Original Post:
Answering replies (out of order, sorry):
Thanks, and Good question - and I've wrestled with it. Couple of reasons:
1) Space - We live in a one bedroom 750sf apartment in NYC.
2) The hugo2/2go solution meant not having to worry about cables, power supplies, multiple boxes, etc.
3) the hugo 2 was recommended by Zach
I was going to get a tt2, but after trying to find/research a good solution for streaming, I had became physically ill at the thought of all those components, powering it all, and cabling it all together.... and the thought of trying to convince my wife to have it all out on full display in the living room.
But yeah, the NUC/Roon/2go combination is essentially invisible and works brilliantly. I really started this whole journey to get rid of my CDs (again, space), and then it kind of snowballed to upgrading my headfi stuff instead of my stereo equipment, which I'd also like to get rid of (maybe replace it all with a pair of actives).
Anyway, with the VCs, I just wanted to get the very best closed back available, because the noise floor in my apartment is horrible (Although, I recently discovered that I can put a chair in my closet, and for sound isolation, its
! ) . I chose the VCs over the Stellias because:
1) reviewers seem to prefer the VCs
2) VCs are supposed to have to better sound isolation
3) all of the VC parts are replaceable (tunable pads, headband, etc)
4) the Stellias look a bit garish.
Then, realizing that my phone to the ifi is always super awkward, I started to look for options. The Hugo2/2go was like a perfect silver bullet... and it is. It's brilliant. Clearly better sound than the ifi (improved dynamics, and everything else is at least as good as the ifi, but I haven't done a ton of AB testing because why would I do that), but right now,
I still prefer the Beyers plugged into the ifi micro BL over the VCs plugged into the Chord, and it's not even close. The VCs are a
mess right now. I was doing some more listening last night, and I couldn't find a single thing about the VCs that I prefer over the DT880s, besides the sound isolation.
I'm hoping this becomes a story about the miracles of burn in. If not, I'm surely going to return them if I can, or sell them if I must. I'll take 10% hit for the trial.
Along with the Auteur solids that came on the VCS, I also got the Universe solid, and Auteur suede pads, so I'll try those after the burn in process. I purchased the cable a week or two ago and is supposed to ship today, so I'm just going to wait until that arrives to start the 200 hour clock playing pink noise (I actually bought a pink noise CD because I'm antiquated af). Anyway, my attitude is that the cable isn't likely to be worse than the stock cable, so there's only upside returns. It is what it is.
Nah. I listened again last night for much longer on additional variety of tracks. It's definitely not as good. Wife confirmed, and she's only used to airpods. Plus I have several entry level IEMs that I prefer as well.
This is my plan! I've never heard a tube amp before, so I wanted to listen to one before commiting... and also, I have a space problem. Q: Isn't the LCD 4 too sensitive for a tube amp?
I guess i just don't understand where the extra $2000+ of value is coming from then (at the moment, before burn in). I also have some IEMs and they're all "better" than the VCs (nothing crazy, ER4xr which are excellent, westone 3 which I complained about 12 years ago on this forum that you can still see if you click my profile, and a KZ6 from alibaba I paid like $35 for, which have a weird sound signature, but overall very good, like depressingly good).
Thanks for this link. Regardless of whether or not anyone owns a chord, I think this is very good reading. I 1000% subscribe to Rob Watts' philosophy. It annoys me seeing people bash subjectivists and then start referencing Archimigo and Amir because they're implicitly assuming that all qualities of sound replication are perfectly testable, and they're just not - that part of Rob's post was so satisfying to read. The result of so many objectivists is that companies like topping make DACs specifically designed to ace the *known* tests, and go no further. Would anyone listen to a Quetest against a D90 and choose the D90 if price weren't considered? According to Amir and his followers, anyone who doesn't is a fool, and that's just stupid. Tests can be used to disqualify, but shouldn't be the last step of evaluating performance because known tests only go so far - there are no known tests for sound stage, instrument separation, timbre, etc - so you have to listen. Anyway, that's why I'm not too fussed about spending an extra $360 for a wywires platinum cable (on your recommendation no less) when some of the selling points aren't based on any real empirically proven results - as long as it has copper and adequate shielding (because we have high impedance loads, not speakers), and enough people can hear a difference, it's worth a shot. The whole idea of bun in is also scientifically tenuous, but here we are.
ANYWAY, his descriptor definitions are also very useful, also regardless of how someone approaches audiophilia. And still, the DT880 outperforms the VCs before burn in basically all dimensions. It might be that noise floor modulation bit, I don't know. I don't think it is. We'll see.
thank god.