[StanD]

   
My concerns about over driving the Vali were unfounded. Using the fixed line outputs of CD / DVD player the Vali now provides ear shattering, clean signal, with the gain control at no more then 12 o'clock. I'll be keeping things in this configuration until I can acquire a DAC. I think I'll start with a basic Schitt Modi 2. Do you think this will be a good match Stan?
 
Thanks for your input and help.
 
Rick

The Modi 2 should be just fine. I own both a fully loaded Bifrost as a Modi 2 Uber.
I find that the Modi 2 Uber is superb, I can't believe what one gets for its price.

 

[jaywillin]

  The Modi 2 should be just fine. I own both a fully loaded Bifrost as a Modi 2 Uber.
I find that the Modi 2 Uber is superb, I can't believe what one gets for its price.

+1
it's got to be the best( the best) sounding in this price range, and i haven't heard them all, but i've heard quite a few

 

[Mr Rick]

  The Modi 2 should be just fine. I own both a fully loaded Bifrost as a Modi 2 Uber.
I find that the Modi 2 Uber is superb, I can't believe what one gets for its price.

Great, thanks,
 
I think I'll start with the basic Modi 2 and investigate further after I take off my DAC training wheels. LOL

 

[StanD]

   
i'm too satisfied with it i should have bought as much as i could afford.
That and paying the customs $140 annoyed me a little bit.
 
i mean, $149 + $100 Fedex handling fees + $40 tax and $349 + $140 feels a lot different right?
 
*though to be fair, it might not be $140 anymore. If it's $40 per $149, then $349 will be $93 in tax. so $349 + $100 Fedex + $93 tax.
So... $149 + $140 vs. $349 + $193. Should have opt for the latter... Not to mention the shipping cost is almost the same between the two.
The extra fees are too much for getting the uber, and but it's not that big a jump to get the valhalla 2.
 
Now if i get the ragnarok, probably doesn't worth the customs fee. (not that i could afford it either).
 
------------------
i'm getting the hd650 soon. Well you and madwolfa and (this other person whose username i can't remember pirakaphile?) probably knows that by soon i mean a month or so from now. haha.
 
Anyway, both hd650 and he-400i cost the same $640. and i feel extremely dumb if i shell $640 for hd650, considering deals on Adorama, Amazon and the likes.
 
What kind of amp should i consider for planar magnetic headphone?
I heard that he-400i is designed to be somewhat efficient enough to be driven to a listenable level from a cellphone?
How does a solid-state amp like magni 2 uber will fare and what kind of amp i should consider if in the end i get the he-400i?

I can't say how efficent the HE-400i is, OK, I just looked it up. It's 93 dB/mW at 35 Ohms.
The Magni 2 Uber should be able to drive it rather well.
You might get it to limp along on a cellphone, but I wouldn't expect it to get loud or deliver enough headroom.
The Valhalla 2 will do better but at around 180 mW it's not going to be optimal as 115.6 db can be expected at 180 mW. For many people that might be enough, you will have to decide for yourself.

 

[jaywillin]

  I can't say how efficent the HE-400i is, OK, I just looked it up. It's 93 dB/mW at 35 Ohms.
The Magni 2 Uber should be able to drive it rather well.
You might get it to limp along on a cellphone, but I wouldn't expect it to get loud or deliver enough headroom.
The Valhalla 2 will do better but at around 180 mW it's not going to be optimal as 115.6 db can be expected at 180 mW. For many people that might be enough, you will have to decide for yourself.

it drives it VERY well, i'm listening to that combo right now, and the modi 2u

 

[rovopio]

  it drives it VERY well, i'm listening to that combo right now, and the modi 2u

 
I'll be getting either hd650 or he-400i and drive it w/ my uber.
 
when i took shower just now, i think after getting either of the two, i'll be selling the dt880 premium as it is too dry for my preference. Which is weird considering dt880 premium and pro should have sound the same according to people's reports and my own readings.
 
