Headphone Amp for Sennheiser HD800

[Guidof]

Congratulations!

[ALRAINBOW]

I have tried about 15 or so Amps

Only one amp bested the hdvd800 woth them. It's a tube amp by lampi. I have a head dac that is an amp and dac in one. It can be used separately so I used the dac for both.

It could be just that it's tubes and they add there own magic. But hands down I have told so many of how good that amp is

But it's tough as its looks are ok but it's ability to be know as a great amp lacks due it's not a boutique company. Sennhiser puts so much research into there products and the little guys don't but of course they know so much more because they send out review samples as sennhiser rarely does

[Musicophile]

Thanks Alain. So far I can certainly confirm that the HDVA600/HD800 is outstanding. I've been spending every free minute listening to stuff across my library and I've never had such a level of detail. It is a transparency and openness that is just outstanding. I can understand that other people may prefer other sound signatures, but if it is clarity, transparency, "air" around the instruments, and detail resolution you want, I don't think you can do much better than this.

 

Basically, if you have a decent DAC, with $2500, which was approx the price of my speakers which are okish at best, you are in absolute high-end territory. Doesn't get much better in terms of bang for the buck I'd say.

[Musicophile]

Today, out of curiosity, I tested for the first time my old Sennheiser HD595 on the HDVA600. I must say I'm impressed. This is clearly a ridiculous combo, <$200 headphones on a $1400 headphone amp. But this is just to check the potential of the HD595.

 

Obviously, when I do a direct A/B between the HD800 and the HD595, the difference is very clear. However, on its own, the HD595 has an extremely pleasing sound I could easily live with (which actually I did for years). So if you're looking out for a first hifi headphone, you could do much worse these days than either find a HD595 used (doesn't seem to be available any more) or get a HD598 which seems to be the same thing in beige.

[Kelly]

Today, out of curiosity, I tested for the first time my old Sennheiser HD595 on the HDVA600. I must say I'm impressed. This is clearly a ridiculous combo, <$200 headphones on a $1400 headphone amp. But this is just to check the potential of the HD595.

 

Obviously, when I do a direct A/B between the HD800 and the HD595, the difference is very clear. However, on its own, the HD595 has an extremely pleasing sound I could easily live with (which actually I did for years). So if you're looking out for a first hifi headphone, you could do much worse these days than either find a HD595 used (doesn't seem to be available any more) or get a HD598 which seems to be the same thing in beige.

 

You know, a lot of the "professional" reviewers seem to think the HD800 is still the king as long as you provide it with a good enough front end. Perhaps its head-fi reputation for being finicky merely comes from the fact it shows any system/recording shortcomings with brutal honesty. My headphone of choice is the LCD-3F and I would like to get an HD800 at some point as these are kind of the Yin and Yang with the HD800 being the more technical headphone while the LCD-3 is a bit smoother. I do wonder how the HDVA600 would do driving planar cans. It seems like I remember reading that amp was essentially built by Sennheiser to have in-house for testing headphones, then they decided they might as well sell it (or it went something like that anyway.)

 

When I realized my headphones were so much more resolving than my speaker system it made me start thinking of upgrading my dac to see just what else I might be missing. Slippery slope that was...

 

Anyway, congrats on the new system, and enjoy rediscovering your entire catalog all over again!

[Musicophile]

You know, a lot of the "professional" reviewers seem to think the HD800 is still the king as long as you provide it with a good enough front end. Perhaps its head-fi reputation for being finicky merely comes from the fact it shows any system/recording shortcomings with brutal honesty. My headphone of choice is the LCD-3F and I would like to get an HD800 at some point as these are kind of the Yin and Yang with the HD800 being the more technical headphone while the LCD-3 is a bit smoother. I do wonder how the HDVA600 would do driving planar cans. It seems like I remember reading that amp was essentially built by Sennheiser to have in-house for testing headphones, then they decided they might as well sell it (or it went something like that anyway.)

 

When I realized my headphones were so much more resolving than my speaker system it made me start thinking of upgrading my dac to see just what else I might be missing. Slippery slope that was...

 

Anyway, congrats on the new system, and enjoy rediscovering your entire catalog all over again!

 

Thanks.

 

Indeed, I'm concerned this new system may lead to eventually upgrading my DAC as well, especially given that the HDVA600 reviews all consistently say that it sounds even better with a balanced source. Well, I'll still put this off a bit given how much the DAC market is in flux right now with new exciting things coming every quarter, and my Exposure DAC in combination with the Belcanto m-link is both pretty resolving but most of all very musical, with a lot of PRAT.

