[bearFNF]

I was thinking the other day that the Vali might have been as far as would have gone with the HD800's, it is very good with them.  At this point it is my curiosity that keeps me getting more stuff...

 

[R Scott Ireland]

  Can someone help me on upgrading my amp here, which one would be better for HD800? Alo Pan Am or Schiit Lyr? (I don't plan to spend a lot on tube rolling, probably not even going to tube roll at all lol)

 
I have both the Pan Am and the Lyr and the HD800's sound very good on both.
 
Since you don't plan to do much tube rolling, the Pan Am might be the way to go; you can get killer tubes inexpensively and there are a lot fewer choices to make. However, the Pan Am + Passport is more $$.

 

[kazsud]

Here is my hd800 song of the day

http://m.soundcloud.com/nozu/emotion-1

 

[kamalz]

  Yeah I have the vali + gungnir now but I am wondering if the uberfrost would have been a better combo with the hd800 and vali. The gungnir can sound overly dynamic sometimes, but I'm gonna give it a week or so to burn in.

i think it is very difficult for lyr to sound the way i want with hd800
You need a good warm musical dac ( musical fidelity)  & good tubes (mullard) & good after market cable for hd800 & good conditonized electricity
Too much to invest IMO
Lyr is edgy & so too HD800 thus everything needs to be right to sound right
Upgraded Crack would be a better choice for this level

 

[62ohm]

Hi everyone, thanks for the recommendations. Seems like the Vali is the better pair than the Lyr for HD800 I take it.
 
Quote:

   
I have both the Pan Am and the Lyr and the HD800's sound very good on both.
 
Since you don't plan to do much tube rolling, the Pan Am might be the way to go; you can get killer tubes inexpensively and there are a lot fewer choices to make. However, the Pan Am + Passport is more $$.

 
I actually really like the Pan Am because it can also serve as a portable amp/dac with the passport. Though I read some reviews saying the soundstage of the HD800/Pan Am is not as large as HD800/Lyr. The passport is not mandatory though, right? It would still work without the passport?

 

[Maxvla]

Yeah I have the vali + gungnir now but I am wondering if the uberfrost would have been a better combo with the hd800 and vali. The gungnir can sound overly dynamic sometimes, but I'm gonna give it a week or so to burn in.

The Gungnir's problem is actually that it is not very dynamic, everything is loud and louder. It is a relentless, tiring driving sensation.

 

[62ohm]

And what about the Valhalla? I don't hear a lot regarding the Valhalla, is there any particular reason behind this?
 
edit: or the Asgard 2

 

[thegunner100]

The Gungnir's problem is actually that it is not very dynamic, everything is loud and louder. It is a relentless, tiring driving sensation.

Yeah I'm interested now in the x-sabre or concero, after reading your comparison between the gungnir and x-sabre. It'll probably suit me more, but the x-sabre is a bit more expensive than the gungnir . Is the concero good in terms of reducing the "loudness"? I may try to pick one up used if the gungnir proves to still be too loud in a week.
 
It seems to have settled down a little bit after 4 days of continuous burn in.

 

[DarKen23]

The Gungnir's problem is actually that it is not very dynamic, everything is loud and louder. It is a relentless, tiring driving sensation.

Yeah I'm interested now in the x-sabre or concero, after reading your comparison between the gungnir and x-sabre. It'll probably suit me more, but the x-sabre is a bit more expensive than the gungnir . Is the concero good in terms of reducing the "loudness"? I may try to pick one up used if the gungnir proves to still be too loud in a week.

It seems to have settled down a little bit after 4 days of continuous burn in.

The concero is good from what I've read. I have the DA8 from Yulong Audio, couldn't be happier. Excellent with the HD800

 

[AgentXXL]

 

The Gungnir's problem is actually that it is not very dynamic, everything is loud and louder. It is a relentless, tiring driving sensation.

Yeah I'm interested now in the x-sabre or concero, after reading your comparison between the gungnir and x-sabre. It'll probably suit me more, but the x-sabre is a bit more expensive than the gungnir . Is the concero good in terms of reducing the "loudness"? I may try to pick one up used if the gungnir proves to still be too loud in a week.
 
It seems to have settled down a little bit after 4 days of continuous burn in.

 
If you're looking at the X-Sabre or Concero and have some patience, you might want to consider the LH Labs Geek Pulse:
 
[Mod Edit: Referral links are not permitted.]
 
There's a decent thread discussing this crowd-source funded DAC, but given Light Harmonic's past engineering marvel in the $31,000 DaVinci dual DAC, everyone (including myself) has high hopes for the Geek Pulse. The big 'gotcha' is the waiting period for delivery. The Indigogo funding campaign ends in 4 days and there are some special announcements on the site (new perks) at 6pm PST Mon. Dec. 23rd, 2013.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/687851/geek-pulse-geek-desktop-dac-amp-by-light-harmonics
 
Dale

 

[thegunner100]

I'd rather not wait for the geek pulse. 

 

[skeptic]

I'd trust that impulse.  The geek hype train seems to derive from a highly flawed premise that just because a company can build a well regarded "cost is no object" product, then obviously they'll make a great $300 - $1k dac too, subject to the elective upgrades.  Er...wait....that actually doesn't follow.  Moreover, for all its bells and whistles, the pulse doesn't appear to include the sort of power regulation and independent supplies for the dac board and output stage that you find in a diy twisted pear kit for $700.  Throw in an $80 amanero board, and I wonder which will sound better

 
 
If you want something that is almost certainly worth waiting for, the bottlehead/john swenson fpga based dac is due to be formally announced in the next month or so.  After several years of careful design and redesign work, and multiple prototypes, this is the source I'm saving my money for.  Check out Swenson's various posts in this thread about jitter, usb isolation and input design (several of which are on the page I'm linking): http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,4086.210.html .  Note that contrary to the title of the linked thread, they are not yet taking orders.  Also, although this is a bottlehead product, I understand that they no longer intend to include a tube in the output stage because it simply isn't necessary.    

 

[R Scott Ireland]

I actually really like the Pan Am because it can also serve as a portable amp/dac with the passport. Though I read some reviews saying the soundstage of the HD800/Pan Am is not as large as HD800/Lyr. The passport is not mandatory though, right? It would still work without the passport?

Well, you will need some power source. The general consensus is that it sounds better using the Passport, instead of the Gateway AC line power source.

 

[62ohm]

Well, you will need some power source. The general consensus is that it sounds better using the Passport, instead of the Gateway AC line power source.

 
So I have to get either one of the optional accessories for the Pan Am? I guess it's not really an 'optional' option after all..

 

[elvergun]

  I'd be interested to see if anyone actually was able to get that price...

 
I just got mine today.
 
When I saw the price I could not stop myself.  I had just purchased a T1, so I wasn't definitely not  planning on buying an HD800.   I quickly formulated a plan to have a head-to-head to see which one is the better headphone.   Well, 10 minutes or so after I put the HD800 on the Sennheiser won that battle handily.