I can confirm that the Focal Stellia and Folkvangr mesh fantastically well. Low gain, no impedance multiplier, and NOS Telefunken 6dj8.
DAC is Bifrost 2 (waiting for 2/64 upgrade).
The sound is holographic and dynamic. I haven't heard such clean, deep bass from the Stellia from my SS amps. The Woo WA8 has more bass quantity, but not the bass quality of the Folkvangr.
I'm glad I changed my mind and gave this this a go.
Some 5670s are just so good at lower price comparing to high demanding 6dj8 family. I highly recommend grabbing a pair of ecc88 to 5670 adaptors because it takes 2-4 weeks to ship from China. Their quality looks quite good to me.
Tubemonger also sell handmade non Made in China adaptors, but they were all sold out.***
ZMFs are very tube amp friendly. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
I’ll also throw in a plug for the Focal Clear. Generally I wouldn’t recommend the Clear with a tube amp because to my ears the bass gets bloomy and muddy with too much output impedance. Not a problem with the FV, which also turns the occasionally metallic treble into a much more organic and graceful treble.
I still prefer FV + ZMF VC, but the clear pairs really well with it too.
Thanks for the suggestion, I have been seeing some used Clears for pretty cheap recently. As for Tool, Fear Inoculum is amazing - I love those small details with the light drums/cymbals in the beginning, and the buildup to the vocals. Lateralus is great too.
On the tube rolling side, I was wondering what the most trusted / cost efficient tube vendors were that you guys purchase from? I have seen Upscale Audio, and TubeDepot as well, with TubeDepot being a bit cheaper it seems.
Thanks for the suggestion, I have been seeing some used Clears for pretty cheap recently. As for Tool, Fear Inoculum is amazing - I love those small details with the light drums/cymbals in the beginning, and the buildup to the vocals. Lateralus is great too.
On the tube rolling side, I was wondering what the most trusted / cost efficient tube vendors were that you guys purchase from? I have seen Upscale Audio, and TubeDepot as well, with TubeDepot being a bit cheaper it seems.
I tried another two cans on FV today, Focal Radiance and Audeze LCD-MX4. They both worked very well.
I was very surprised at MX4 performance. It sounded so rich and full on FV, and much better bass response. This is the first Planar Magnetic Headphone that works on FV for me. I tried Diana Phi with FV before, but it sounded terrible.
Okay, the DCA stealth run pretty dang good on the FV. High gain gives great volume, impedance matching on gives the sound more depth and weight.
I'm suitably impressed.
I tried a couple iems. The Etymotic EVO was a total fail. I suspect the BA drivers are tuned to work with a low impedance amp and just don’t like the FV. The FIIO FH7 wasn’t bad, but the FV didn’t elevate it anywhere near enough to compete with my full sized headphones.
Finally had a chance to get mine hooked up after staring at the box for a week. Gave it about 30 minutes to warm up before its first listen... Was not impressed. Let it sit for half a football game and tried again... Wow. So far I've only tried the HD660S and HD800S with it. Probably give it more time before trying the Audeze's. Feeding it with JRiver and a Benchmark DAC3 B.
Finally had a chance to get mine hooked up after staring at the box for a week. Gave it about 30 minutes to warm up before its first listen... Was not impressed. Let it sit for half a football game and tried again... Wow. So far I've only tried the HD660S and HD800S with it. Probably give it more time before trying the Audeze's. Feeding it with JRiver and a Benchmark DAC3 B.
That was my first impression as well. My opinion improved over about 20 hours of play. Based on that and how long the current Tungsrams took to break in, I’d say new tubes need about 50 hours to burn in. Luckily 24 of those hours are done at Schiit
After reading much praise for paring the HD6** headphones with the FV, I decided to pick up a pair of HD6XX's (was on the fence about getting the a used 650, but it looks like the differences are pretty minor?). I found them to be pretty impressive for their price - but the sound stage and sense of space just wasn't up to snuff for me. This leads me to wonder, what's the end-all-be-all ultimate pairing for FV, in everyone's (subjective) opinion? Reading through this forum I've noted lots of praise for pairing with the Focal Clears, and several ZMF models, including both open and closed Verite.
I'd love to find something I could pickup used somewhere around the $1000 mark, which looks like it would rule out the Verite's - but if the choice is between waiting another year and saving for something expensive, or settling for something cheap now that I won't be satisfied with, I can wait and save. I understand there's diminishing returns as you go up the price tiers, but do the Verite's (and other potentials) justify their high price?
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