 

On the HDVA itself, I think it's most amazing property is similar to the HD800 in being extremely neutral and resolving. One German review compared it to the precision of a Swiss watch, a nice analogy.

 

On the compatibility with the LCD: The same review (which as usual when a German magazine reviews a German product needs to be taken with a grain of salt) said it drives the LCD3s very well. I only heard the Audezes for 5 min driven by the Sennheiser, and I really like what I heard. I just think overall the HDVA is a well designed symmetrical amp that shows solid state at its best. I don't think there are many SS headphone amps out there that do a better job than the sennheiser.

[Boris75]

Indeed, I'm concerned this new system may lead to eventually upgrading my DAC as well, especially given that the HDVA600 reviews all consistently say that it sounds even better with a balanced source.

 

Given that my Benchmark DAC2 has symmetrical outputs, I am increasingly tempted to get this HDVA600... At least I should try to borrow one from a dealer to test what difference it makes compared with the DAC2 integrated headphone amp.

[Musicophile]

Given that my Benchmark DAC2 has symmetrical outputs, I am increasingly tempted to get this HDVA600... At least I should try to borrow one from a dealer to test what difference it makes compared with the DAC2 integrated headphone amp.

If you have the cash handy, I'm just afraid you may like what you hear.

 

I was really surprised about the level of differences between the top-notch headphone amps I heard.

[Musicophile]

Given that my Benchmark DAC2 has symmetrical outputs, I am increasingly tempted to get this HDVA600... At least I should try to borrow one from a dealer to test what difference it makes compared with the DAC2 integrated headphone amp.

And don't forget to plan another $300 for the balanced cable if you don't have it yet. Apparently balanced start to finish is the real deal with these cans.

[zilch0md]

What about Metrum Aurix: 6moons audio reviews: Metrum Audio Aurix

 

This is my "end game" desktop rig for the Sennheiser HD800 - not the last word in getting all that you can out of an HD800, but nearly there and very satisfying:

 

 

FiiO X5 Coaxial Out (playing FLACs from two 128 GB microSD cards) > Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII NOS DAC > Metrum Acoustics Aurix > Sennheiser HD800

(The picture also shows an Anker 5VDC Li-Ion battery pack, rubber banded to the FiiO X5, to extend play between charges.)

 

Having bought and, in some cases, already sold, a lot of gear just to provide the HD800 with a signal that was not too harsh, bright, sibilant or fatiguing - including several combinations of the ESS9018-based OPPO HA-1 DAC/amp, the CEntrance DACmini CX DAC/amp, the Schiit Vali hybrid amp, the Schiit Valhalla 2 tube OTL amp, the Beresford Bushmaster MkII DAC/amp, and even a TBI Milinea MG3 speaker amp, and two portable headphone amps - it was when I purchased the Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII NOS DAC that I realized the greatest benefit toward my "final solution" for the HD800.

 

There was still a lingering bit of brittle edginess to the treble - nothing like what I experience with my various oversampling DACs, so I went hunting for a low-feedback or zero-feedback amp, on the advice of Cees Ruijtenberg (of Metrum Acoustics), but rather than buying his zero-feedback Aurix, which he wasn't really pushing hard, at all, I had a chance to grab the typically $350 NuForce HA-200 at a ridiculously good price and found it to be far superior with the HD800 to the other solid state headphone amps I have (when fed by the Octave MkII DAC), including the amp section of the acclaimed OPPO HA-1. The Nuforce HA-200 is a true single-ended Class A design that inherently uses less global or local feedback than does a typical multi-stage differential design.

 

I was so pleased with the Metrum Octave MkII > NuForce HA-200 > HD800 that I had considered myself "done" with what had been about a 12-month search for a satisfying sound from the HD800, but then, convinced that the HD800 could be improved further still by use of a fully zero-feedback amp (from reading stuff by Robert Harley, Dan Cheever, Nelson Pass, and Cees Ruijtenberg), I jumped at a chance to buy the Metrum Acoustics Aurix - again, because of a crazy good price - more out of curiosity than any sense of need.

 

The Metrum Aurix achieves gain through magnetic induction, not via transistors or tubes, using only transformers for gain (somewhat like the Nelson Pass M2 amp). I find it to be higher resolving than the NuForce HA-200 (preserving a desirable HD800 trait), but it's also more intimate or close feeling, with a smaller sound stage than the much less expensive NuForce HA-200. What's your preference? I prefer the Metrum Aurix to the NuForce HA-200, but in truth, the overall benefit of buying the Aurix was nowhere near as dramatic for taming the HD800 as was the improvement had by switching from my various oversampling DACs to the NOS Metrum Octave MkII.

