[sianofabio]

I see you've got the Vérité open. I owned the VO at the same time as I had a Bliss and a DNA Stratus. The Stratus is an appreciable step up in almost every way over the Bliss, including soundstage. (It's not as slammy or impactful, though). I don't what they go for new, now, but the Stratus's price used to be right around $4k. Used ones pop up in the classifieds every so often - I'm not sure if @OnlySoMany's one is still for sale, see the post above. It's listed as "closed."

I loved my Vérité open but found it quite finicky with amp pairings, at least for my preferences. The Stratus was the best amp I heard it with, and the Stratus plays very well with other ZMFs, including my Atrium. I wasn't especially fond of the pairing with the Caldera, though. I don't think they had a good synergy together.

I'd recommend checking the Vérité thread as quite a few folks have the Status (@heliosphann and @RestoredSparda, I believe), and they might be able to give you a second opinion. For reference, mine is the v3 Stratus and my DAC's an Yggy A2.

Thanks @Tchoupitoulas & @goldwerger for those two recommendations! i will further look into them. They should work great with my trust Blackice Audio Dac that's single ended.
For others in this thread interested in a single ended Dac, i have tried Bifrost, aris 2, Sokries. and this one came out on top for me but specifically for my strereo setup.

One thing i hated about my setup before was that the singer Voice was always at the level or lower than my speaker baffles. that is the only Dac that actually move the singer voice taller to about two feet higher, But only after putting two Mazda long plates in it. Makes a world of a difference in strereo setuups.

 

[kumar402]

My Parents always say "Too Much Tube Porn is not good for you!"LOL

Going back to more affordable Amps, according to reviews, the Bliss seem to have the biggest sounstage even compared to tube amps. (Euforia for example) Anyone here knows of a tube amp that actually surpasses or equals the Bliss at under $4k of course.? I want the bliss with the lush and warm mids! plus the big stage.

What DAC are you using ? DAC has lot of say on soundstage and drawing picture on a canvas. I do have EC ZDS OTL with me and Bliss is wider but not as deep as ZDS but width is just as good. Also looks like you want Bliss with a bit more bigger stage then why not try a tube preamp with it instead of going to a completely different amp altogether.

 

[OnlySoMany]

I've heard it at few CanJams, they're actually making reuglar appearnaces demo-ing it these days. Beauitful (and MASSIVE in size).

It drives the Susvara really well, very euphonic and holographic presentation. I can it synergizing really well wtih ZMF, I'll make a point to take a pair at CanJam NYC to try this, now now I'm super curious.

Only headphone that weren't ideal for it were the Tungsten, as the gain of the amp is limited (will clip) unless you feed it high voltage from DAC (like 9V instead of 4V), but that's an insanely specific and specialized edge case.

It's also well revealing of source. I forget what crazy DAC they had with it at CanJam Chicago (those are 2-channel guys, it was a DAC I never heard of that costs 40-50k), and just switching the filter types on it was audible.

Those giant tubes are just mesmerizing. This is a showpiece. Like using a ferrari, the drive and look are equally important

https://www.thraxaudio.com/maximinus

This was the dac they were using.

 

[OnlySoMany]

I see you've got the Vérité open. I owned the VO at the same time as I had a Bliss and a DNA Stratus. The Stratus is an appreciable step up in almost every way over the Bliss, including soundstage. (It's not as slammy or impactful, though). I don't what they go for new, now, but the Stratus's price used to be right around $4k. Used ones pop up in the classifieds every so often - I'm not sure if @OnlySoMany's one is still for sale, see the post above. It's listed as "closed."

I loved my Vérité open but found it quite finicky with amp pairings, at least for my preferences. The Stratus was the best amp I heard it with, and the Stratus plays very well with other ZMFs, including my Atrium. I wasn't especially fond of the pairing with the Caldera, though. I don't think they had a good synergy together.

I'd recommend checking the Vérité thread as quite a few folks have the Status (@heliosphann and @RestoredSparda, I believe), and they might be able to give you a second opinion. For reference, mine is the v3 Stratus and my DAC's an Yggy A2.

