I know I know. I'm mostly whinning about this because I feel that format of "Forums" doesn't seem like the best when it comes to helping someone with this kind of decidion. Creates more confustion than actually helps.
It's not the format of the forums so much as the nature of this hobby. On the bright side, you have options!
As others have mentioned, the Valhalla does work well with the K701. I borrowed a friend's K701 for a couple of weeks and it sounded much better than I expected on my Valhalla. Ultimately, I still prefer my HD650, but K701 wasn't as sterile or anemic as I thought it might be.
That's exactly what I mean by "this kind of decidion". I work as a programmer and forums are probably the most useful thing I've come across to help me with any kind of problem i'm having. It's not that there are only one good way to go about things in programming (actually there are just as many) but in general it's not nearly as frustrating as this.
An opinion I certainly do not share. If I turned the Valhalla’s volume knob over the 2 o’clock position, at least with my ears distorsions became audible and the sound was terrible. You’re right, the K701 don’t sound sterile or anemic with this ampifier, but if I connect the Beyerdynamic DT 990/600 Ω to the Valhalla, I notice not even the slightest trace of distorsion, even if the volume knob is in the maximum position.
An opinion I certainly do not share. If I turned the Valhalla’s volume knob over the 2 o’clock position, at least with my ears distorsions became audible and the sound was terrible. You’re right, the K701 don’t sound sterile or anemic with this ampifier, but if I connect the Beyerdynamic DT 990/600 Ω to the Valhalla, I notice not even the slightest trace of distorsion, even if the volume knob is in the maximum position.
The only headphone amplifiers from Austria which I’m aware of are the Pro-Ject Head Box models, but I don’t have any personal listening experience with one of them.
The difference being that it doesn't cost lots of money to try several solutions in programming. I think that's the main limiting factor here. Most people can only try a few components because of budget, and mixed with the subjectivity of this hobby already, you end up with several recommendations and info that can be contradictory.
That's exactly what I mean by "this kind of decidion". I work as a programmer and forums are probably the most useful thing I've come across to help me with any kind of problem i'm having. It's not that there are only one good way to go about things in programming (actually there are just as many) but in general it's not nearly as frustrating as this.
An opinion I certainly do not share. If I turned the Valhalla’s volume knob over the 2 o’clock position, at least with my ears distorsions became audible and the sound was terrible. You’re right, the K701 don’t sound sterile or anemic with this ampifier, but if I connect the Beyerdynamic DT 990/600 Ω to the Valhalla, I notice not even the slightest trace of distorsion, even if the volume knob is in the maximum position.
I can’t compare this to Foobar, since I don’t use this software. In my home the signal path is Mac Mini (iTunes volume control to maximum) → Airport Express via Toslink → Beresford Caiman DAC fixed line-out via RCA cable → Valhalla → DT 990. When listening via loudspeakers most of the time I don’t like high volume, but with headphones for me the real pleasure starts with volume knob setting clearly beyond 12 o’clock.
I noticed that I reduce the volume continuously during a longer headphone listening session, but it certainly never goes below 12 o’clock, regardless of the kind of music being played. According to my ear specialist my hearing abilities (98 of 100 percent) are pretty good for a guy of my age (54).
A note I forgot in my first answer: The zero position of the Valhalla’s volume dial is somewhere a little bit before 7 o’clock. If 9 or 10 o’clock already were pretty loud, I wouldn’t be happy with a device offering only a narrow area of approximately a quarter circle for volume adjusting.
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