 

As someone else had mentioned earlier in this thread, for me too, the best I've ever heard the HD800 was with a Cavalli Liquid Glass (at a meet, where I hogged the guy's rig for about 20 minutes of slack-jawed bliss). He was using a Peachtree Nova DAC, fed by an outboard Peachtree USB-to-SPDIF converter (using Coaxial connection to the DAC), all fed by Foobar on a Windows 7 laptop. I know I will never spend the kind of money he had invested in his Cavalli Liquid Glass (including the cost of all the tubes he must have rolled to optimize it), but I can say, just going from my memory of that day, that the Metrum Octave MkII and Metrum Aurix bring me to perhaps 95% of what I would consider ideal for the HD800.

 

I feel ridiculous trying to put a number on this, so, I'll just add that the missing 5% of "perfection" is mostly my memory of just how well separated everything was with that ultimate HD800 rig - blackness surrounding the finest of details, right down to the lowest-energy signals in the recordings, a sense of air and space, a sense of effortlessness, no digititis, a very organic/natural/analog sound, but not euphonic or in the least bit syrupy as lesser tube gear can be, very neutral and transparent, with no congestion, all without any of the unsavory traits for which the HD800 is often accused - no glare, no harshness, no excessive brightness, no sibilance, no brittleness and most importantly, no fatigue with extended listening.

 

So, after a long hunt, for me, the Metrum Octave MkII and Aurix stack, as pictured above, offers a lot of bang for the buck with the HD800, but if you want even more bang for the buck, with a little more open, less intimate sound stage had with a slight loss of resolution (which, seriously, can be a good thing for making the HD800 more compatible with less than perfectly mastered recordings), I would just as eagerly recommend the Metrum Octave MkII > NuForce HA-200 > HD800.

 

Mike

[Musicophile]

This is my "end game" desktop rig for the Sennheiser HD800 - not the last word in getting all that you can out of an HD800, but nearly there and very satisfying:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17758[/ATTACH]

 

FiiO X5 Coaxial Out (playing FLACs from two 128 GB microSD cards) > Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII NOS DAC > Metrum Acoustics Aurix > Sennheiser HD800

(The picture also shows an Anker 5VDC Li-Ion battery pack, rubber banded to the FiiO X5, to extend play between charges.)

 

Having bought and, in some cases, already sold, a lot of gear just to provide the HD800 with a signal that was not too harsh, bright, sibilant or fatiguing - including several combinations of the ESS9018-based OPPO HA-1 DAC/amp, the CEntrance DACmini CX DAC/amp, the Schiit Vali hybrid amp, the Schiit Valhalla 2 tube OTL amp, the Beresford Bushmaster MkII DAC/amp, and even a TBI Milinea MG3 speaker amp, and two portable headphone amps - it was when I purchased the Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII NOS DAC that I realized the greatest benefit toward my "final solution" for the HD800.

 

There was still a lingering bit of brittle edginess to the treble - nothing like what I experience with my various oversampling DACs, so I went hunting for a low-feedback or zero-feedback amp, on the advice of Cees Ruijtenberg (of Metrum Acoustics), but rather than buying his zero-feedback Aurix, which he wasn't really pushing hard, at all, I had a chance to grab the typically $350 NuForce HA-200 at a ridiculously good price and found it to be far superior with the HD800 to the other solid state headphone amps I have (when fed by the Octave MkII DAC), including the amp section of the acclaimed OPPO HA-1. The Nuforce HA-200 is a true single-ended Class A design that inherently uses less global or local feedback than does a typical multi-stage differential design.

 

I was so pleased with the Metrum Octave MkII > NuForce HA-200 > HD800 that I had considered myself "done" with what had been about a 12-month search for a satisfying sound from the HD800, but then, convinced that the HD800 could be improved further still by use of a fully zero-feedback amp (from reading stuff by Robert Harley, Dan Cheever, Nelson Pass, and Cees Ruijtenberg), I jumped at a chance to buy the Metrum Acoustics Aurix - again, because of a crazy good price - more out of curiosity than any sense of need.