Yet i listened to dt880 pro today for a very short while, and the pro is better with female vocals. Significantly not dry at all. Went home, plugged in my dt880 premium, yes it still sounds dry. Probably listening bias.
 
I'm not sure whether i can sell dt880 premium locally, (since people seems to like bassy headphone better), but i might not need them completely when i get the hd650 / he-400i.
Even now i listen to my ma-900 far more than the dt880 since most of my songs are mainly female vocals and guitars. If i manage to sell them at a decent price, probably will snatch another grado from the funds, im not sure.
 
So the main headphone would be the hd650 or he-400i, but i'll still have a grado for once in a week 1 hour listening.
 
It's probably dumb considering my inner ear condition, but what can i say, i love grado sound.

 

[BLACKENEDPLAGUE]

  Now that is not to say that the frequency domain (response) is not important. A friend of mine back in the 1970's, John Koval, used to argue that the only audible differences between any two pieces of audio gear was due to frequency response (domain). He is the exact reason that the Mani has an extremely accurate RIAA response in 2015. It was his position that all amplifiers essentially sounded alike because of their relatively flat frequency responses. John constructed an A/B sound comparison box that matched levels to blindly compare two amplifiers.
 

 
The more accurate the RIAA curve, the better. I really appreciate that you got it so close, along with having such a minute amount of distortion

 

[rovopio]

  I can't say how efficent the HE-400i is, OK, I just looked it up. It's 93 dB/mW at 35 Ohms.
The Magni 2 Uber should be able to drive it rather well.
You might get it to limp along on a cellphone, but I wouldn't expect it to get loud or deliver enough headroom.
The Valhalla 2 will do better but at around 180 mW it's not going to be optimal as 115.6 db can be expected at 180 mW. For many people that might be enough, you will have to decide for yourself.

 
the flash lessons you madwolfa and pirakaphile gave me a couple weeks ago. You said High Impedance headphones require a greater voltage swing.
I didn't ask back then, which spec on amps listing and on the headphone listing i should read that could give me an idea how much voltage swing the amp can give and the headphone will need?
 
say in this case, the hd650 and the magni 2 uber...
 
edit: i know that you also said a good SS amp can provide both voltage and current. i'm just curious to learn more...

 

[StanD]

   
the flash lessons you madwolfa and pirakaphile gave me a couple weeks ago. You said High Impedance headphones require a greater voltage swing.
I didn't ask back then, which spec on amps listing and on the headphone listing i should read that could give me an idea how much voltage swing the amp can give and the headphone will need?
 
say in this case, the hd650 and the magni 2 uber...
 
edit: i know that you also said a good SS amp can provide both voltage and current. i'm just curious to learn more...

HD650 sensitivity is 103dB/V_RMS at 1 kHz which is 97.8 dB/mW.
To reach the threshold of pain (120 dBSPL) you will need 167mW which is about 7V_RMS at the HD650's 300 Ohm impedance.
The Magni 2 Uber can crank out 320mW at 300 Ohms which will bleed your ears to 122.8 dBSPL.This is continuous not an over inflated peak measurment,
The non Uber version can crank out 260mW at 300 Ohms for just under 122 dbSPL.
I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference, if turned up to max, either will result in a painful experience.
 
The V_RMS specs for the HD650 can be found on Sennheiser's website, I converted that to dB/mW. The specs for max power at impedance can be found on Schiit's website. The rest is basic Electircal Engineering math, no calculus.
If an amp can deliver the power required at a given impedance (of your headphones) that would mean that it can deliver both the current as well as voltage to meet that. Below are some links for some online dB calculators, some of which include the equations and links to more info. The trick is to use one of the calculators or equations to figure out how to convert the headphone sensitivity into the mW at a high level around 120 dB lets say and see what an amp can do.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-db.htm
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-gainloss.htm
http://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Decibels-Calculator.phtml
http://www.crownaudio.com/db-power.htm

 

[rovopio]

