[me2621a]

Hi everyone,
It has been a while since I have posted but I am getting ready for a headphone/equipment upgrade and I wanted to get some thoughts about the two options I am considering and see if you guys can help guide my decision making process.

What I currently have:
Emotiva XDA-2 -> Little Dot MK VI+ With my primary listening headphones being the HE 560 and a HD650.

I am a big fan a Planar headphones and I have realized the Little Dot was probably not the right amp for them (have to turn it to 100% to have my preferred listening volume on the 560’s) and based on the performance the amp has with the 650’s it is clearly built (no surprise here) for higher impedance headphones.

So Option 1:
Schiit Gungnir (Mulit-bit) -> Schiit Jotunheim (jot) -> Ether Flow

I have not been able to audition an Ether Flow yet personally but the sounds has been described to be in between an HD 800 and a Audeze LCD-3, sounding like a more refined HE 560 which matches where I want to go, and obviously I would decide to keep the flow after listening to it, and if I were not in love with it would also probably audition an LCD-3. Total cost would be about ~3400. If I go this route I will defiantly be going a Gungnir because I had the non multi-bit version for a while and simply love that DAC.

Option 2:
So this is the reason I am writing this post. I also know that people have not heard this headphone yet but I am curious about electrostatic headphones as I have not heard one before but it sounds very interesting to me and I realized that I could get the necessary equipment and the VOCE for about the same price.

Equipment Chain
Emotiva XMC-1 (already own, replaced my original Gungnir because for me it matched the sonic performance on my main speaker system in reference stereo) -> Emotiva A-100 (re-badged mini-x) -> WOO Audio WEE -> MrSpeaker VOCE

Total cost of new equipment is $3700

My big question is which option would you gravititate to if you were in my position. I have no issue auditioning headphones and returning them, but I would prefer not to buy all of the new source components audition and return, which makes it hard to test out both. I also have no experience with electro stats though based on what I have read they sound great.

To be clear I do plan I keeping the XDA-2 and Little Dot in either case as they are a perfect match for my HD650. I will probably sell off the 560 as I would imagine the replacement will probably make them unnecessary.

Thank you for the time and advice

 

[Fatdoi]

I think if you opt for VOCE, your weakest link will be the Emotiva A-100, that you will not get the full performance/detail from the VOCE. To get the $3k headphone, you'll need similar class/quality gear to realize its potential.... Option 1 seemed more balanced but just the Jot I'm bit reserved on that.....

 

[me2621a]

I think if you opt for VOCE, your weakest link will be the Emotiva A-100, that you will not get the full performance/detail from the VOCE. To get the $3k headphone, you'll need similar class/quality gear to realize its potential.... Option 1 seemed more balanced but just the Jot I'm bit reserved on that.....

Your comment is exactly my concern, which is why I wanted to ask, I have heard the Mini-X is actually pretty good but have never used it for headphones.

As far as the Jot, I am deciding between the Jot and the Moljnir 2, it would be great if if could get some thoughts on that actually, saving an extra $450 with the Jot is great but no issue going for the Moljnir 2 if that pairs better with the Ether Flow.

 

[SeaWo|f]

1 Virtually every headphone in existence lays somewhere between the LCD3 and HD800. So I think you have some more auditioning to do.

2 if you are not ready to put out the money needed for a Stax amp or some other dedicated electro static amp then I would not go down this road.

 

[Fatdoi]

imo rather than get a Woowee, maybe you can get a 2nd hand Stax and save up for Woo WES or the newer Stax....

 

[LCMusicLover]

Hi everyone...

...I have realized the Little Dot was probably not the right amp for them (have to turn it to 100% to have my preferred listening volume on the 560’s) and based on the performance the amp has with the 650’s it is clearly built (no surprise here) for higher impedance headphones...

Amusingly, I posted on the Little Dot BB asking about a suitable model to use with my (relatively) low impedance Utopias and got this response from 'Rockage', who is an administrator on the site:

"The MK VI+ is a strong choice. The MK VIII SE is meant for high impedance headphones and thus not suitable for your use case."

Obviously the EFO is even lower impedance than the Utopias, but still, a bit of dissonance between your experience and their response.

 

[me2621a]

Amusingly, I posted on the Little Dot BB asking about a suitable model to use with my (relatively) low impedance Utopias and got this response from 'Rockage', who is an administrator on the site:

"The MK VI+ is a strong choice. The MK VIII SE is meant for high impedance headphones and thus not suitable for your use case."

Obviously the EFO is even lower impedance than the Utopias, but still, a bit of dissonance between your experience and their response.

So I have not tried them with the Ethers as i have not ordered them yet but the Hifimans (HE 560s) were not the right match and they had a higher impedance then the flows. The Mark 6+ outputs at like 5 Watts into 120 ohms in high gain mode but the power output drops off extremely quickly as the impedance drops. High gain also added some background noise for the HD 650’s. It is a great amp, I would just stay with anything above 110 ohms like maybe an LCD 3.

 

[TMRaven]

This is silly.