 

The Metrum Aurix achieves gain through magnetic induction, not via transistors or tubes, using only transformers for gain (somewhat like the Nelson Pass M2 amp). I find it to be higher resolving than the NuForce HA-200 (preserving a desirable HD800 trait), but it's also more intimate or close feeling, with a smaller sound stage than the much less expensive NuForce HA-200. What's your preference? I prefer the Metrum Aurix to the NuForce HA-200, but in truth, the overall benefit of buying the Aurix was nowhere near as dramatic for taming the HD800 as was the improvement had by switching from my various oversampling DACs to the NOS Metrum Octave MkII.

 

As someone else had mentioned earlier in this thread, for me too, the best I've ever heard the HD800 was with a Cavalli Liquid Glass (at a meet, where I hogged the guy's rig for about 20 minutes of slack-jawed bliss). He was using a Peachtree Nova DAC, fed by an outboard Peachtree USB-to-SPDIF converter (using Coaxial connection to the DAC), all fed by Foobar on a Windows 7 laptop. I know I will never spend the kind of money he had invested in his Cavalli Liquid Glass (including the cost of all the tubes he must have rolled to optimize it), but I can say, just going from my memory of that day, that the Metrum Octave MkII and Metrum Aurix bring me to perhaps 95% of what I would consider ideal for the HD800.

 

I feel ridiculous trying to put a number on this, so, I'll just add that the missing 5% of "perfection" is mostly my memory of just how well separated everything was with that ultimate HD800 rig - blackness surrounding the finest of details, right down to the lowest-energy signals in the recordings, a sense of air and space, a sense of effortlessness, no digititis, a very organic/natural/analog sound, but not euphonic or in the least bit syrupy as lesser tube gear can be, very neutral and transparent, with no congestion, all without any of the unsavory traits for which the HD800 is often accused - no glare, no harshness, no excessive brightness, no sibilance, no brittleness and most importantly, no fatigue with extended listening.

 

So, after a long hunt, for me, the Metrum Octave MkII and Aurix stack, as pictured above, offers a lot of bang for the buck with the HD800, but if you want even more bang for the buck, with a little more open, less intimate sound stage had with a slight loss of resolution (which, seriously, can be a good thing for making the HD800 more compatible with less than perfectly mastered recordings), I would just as eagerly recommend the Metrum Octave MkII > NuForce HA-200 > HD800.

 

Mike

 

Mike, interesting experience you had there, and looks like you've found a grey solution. Just curious, did you ever listen to the HDVA600 during your search? Would be interested to hear how it compares.

[Hanuman22]

Mike, interesting experience you had there, and looks like you've found a grey solution. Just curious, did you ever listen to the HDVA600 during your search? Would be interested to hear how it compares.

 

For what it's worth, I fed a pair of HD650's with a Burson Soloist for the past year on Walter's (Underwood Hifi) recommendation as the Burson outputs 2 watts of power driving the 650's with as much realism as they can produce. I will say that Drew at Moon Audio also agreed that the Sennheisers were a great match with the Burson and when I added a Silver Dragon V3 cable they really bloomed. By that I mean the HD650's opened up to a new level of extention and cohesiveness while maintaining their warm realism. Looking to upgrade to the HD800's I opted instead to go a different direction.. Now, burning in a pair of Audeze LCD-x with the same Burson Soloist, the temperature has changed between the warm, full bloom of the HD650 Senns, to the Burson showing that it can be like a Mayweather with fast, punchy mids and highs, a seriously tight bass and lower end, an then there is this sense of "being there", by that I mean such that, like a few comments back, low level events like the cash register in the club rings in Bill Evans "Detour Ahead" while the band is full tilt and becomes as audible as a miked snare. Much of which can be attributed to the LCD-X's I'm sure, but for the money I've found the Burson to be a highly under rated performer driving two very different cans in very different ways. I will say the comments posted here on other pairings is tremendously useful information saving all of us hours and days of research. Looking at the Dragon Inspire IHA-1 by Cary on the Moon Audio site to pair with the Audeze LCD-X and wonder if anyone has heard the Dragon? And any thoughts on using a tube amp to drive the LCD-x's?

[zilch0md]

Hi Musicophile,

 

Mike, interesting experience you had there, and looks like you've found a grey solution. Just curious, did you ever listen to the HDVA600 during your search? Would be interested to hear how it compares.

