[Movezig]

 
I have been using O2/ODAC and HE-400s for years. I have found no real shortcoming and they both sound excellent for their part. The HE-400s are quite unforgiving so the quality of your recordings will matter somewhat to the "final" sound. I hear snaps, crackles, and pops from time to time from clipped recordings (of which so much pop is these days). If you want a more "forgiving" setup, I would recommend a different headphone.
 
I've not needed more power than the O2 can provide, and in any case, the HE-400s are not really up to concert level SPL anyway.

 
Thanks for the reply! It's either going to be the O2 or magni2/modi

 

[upstateguy]

  The whole idea behind the O2 was to design an amp that had absolutely world class stellar objective specifications for the least cost.
 
It wasn't designed to be pretty or versatile or a desktop unit.
 
Being perfectly flat and with a very low output impedance it provides an amp that just amplifies the signal so you can indeed tell what your headphones "sound" like.
 
So the answer is yes!
 
and the O2 is quite amazing for what it is.
 
Alex

 
What is it?
 
 

 

 
I have been using O2/ODAC and HE-400s for years. I have found no real shortcoming and they both sound excellent for their part. The HE-400s are quite unforgiving so the quality of your recordings will matter somewhat to the "final" sound. I hear snaps, crackles, and pops from time to time from clipped recordings (of which so much pop is these days). If you want a more "forgiving" setup, I would recommend a different headphone.
 
I've not needed more power than the O2 can provide, and in any case, the HE-400s are not really up to concert level SPL anyway.

 
Thanks for the reply! It's either going to be the O2 or magni2/modi

 
Forum Brainwashing.....
 

 

[Movezig]

   
What is it?
 
 
 
Forum Brainwashing.....
 

 
Care to elaborate? 

 

[upstateguy]

  <snip>
 
Care to elaborate? 

PM

 

[bracko]

  PM

I believe that it would be fair to give an elaboration to the above post to everyone actually. People who visit this forum may have similar questions in mind

 

[adydula]

Hmmmmm....must be the truth patrol is on parade.
 
What is it: A low cost linear amp that is about as good as it gets audibly for most human beings audio transducers.
 
That's of course unless you believe more dollars buys you more perfection.
 
A.

 

[MrMateoHead]

I guess since part of that post focused on "forum brainwashing" was apparently directed at me, I feel I should respond in some way. Having been in the unique position of owning both an HE-400 and an O2/ODAC for years, and listening to it daily, I felt I was in a position to provide advice to a person seeking some. The majority of my posts, I believe, are tempered to provide "real" advice - I want real value for my hard-earned dollars, and would never recommend a product I don't truly like or that seemed to be poor quality.
 
I'd have personally never found the O2 or the HE-400s without this forum, and so color me brainwashed, but I was happy to risk a few dollars on what I believe are small businesses. My decision making process is not just "skin deep", sir.
 
While Soren Kierkegaard makes a wonderful point, I am at a loss as to how his 19th century religious philosophies are applicable to an Internet forum focused on bringing lover's of certain commercial products together. But his warnings are well-heeded. If you are in possession of facts that I am not, please enlighten me, or all of us. I too wish for knowledge to set me free from my prejudices and ignorance.

 

[adydula]

All I know is I have this amp in more than one flavor and several others...they all are pretty good...the O2 is a low cost great amp that allows many the ability to be able to listen to music at a very affordable price point.
 
We all have opinions for sure....
 
Having the hardware and gone thru many listening and A/B sessions you cant go wrong with an O2 amp.
All I can say is what I have personally heard and experienced first hand...and take whatever others say with a grain of salt...
 
I don't need any Sorens or whoever to tell me what I have actually experienced....
 
A.

 

[upstateguy]

  Hmmmmm....must be the truth patrol is on parade.
 
What is it: A low cost linear amp that is about as good as it gets audibly for most human beings audio transducers.
 
That's of course unless you believe more dollars buys you more perfection.
 
A.

are you a member of the truth patrol?

 

[upstateguy]

  I guess since part of that post focused on "forum brainwashing" was apparently directed at me, I feel I should respond in some way. Having been in the unique position of owning both an HE-400 and an O2/ODAC for years, and listening to it daily, I felt I was in a position to provide advice to a person seeking some. The majority of my posts, I believe, are tempered to provide "real" advice - I want real value for my hard-earned dollars, and would never recommend a product I don't truly like or that seemed to be poor quality.
 
I'd have personally never found the O2 or the HE-400s without this forum, and so color me brainwashed, but I was happy to risk a few dollars on what I believe are small businesses. My decision making process is not just "skin deep", sir.
 
While Soren Kierkegaard makes a wonderful point, I am at a loss as to how his 19th century religious philosophies are applicable to an Internet forum focused on bringing lover's of certain commercial products together. But his warnings are well-heeded. If you are in possession of facts that I am not, please enlighten me, or all of us. I too wish for knowledge to set me free from my prejudices and ignorance.

apologies if you thought the post was aimed at you.  It wasn't.
 
Regarding your choice of the O2.  It seems you refused to believe what wasn't true and embraced what was.
 
Too bad nwav was banned.  But he left us with more than just food for thought.

 

[adydula]

Nope not me, no truth patrol here, just what my electrical engineering background, a pile of headamps, headphones, and personal experience..thats my truth...
 
You believe what you want and I will believe what I want......you want sonic perfection...go for it but I learned along time ago it doesn't exist.
 
but the O2 is a step in the right direction....
 
A. 

 

[upstateguy]

  Nope not me, no truth patrol here, just what my electrical engineering background, a pile of headamps, headphones, and personal experience..thats my truth...
 
You believe what you want and I will believe what I want......you want sonic perfection...go for it but I learned along time ago it doesn't exist.
 
but the O2 is a step in the right direction....
 
A. 

 
I think we're on the same page. 

 

[adydula]

Ditto!

 

[diamondears]

In theory it's always best to keep the digital side of things at full resolution - which means not reducing the bit depth. In practice, while that's technically always true, it makes a lot more difference in some situations than others. For example, the digital volume control in the Sabre DACs has extra resolution which it can use to avoid rounding errors which often occur with "simple" digital volume controls. This allows the internal digital volume control to work over a certain range without seriously degrading the audio quality. However, with digital volume controls that lack that feature, the sound quality will degrade as you reduce the level.

The "trick" is that how that affects you will depend on your other equipment. For example, if your digital volume is set to maximum level at normal listening levels, then you won't notice the loss of quality when you turn it down very much - because, since you're lowering the audio level at the same time as you're lowering the resolution of the signal, the loss of resolution will be less audible. However, if your digital volume control is at 10% when you're at a normal listening level because the analog amp you have it connected to has a lot of gain, then it will probably sound noticeably degraded, and will get noticeably worse as you lower the level even further.

But yes, optimally, it is always BEST to use a digitally controlled analog volume control if you have one available - and leave the digital control at 100%. 

Is the iPhone 6 Plus' amp analog but digitally controlled? No way due to soace constraints?

 

[Francisk]

Does anybody here have any experience with the Audeze LCD-X pairing with the JDS Labs O2 amp? Please share your honest opinion. I'm actually looking into getting the O2 amp. Thanks in advance for your sharing.