, and the frequency content of its waveform ("overtones") - the latter is timbre (aka the "color" of the instrument).  The Vali is really good at the amplitude part and not so good at the timbre.  It's like a really high resolution black-and-white photo.  The really clear high resolution makes everything so easy to recognize, that you may not notice that the color is missing.  But you don't get anything better for anywhere near the $120 cost of the Vali.  It's very nice for modern music like Daft Punk, where there are not that many different instruments and not much soundstage depth in the recording.

Fell asleep lol.
for a noob audio person this makes good sense.
Now lastly, shallower soundstage means it is closer or farther?

 

[kstuart]

 

 
Soundstage is the placement of instruments between left and right, and quality equipment will place instruments closer or farther from you.  Closed headphones usually have a shallower soundstage than open headphones.
 
The recognition of a particular instrument comes from two things - the amplitude of its waveform, and the frequency content of its waveform ("overtones") - the latter is timbre (aka the "color" of the instrument).  The Vali is really good at the amplitude part and not so good at the timbre.  It's like a really high resolution black-and-white photo.  The really clear high resolution makes everything so easy to recognize, that you may not notice that the color is missing.  But you don't get anything better for anywhere near the $120 cost of the Vali.  It's very nice for modern music like Daft Punk, where there are not that many different instruments and not much soundstage depth in the recording.

Fell asleep lol.
for a noob audio person this makes good sense.
Now lastly, shallower soundstage means it is closer or farther?

Usually closer.

 

[MattTCG]

On paper, the BHC is not a good match for the MD. Has anyone actually tried this who can offer impressions?

 

[Greed]

  On paper, the BHC is not a good match for the MD. Has anyone actually tried this who can offer impressions?

 
The pairing was not very good. Rounded, thick, and sluggish. Overall I've found that OTL designs don't mix with the MD at all. 

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Thank for sir. I knew that it wouldn't work. Just wanted to hear it from someone here. 

 

[mrspeakers]

OTL is generally a bad match to planar drivers, it's really better for higher impedance and probably more efficient lower impedance phones.

 

[geogga]

Received my Mad dogs today...can't seem to tell the difference from my Beats studios...hopefully as time goes on I'll tell.
gonna get 1 song and get it in my head, and then switch off with the headphones. Nonetheless they make my beats feel so small and close on my ears. Right now they don't feel too comfty on my head and kinda clamp in too hard but thats what happens whenever you get anything new, will try to break in and burn in

 

[Karnitool12]

 I'm ready to pull the trigger on : Schiit Asgard 2, iBasso D12 Anaconda, FiiO E12, FiiO E09k...????
If any of you could help narrow all that down it would be greatly appreciated. I'm leaning towards neautral ss.  

 

[MattTCG]

For a desktop  amp the Asgard2 is very nice with the MD...listening to that very combo right now. 

 
For portable the e12 works quite well. 
 
gL!!