  HD650 sensitivity is 103dB/V_RMS at 1 kHz which is 97.8 dB/mW.
To reach the threshold of pain (120 dBSPL) you will need 167mW which is about 7V_RMS at the HD650's 300 Ohm impedance.\

 
oh by the way, about the SYS, after some readings and asking arounds, i got a workaround for my low-level listening with very low impedance headphone situation...
 
so, all my stuffs are 16 bit / 44.1khz CD...
I just set the windows properties to 24 bit basically. and i received an explanation that i.e.
When i set it to 16 bits at 100% on windows the sample for example say... 0000111100101101
The same sample if i turn it down to 25% then i'll get: 0000001111001011 (the last 01 is lost)
 
I understand now that the same 16 bits when the DAC is set to 24 bits it will goes 000011110010110100000000
and on windows if i turn it down to 25% it'll be 000000111100101101000000 (i didn't lose anything, it just moved down two zeroes)
On top of that, i can set my windows volume to 6-8% or 10% now and not losing any data.
 
Not exactly buying anything, and probably not optimal, but i can use the magni 2 uber at 9 o'clock just fine now with my 12 ohm headphone...
 
-----
i actually have one more question to ask, is there any effect to sound for this modi 2's particular spec... Maximum Output: 1.5V RMS
 ?
For fiio e10k, i tried to find the exact same spec but i couldn't find it on their documentation. The closest i could find is Max output voltage : 7.39 Vp-p..
 
Is the two comparable? The fiio one needs to be converted to be directly comparable to modi 2 spec or something?
and what does a dedicated DAC maximum output do for the audio chain and will it noticeably affect sound?

 

[StanD]

   
oh by the way, about the SYS, after some readings and asking arounds, i got a workaround for my low-level listening with very low impedance headphone situation...
 
so, all my stuffs are 16 bit / 44.1khz CD...
I just set the windows properties to 24 bit basically. and i received an explanation that i.e.
When i set it to 16 bits at 100% on windows the sample for example say... 0000111100101101
The same sample if i turn it down to 25% then i'll get: 0000001111001011 (the last 01 is lost)
 
I understand now that the same 16 bits when the DAC is set to 24 bits it will goes 000011110010110100000000
and on windows if i turn it down to 25% it'll be 000000111100101101000000 (i didn't lose anything, it just moved down two zeroes)
On top of that, i can set my windows volume to 6-8% or 10% now and not losing any data.
 
Not exactly buying anything, and probably not optimal, but i can use the magni 2 uber at 9 o'clock just fine now with my 12 ohm headphone...
 
-----
i actually have one more question to ask, is there any effect to sound for this modi 2's particular spec... Maximum Output: 1.5V RMS
 ?
For fiio e10k, i tried to find the exact same spec but i couldn't find it on their documentation. The closest i could find is Max output voltage : 7.39 Vp-p..
 
Is the two comparable? The fiio one needs to be converted to be directly comparable to modi 2 spec or something?
and what does a dedicated DAC maximum output do for the audio chain and will it noticeably affect sound?

7.39/2 *.707 = 2.61 V_RMS which is +4.8 dB above 1.5 V_RMS
However, you are drawing the wrong conclusions. The FiiO E1 is an DAC/Amp and that number is for the output of the Amp section, The Modi is a DAC which requires an amp to complete the audio chain.

 

[Yummerzzz]

My new (almost useless as I only have IEMs until the 6th, HP150 here I come) Schiit Stack

 

[spykez]

If it's new it should be the Magni 2, in which there's a low gain switch on the back for use with IEMs

 

[RRod]

[redacted]

 

[Yummerzzz]

If it's new it should be the Magni 2, in which there's a low gain switch on the back for use with IEMs

New in the sense I just bought it, its actually all second hand!

The gain works surprisingly well OOB, with no hiss (or much less) than the CmoyBB I hard before.

EDIT : Just to clarify this isn't FOR iems, its for my HP150's I'm going to buy, it just works well with the IEMS.

Going from the K550's > MA750s > Fidelio X1's > Dunu DN1000's > t10i's, I'm hoping the 150 is the can I'm looking for, will most likely purchase a Beyer can, HD650/HD600 or HE400 later also.