[Solude]

My advice would be a great DAC and using your current GS-1.  Then get good headphones and then think about the GS-X.  I found the GS-X/Gungnir combo super dark.

 

[joseph69]

  My advice would be a great DAC and using your current GS-1.  Then get good headphones and then think about the GS-X.  I found the GS-X/Gungnir combo super dark.

Thank you for your reply.
You can see in my profile the DAC's/HP's I currently own.
I appreciate the advice, but why would you say get good HP's?
Also are you saying the GS-1 will drive the HE-1000/HD-800 just as well as the GS-1 un-balanced? 
My reason for wanting the mk2 is so I can go balanced which I can't do with the GS-1.
Are you also saying that SE will sound pretty much the same as balanced with the HP's I'm getting? What HP's where you using with the mk2/Gungnir which makes you say this? And in no way am I trying to come off wrong, and I do appreciate your input, but please explain why you say this. Oh, and by the way "dark" is exactly what I don't want to hear…at all. 

 
Thank you.

 

[Solude]

If you don't want dark then the HE-1000 or HD800 are the right direction.  Too bright for me but to each their own.
 
The GS-1 using Dynalo+ modules sounds damn near the same as the GS-Xmk2 when run single ended.
 
I had the PWD2, GS-Xmk2, Mjolnir and Gungnir at the same time as the LCD-3 and HD800.

 

[joseph69]

  If you don't want dark then the HE-1000 or HD800 are the right direction.  Too bright for me but to each their own.
 
The GS-1 using Dynalo+ modules sounds damn near the same as the GS-Xmk2 when run single ended.
 
I had the PWD2, GS-Xmk2, Mjolnir and Gungnir at the same time as the LCD-3 and HD800.

Great to hear the HE-1000 isn't dark. I've heard the HD-800 single ended so I know their sound-signature.
So if the GS-Xmk2/GS-1 with the Dynalo+ Modules sound close single ended…whats your opinion on using the mk2 balanced compared to using the GS-1 single ended?
I also had the LCD-3 and it was way too dark for my tastes, so was it the HP's you used with this combo, or the source/amp that makes you say "dark"? Did you find this combo "dark' even with the HD-800?
Thank you.

 

[Solude]

Gungnir into the GS-X mk2 is dark.
Gungnir into the Mjolnir is neutral.
PWD2 into the GS-X mk2 is neutral.
PWD2 into the Mjolnir is bright.
 
I don't find the LCD-3 dark so much as mid centric.  Based on the Olive curve it is missing sub bass and lower treble, where the HD800 is utterly lacking down low and has a boosted lower treble to make it even less weighty.  Truth be told I prefer the 846 to both.
 
I can't tell the difference between single ended and balanced out of the GS-Xmk2 since I don't need the power gain, used low gain even with the LCD-3/HD800, and improving already overkill performance is well overkill.  If the GS-1 was sold today with the pre on/off switch, Dynalo+ modules and an Alpha pot... I'd be all over it.  Which is to say I personally paid $1500 for a switch /facepalm

 

[BobG55]

+1 on the Power Gain not being used at "Hi".  Most times I use the "Mid" gain even w/ the 300ohm HD800.  At "Mid" gain the sound appears to come out a bit clearer.  Sometimes all I need to do is add or lessen the volume & while keeping the "Mid" gain on. 

 

[nepherte]

  +1 on the Power Gain not being used at "Hi".  Most times I use the "Mid" gain even w/ the 300ohm HD800.  At "Mid" gain the sound appears to come out a bit clearer.  Sometimes all I need to do is add or lessen the volume & while keeping the "Mid" gain on. 

Guess it also depends on the output voltage of the source as well. I set the gain switch to low with the HD800. Volume know usually sits around 9 or 10.

 

[BobG55]

 

  +1 on the Power Gain not being used at "Hi".  Most times I use the "Mid" gain even w/ the 300ohm HD800.  At "Mid" gain the sound appears to come out a bit clearer.  Sometimes all I need to do is add or lessen the volume & while keeping the "Mid" gain on. 

Guess it also depends on the output voltage of the source as well. I set the gain switch to low with the HD800. Volume know usually sits around 9 or 10.

My source is an SACD/CD player coaxed to a DAC without a volume adjuster.

 

[RUMAY408]

 
My source is an SACD/CD player coaxed to a DAC without a volume adjuster.

Coax and SE I've been there and done that, why are you so stubborn about this you are are wasting a seriously great amp  with what you have, and you have no idea, but you have to defend that position no matter what, and why?

 

[BobG55]

I'm not defending anything and I'm not telling anyone else on this site how to do things.  Please don't start with that again.  Just leave me alone.  Ok ?  Thank you.

 

[RUMAY408]

  I'm not defending anything and I'm not telling anyone else on this site how to do things.  Please don't start with that again.  Just leave me alone.  Ok ?  Thank you.

I'm just trying to be helpful thats all

 

[BobG55]

 

  I'm not defending anything and I'm not telling anyone else on this site how to do things.  Please don't start with that again.  Just leave me alone.  Ok ?  Thank you.

