Lucky me, get here right as the subject is in the same area as my thoughts as well.
Thanks to Bimmer, I was able to listen to his Master 11 last night, as well as using the Master 11's amp with the Yggdrasil and Bifrost Multibit. I learned a lot, and it certainly helped steer me closer to my goal of knowing what I actually want. Why am I in the DAC19 thread? Well, Bimmer said the DAC19 had a similar DAC in it. So I'm here to gush about how fantastic AudioGD is and how I will soon join your ranks.
I don't pretend to have the thesaurus warming audiophile terms most of you are comfortable with. So I'll bring you down to my level and hear it as I think about it. Laugh if you want, it's alright. I will be making my comparisons with only one headphone, my HD 800. I will quickly say though that Bimmer's modded HE-560 is the greatest thing I have ever heard connected to the Master 11. I still don't really prefer that sound over the HD 800, but it was still a wonderful pairing.
M11 + Bimbi (7/10 Enjoyable)
I found this to be quite a great combination, especially from expecting the Schiit dacs to be overly bright. Soundstage and detail retrieval was adequate, not thrilling. It was pleasant on the ears, but still suffered from digititus. I made up that word. What it means is, I feel like I'm listening to something digital and not analog. I will be using this term more often. I normally only notice it in the highs, but sometimes it can reach the bass where I can hear that same etched response from the sound where you can hear the DAC struggling to figure out what to do with a particular sound. Is that particular sound too detailed, too powerful in contrast to the rest of the spectrum? I have no idea, but Schiit dacs are notorious for it. I'm not 50 and losing my hearing, so I seem to get hit by this from most dacs, but especially Schiit dacs.
M11 + Yggdrasil (5/10 Why does this cost so much?)
I was immediately surprised at the amount of detail, the width of the soundstage, and how every note had more life to it. I can say that it was the closest I've felt to floating with the music surrounding me. Though my happiness was quickly ended soon as the high notes started to kick in. There it was, digititus. Sadly, because of the Yggy's excellent detail retrieval, it was worse to my ears, sounding sibilant. Even the Bifrost Multibit wasn't sibilant, but still rather digital sounding. For the record, I was testing the same song through all three dacs to compare more closely. I'm still shocked and a bit let down that something I thought would be the best dac, was not even close. I have sensitive hearing because I got into audio late. I'm 29 years old and only started to listen to music as a hobby two years ago. My ears have not burned in yet. So while I may be rather upset at the Yggy's performance, to many others it's probably a very enjoyable experience.
M11 + M11 (10/10 Why don't more people own this?)
I've listened to a lot of dacs. Well, maybe depends who I'm comparing to. I've been to 5+ large headphone meets, and have listened to more dacs than I can count. I mean, I probably could but it would require thinking really hard, and the last time I thought really hard I got a headache, so let's avoid that. I've listened to expensive dacs, inexpensive dacs, good dacs (wolfson comes to mind), and absurdly expensive dacs. The DAC in the M11 wins, hands down, no contest. Detail retrieval is excellent, soundstage is excellent, tone is natural, everything has a body to it. Never once did I encounter sibilance unless the track was deserving of it, which Bimmer had an excellent set of tracks picked out which didn't highlight that. Though still, the Bifrost sounded digital, the Yggy sounded digital, but why doesn't the M11? What sorcery is this? Sure the soundstage might be less euphoric than Yggy, sure the detail retrieval might not make my hairs stand on edge. Though this is the first DAC I've ever heard that didn't suffer from digititus. I really think that's more special than all the rest because of that.
So while it remains one of the greatest things I've heard as a whole, the price is not something I want to dive immediately at. There are other things I want to try, such as getting some of that DAC experience with the DAC19, and trying other amps. This is the part where Bimmer cringes and thinks I'm nuts. I want the DAC19 + Valhalla 2. Perhaps it was because I was just beginning my adventure, but I had the HD 700 + Valhalla 2, and to me it was an excellent combo. To this day, the only amp that has wowed me. I returned it because at the time I was stressed for money, and I had Vali which did an excellent job as well, while being more smooth. At the time I was really into drum & bass, which made keeping Vali an easy option. At the end of the day, I'm in it for my ears, not other people's ears. So while someone might think the Valhalla 2 is an underwhelming amp, it's the only thing I want right now. Perhaps when I get it again I will end up agreeing. I guess it's like your first car. It was super awesome when you got it and you will always remember how great it was, though in reality it's not really that good. We'll see.
Wow I wrote a lot, and I haven't even had my coffee yet.
You guys can't bring in mind-blowing products after my wallet needs some time to recover from the purchase on this thread.
