[fureshi]

i think that dr.meier's service has been exceptional considering that these units were being shipped around the holidays, which is notorious for slow shipments anyways. it's understandable that we are all impatient and excited to receive new toys, especially ones such as the aria, but we should also be more understanding that dr.meier has been doing everything he can to get us our amps in a timely manner. patience my friends...

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atx I'll try, but it's pretty much a no-contest -- I can tell the difference without switching back and forth. Compared to the microdac, the internal dac sounds a bit veiled, flatter, less dynamic. I say "veiled" because some parts of the highs are not there (I'm not eloquent enough to say exactly which parts). Vocals sound less vibrant/life-like and doesn't have a lot of texture and weight. To be fair though, my microdac has fully burned in while the Aria hasn't. Maybe the internal dac will sound different after burn in. The way it is now, I think my microdac+sr71 sounds better than internal dac/aria, but microdac+aria sounds better than microdac+sr71. Hope that brings some perspective. But anyway, wow. *Now* I like how my DT880 sounds.

I felt the same way comparing the built-in DAC with the M-Audio DAC I have. Vocals and most upper-mids seemed very recessed compared to the rest of the music when using the internal one. This is after my Aria has had a substantial amount of burn-in, so I don't think burn-in will affect it much. Of course, I don't think it's really fair to compare the built-in DAC to ones that cost a significant percentage of the Aria itself

That said, I love how the Aria sounds as an amp. I leave the crossfeed filter on 95% of the time, it just makes everything sound so much more natural.

 

[Ihcog]

I got my new Aria today. I took 9 days to arrive from Germany to Finland. I'm using it with HD650 and my quick first impression so far is that this combo is too "boomy". Has anyone else using Aria+HD650 felt the same? Perhaps this amp is better with Bayerdynamics 880... dunno.

Personally I don't believe in this burning-in hype... but we'll see what happens. If it stays the same I'm not keeping it.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihcog I'm using it with HD650 and my quick first impression so far is that this combo is too "boomy". Has anyone else using Aria+HD650 felt the same? Personally I don't believe in this burning-in hype... but we'll see what happens. If it stays the same I'm not keeping it.

I use this combination. If the Aria sounds too boomy, I don't know what amp to recommend. It has the driest, most controlled bass I've heard from a headphone amp. And I can't remember a boomy bass before burn-in. However, maybe yours is a special case.

Break-in is nothing to believe in, but to experience. But maybe it's in fact the headphone that needs break-in, not the amp? The HD 650 is notorious for its dominating bass until headband (pressure!) and drivers are broken in, which may take up to 200 or more hours.
.

 

[Pace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihcog I got my new Aria today. I took 9 days to arrive from Germany to Finland. I'm using it with HD650 and my quick first impression so far is that this combo is too "boomy". Has anyone else using Aria+HD650 felt the same? Perhaps this amp is better with Bayerdynamics 880... dunno. Personally I don't believe in this burning-in hype... but we'll see what happens. If it stays the same I'm not keeping it.

Maybe you have gotten used to attenuated bass due to playing the headphones through a headphonejack incapable of running your HD-650s properly...

Now that you've got an amp, the bass might sound a bit boomy, but you might be actually hearing the real, slightly dark, "sennheiser" sound for the first time.

I don't have any real suggestions you could do about it, other than listening to your new combo...

 

[trivik12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim_the_gamer I received my Aria yesterday! (shipping notice given for Dec. 27th) Thanks Jan!

I have not got mine yet. Can u tell me which city u r in.

 

[windowman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihcog I got my new Aria today. I took 9 days to arrive from Germany to Finland. I'm using it with HD650 and my quick first impression so far is that this combo is too "boomy". Has anyone else using Aria+HD650 felt the same? Perhaps this amp is better with Bayerdynamics 880... dunno. Personally I don't believe in this burning-in hype... but we'll see what happens. If it stays the same I'm not keeping it.

Boomy is the FURTHEST thing away from how this combo sounds to me (I've got 600's not 650's but I can't imagine the bass quality being that different)
Dry, tight, deep & extended is how I'd describe it.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by windowman Boomy is the FURTHEST thing away from how this combo sounds to me (I've got 600's not 650's but I can't imagine the bass quality being that different) Dry, tight, deep & extended is how I'd describe it.

Yeah, I agree. Just to be sure I listenet to the Aria again with my 650's (normally I use my Headphile HF-1's) -- I hear nothing boomy about it at all. As has been said, if anything, the Aria leans a little toward the dry side, but it's pretty neutral.

 

[trbl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ihcog I got my new Aria today. I took 9 days to arrive from Germany to Finland.

I guess all the really fast drivers in Finland don't drive postal vehicles but spend their time in F1 and rally cars like Mika Hakkinen et al.

