SolarCetacean
500+ Head-Fier
I forgot to add in my thoughts about synergy that I'm very curious about how the Yamaha will sound on my Ferrum Erco. That unit has a dynamic and punchy sound, and it makes everything connected to it punchier and more dynamic. This is a good thing for my electrostatics, particularly my Shangri-La Jr, because it "fills out" the fast yet light bass punch on the SGL Jr. There's a bigger initial transient and a slightly longer decay. The added dynamics also makes everything slightly more open-sounding and realistic, which the SGL didn't have much issue with in the first place, but it helps fill out the vocal recession that it has in usual Hifiman fashion. But the added dynamics can wreak havoc on headphones with peaky or sharp treble, because the added treble dynamics exacerbate the peakiness in the treble.
The Yamaha could use a bit of a boost in the initial transient in the bass in my opinion to make it sound faster and more impactful. But at the same time, it also seems peaky. It's difficult to know if a more dynamic and aggressive DAC will help or hinder it. My current guess is that the Yamaha would be better on smoother and mellower chains, but perhaps some combination of aggressive DAC but mellow amp could produce a happy medium.
On a tangent, a long time ago in this thread, I had wondered if people who like the Yamaha also like the Sony MDR-Z1R. Well, in my case, I like the Z1R, and I can see the similarities with the Yamaha in how they try to present sound with this forward depth in space and I like those aspects too. The Yamaha is more "out there" in terms of tuning though, like taking some of those spatial qualities to the max.
The Yamaha could use a bit of a boost in the initial transient in the bass in my opinion to make it sound faster and more impactful. But at the same time, it also seems peaky. It's difficult to know if a more dynamic and aggressive DAC will help or hinder it. My current guess is that the Yamaha would be better on smoother and mellower chains, but perhaps some combination of aggressive DAC but mellow amp could produce a happy medium.
On a tangent, a long time ago in this thread, I had wondered if people who like the Yamaha also like the Sony MDR-Z1R. Well, in my case, I like the Z1R, and I can see the similarities with the Yamaha in how they try to present sound with this forward depth in space and I like those aspects too. The Yamaha is more "out there" in terms of tuning though, like taking some of those spatial qualities to the max.