 

No, I've never even seen an HDVA600 at meets, but would surely like to hear one, someday. I had the Burson Soloist for about a year, but didn't have the HD800 at the time. I was using the Beyerdynamic T1 and an Audeze LCD-2 rev.1 with the Soloist. I can easily imagine that the Soloist would be a good match for the HD800. With the T1, it the Soloist soundstage was kind of laid back (10th row seating instead of being down in the first row) and the treble was almost too smooth - at least for the T1 - but I really think that would be a good thing for the HD800.

 

One thing about the Soloist, and lots of people would agree, let it warm up for at least 30 minutes before using it - or just leave it turned on 24/7, which is what Burson support recommends. I've never had another solid state amp that sounded so much better warm than cold. You'd think there were some tubes in there, somewhere. :-)

 

Mike

[musicresearch]

Thanks for the info!

How does it compare to the Oppo you were using?

[zilch0md]

Thanks for the info!

How does it compare to the Oppo you were using?

 

Hi musicresearch,

 

The OPPO HA-1 has an ESS9018 DAC which I find to be more of a mismatch for the HD800 than its excellent amp section. In other words, using the Metrum Octave MkII DAC to drive the OPPO HA-1's amp section is a huge improvement for the HD800, mostly because the ESS9018 implementation is itself a little bit bright and has that infamous ESS glare, common to many 9023 and 9018 DACs (with the exception of the excellent Resonessence Concero, which I had owned for several months - which, to my ears, was not only the best ESS9023 DAC I've owned (among the JDS Labs Objective DAC and the Stoner Acoustics UD100), and an AudioQuest Dragonfly that I borrowed for several weeks, the Concero was better than the OPPO HA-1's ESS9018 - in terms of not having that ESS glare - so readily revealed by the HD800.

 

For use with the HD800 - I even prefer the PCM1792A DAC that's built into my FiiO X5 DAP > Line Out to the OPPO HA-1's amp section, to using the HA-1's ESS9018 DAC.

 

But for use with planar magnetic headphones, like my OPPO PM-1 and Audze LCD-2 rev.1, the OPPO HA-1 (using both its amp and DAC) is excellent. (But I still prefer the NOS sound of the Metrum Octave MkII, even with the HA-1's amp driving planar magnetics.

 

This graphic will make it more obvious which combinations I prefer with my current "recliner" setup:

 

 

 

This next shot shows what's inside the side table next to my recliner...

 

 

And this shows what's on top of the side table (in addition to the FiiO X5 and headphones, not pictured here) - an iPad 3, used for streaming Tidal HiFi via a Pure i-20 dock, Coaxial Out to the Metrum Octave MkII:

 

 

Mike

[Musicophile]

For what it's worth, I fed a pair of HD650's with a Burson Soloist for the past year on Walter's (Underwood Hifi) recommendation as the Burson outputs 2 watts of power driving the 650's with as much realism as they can produce. I will say that Drew at Moon Audio also agreed that the Sennheisers were a great match with the Burson and when I added a Silver Dragon V3 cable they really bloomed. By that I mean the HD650's opened up to a new level of extention and cohesiveness while maintaining their warm realism. Looking to upgrade to the HD800's I opted instead to go a different direction.. Now, burning in a pair of Audeze LCD-x with the same Burson Soloist, the temperature has changed between the warm, full bloom of the HD650 Senns, to the Burson showing that it can be like a Mayweather with fast, punchy mids and highs, a seriously tight bass and lower end, an then there is this sense of "being there", by that I mean such that, like a few comments back, low level events like the cash register in the club rings in Bill Evans "Detour Ahead" while the band is full tilt and becomes as audible as a miked snare. Much of which can be attributed to the LCD-X's I'm sure, but for the money I've found the Burson to be a highly under rated performer driving two very different cans in very different ways. I will say the comments posted here on other pairings is tremendously useful information saving all of us hours and days of research. Looking at the Dragon Inspire IHA-1 by Cary on the Moon Audio site to pair with the Audeze LCD-X and wonder if anyone has heard the Dragon? And any thoughts on using a tube amp to drive the LCD-x's?

 

I fully agree by the way that the Soloist pairs well with the HD800. I ended up choosing the HDVA over it as it just reinforced even more some of the strengths of the HD800 that I was looking for, most of all the extreme transparency and resolution.

 

The Soloist on the other hand was much more "organic" and "flow" for the lack of a better word and would have been a very nice purchase as well. At this level of amp we're not taking better or worse any more, just personal preference.

 

And thanks for the note on the warm up. My dealer assured me that the entire system had been powered up several hours beforehand.

