[Ham Sandwich]

I think Piety and LP have bit different approach as amp, Lp tends to be detailed/aggressive sounding and Piety aims more rounded off relax approach.

I consider the sonic approach of the Liquid Platinum and Piety to be more similar than different. The Piety has some of the Cavalli "liquid" sonic traits. I don't consider the LP to be an amp that focuses on detail. The detail is there but you have to listen for it. It doesn't push the detail into your face. I also don't consider the LP to be an aggressive sounding amp. The Cavalli has sonic force but it's the style of force that hits you like a feather rather than a fist.

Amps that I find to be detailed and aggressive are amps like the Auralic Taurus MKII, Phonitor, HeadAmp GSX, and amps like that. None of those are like the Cavalli liquid house sound. The tubes in the Liquid Platinum cause the midrange to be a little more dense which gives the impression the midrange is a little more forward. But I don't consider that an aggressive sounding midrange. If you want the sound of the Liquid Platinum without the denser midrange then get the Liquid Gold X.

 

[PlanarBunny]

With my piety, so far all of my high impedance zmfs sound amazing. However, when I tried my lcdx 21 with it, it sounded a little muffled and veiled. Since then, I have tried my he1000se and caldera with it and they all sound great. Lcdx21 is the only hp that I don't enjoy as much with my piety

Tell me a bit more about your HE1kse experience! I have an Arya v2 (with dekoni hybrid elites, more comfy than stock pads. I have glasses.) and I've been avoiding slapping it in Piety and keeping it on my Asgard 3 or A30 Pro because of the power.

 

[shafat777]

Tell me a bit more about your HE1kse experience! I have an Arya v2 (with dekoni hybrid elites, more comfy than stock pads. I have glasses.) and I've been avoiding slapping it in Piety and keeping it on my Asgard 3 or A30 Pro because of the power.

The Piety being a rather warmish sounding amp, IMO this helps tame down some of the top end harshness/sharpness of the HE1000se. I run my Piety in high gain mode so i had no issue running the HE1000se. The sound is very lush and yet controlled. The top end is smooth with no harsh peaks and the low end is really tight and not bloaty at all.

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

The Piety being a rather warmish sounding amp, IMO this helps tame down some of the top end harshness/sharpness of the HE1000se. I run my Piety in high gain mode so i had no issue running the HE1000se. The sound is very lush and yet controlled. The top end is smooth with no harsh peaks and the low end is really tight and not bloaty at all.

Listening to my Piety as I write this, along with a pair of Hifiman HE4XX and some classical
Cello music. Very enjoyable. The Piety is like a gregarious, good natured kid who gets along with every body.

 

[artur9]

...develops a sort of warble in the tone when trying to play that pipe organ EP and other bass heavy tracks. That warble almost sounds like wow and flutter. ...

Sometimes, when playing bass test tones through the stereo (not the MagPi) I hear a kind of surprisingly high frequency ringing.
Is that what you are referring to?

 

[JerseyD]

In my past experience with a number of solid state amps, burn-in never really changed the sound much. With the Piety, however, I have found a pretty dramatic smoothing of the sound after 20 or so hours. Will things continue to improve? I'm excited to find out! (Listening now via laptop-to-Micro iDSD as dac - to- ZMF Auteur Classic) and it is sounding better than it has a right to at this price. (Note, I am NOT one to hype a new product, and am not a bandwagon-jumper. Just giving my honest impression, and felt I needed to after I crapped on the Piety on my first day of listening to it.)

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

In my past experience with a number of solid state amps, burn-in never really changed the sound much. With the Piety, however, I have found a pretty dramatic smoothing of the sound after 20 or so hours. Will things continue to improve? I'm excited to find out! (Listening now via laptop-to-Micro iDSD as dac - to- ZMF Auteur Classic) and it is sounding better than it has a right to at this price. (Note, I am NOT one to hype a new product, and am not a bandwagon-jumper. Just giving my honest impression, and felt I needed to after I crapped on the Piety on my first day of listening to it.)

