[MisterMoJo]

My advice: be sure you know what the problem is before you throw thousands of dollars at stuff hoping it works. I don't have that answer, but you can go in circles chasing your tail just randomly buying things hoping to make it "sound better." And people here will encourage you to spend money without thinking twice. Not complaining about that. Just stating the facts. "Welcome to Head Fi sorry about your wallet" is a thing. I don't know what will make your system sound better. Just saying you should at least have a good idea before you throw away a lot of money. Sorry, I hope this doesn't sound harsh. I am just trying to save you some time and money. And you did come to the right place for advice, just make sure you make an informed decision. You are the one who has live with the consequences. Beyond that I have no advice on what to buy. End of rant.

 

[surfgeorge]

Really thinking about getting both the PS Audio DirectStream DAC and WA33 now. You've all confirmed my suspicions - my dac and source are terrible (or perhaps not optimal). And tubes > solid state. Every day enjoyment > money. Oh well.

I have to say I agree with @MisterMoJo about the risk of changing too much, or missing the bottleneck in a system upgrade.
I find the Hans Beekhuizen videos quite interesting, although I would not be willing to copy his extreme attention to every detail of the chain.
Nevertheless it's a very good starting point to see what can create a bottle neck.
His reference system video gives a good overview of all elements of the chain:

Personally I like the approach of Chordelectronics. There's a lot of hardcore engineering in their products and IMO it really works.
When I bought the $500 Mojo in 2018 it easily sounded better than a 20 year old $4000 DAC I had in my stereo setup. The Hugo 2 was another significant step up.
What could help you with your system setup is that a Hugo 2 or Hugo TT 2 with a good digital source gives you an excellent DAC with plenty of power to drive the Stellias directly, simplifying your chain and creating a very good baseline. Adding an external amplifier would then just add coloration, if that is what works for you. And if you want to take it a step further in the future you could even add the M-Scaler.

But again, buying blind is risky. Maybe just try to get a Hugo 2 for a trial period, just see if it goes into the right direction.

 

[ubs28]

Try using Audirvana and listen to Tidal with that.

If you don’t mind renting software, try Roon. However Audirvana sounded better to me when I had both.

Btw, Tidal is not high quality sound at all as there is something wrong about MQA (MQA sounds different than the same music I have locally in FLAC).

 

[Racheski]

Why don't you try EQ on your headphones before spending thousands of dollars on equipment? Also look at finding a balanced DAC to connect to the XE via XLR instead of RCA to maximize performance.

 

[HBen]

Hello,
I'd appreciate any help in identifying the weak link in my system because the music seems underwhelming and lackluster.

Computer playing Tidal
AudioQuest Carbon USB
Burson Audio DA-160 (10 years old? at this point)
AudioQuest Mackenzie RCA
SPL Phonitor XE
Danacable Lazuli
Focal Stellia

I can't figure out what's going on, but I feel like I shouldn't be disappointed with listening to music. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

Pretty interesting what kind of recommendations pop up in this thread when to me the solutions seems rather obvious.

Looking at these not exactly cheap components and seeing you spending 1000$ on cables within a system you don't even like it seems to me like a typical case of buying based on forum posts/reviews etc. instead of testing yourself and finding out what you like.
This in the end lead you to having a sterile, non-euphonic system that in many peoples case is probably better for studio use than for private music listening.
Seems to me your biggest issue is system synergy ... "lackluster" is exactly the right word to describe it.

Combining a lot of components together that are considered neutral, bright, lean, sterile or however you want to call it is not a very good idea when you expect musicality and fun out of a system.

The three important pieces are obviously the DAC, the amplifier and the headphone. Try to switch at least one of them for a more musical option and see if you like the change. Maybe you can try at a shop or a friends place, like this you don't have to spend any money without knowing what you're getting into.

Option 1: Try a more euponic DAC, for example some R2R DAC or one with a tube in the output stage
Option 2: Try a tube Amp
Option 3: Switch you Stellia for "warmer" headphone, for example some Audeze
If one option is not helping enough, try to combine two of the above options.

