IEMCrazy
Longwindeus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2012
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Short answer: It's not warmer than Lyr. Long answer: It depends on tubes. Since the Lyr is 1/2 SS, it no doubt uses the same general warmth producing topology as Asgard. The other half of Lyr is tubes, so whatever tube sound you get out of the tubes is dependent on what tubes you're using. The stock GE 6BZ7's are fairly neutral with a hint of warmth, the 6N1Ps are said to be warmer and more "tubey" sounding. And then there's the exotics in the tube market. I have some Mullards, an entry high-end tube on the way...we'll see how it sounds.
You already ordered your asgard, but just for the FYI, I'm actually fond of the stock GE 6BZ7's in the absence of having heard anything better. However, the nature of messing with tubes means sometimes you get a noisy one, or microphonic one, etc. Especially with NOS (old stock sitting around since the 60's or older), there's no way to know. For $10 a tube though the GEs are pretty good. But I had to remove two that were just too noisy.
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Sure there's better SQ to be had over O2. Auditor and Phonitor are excellent. Among the best. Why stop there, why not buy some Mark Levinson stuff while you're at it? The classic summit-fi $10,000 HD650 rig from years past is always just around the corner. Why not go there?
Eventually the question comes down to "what do I want, what do I not want, and what am I willing to pay for it?" If you have the money for an Auditor, go for it. It's highly regarded. Auditor should no doubt measure SLIGHTLY better than O2, and the aesthetics, build, and "handling" (volume pot etc) are sure to be much nicer. But then there's Phonitor....only $1k more! The be-all end-all of neutral analytical amps and every bell and whistle one could ever want in an SS amp. There are a lot of people that would say it's crazy to buy a $2k amp for a $500 headphone. There's also a lot of people who would agree it's a good idea when they hear the headphone is HD650
Same for K702 for that matter. Acix is a big proponent of Phonitor & K702. A $2k amp for a $350 headphone. Then again, he's a studio engineer.
SPL and Violetric make very good studio equipment, and even the designer of the O2 handily states that his only comes close to some of their measurements but that they still measure even better. If you've got the funds and like neutral amps, go for it, I doubt you'll regret it. The only catch is you're paying 5-15x more money for probably 10%, if that, measurable difference. However you're also getting nicer aesthetics, nicer connectors, controls, volume pots etc, so there's more value to it than just SQ difference.
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That's the first time you started questioning Headphonia?
My personal favorite is still the HE-400 review where they declare that HD650 still surpasses it on $2k+ rigs, and then in the comments section they state that the two are in different leagues and shouldn't be compared. I'm convinced they blurt out whatever lands in their brain at any moment. But it's still fun to read
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Makes sense. For me, if I'm using big headphones, Lyr or O2 comes out. If I'm using an ipod/E11, the IEMs come out. Small, light, classy jacks all around
Oooh.....Rotel and Logans....I'm suffering a relapse to my stereophile days.....pardon me while I'm drooling
Thanks! I think I deserve a bonus post-count. My posts in this thread have been 5x the length of normal posts
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Congrats on the HD650+Bifrost+Asgard combo! It's as pretty as it is good sounding
It should be quite the audio experience coming into something like that. Enjoy the first moments!
No S/PDIF cable is included. No RCA cables are included. Just the power cord. If you're connecting to a toslink-only source you'll obviously go Toslink. If you have a choice of Toslink or coax, I always tend to prefer Coax unless running in a high noise environment like near a computer power supply.
What cables? Now you've done it....you've opened the cable debate flood gates...
Honestly, my preference is while I like having high-end headphone cables for whatever coloration I prefer, I prefer simple clean interconnects. Ratshack cables will work just fine. Most would be happy with it. If you want to treat yourself a bit and go with something custom that matches the Schiit stuff aesthetically and performs very well, drop Blue Jeans a line and inquire about custom 6 inch 1805F cables. If you go with regular RCA's it'd probably be $35 or $40 or so for the pair. If you wanted right angle connectors it would probably be $60 or so (right angle costs more.). I actually went through configuring that, but ended up not buying it at the time. I'm running some crazy set of adaptors. I needed y-cables. I have some crazy audioquest bundle with monoprice adapters going on. It's a mess. I may get a Blue Jeans MSA-1 right angle to finish up my setup next year.
