[kothganesh]

   
Yo, answer to my PM, man.
 
My educated guess from purrin's previous posts is EC445, but it might have changed now....

Oh shucks...I don't want to start anything here...just my guess and yes his current favorite is the EC 4-45.

 

[kothganesh]

  I have not heard either amp although I nearly bought the GSX MK2 and decided on the DNA Stratus instead. 
 
I think if you look at previous posts from Purrin you can see that he prefers the EC 445 and probably by a large margin. 

These are good times to be looking for an amp....I would bide my time and wait for the reviews... but we're hijacking this thread... I own the Gungnir and love everything about it..especially its speed and bass.... Between the Stax and the HD 800, I get more detail than I need

 

[magiccabbage]

I'm really looking forward to the Schiit Yggy beta. That will be really interesting 

 

[Xecuter]

Just need to wait for the hype train to die down a bit, then audition them. Hopefully I can audition them while I'm visiting the US end of year!

 

[kothganesh]

  Just need to wait for the hype train to die down a bit, then audition them. Hopefully I can audition them while I'm visiting the US end of year!

Lucky you..

 

[En_R]

Taking into account his preferences the 445 and Rag would probably not make the shortlist.
 
@Xecuter
 

You can pass on the GS-X if rolled off treble/warm highs are a priority. Bass is nice and clean though.

 
Personally I'd go for a Stratus. It has the warm highs you are looking for and a very liquid midrange - I'd look into monoplate RCA 2a3's. The Liquid Glass can also give you what you're looking for and its probably my first choice for the Abyss/LCD-3 but not for the HD800. For those I'd probably pick the EC 4*2a3.
 
DAC choice- you'd fit in with the NOS dac camp for warmer highs - try Audionote. The Bricasti M1 can be made to sound relatively warm/dark with certain setups (if you've ever heard the old Mark Levinson dacs, you can get an idea of the sound). This would probably be my first choice for you if paired with the Stratus. I can't in good faith recommend Lampizator or the Northstar series but if resolution, details and clarity are not your main priorities you can give them a try.

 

[commtrd]

 

 

  He might surprise you with the Ragnarok 

Did he get it through the beta? 

Yes. Supposedly current production beta rag is quite different from previous testing versions.

Would prolly be well advised to wait until the statement items come out from Schiit before making any decisions on anything... At least that is what I am going to do. In the meantime, I am enjoying my current amp and dac very much. In fact I am not seriously motivated to make a move at all so that says something. Most cost effective thing to do would be just keep what I have and be happy with it (which I am).

 

[kothganesh]

 
Would prolly be well advised to wait until the statement items come out from Schiit before making any decisions on anything... At least that is what I am going to do. In the meantime, I am enjoying my current amp and dac very much. In fact I am not seriously motivated to make a move at all so that says something. Most cost effective thing to do would be just keep what I have and be happy with it (which I am).

I have the same set up that you do....G/M combo so I've been gritting my teeth and passing on several names - Stratus, Dynahi, EC etc... However, if the Rag can play all HPs (including the 800 and the HE 6) well, then I will need to dig into my wallet again,,,,

 

[BaTou069]

Can someone please explain me, why all of these fancy DACs I see in high end audio shops get never mentioned in this forum? Are these just expensive and not the real deal, or are the needs for headphone listenings less high then these for speaker listening? 
 
Thanks

 

[fzman]

I am wondering how people here would rate the sonics of the better dacs in the roughly $1500-$4000US price range in terms of the the following parameters:
 
Grit./grain/glare edginess (harsh 'distortions', in other words.
 
Tonal balance - ranging from 'instruments struggling to get free from the tar pits'   to 'a bunch of cymbals and sparkle-y things along with some other instruments' -- that is, does the dac highlight a specific part of the ffrequency range whether at the expense of the other ranges or not.
 
 
Distance from performers:  that is, does it make everything sound like it's in your face, or waaaay down the hall, or just right?
 
I am trying to avoid terms like 'warm' or 'bright' or 'analytic', as these can get in the way.   I have read a number of reviews of dacs from Rsonesence, Auralic, Antelope, Weiss, and they all seem to be on the lighter side of neutral - not necessarily bright, but not fully pressenting the nautral warmth and body of live, unamplified instruments.  Or, am I misreading this?  I am not looking for warmth as a coloration, but want a dac that does not remove or lessen it, when present.
 
Thanks in advance for your comments/suggestions.

 

[commtrd]

 

 
Would prolly be well advised to wait until the statement items come out from Schiit before making any decisions on anything... At least that is what I am going to do. In the meantime, I am enjoying my current amp and dac very much. In fact I am not seriously motivated to make a move at all so that says something. Most cost effective thing to do would be just keep what I have and be happy with it (which I am).

I have the same set up that you do....G/M combo so I've been gritting my teeth and passing on several names - Stratus, Dynahi, EC etc... However, if the Rag can play all HPs (including the 800 and the HE 6) well, then I will need to dig into my wallet again,,,,

Yeah the HD800 seems to be the main problem with almost all amps and dacs. Seems to be extremely demanding of the upstream to try to overcome its -ahem- peculiarities. At the risk of offending HD800 peeps I would say that if a headphone is such that the whole upstream chain has to be tailored specifically to that headphone then maybe there are better alternatives? With my Audeze products (all of them) I have always had stellar results with my stack. Just sayin'...

 

[Clemmaster]

Not everybody can bear the weight and overall comfort (or lack thereof) of the LCD-3.
Not everybody like the elephant-heavy bass rendition and smoky Audeze house sound.
It is also not as resolving as a HD-800 or HE-6...

The list goes on. Depends on your priorities.
Any Audeze would sound like heavy crap on my setup because it's be tailored for brighter cans over the years (Hifiman, AKG). Different path.

 

[commtrd]

Not everybody can bear the weight and overall comfort (or lack thereof) of the LCD-3.
Not everybody like the elephant-heavy bass rendition and smoky Audeze house sound.
It is also not as resolving as a HD-800 or HE-6...

The list goes on. Depends on your priorities.
Any Audeze would sound like heavy crap on my setup because it's be tailored for brighter cans over the years (Hifiman, AKG). Different path.

My LCD-X are extremely comfortable and I wear them for hours on end with no issues. In fact several times I have finished listening to music and find that I still have them on and never thought about it. No elephant heavy bass rendition (but awesome when it is in the recording) and non-smoky ? Audeze house sound associated with the X. Which is precisely why I moved to the X from LCD3c. As far as resolution I cannot compare to HE6 or HD800 as I have never listened to those phones but I CAN say the X on my stack are just incredibly detailed and musical too. Good thing there are options so everyone can have what they want (or close to it). I can't imagine a headphone sounding better than my X but totally fine with those who could not think of listening to other than the HD800. I think it is safe to say that the X will be pretty much compatible with almost any amp / dac while the HD800 are clearly NOT compatible with just any amp or dac. There are many threads that relate to this very thing right here on HeadFi. According to consensus the HD800 command tailoring all the upstream to effectively drive them, to accommodate their characteristics. I would rather not have to go to such trouble to try to make my whole chain fit my headphones. Others will. That's cool to each his own. 

 

[Maxvla]

Compatible with everything because it masks so much. Anyways, I thought this was a DAC thread.

 

[magiccabbage]

Compatible with everything because it masks so much. Anyways, I thought this was a DAC thread.

yea - use the PM function lads.