[Hanuman22]

I fully agree by the way that the Soloist pairs well with the HD800. I ended up choosing the HDVA over it as it just reinforced even more some of the strengths of the HD800 that I was looking for, most of all the extreme transparency and resolution.

 

The Soloist on the other hand was much more "organic" and "flow" for the lack of a better word and would have been a very nice purchase as well. At this level of amp we're not taking better or worse any more, just personal preference.

 

And thanks for the note on the warm up. My dealer assured me that the entire system had been powered up several hours beforehand.

 

Musicophile,

I totally agree with you, I would have done the same as you can't go wrong with the matching Amp. I'd love to hear the HD800/HDVA pair. My Magnolia guy is in demo mode with the Macintosh MHA100 and matching Mac headphones, listening next week and should be very interesting. I do leave the Burson on 24/7 as recommended, and the LCD-X are burning in nicely with much more space around the instruments and most noticibly vocals are so incredibly close, as if Jacintha is singing the song into your ear or you are on stage at the mike with her breathing on your ear, (a pleasent thought).. very interesting.. Would love to hear more on the HD800s/HDVA

[DavidL]

To add to the list, the HEADA amp looks like a good match to the HD800s:

Aurorasound VIDA

There is a very positive review by Keith Howard in the May edition of HiFi News.

[Musicophile]

To add to the list, the HEADA amp looks like a good match to the HD800s:

Aurorasound VIDA

There is a very positive review by Keith Howard in the May edition of HiFi News.

 

At €3400 it'd better be good ;-)

 

That is what I call retro design in any case.

 

I'm just not convinced that I'd ever be spending that amount of money on a headphone amp. I already thought the €1.4K for the Senn was steep (but looking back totally worth it).

[burnspbesq]

I have a Cavailli Liquid Carbon on order. Will certainly try it with HD 800 when it arrives, with both the Lynx Hilo and Resonessence Concero as DACs, and will post impressions.

[Musicophile]

I have a Cavailli Liquid Carbon on order. Will certainly try it with HD 800 when it arrives, with both the Lynx Hilo and Resonessence Concero as DACs, and will post impressions.

That looks really quite cute. A pity we don't have the same choice in the Head-fi department in Europe.

 

That said, I'm still very very happy with the HD800/HDVA600 combo, I'm listening to more headphones than ever before. The resolution is just stunning.

[Hanuman22]

That looks really quite cute. A pity we don't have the same choice in the Head-fi department in Europe.

 

That said, I'm still very very happy with the HD800/HDVA600 combo, I'm listening to more headphones than ever before. The resolution is just stunning.

 

MP, Does Burns mean he has the Liquid Crimson on order? which is a very very nice 6 watt HP Amp from Alex Cavalli, I'm lusting. But I did just upgrade to the LightHarmonics Lightspeed USB between my laptop and Dac after hearing that link may be critical. Replacing an Audioquest Coffee USB, the Lightspeed is a significant upgrade to realism,, driving the LCD-X to a much higher resolution. Getting the most out of your headphones, takes more than a new dac, i'm just discovering. Pretty exciting..

[burnspbesq]

MP, Does Burns mean he has the Liquid Crimson on order? which is a very very nice 6 watt HP Amp from Alex Cavalli, I'm lusting. But I did just upgrade to the LightHarmonics Lightspeed USB between my laptop and Dac after hearing that link may be critical. Replacing an Audioquest Coffee USB, the Lightspeed is a significant upgrade to realism,, driving the LCD-X to a much higher resolution. Getting the most out of your headphones, takes more than a new dac, i'm just discovering. Pretty exciting..

 

Cavalli Audio

 

The Crimson kills, but it's well outside my budget. The Carbon, and the forthcoming Cavalli portable (heard the prototype at Can Jam), out-schiit even Schiit in delivering spectacular performance at reasonable cost.

[Hanuman22]

Cavalli Audio

 

The Crimson kills, but it's well outside my budget. The Carbon, and the forthcoming Cavalli portable (heard the prototype at Can Jam), out-schiit even Schiit in delivering spectacular performance at reasonable cost.

Burns, Just saw the Carbon,, Did you happen to listen to the Crimson at CanJam? At six watts into 50 ohm, Dr Cavalli told me it will drive anything. Thanks

[burnspbesq]

Burns, Just saw the Carbon,, Did you happen to listen to the Crimson at CanJam? At six watts into 50 ohm, Dr Cavalli told me it will drive anything. Thanks

 

Yes, but only briefly, as I was time constrained, and only with HD 800, which isn't an especially difficult load.