[doublea71]

Not sure I follow his recommendation of a Cowon product for more low-end....

 

[MadMoxxi]

  Not sure I follow his recommendation of a Cowon product for more low-end....

 
Cowon portable music players have a really crazy great equalizer, you can get a lot more bass out of the J3 for example than you can an ipod, the x3 or even the new dx50 by a long shot. The J3 and the other players from that company like it are the best choice for bass heads or anyone else who wants a lot more bass in a portable setup.  

 

[24Bit]

   
I thought this line "they are sure good enough to cause the overall value of the LCD-3 and Hifiman Planar Magnetic’s to drastically depreciate in value." is quite funny. To those LCD-3 owners who are willing to shell out extra $900-$1000 for that incremental improvement over LCD-2, I doubt they are really bothered with the level the MDs can achieve despite it punching above its weight.

 
I wrote that article.  First, let me apologize for any misunderstandings about it that you may have encountered.   I was not implying the LCD-3 had inferior or comparable sonic clarity to the Mad Dog's mid range.  Only one sentence prior to that quote you posted, I mentioned the LCD-3 clarity in the mid range to still be well out of realm of the Mad Dog.  I don't feel the Audeze LCD-3 and Hifiman HE500 models to exude 5x the clarity for over 5x the price tag of the Mad Dog.  

 

[froger]

   
I wrote that article.  First, let me apologize for any misunderstandings about it that you may have encountered.   I was not implying the LCD-3 had inferior or comparable sonic clarity to the Mad Dog's mid range.  Only one sentence prior to that quote you posted, I mentioned the LCD-3 clarity in the mid range to still be well out of realm of the Mad Dog.  I don't feel the Audeze LCD-3 and Hifiman HE500 models to exude 5x the clarity for over 5x the price tag of the Mad Dog.  The price to performance in these models and all of Hi-Fi audio is not linear. Double the price does not equate to double the clarity. 

 
Thanks for clarifying. I think I should clarify too... When I use the price difference of LCD-2 and LCD-3, I was pointing out that higher end headphones users really appreciate that subtle improvement at the very high end despite the sharp diminishing returns. You yourself agree that MDs, despite how good they sound, are still pretty far off in comparison to the higher end headphones. So what makes you think that the overall value of Audezes and Hifimans will depreciate drastically because of MDs?

 

[hans030390]

   
Most definitely not.

 
Not to get OT again, but having been around these forums for a few years now, many people do often use "source" to refer to anything in the chain before the headphone and headphone cable. This includes amps as well as DACs. Whether or not that's technically the correct way to use the word, I don't know (nor do I really care, as I try to avoid using the word). DACs and amps go hand-in-hand, so I think it's perfectly acceptable to cover amps under the word "source" for headphones.
 
Just my two cents. Continue on...

 

[deadie]

   
I thought this line "they are sure good enough to cause the overall value of the LCD-3 and Hifiman Planar Magnetic’s to drastically depreciate in value." is quite funny. To those LCD-3 owners who are willing to shell out extra $900-$1000 for that incremental improvement over LCD-2, I doubt they are really bothered with the level the MDs can achieve despite it punching above its weight.

 
I own the LCD-2 and Mad Dogs 3.2, and so can't make the full "Mad Dogs vs. LCD-3" comparison.  That said, given the stellar sound quality of the MD's, its sweeter mids, and superior comfort, if I had to do it again, I'd gladly pass over the LCD-2 for the MDs and save myself $700.

 

[gikigill]

As someone who owns the MadDogs and just sold the HE-6 (in anticipation of the next version) this is my take on them:
 
Just the lower end on the HE-6 will hammer the MD,s to kingdom come and lets not even talk about the remaining freq range, I always
 
preferred the HE-6 for Trance and other bass heavy genres as the MD simply couldn't keep up even on the same amp.
 
I admire Dan and have even had the privilege to speak to him a couple of times and bought a MD when they still had the Shure 840 pads last
 
year June but this is simply a gross misrepresentation of the sound of these cans.
 
The MD has a fluid sound and very good dynamics (I call it the Easy Rider of headphones for its fluidity) and does punch way above its weight
 
and I look forward to the AD but it will take a LOT for the AD/MD to dethrone the HE-6/LCDx. The sound signature is of course similar but the
 
detail and technicalities are on a different level.

 

[Andeby]

Got mine running off an Xonar Essence STX atm, enjoying them quite a lot. Would there be any large difference getting for example a Schiit Asgard 2?

 

[froger]

As someone who owns the MadDogs and just sold the HE-6 (in anticipation of the next version) this is my take on them:

Just the lower end on the HE-6 will hammer the MD,s to kingdom come and lets not even talk about the remaining freq range, I always

preferred the HE-6 for Trance and other bass heavy genres as the MD simply couldn't keep up even on the same amp.

I admire Dan and have even had the privilege to speak to him a couple of times and bought a MD when they still had the Shure 840 pads last

year June but this is simply a gross misrepresentation of the sound of these cans.

The MD has a fluid sound and very good dynamics (I call it the Easy Rider of headphones for its fluidity) and does punch way above its weight

and I look forward to the AD but it will take a LOT for the AD/MD to dethrone the HE-6/LCDx. The sound signature is of course similar but the

detail and technicalities are on a different level.

Yes, I share the same sentiments when I switched from my MDs to HE-6 on my Decware Mini Torii amp. No comparison in my opinion. Does HE-6 sound 4 times better than MDs? Probably not. Everyone knows the performance to cost ratio is never linear in the audio world. Does SR-009 sound 15/7 times better than the MDs/ADs? Might as well inform the owners of SR-009 too that the overall value of their headphone has just depreciated drastically with the introduction of Alpha dogs.

 

[gikigill]

Dammit, my formatting went for a toss

 

[doublea71]

I'm all about bang for the buck, so I think I'll be quite happy with the 3.2s and perhaps a Darkvoice 336SE, Aune T1, or E17+E09K setup. Or maybe the ODAC+O2...anyways, carry on. 

 

[martybm5]

From what I understand, there was a very noticeable improvement specifically in bass response from the 3.0 to the 3.2 plus alpha pads. That's something to keep in mind when the author is referring to the bass quality.

 

[Andeby]

Tried them on my Fiio E10 that I have for my laptop, I'm actually really impressed at how well they run from this little thing. I do have the gain at high and volume knob at max, but it doesn't sound noticeably worse than my Essence STX and the bass boost makes the lower end very nice.
 
Anything that is considered the absolute best power-source (not gonna start that whole discussion again, so I added power in front ) for the Mad Dog? An Asgard 2 is really tempting atm.

 

[MattTCG]

The A2 is a fine amp and will pair well the MD. I have no reservation recommending it. 

 

[kstuart]

You guys are like ships passing in the night.

 
* No one said "HE-6" prior to their vigorous defense by gikigill .
 
* Someone ( deadie ) who has the Mad Dog and the LCD TWO claims that he would buy the Mad Dog in preference to the LCD TWO
 
* The LCD3 is superior to the LCD2, otherwise they could never have sold it for very long in the ruthless comparison world of head-fi
 
* So, no one claimed the Mad Dog is better than HE-6 or the LCD3, that's a "straw man" argument.
 
PS  The detail and technicalities of the Mad Dog 3.2 are superior to the HE-400...