The Ever Winding Road
I has been a while since I posted or even checked in here. I have not completely abandoned headphones but have come really close as this point in time. I am using my Focal Clear OG strictly for gaming now and my Noble Khan and Sp1000 are relegated to bed time listening. Gone are the days of my Abyss and Bartok system with the XIaudio stack. I tried to get back into it with the Empyrean and LCD 4. I just found it to be lacking for me. I have met a lot of great people on this site and at meet-ups. Maybe something will catch my ear at Axpona this year? Why have I abandoned the ultra high end world of headphones? Well I have officially lost my mind and gone down the rabbit hole of 2 channel speaker listening.
This all started with finding Z-Reviews and watching his LCD-X video. this had me searching out for Audeze. I eventually got the LCD-X, attended my first Axpona and found Head-Fi. Next was JH Roxannes and then the Solaris and Clears, LCD 4Z. I had a modest speaker system with LS50 and an Arcam amp. I found myself wanting a TT2 and went to the local Chord dealer. I thought well I just turned 40 and got the LCD 4Z and now I need a Dac that will do them justice. I liked what i hear and placed my order.
After 3 months still no TT2 (blue bird did not place any stocking estimates and this leads to a delay) I was tired of waiting and decided to buy the M-scaler and Hugo2. Life was good. While visiting the shop i got to know the owner and staff. I became friends with them (this is a good thing build a relationship with your local dealers and support them). I was able to listen to many systems there one was a pair of Magico S3MKII with their TT2 and M-scaler with Dan D'Agostino amplification.
I began to find speakers more engaging. I sold my LCD4z and bought a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinums with a Hegel H360. Also sold the Hugo and M-scaler and both a metrum onyx. This was a huge step up from the LS50. I ended up with the Dian Phi and then the 1266 Phi TC. The 1266 was awesome and I wanted that in my speakers. I ended up with a pair of Magico S1MKII they are great speakers and got closer to the abyss. Now it was time for a dac upgrade enter the Bartok. My buddy and some friends did a shoot out with the Bartok and dave with m-scaler. Rob Watts was not happy when I posted about this on the chord thread. The bartok was great with the abyss.
Next is where it starts to get bad. I upgraded from the Magicos to a pair of Rockport Atria II with a pair of JL Audio F110v2 subs. This was a big jump and now I wanted new amps. The Hegel is good but not on par with these speakers. I went through 3 amps Octave Mre220 monos (great but the high output impedance caused issues), Krell Duo300XD nice amp (not sure what the future holds for Krell), Classe Delta pre and stereo amp. I also made the move from dCS to MSB with the discrete dac.
Last fall I was offered the opportunity to purchase my dream amps and pre. So I jumped and bought a pair of D'Agostino M400 monos with the matching HD Pre. This was awesome everything got better more bass, openness, staging. There was one issue now I am second guessing is this gear above my speakers? The Atria is incredible and could be endgame for anyone. As an audiophile there is always that nagging thought in our mind. I survived 7 months now resisting. Last week I did the unthinkable and committed to a pair of Rockport Cygnus and an upgrade to the MSB Premier.
For me this is it the end for speakers to go any higher it would be a $150k speaker and the amps would be over $150k too. This is the problem with HiFi. Once you get to a certain level it is really expensive to go up to the next stop. I have been through 4 pairs of speakers, 6 amps, and 8 dacs in a little more than 4.5 years.
The moral of the story is it is a lot cheaper to get to the summit with headphones than it is with speakers. Only dip your foot into the water if you are willing to go to the edge of sanity.
I has been a while since I posted or even checked in here. I have not completely abandoned headphones but have come really close as this point in time. I am using my Focal Clear OG strictly for gaming now and my Noble Khan and Sp1000 are relegated to bed time listening. Gone are the days of my Abyss and Bartok system with the XIaudio stack. I tried to get back into it with the Empyrean and LCD 4. I just found it to be lacking for me. I have met a lot of great people on this site and at meet-ups. Maybe something will catch my ear at Axpona this year? Why have I abandoned the ultra high end world of headphones? Well I have officially lost my mind and gone down the rabbit hole of 2 channel speaker listening.
This all started with finding Z-Reviews and watching his LCD-X video. this had me searching out for Audeze. I eventually got the LCD-X, attended my first Axpona and found Head-Fi. Next was JH Roxannes and then the Solaris and Clears, LCD 4Z. I had a modest speaker system with LS50 and an Arcam amp. I found myself wanting a TT2 and went to the local Chord dealer. I thought well I just turned 40 and got the LCD 4Z and now I need a Dac that will do them justice. I liked what i hear and placed my order.
After 3 months still no TT2 (blue bird did not place any stocking estimates and this leads to a delay) I was tired of waiting and decided to buy the M-scaler and Hugo2. Life was good. While visiting the shop i got to know the owner and staff. I became friends with them (this is a good thing build a relationship with your local dealers and support them). I was able to listen to many systems there one was a pair of Magico S3MKII with their TT2 and M-scaler with Dan D'Agostino amplification.
I began to find speakers more engaging. I sold my LCD4z and bought a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinums with a Hegel H360. Also sold the Hugo and M-scaler and both a metrum onyx. This was a huge step up from the LS50. I ended up with the Dian Phi and then the 1266 Phi TC. The 1266 was awesome and I wanted that in my speakers. I ended up with a pair of Magico S1MKII they are great speakers and got closer to the abyss. Now it was time for a dac upgrade enter the Bartok. My buddy and some friends did a shoot out with the Bartok and dave with m-scaler. Rob Watts was not happy when I posted about this on the chord thread. The bartok was great with the abyss.
Next is where it starts to get bad. I upgraded from the Magicos to a pair of Rockport Atria II with a pair of JL Audio F110v2 subs. This was a big jump and now I wanted new amps. The Hegel is good but not on par with these speakers. I went through 3 amps Octave Mre220 monos (great but the high output impedance caused issues), Krell Duo300XD nice amp (not sure what the future holds for Krell), Classe Delta pre and stereo amp. I also made the move from dCS to MSB with the discrete dac.
Last fall I was offered the opportunity to purchase my dream amps and pre. So I jumped and bought a pair of D'Agostino M400 monos with the matching HD Pre. This was awesome everything got better more bass, openness, staging. There was one issue now I am second guessing is this gear above my speakers? The Atria is incredible and could be endgame for anyone. As an audiophile there is always that nagging thought in our mind. I survived 7 months now resisting. Last week I did the unthinkable and committed to a pair of Rockport Cygnus and an upgrade to the MSB Premier.
For me this is it the end for speakers to go any higher it would be a $150k speaker and the amps would be over $150k too. This is the problem with HiFi. Once you get to a certain level it is really expensive to go up to the next stop. I have been through 4 pairs of speakers, 6 amps, and 8 dacs in a little more than 4.5 years.
The moral of the story is it is a lot cheaper to get to the summit with headphones than it is with speakers. Only dip your foot into the water if you are willing to go to the edge of sanity.
