[chesebert]

Yeah. 2 Last questions.

1. Is Mojo 2 really that much of an upgrade over a Toppin E20/THX 789 combo?
2. How about keeping my dac and using a Bottlehead Crack?

Gilmore lite + SF dac would be my target at $1kish range.

I am sure there are other suggestions, I generally only suggest stuff I own/owned/heard directly/heard gear from the same manufacturer, which are limited in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Radphone14]

Appreciate the input!

 

[iamoneagain]

Yeah I don't necessarily need portable. Just improved sound resolution and help with my 800 S low end. I also don't want to hold it back in anyway and let it shine the way it is meant to.

I think the problem is your setup probably lacks warmth. The 800 S is supposed to be transparent and lacks bass. Probably a tube amp would fix that problem.

I also don’t think you need to spend crazy money on headphone setup. I tried Chord Dave/mscaler and while excellent, I’m getting better results with Naim Uniti Atom HE with my Utopia. The issue was the Chord setup was dead neutral and the Utopia are ultra transparent, so technically amazing but lack hint of warmth and emotion. Sometimes it more about the best synergy for your headphones than just throwing money at the problem.

 

[Radphone14]

I agree, warmth and bass is what I need. My CTH really isn't doing it for me, and worse, it has significant less clarity than the 789. I need something with a good injection of warmth that isn't going to break bank.

 

[Radphone14]

But then again this discussion is for under 4500, so I apologize if I'm distracting from the point.

 

[chesebert]

I think I have pushed this discussion to dacs under $10k

 

[Radphone14]

Lol. One day. I'm not at attending money just yet. 4 months left.

 

[gregadd]

How about the iFi Audio Diablo dac/amp. It's portable and mobile. It has little rubber feet maki g it perfect for desktop use. An added bonus I believe it will make any non-electrostatic headphone mobile.
It comes with a set of balanced cables. A little pricey at $999.

 

[Radphone14]

How about the iFi Audio Diablo dac/amp. It's portable and mobile. It has little rubber feet maki g it perfect for desktop use. An added bonus I believe it will make any non-electrostatic headphone mobile.

It comes with a set of balanced cables. A little pricey at $999.

So, you think it's still a solid improvement over the E30 / THX 789 stack? Also its not tubed, so could it add the warmth needed for those 800 S cans lacking bass?

 

[OCC7N]

How about the iFi Audio Diablo dac/amp. It's portable and mobile. It has little rubber feet maki g it perfect for desktop use. An added bonus I believe it will make any non-electrostatic headphone mobile.
It comes with a set of balanced cables. A little pricey at $999.

I have it and I like it alot. Bare naked organic sound with a little class d character on it. Thats the way!

It was a clear upgrade from the zen dac/can v1 stack.

If I can output both to speaker(4.4 XLR balanced) and Headphone. Its ideal for now.

I have a feeling its a fixed 4.4 output.

 

[Arniesb]

Also that THX 789 is just an opamp-based amplifier - I suppose it's fine for budget fi. Schiit makes decent discrete mid-fi headphone amps.

Man... You forget to mention that schiit have better power supply and wolume control. Why op amps are bad? Or this is just another of audiophile bull?

 

[chesebert]

Current and power limited to start. Generally not designed for audio. Just google for more in depth analysis.

 

[OCC7N]

Current and power limited to start. Generally not designed for audio. Just google for more in depth analysis.

Can you name amps without it? Dacs?

 

[chesebert]

I don't think any Schiit, Headamp, Pass Labs or Luxman use opamp as their output device. Dacs is system dependent as there is not such power/current output requirement to say discrete > opamp for all situations. I know all Ayre, dCS, Emm Labs all use discrete. But I think first gen Linn Klimax used some opamp in its transformer coupled output. I owned that piece for close to 10 years and it was one of the best streamer/dac for its time and still sounds amazing today. All that is to say proper implementation is the key for application that does not have high current/power requirement.

 

[Arniesb]

I don't think any Schiit, Headamp, Pass Labs or Luxman use opamp as their output device. Dacs is system dependent as there is not such power/current output requirement to say discrete > opamp for all situations. I know all Ayre, dCS, Emm Labs all use discrete. But I think first gen Linn Klimax used some opamp in its transformer coupled output. I owned that piece for close to 10 years and it was one of the best streamer/dac for its time and still sounds amazing today. All that is to say proper implementation is the key for application that does not have high current/power requirement.

So what if they use that? Why technicaly op amps are worse? More pleasant distortion that soften everything?