[Yoga]

  @Yoga
 
As I remember, you have non stock cable for HD800 with silver wires.
Do you have something like this for your LCD2, or you use the stock cable?
What the difference is? Especially in combination with V281.

Yes, from Lavricables. It's an excellent cable indeed, for an incredible price (comparatively). I have the Silver Widow (Toxic) for the LCD2.2. Similar beasts.

Moving to balanced sounds incrementally tighter, wider and deeper. It's not night and day, but it adds to my enjoyment of the music and worth the price of admission. I cannot, of course, attribute how much of that is due to the silver cables. You'd need Sennheiser's own balanced cable for a proper A/B comparison.

 

[boomtube]

Curious about a tube-preamp that pairs well with the v281?

 

[Stevell57]

I recently bought a V280 in preference to the V281 for the following reasons:
 
* I wanted a TOTL amp with balanced output and more power than my Chord Hugo to optimally drive my Hifiman HE1000 v1
* No need for preamp functions as all my digital and analogue sources are connected to an excellent Naim Audio preamp with tape pass through to the headphone amp.
* The rack with the headphone amp is at arm's length, so no need for headphone remote volume control. 
* It has been said, in this thread, that the V280 sounds the same as or marginally warmer than the V281. The Chord Hugo DAC is neutral/bright and makes a perfect match,
 
I also think the V280 looks nicer and is a little cheaper.

 

[PleasantSounds]

  I recently bought a V280 in preference to the V281 for the following reasons:
 
* I wanted a TOTL amp with balanced output and more power than my Chord Hugo to optimally drive my Hifiman HE1000 v1
* No need for preamp functions as all my digital and analogue sources are connected to an excellent Naim Audio preamp with tape pass through to the headphone amp.
* The rack with the headphone amp is at arm's length, so no need for headphone remote volume control. 
* It has been said, in this thread, that the V280 sounds the same as or marginally warmer than the V281. The Chord Hugo DAC is neutral/bright and makes a perfect match,
 
I also think the V280 looks nicer and is a little cheaper.

 
It is important that it does everything you need it to do. No doubts it's a great amp and you'll be happy with it.
Congrats on the purchase!

 

[freedom04]

I'm looking for a decent DAC to pair up with my V281. I currently have the HE1000 and planning to get either an Elear or HD800. Been using Stoner Acoustics End Game DAC for now, quite satisfied with it but I would like to try new one. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[robi20064]

First maybe you should share how much you willing to spend on a DAC before anyone could recommend you one. There are many options from $500 to $20k and above...

 

[watchdog507]

  I'm looking for a decent DAC to pair up with my V281. I currently have the HE1000 and planning to get either an Elear or HD800. Been using Stoner Acoustics End Game DAC for now, quite satisfied with it but I would like to try new one. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you go over to the Mytek Brooklyn thread that I started, you will find a few of us have the Brooklyn/V281 set up.  I'm very pleased with it so far.

 

[sanjeewasam]

  I'm looking for a decent DAC to pair up with my V281. I currently have the HE1000 and planning to get either an Elear or HD800. Been using Stoner Acoustics End Game DAC for now, quite satisfied with it but I would like to try new one. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

I am having V281 and V850 Dac. I also have Mojo and have done some tests with it on V281. Improvement marginal for the price gap like for the case of many high end gear. Believe better to spend on different HPs that give different perspective of the same song and cater to different moods rather than different dacs unless you are willing to go to very high end like M1 or Dave or Paveen understanding very well very high diminishing returns (and the fact that for casual listening it does not make much sense  unless you are listening for  differences). This is my view
 
I also have HD800, Elear, HE560 and K812 and getting HE1000 with Moon audio silver dragon but I will settle down to He1000 if that fit most of my requirements ( I just listen at nigh to relax and enjoy)
 
I was planning to get Hugo 2 or Holo Audio Spring R2R but I am not convinced that they are any better for the price difference and loss I have to make in disposing my existing gear. Holo Audio Spring R2R seems to be in the same level as Yoggy and version 3 even compare ok with Metrum Acoustics Pavane that is 3x.

 

[phase0]

  I'm looking for a decent DAC to pair up with my V281. I currently have the HE1000 and planning to get either an Elear or HD800. Been using Stoner Acoustics End Game DAC for now, quite satisfied with it but I would like to try new one. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 
I sold my Mytek Stereo 192 and got a Yggdrasil. It was a nice little upgrade. That's pretty much end game for me.

 

[Yoga]

   
I sold my Mytek Stereo 192 and got a Yggdrasil. It was a nice little upgrade. That's pretty much end game for me.

Yes, I would recommend the Yggy to pair with the V281 at that price range.

 

[robi20064]

I'm using my V281 with a DiDiT DAC212SE and being more than satisfied with what I hear, however it's even more pricey than the Yggy (also a bit different set of features).

 

[project86]

My experience with DACs is that they make a more subtle difference than swapping out headphone amps. I think that difference can still be very worthwhile in the long run, but I also wouldn't fault somebody who spent a bunch of money on a nice DAC and feels underwhelmed by the difference (or lack of difference) they initially hear. 
 
It doesn't help that price isn't necessarily a good indicated of quality on a DAC. Nor is popularity. Like everything else around here, there is flavor of the month, and hype, and it's often hard to know what might actually be best for your needs. I also think there are very legitimate differences in what people enjoy, and therefore how they perceive a DAC. So a truly heartfelt positive review could still end up steering you the wrong way if your sonic preferences differ from the author.
 
In the end I still think finding a great DAC that does everything you need it to do is a very worthwhile goal. That might be an expensive model or a modest one, might be R2R or the latest Sabre or a Wolfson that isn't really popular any longer....

 

[PleasantSounds]

For those who are considering Yggy: have a look at the Metrum Menuet if you have a chance. 
I have compared the two side by side and liked the Menuet much better. They are on a similar level in terms of detail, but to me Menuet sounds more natural.

 

[sanjeewasam]

  For those who are considering Yggy: have a look at the Metrum Menuet if you have a chance. 
I have compared the two side by side and liked the Menuet much better. They are on a similar level in terms of detail, but to me Menuet sounds more natural.

Thanks and Metrum Menuet is more clostlier that Yoggy and does Metrum Menuet need  to be on all the time like Yoggy tto get the best sound out of it?
 
I noted that you have Mojo with you. Can I ask the impossible and give some details of Metrum Menuet vs Mojo connected to V281 say with HD800. I am sure Metrum Menuet is better but just want to understand by what marging without using word "night and day" which people use loosely even to describe differences of different cables. For me night and day could be like listening to $100 radio vs $20K system. My expereince was V850 and Mojo difference is very subtle -bit more air, sound stage and clarity in V850's favour.

 

[PleasantSounds]

Pricing may depend where you are based. In Australia Menuet is $4,300 and Yggy is 3,850 - not that much of a difference if you're shopping in that bracket.
Some people who compared Menuet with Pavane claim that they are hard to tell apart.
 
I had the Mojo connected to V281 as a DAC for a couple of months just before I got the Menuet. The difference was quite noticeable, much more than between other DACs I had experience with.
 
With the Menuet I'm getting more clarity and more sub bass. Also imaging is more precise and there's more content in the far left and right of the image (not necessarily a good thing if you listen to 60's recordings). The sound is very natural.