See if you like the change, go from there and test and try more to broaden your knowledge
Trust me when I'm saying: this is not about spending a ton of cash by just buying a WA33 or a Directstream without testing (again) ... it's all about trying and learning and for this you don't need to spend all that much.
(Sidenote: if you have the possibility or cash is not a limiting factor of course the best way is to just get your hands on a lot of different DAC's, amplifiers and headphones and find the right combination by trying out all the different combinations )

Best of luck!

 

[krt230]

Try using Audirvana and listen to Tidal with that.

If you don’t mind renting software, try Roon. However Audirvana sounded better to me when I had both.

Btw, Tidal is not high quality sound at all as there is something wrong about MQA (MQA sounds different than the same music I have locally in FLAC).

Audirvana has helped quite a bit. I was having all sorts of trouble with Tidal directly. The quality of sound seems much better, but now sounds less muffled, but more clinical. Lol. One problem solved? Definitely need a warmer component added to solve this, but at least I'm headed in the right direction.

 

[donpablo]

Hello,
I'd appreciate any help in identifying the weak link in my system because the music seems underwhelming and lackluster.

Computer playing Tidal
AudioQuest Carbon USB
Burson Audio DA-160 (10 years old? at this point)
AudioQuest Mackenzie RCA
SPL Phonitor XE
Danacable Lazuli
Focal Stellia

I can't figure out what's going on, but I feel like I shouldn't be disappointed with listening to music. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

Please do not throw any more significant amount of money yet.
One thing about using Tidal settings to make sure you have 'normalisation' off and 100% volume set in your OS(windows/linux) is good advice as well.
Try below in this order:

1. Overear headphones need to have good seal with your head, the place where it touches the skin around your ear.
So if you wear glasses and put overear HPs you might have sound leakage between pads and your skin.
If you have bushy amount of hair it might has similar effect.
So make sure you have good seal between the pads and skin of your head.

2. Make sure you do not have any wifi/blueetooth devices placed close to your usb cable and your dac/amp.

3. If you have USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 sockets in your computer, use USB 3.0 for usb cable that goes to your DAC.
Why? USB 3.0 has fixed voltage all the time while USB 2.0's voltage is system controlled and when you have many devices connected system may treat certain USB 2 socket differently then depending from current use.
By plugin your usb cable to other socket like USB 3.0 will result in up to few minutes lasting driver reinstallation process so give it a time.

4. Make sure you do not have any wifi/blueetooth deviced placed close to your usb cable and your dac/amp.

5. Try to connect your usb cable directly to your SPL Phonitor XE usb input instead your Burson DAC. It has inbuilt DAC as well.

6. Turn off sound enchancing functions on your SPL Phonitor like Matrix on off.

7. Maybe you have your audio devices powered into the electric socket that is close to some noise heavy home-devices like refrigerator. The you may try to use an extension cord and plug your audio devices to the socket that is few meters away in your room (just to test if that helps or not).
If you cannot change that then cheap and good option is this for example https://www.brennenstuhl.com/en-DE/...protect-line-60.000-a-8-way-3-m-h05vv-f-3g1-5
It has EMI/EFI filters that will filter the noise in your electric circuit. Plug your all audio to that.

Thats all I have in mind for now before you will start spending next hundreds/thousands of dollars

 

[protoss]

@krt230

Your headphone, amp and dac sucks change it up.

Get openback headphones and move on to STAXS!

 

[Pirastro]

Sometimes you just need to go simple. My Marantz HD-DAC sounds so satisfying with every headphone I own. Amazing how a simple DAC/Amp combo can be a solution. I've even "upgraded" my usb cable and it doesn't really make a difference, cause the usb isolation is so good...basically can finally just sit back and enjoy the music. Hope you find your solution.

 

[Pirastro]

@krt230

Your headphone, amp and dac sucks change it up.

Get openback headphones and move on to STAXS!

This is true...very hard to be completely happy with a closed back headphone. Unless you absolutely have to have sound isolation, you gotta go open. I only used my closed back MDR-Z7s when my wife complains, lol!

 

[krt230]

I so appreciate all the effort and good advice. This whole thing is driving me crazy and, at this point, is quite the distraction in my life. I've read 100's of pages here and feel more confused than ever.

So, I'm returning:

SPL Phonitor XE and replacing it with the WA33. Done.
Focal Stellia and replacing with an open headphone of some sort??? (Utopia or Abyss Phi TC). Both have appealing attributes - still deciding.