The Piety is a special product. It's not hype. It is such a relaxing and enjoyable amplifier to listen through hour after hour. As long as it's not over driven, it really
is a gem of a product. I've owned mine for about three months now and it continues to impress. I noticed the most improvements over the first few days.
After that improvements were more subtle. I own quite a few headphone amplifiers (many of them quite capable within their respective price categories), and I'd have to say the Piety is one of my better purchases.

For its performance to price ratio, it's a no brainer.

 

[autumnholy]

Top of the stack...

Hi, is the converter connecting to Piety in this picture a DJ65A (3.5 to 6.3) or DJ65B (4.4 bal to 6.3)?

Thanks.

 

[inscythe]

Hi, is the converter connecting to Piety in this picture a DJ65A (3.5 to 6.3) or DJ65B (4.4 bal to 6.3)?

It is DJ65B

 

[autumnholy]

It is DJ65B

Appreciate it. If it works fine, I save myself the trouble of rolling cables between amps.

 

[Andrew Randle]

My amp is fine. Not a dud. I just have a higher standard for awesome.

The distortions or poor control of the bass I hear are more obvious with bass heavy tracks. But is present even with more regular music.

Anna Lapwood playing the big organ in the Royal Albert Hall is a good demonstration of the issues. The 32 foot reed stops are a powerful bass sound. And you can hear that it lacks control and is actually audibly distorting when played with the Piety amp and a capable bass headphone like Audeze or the Fostex TH-X00. Then play the same tracks with an amp that actually is awesome, like the Liquid Platinum and the bass is tight and has control. As it should be.

Link to Anna Lapwood "Midnight Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall": https://www.annalapwood.co.uk/midnights
Five tracks in 24/96 lossless. Available at Qobuz, HDTracks, and other high-res sites and streaming.
Listen to the high-res in lossless. Don't go to YouTube.

I just bought this recording and it works well with the Piety and Hifiman HE-5XX - a lower impedance than my LCD-X. Actually the HE-5XX seems to be a better match with the Piety than the LCD-X…. Sound signature appears to play a bigger role.

In addition I would recommend one of Karl Richter’s recitals of Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor (BWV 582) for low register pipes.

Andrew

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

I just bought this recording and it works well with the Piety and Hifiman HE-5XX - a lower impedance than my LCD-X. Actually the HE-5XX seems to be a better match with the Piety than the LCD-X…. Sound signature appears to play a bigger role.

In addition I would recommend one of Karl Richter’s recitals of Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor (BWV 582) for low register pipes.

Andrew

In this hobby, component matching for proper synergy is of paramount importance in order to maximize the potential of an audio system.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

I just bought this recording and it works well with the Piety and Hifiman HE-5XX - a lower impedance than my LCD-X. Actually the HE-5XX seems to be a better match with the Piety than the LCD-X…. Sound signature appears to play a bigger role.

In addition I would recommend one of Karl Richter’s recitals of Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor (BWV 582) for low register pipes.

Andrew

This organ track isn't an exercise to find headphones with sonic synergy with the Piety amp. It's an exercise to demonstrate that the Piety amp doesn't have good control of the low bass compared to other amps. The big powerful sounding reed stops with the flapping sound of the reed vibrating makes it easier to hear whether the low bass and sub-bass is loose or tight. And with the Piety the low bass is loose and doesn't have the control.

 

[Andrew Randle]

This organ track isn't an exercise to find headphones with sonic synergy with the Piety amp. It's an exercise to demonstrate that the Piety amp doesn't have good control of the low bass compared to other amps. The big powerful sounding reed stops with the flapping sound of the reed vibrating makes it easier to hear whether the low bass and sub-bass is loose or tight. And with the Piety the low bass is loose and doesn't have the control.

When comparing the dampening factor of the Piety and chosen headphone, with the Q of the headphones?

I ask this question to illustrate to notion that component synergy is important.

Andrew

 

[Firedays]

Please suggest: Piety VS Atom+
I have a Sennheiser HD650 and planning to get an Amp. I am aware that the best pairing for the HD650 should be a tube amp, but I find that the better ones are out of my budget ($150 approx.).
This brings me to Piety and Atom+, both these amps have had wonderful reviews. I was about to go for an Atom+ then, i found out that Piety is back in stock.

I'm confused, which one to buy?

I've never heard either of the amps.

Thanks