I'm running a Blue Jeans 1505F for my digital coax, and an MSA-1 rom my one right angle split to the 1/8 TRS on my O2. BJC isn't as exotic as Moon or Signal, but it's nice studio-grade stuff and the specs are provided as PDFs. No question of them not being neutral.
But for now, radioshack is probably as close as you'll get to good in a brick & mortar store. And no point buying Monster or something....BJC would be cheaper and more "tried & true".
Short answer: It's not warmer than Lyr. Long answer: It depends on tubes. Since the Lyr is 1/2 SS, it no doubt uses the same general warmth producing topology as Asgard. The other half of Lyr is tubes, so whatever tube sound you get out of the tubes is dependent on what tubes you're using. The stock GE 6BZ7's are fairly neutral with a hint of warmth, the 6N1Ps are said to be warmer and more "tubey" sounding. And then there's the exotics in the tube market. I have some Mullards, an entry high-end tube on the way...we'll see how it sounds.
You already ordered your asgard, but just for the FYI, I'm actually fond of the stock GE 6BZ7's in the absence of having heard anything better. However, the nature of messing with tubes means sometimes you get a noisy one, or microphonic one, etc. Especially with NOS (old stock sitting around since the 60's or older), there's no way to know. For $10 a tube though the GEs are pretty good. But I had to remove two that were just too noisy.
Quote:
Sure there's better SQ to be had over O2. Auditor and Phonitor are excellent. Among the best. Why stop there, why not buy some Mark Levinson stuff while you're at it? The classic summit-fi $10,000 HD650 rig from years past is always just around the corner. Why not go there?
SPL and Violetric make very good studio equipment, and even the designer of the O2 handily states that his only comes close to some of their measurements but that they still measure even better. If you've got the funds and like neutral amps, go for it, I doubt you'll regret it. The only catch is you're paying 5-15x more money for probably 10%, if that, measurable difference. However you're also getting nicer aesthetics, nicer connectors, controls, volume pots etc, so there's more value to it than just SQ difference.
Quote:
That's the first time you started questioning Headphonia?
My personal favorite is still the HE-400 review where they declare that HD650 still surpasses it on $2k+ rigs, and then in the comments section they state that the two are in different leagues and shouldn't be compared. I'm convinced they blurt out whatever lands in their brain at any moment. But it's still fun to read
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Makes sense. For me, if I'm using big headphones, Lyr or O2 comes out. If I'm using an ipod/E11, the IEMs come out. Small, light, classy jacks all around
Oooh.....Rotel and Logans....I'm suffering a relapse to my stereophile days.....pardon me while I'm drooling
Thanks! I think I deserve a bonus post-count. My posts in this thread have been 5x the length of normal posts
Quote:
Congrats on the HD650+Bifrost+Asgard combo! It's as pretty as it is good sounding
No S/PDIF cable is included. No RCA cables are included. Just the power cord. If you're connecting to a toslink-only source you'll obviously go Toslink. If you have a choice of Toslink or coax, I always tend to prefer Coax unless running in a high noise environment like near a computer power supply.
What cables? Now you've done it....you've opened the cable debate flood gates...
I'm running a Blue Jeans 1505F for my digital coax, and an MSA-1 rom my one right angle split to the 1/8 TRS on my O2. BJC isn't as exotic as Moon or Signal, but it's nice studio-grade stuff and the specs are provided as PDFs. No question of them not being neutral.
But for now, radioshack is probably as close as you'll get to good in a brick & mortar store. And no point buying Monster or something....BJC would be cheaper and more "tried & true".