My Stratus is still listed on USAM and also ebay. Price was recently drastically lowered as well.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650043099-dna-stratus-headphone-amplifier-with-additional-tubes/

 

[goldwerger]

https://www.thraxaudio.com/maximinus

This was the dac they were using.

Right!

 

[AudioDuck]

My Stratus is still listed on USAM and also ebay. Price was recently drastically lowered as well.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650043099-dna-stratus-headphone-amplifier-with-additional-tubes/

Gorgeous amp and you get to skip the (understandable) build time and queue.

If I won the lottery…

Thankfully I’m very happy with my current amps/tubes (and with some backup Tung-Sol 5998s in the mail!), but I’m sure the Stratus will be end game for some lucky listener.

 

[AsciiJC]

The Homage has been rotting my brain by how good it looks, and I am genuinely tempted to pick one up but I have a Bokeh on the way soon. Also no DAC yet, but if I do consider the option of the Homage, what more budget friendly, atleast 300ish usd or more would pair well with the Homage?

 

[mattiastomas]

The Homage has been rotting my brain by how good it looks, and I am genuinely tempted to pick one up but I have a Bokeh on the way soon. Also no DAC yet, but if I do consider the option of the Homage, what more budget friendly, atleast 300ish usd or more would pair well with the Homage?

I’m assuming you’re asking what DAC to pair with it?

I’ve been running mine with a Schiit Modi Multibit 2. Love this combo with the Bokeh

 

[cats4cans]

The Homage has been rotting my brain by how good it looks, and I am genuinely tempted to pick one up but I have a Bokeh on the way soon. Also no DAC yet, but if I do consider the option of the Homage, what more budget friendly, atleast 300ish usd or more would pair well with the Homage?

I’m waiting until they do a stabilized run. With a matching headphone. And an integrated headphone stand. I think I need an Atrium next. Something with vibrant primary colors - red, blue, yellow. And shiny steel hardware.

Making unreasonable wish lists might be the only thing that saves me from myself. Of course I’m going to need to fight all of you off and cough up a huge chunk of change if it ever happens.

 

[inthere]

The Homage has been rotting my brain by how good it looks, and I am genuinely tempted to pick one up but I have a Bokeh on the way soon. Also no DAC yet, but if I do consider the option of the Homage, what more budget friendly, at least 300ish usd or more would pair well with the Homage?

I have a backup setup when I'm in the UK for work-Topping E30II ($149) and my 20-year-old Headroom Maxed Out Home Amp and it sounds sensational. The E30II was an emergency replacement for a Cayin iDAC 6 that had heating problems. At first it was pretty blah but after a couple weeks things started sounding pretty wonderful and I don't miss the Cayin at all. I used it with the AO, AC, and Eikon. Now i think I may even upgrade to the E70 because the E30 was so impressive.

 

[AsciiJC]

I’m assuming you’re asking what DAC to pair with it?

I’ve been running mine with a Schiit Modi Multibit 2. Love this combo with the Bokeh

Yup, basically what I was asking! Never send a message at 3am like I did haha.

But! That was a dac i was looking at, seems perfect for what I need!

 

[George Hincapie]

I’m assuming you’re asking what DAC to pair with it?

I’ve been running mine with a Schiit Modi Multibit 2. Love this combo with the Bokeh

Have you tried it with any other headphones?

 

[mattiastomas]

Have you tried it with any other headphones?

Not the modi multibit and homage combo. So far I’ve only listened to the Bokeh on those.

But at work I’ve been running modi multibit + nitsch piety combo and that’s a pretty sweet combo. I’ve used it with the Bokeh, Atrium Closed, Caldera, and LCD-X.

Very fun combo to listen to while working.

 

[George Hincapie]

Not the modi multibit and homage combo. So far I’ve only listened to the Bokeh on those.

But at work I’ve been running modi multibit + nitsch piety combo and that’s a pretty sweet combo. I’ve used it with the Bokeh, Atrium Closed, Caldera, and LCD-X.

Very fun combo to listen to while working.

I listened to Homage at CanJam with Atrium and Caldera. Very enjoyable.

 

[mattiastomas]

I listened to Homage at CanJam with Atrium and Caldera. Very enjoyable.

I've been using the Homage at home with Schiit Bifrost 2/64. Sounds very enjoyable with the AC and Caldera.