I'm just trying to be helpful thats all

Ok, I understand & appreciate it.  Will talk via PM.  Thanks Randy.

 

[joseph69]

  Gungnir into the GS-X mk2 is dark.
Gungnir into the Mjolnir is neutral.
PWD2 into the GS-X mk2 is neutral.
PWD2 into the Mjolnir is bright.
 
I don't find the LCD-3 dark so much as mid centric.  Based on the Olive curve it is missing sub bass and lower treble, where the HD800 is utterly lacking down low and has a boosted lower treble to make it even less weighty.  Truth be told I prefer the 846 to both.
 
I can't tell the difference between single ended and balanced out of the GS-Xmk2 since I don't need the power gain, used low gain even with the LCD-3/HD800, and improving already overkill performance is well overkill.  If the GS-1 was sold today with the pre on/off switch, Dynalo+ modules and an Alpha pot... I'd be all over it.  Which is to say I personally paid $1500 for a switch /facepalm

I made a mistake…I didn't have the LCD-3, it was the LCD-X, sorry.
So correct me if I'm wrong, but your saying that you prefer or find the GS-1 just as good (SE) and can't hear the difference with the GS-Xmk2 (balanced) and pretty much wasted $1500.00 for a pre-amp on/off switch? Also have you ever heard the HE-1000?

 

[BobG55]

  Not a chance. Check your source.

 

 

  Not a chance. Check your source.

I'm not here to debate with anyone about their or my technical knowledge.  My ears tell me what I hear so, in my case, yes Big Chance.  Sorry to disappoint you.

 

 

 
I'm not here to debate with anyone about their or my technical knowledge.  My ears tell me what I hear so, in my case, yes Big Chance.  Sorry to disappoint you.

That's fine. Get a better source. 

 

 

 

  My vintage Fisher 500c rocks my HD800 as much as the GS-X mk2.  It's truly a toss up at times.  

What chain are you using, and leads, I have a Fisher 100T I have been using as a prephono amp and fine with that, but balanced out from a source was so revealing to me.
 
I was running RCA and switching over to XLR in is shockingly good

I'm not technically inclined RUMAY408.  I still listen to my music via a SACD/CD player which nowadays, I realize, makes me some sort of Neanderthal but I like CDs & SACDs.  So I run a Teac SACD 2000 w/an exterior DAC, PS Audio NuWave (I'm waiting for a BDA DAC-1 I just bought) & because I use a CD player I run it via Coax w/ the DAC and RCA w/ the Fisher 500c.  When I use the GS-X mk2 I listen to it balanced and XLR w/ my HPs.

 

 
Thanks for the advice I never sought from you paradoxper.

Your welcome. You enjoy your GS-X to the fullest, Old Groucho.

BTW pardoxper it's "You're" welcome, not "your".  Enjoy your's also, it's all good.

 

 

 
I'm not technically inclined RUMAY408.  I still listen to my music via a SACD/CD player which nowadays, I realize, makes me some 

BTW pardoxper it's "You're" welcome, not "your".  Enjoy your's also, it's all good.

It's paradoxper to you, pal. 

 

 

 
You know, I checked out your profile and it says "twenty something".  When I was twenty something I was out on a Friday night trying to find some action or enjoying my youth, not hanging around my parents' basement starting and engaging in verbal arguments with someone in his 60s.  See I'll give you some unsolicited advice also since it's appears to be a specialty of yours : get out of your parents' basement & get a life.  Pal. 

The night is still young. Ha. No need to show your thin skin. 

 

 

 

 
You know, I checked out your profile and it says "twenty something".  When I was twenty something I was out on a Friday night trying to find some action or enjoying my youth, not hanging around my parents' basement starting and engaging in verbal arguments with someone in his 60s.  See I'll give you some unsolicited advice also since it's appears to be a specialty of yours : get out of your parents' basement & get a life.  Pal. 

The night is still young. Ha. No need to show your thin skin. 

You win, can't compete with your level of intellect.

And there was more.  I owe an apology to both paradoxper and RUMAY408​.  Not an excuse but a fact : I didn't understand what they were referring to exactly when they mentioned "my source" because I'm not tech savvy and have a hard time following what's being said most of the time on Head-fi.  So I got very defensive (false pride) and lashed out.  I had a PM discussion with RUMAY408​ tonight & I'm pretty sure I understand what both he and paradoxper were referring to now.  I was wrong but hey, I'm not perfect.  Thank you again gentlemen for helping me & putting up with my reactions.  Never too old to learn.

 

[cooperpwc]

Lots of back and forth. Hopefully all worked out now....

Me, I continue to feed my GS-X mk2 with USB Monica which is a USB - I2S - EIAJ implementation of the old Philips TDA1545 NOS DAC chip. It is very musical - the sound is wonderful actually - but it has its limitations. It can be a bit congested with extremely complex musical arrangements and has some limits on dynamic range.

I have no interest in spending money on a delta-sigma DAC. However, while I do not have space for it now, I continue to contemplate the Yggdrasil. I wonder if anyone has tried the GS-X mk2 + Yggdrasil combination?