I'm donating the Burson DAC to my son and replacing with??? Not sure, but it has to go. Maybe Dave, maybe Hugo, maybe ____. Still deciding.

I love music and am not quite sure how I've made it so far in life without all these audiophile grade components, but I'm looking forward to having a competent setup that I can simply enjoy and forget about. I'm not looking to collect or swap or upgrade - I just want to enjoy the journey.

Final decisions are being made before the weekend and whatever will be, will be. Wish me luck - any last advice is also still very welcomed

 

[cgb3]

I so appreciate all the effort and good advice. This whole thing is driving me crazy and, at this point, is quite the distraction in my life. I've read 100's of pages here and feel more confused than ever.

So, I'm returning:

SPL Phonitor XE and replacing it with the WA33. Done.
Focal Stellia and replacing with an open headphone of some sort??? (Utopia or Abyss Phi TC). Both have appealing attributes - still deciding.

I'm donating the Burson DAC to my son and replacing with??? Not sure, but it has to go. Maybe Dave, maybe Hugo, maybe ____. Still deciding.

I love music and am not quite sure how I've made it so far in life without all these audiophile grade components, but I'm looking forward to having a competent setup that I can simply enjoy and forget about. I'm not looking to collect or swap or upgrade - I just want to enjoy the journey.

Final decisions are being made before the weekend and whatever will be, will be. Wish me luck - any last advice is also still very welcomed

If you haven't had a recent hearing test, I suggest you start there.

A competent ENT MD, or Audiologist technician/PhD can also take care of any wax buildup. Clogged ears can explain many hearing deficiencies.

Look for local hearing aid shops. One may often find free or discounted hearing tests and evaluations offered.

 

[Pirastro]

I so appreciate all the effort and good advice. This whole thing is driving me crazy and, at this point, is quite the distraction in my life. I've read 100's of pages here and feel more confused than ever.

So, I'm returning:

SPL Phonitor XE and replacing it with the WA33. Done.
Focal Stellia and replacing with an open headphone of some sort??? (Utopia or Abyss Phi TC). Both have appealing attributes - still deciding.

I'm donating the Burson DAC to my son and replacing with??? Not sure, but it has to go. Maybe Dave, maybe Hugo, maybe ____. Still deciding.

I love music and am not quite sure how I've made it so far in life without all these audiophile grade components, but I'm looking forward to having a competent setup that I can simply enjoy and forget about. I'm not looking to collect or swap or upgrade - I just want to enjoy the journey.

Final decisions are being made before the weekend and whatever will be, will be. Wish me luck - any last advice is also still very welcomed

Not sure why this is driving you crazy. Why are you in this hobby if you don't love the journey? You have a "mid-fi" system at best, so why is it so frustrating? Well, I know the answer to this question. It's frustrating, because you're asking people on a forum advice on what you should listen to. You need to simply trust your ears. Whenever hi-fi shops open up again, take a trip or two and just listen to a bunch of stuff and find out what you like. If you can't find anything that gives you joy, maybe you should find a new hobby.

 

[rangerid]

New headphones. Transducers make the biggest difference and the Stellias are one of the easiest headphones to drive so you definitely don't need to spend 10k+ on a dac/amp for them to sound good... I loved my Stellias off an iphone6 when I first got them and had zero "audiophile" gear. Phonitor xe is a great amp and should be more than sufficient for the Stellia. Before spending so much money try to demo some headphones like some stuff from Hifiman, Audeze, Abyss or even the Utopia.

 

[tjlindle]

I saw this mentioned a couple other times, and I agree - EQ can really get you a long way toward getting a sound more suitable for your tastes. Especially since your rig is pretty damn strong. I would not drop another cent on this setup before doing some EQ experimentation, there is a lot of quality hardware there and I can almost guarantee you can coax a satisfying sound out of it.

Since your source is PC, you can use Equalizer APO and its Peace frontend. They can produce outstanding results with some careful adjustments. If you do go this route, keep in mind that when EQing you want to lower things you want to deemphasize, rather than raise things you want to emphasize. The latter will lead to clipping.

EQ doesn't always work out, but at its best it can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, so it is always worth a try first.