[BournePerfect]

Well it's the first diamond differential design he's done in a while. The reason I snatched one up is because I have ZERO intention of ever going balanced, and this is the highest SE design he has right now. I'm hoping for the same (DD) magic I experienced with the Ref 9 over a year ago. I wish he would come up with an ever higher-end SE dac soon, but he seems pretty sold on balanced design so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.
 
-Daniel

 

[MomijiTMO]

SA-1? What, how many different products does Kingwa offer now? The dude's lost his mind.

He seems to have culled a few models.

 

[MorbidToaster]

So I'm going to be nabbing one of the new Cambridge 851 units from my local guy this week. Impressions to follow. Really looking forward to hearing it. Anyone with an LF and HD800 looking for a source upgrade had better watch out. This one might hurt.
 
EDIT: And if anyone wants a great DAC for a computer based solution my Calyx 24/192 is up for grabs. 

 

[Maxvla]

Gone already huh?

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

How responsive are these cans to amps? Very much, I suppose. Been trying to drive my recently acquired HD800 with WA3 and Icon HDP and I'm not impressed at all...

 
It works wonderfully with my Grace m903 (and also my earlier Grace m902b)
 
 
Quote:

The HD800 provides a crystal-clear rendition of what lurks upstream.

 
Yes - they are very revealing - any deficiencies in the recording, microphone technique, choice of microphones, mastering, etc... will all be revealed, as well as the characteristics of the DAC, amp and pre-amp., etc.
 
That's why I chose a neutral DAC/amplifier for myself.

 

[dleblanc343]

Well it's the first diamond differential design he's done in a while. The reason I snatched one up is because I have ZERO intention of ever going balanced, and this is the highest SE design he has right now. I'm hoping for the same (DD) magic I experienced with the Ref 9 over a year ago. I wish he would come up with an ever higher-end SE dac soon, but he seems pretty sold on balanced design so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

-Daniel

Why do you want to stay away from balanced?

 

[MorbidToaster]

Gone already huh?

Well not yet. Someone needs to buy it first.

There's just a few more things I wanted to try DAC wise. Trying to hit that moving target and all.

 

[MelvinV]

I've been running the HD800 out of MB sound (Rampage IV Extreme, Realtek ALC898) for almost a week now, and I'm going to purchase a FiiO E10 until I have the money to buy what I want.
They sound like ~$200 headphones now, the E10 should at least double that before I get my real stuff.
 
Now I'll get the amp first, is it a smart idea to use the E10 as a DAC for my real amp once I get it (also temporarily), or does the ALC898 chipset have a better DAC?
I'm not sure because the DAC in the E10 is limited from 20Hz to 20KHz, but onboard should be grainy although it has a higher range...
 
Greetings,
Melvin.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

I've been running the HD800 out of MB sound (Rampage IV Extreme, Realtek ALC898) for almost a week now, and I'm going to purchase a FiiO E10 until I have the money to buy what I want.
They sound like ~$200 headphones now, the E10 should at least double that before I get my real stuff.
 
Now I'll get the amp first, is it a smart idea to use the E10 as a DAC for my real amp once I get it (also temporarily), or does the ALC898 chipset have a better DAC?
I'm not sure because the DAC in the E10 is limited from 20Hz to 20KHz, but onboard should be grainy although it has a higher range...
 
Greetings,
Melvin.

Best way to answer it, would be to do a rmaa test:
http://audio.rightmark.org/index_new.shtml
 
You'd need a line in connection & a cable to perform the  loopback test.
 
I've done it with my xonar stx here:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=95781&view=findpost&p=800717

 

[mentt]

Quote:

I've been running the HD800 out of MB sound (Rampage IV Extreme, Realtek ALC898) for almost a week now, and I'm going to purchase a FiiO E10 until I have the money to buy what I want.
They sound like ~$200 headphones now, the E10 should at least double that before I get my real stuff.
 
Now I'll get the amp first, is it a smart idea to use the E10 as a DAC for my real amp once I get it (also temporarily), or does the ALC898 chipset have a better DAC?
I'm not sure because the DAC in the E10 is limited from 20Hz to 20KHz, but onboard should be grainy although it has a higher range...
 
Greetings,
Melvin.

You need serious DAC. Something like V800 or M-DAC. HD800 are picky on source as on AMP. And also good cables. [size=16.363636016845703px]Kimber USB cable vs regular USB cable is huge difference![/size]

 

[ericfarrell85]

Quote:

The HD650 has a much greater emphasis on mid-bass impact and doesn't extend as low as the HD800, for starters. Then when you get into subtleties like timbre it is indeed no contest.

To this day I haven't heard a headphone that beats the HD650 for sheer enjoyment when listening to bop or traditional jazz. For Bluegrass the HE6's are wonderful. Even now, as I'm listening to Alison Krauss & Union Station Live (SACD) I find the HD800 don't reproduce enough bass to my satisfaction. Timbre is important with bass guitars, oboes, tuba's, cello's; but when there is a dobro, resonator guitar, mandolin and banjo competing to be heard, the HD800's simply keep the double bass in the background. This is not to say that I don't enjoy them (I do a great deal!), but more so for ambient, classical, some classic rock and electronica (synthetic bass can be very nice on the 800's), but would take the HD650's for jazz any day of the week.  

 

[grokit]

The LCD2r.1 (with r.2 pads) is my HD650

 

[BournePerfect]

Quote:

Why do you want to stay away from balanced?

 
Cuz my headphone cables are not 100 feet long, and are not that power hungry.

 
-Daniel

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
Cuz my headphone cables are not 100 feet long, and are not that power hungry.

 
-Daniel

 
 
HUH?  I don't understand?  

 

[ac500]

Quote:

You need serious DAC. Something like V800 or M-DAC. HD800 are picky on source as on AMP. And also good cables. [size=16.363636016845703px]Kimber USB cable vs regular USB cable is huge difference![/size]

 
USB cables don't make a difference. Not only is it obvious why if you have any education on the technology, but one of the designers of the USB standard explicitly said that it doesn't matter to audio whatsoever. Case closed.
 
That said, amps for the HD800 definitely makes a huge difference.