It's helpful that Jan has now explained the discrepancies in pre-Christmas versus post-Christmas shipping times. I just wish he'd done this sooner to let people know to expect much longer transit times for the later shipments.

Mine finally arrived after ovr two weeks too.

Quote:

I'm using it with HD650 and my quick first impression so far is that this combo is too "boomy".

A year ago when I tried some new HD-650's with an X-Can v3 I found the bass to be too resonant (boomy) in places. There's a big debate about this: whether it goes away with burning in, if it's affected by after-market cables, if the HD-600 is less boomy, etc.

Quote:

Personally I don't believe in this burning-in hype... but we'll see what happens. If it stays the same I'm not keeping it.

Had you used the HD-650's before, or were they new like the Aria?

My Aria (modified by Jan for 17 dB gain) using the analog inputs sounded excellent out of the box with the AKG K701's. It was exactly what I was looking and hoping for, and made the K701's sound better than I'd ever heard them (better than with an M3 I'd tried and thought was pretty good). No excess or insufficiency anywhere, no hiding or accentuating of anything, just pure musical enjoyment. This combination with a good CD or universal player hits the sweet spot for me. At less than $700 US with the introductory pricing for the Aria and K701's this has turned out to be an excellent combination.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbl Mine finally arrived after ovr two weeks too.

Congrats!

Finally!


Quote:

My Aria (modified by Jan for 17 dB gain) using the analog inputs sounded excellent out of the box with the AKG K701's. It was exactly what I was looking and hoping for, and made the K701's sound better than I'd ever heard them (better than with an M3 I'd tried and thought was pretty good). No excess or insufficiency anywhere, no hiding or accentuating of anything, just pure musical enjoyment.

Yeah, I'm surprised myself how well this combination works, considering the Aria's dry and transparent signature and the K 701's unforgiving characteristic. Actually it should sound analytical, but it sounds musical and realistic instead, despite the high definition (or maybe rather because of it).
.

 

[saint.panda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ Congrats! Yeah, I'm surprised myself how well this combination works, considering the Aria's dry and transparent signature and the K 701's unforgiving characteristic. Actually it should sound analytical, but it sounds musical and realistic instead, despite the high definition (or maybe rather because of it). .

Actually I thought your Earmax Pro had better synergy with the K701. With the slightly subdued upper midrange / lower treble from the EMP, less dampened bass and more bloom in the midrange, it was a bit more natural sounding with the K701 to my ears. Perhaps I'm just too used to the HD 650.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda Actually I thought your Earmax Pro had better synergy with the K701. With the slightly subdued upper midrange / lower treble from the EMP, less dampened bass and more bloom in the midrange, it was a bit more natural sounding with the K701 to my ears. Perhaps I'm just too used to the HD 650.

You're right, Tao, probably also with the latter aspect. The EMP provides a warmer, lusher, slightly darker characteristic which may compensate for the K 701's unforgiving detail sharpness and slightly subdued lower midrange, especially for a HD-650 owner like you with much less K-701 time than me. On the other hand the Aria offers all the detail in full glory and shows a richer sonic landscape with incredible instrument definition and high transparency without sounding cold at all. That's why I have found back to the Aria prototype after a short flirt with the EMP -- which is still an excellent and equal alternative --, also because it seems to me that the K 701 has become even smoother in the last ten hours.
.

 

[Daneel]

Anyone else still getting blips when using the USB input?

It seems to be related to what else the computer is doing. If I just run winamp / foobar, all is well, but if I start to browse the web I'll get about 2 blips a minute, it's very annoying.

It seems to be my computer rather than the amp that's the problem, but there must be a way to minimise it.

 

[apostate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daneel Anyone else still getting blips when using the USB input? It seems to be related to what else the computer is doing. If I just run winamp / foobar, all is well, but if I start to browse the web I'll get about 2 blips a minute, it's very annoying. It seems to be my computer rather than the amp that's the problem, but there must be a way to minimise it.

No problems on my Mac. I typically have at least 3 or 4 apps running and in use when I'm listening (web, mail, chat bare minimum).

Ant

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daneel Anyone else still getting blips when using the USB input? It seems to be related to what else the computer is doing. If I just run winamp / foobar, all is well, but if I start to browse the web I'll get about 2 blips a minute, it's very annoying. It seems to be my computer rather than the amp that's the problem, but there must be a way to minimise it.

I've never noticed any problems using the USB input. Running foobar pretty much constantly whilst doing other stuff at the same time (at the moment surfing the web whilst my Zone Alarm security suite completes it's weekly virus scan) and all I hear through my DT880 is the lovely sound of Embrace's album Drawn From Memory.