Wanting to free up a bit of space in my audio rack, a while ago I had set aside my Vahalla 2 (and along with it my HD800). I have a Bifrost 2 that I use with both an old Jot and Lyr 3 in the bedroom. It's been my go to headphone setup for a couple of years now. My Yggdrasil is my workhorse for my two-channel system and I have never really used it at all for headphones. Well, today, on a whim -- and because I had a work project for which I wanted on headphones to help block out noise around the house -- I pulled out the Vahalla 2 and the HD 800s and hooked them up to the SE output on my Yggdrasil.
And, holy mackerel, what have I been missing? My jaw just dropped. This is by far the best sound and soundstage the HD 800 phones have ever had. (Yggy has both the A2 and Unison upgrades.) I think Aleza is right: there's precious little difference between balanced and SE output, at least to my ears. Now, I'm debating which kidney to sell so I can get a Yggdrasil for the bedroom setup. Ha!
Question for the group -- has anyone used Jotenheim 2 with Yggdrasil?
(Hope things continue to stabilize in TX, Jason.)