Before you buy amp and DAC + recommendations.

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, mrthuvi said:

I'm using HE 400i at the moment. Here where I am, plus shipping, Fulla 2 ~US$130, Shiit stack (modi 2 and magni 3) ~ $260 (gonna take some time before magin 3 is in stock though), NFB 11.28 is ~ $360.

I have yet to hear the magni 3, but according to some then it is better than the amp part of the nfb 11.28. I know that the NFB 11.28 pairs really well planar headphones. A magni 3 and modi 2 is going to be more than enough for HE 400i and it would be a pretty balanced setup. I would take the one that makes the most economical sense for you, so if you could use the extra 100$ a NFB 11.28 cost on something else that can help you in your life, then get the schiit magni 3 and modi 2.

[mrthuvi]

Thank you for the advice. You were really helpful.

[applesuxD]

I've a question.

 

Does the MrSpeaker Aeons need anything more than a soundcard (Mine is the asus xonar DGX soundcard).

 

and i use an X99A Krait so im assuming onboard audio is semi decent as well?

[Dackzy]

38 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

I've a question.

 

Does the MrSpeaker Aeons need anything more than a soundcard (Mine is the asus xonar DGX soundcard).

 

and i use an X99A Krait so im assuming onboard audio is semi decent as well?

I sadly haven't tried them, but a few people I know said that they like to get a lot of power, but just a heads up he does shadow updates to them and the sound does change, at least that is what I have read. 

When we talk this tier of headphones then I would recommend getting something like the schiit stack or better, but you can probably power then of your onboard. 

[applesuxD]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

I sadly haven't tried them, but a few people I know said that they like to get a lot of power, but just a heads up he does shadow updates to them and the sound does change, at least that is what I have read. 

When we talk this tier of headphones then I would recommend getting something like the schiit stack or better, but you can probably power then of your onboard. 

Yeah alot of them say the headphone gets more "dynamic" when powered properly. 

 

How about the schiit fulla 2? Does it work fine?

Still haven't gotten the headphones though but i did give it a listen at a store. But that store's cheapest dac is like a damn chord mojo so I never got to try with something like a schiit :'(

 

I'm pretty well convinced to get these headphones unless there are others that can compete which is hard to find.

 

And the store owner also said that there's a magni 3. I guess I can use that? my onboard dac seems perfectly fine.

[Dackzy]

6 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

Yeah alot of them say the headphone gets more "dynamic" when powered properly. 

 

How about the schiit fulla 2? Does it work fine?

Still haven't gotten the headphones though but i did give it a listen at a store. But that store's cheapest dac is like a damn chord mojo so I never got to try with something like a schiit :'(

 

I'm pretty well convinced to get these headphones unless there are others that can compete which is hard to find.

 

And the store owner also said that there's a magni 3. I guess I can use that? my onboard dac seems perfectly fine.

Just be careful when buying them, there might have been a shadow update of them or something like that. Also please post your impressions or something like that when you have had then for a while, I have always wanted to test them, but basically the only option for me would be to buy them, since nobody really has them here in Denmark and I am not willing to drop that kind of money just to test them. 

 

Yeah the magni 3 seems to be pretty good and then maybe later you could add a modi 2 or 3, it is going to show an improvement. 

[applesuxD]

10 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Just be careful when buying them, there might have been a shadow update of them or something like that. Also please post your impressions or something like that when you have had then for a while, I have always wanted to test them, but basically the only option for me would be to buy them, since nobody really has them here in Denmark and I am not willing to drop that kind of money just to test them. 

 

Yeah the magni 3 seems to be pretty good and then maybe later you could add a modi 2 or 3, it is going to show an improvement. 

mrspeakers always do these kinda updates?

 

hmm...wud sm1 like tyll from innerfidelity tell us

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

mrspeakers always do these kinda updates?

 

hmm...wud sm1 like tyll from innerfidelity tell us

It seems like he does it quite often,  mostly when the headphones are new, I think aornic talked about this in his video about them. 

[applesuxD]

On 10/14/2017 at 4:07 AM, Dackzy said:

It seems like he does it quite often,  mostly when the headphones are new, I think aornic talked about this in his video about them. 

How does the magni 3 + modi 2 compare to fulla 2? I'm just confused as to whether to get a stack(i think the modi 3's gonna come out soon) or just fulla 2 since the fulla is pretty powerful for quite a few headphones..

 

This might be a stupid qn (forgive me , I have no idea how tube amps work and I kinda wanna give it a try since im getting a new amp hence my qn) :  Can you run a tube amp like a normal amp w/o any distortion/change to the sound, and how?

[Dackzy]

30 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

How does the magni 3 + modi 2 compare to fulla 2? I'm just confused as to whether to get a stack(i think the modi 3's gonna come out soon) or just fulla 2 since the fulla is pretty powerful for quite a few headphones..

 

This might be a stupid qn (forgive me , I have no idea how tube amps work and I kinda wanna give it a try since im getting a new amp hence my qn) :  Can you run a tube amp like a normal amp w/o any distortion/change to the sound, and how?

no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

The modi 2 + magni 3 will offer you more detail, cleaner power, wider sound, less grain, no clipping and ofc a lot more power. The Fulla 2 does have enough power to power most headphones, there will be some where you need to turn it almost all the way up and some where it simply doesn't have enough power.

 

A tube is generally going to change the sound a bit or a lot depending on the tube and the design, and they do all have higher distortion than a solid state one, but as people say "it is good distortion".

 

[applesuxD]

13 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

The modi 2 + magni 3 will offer you more detail, cleaner power, wider sound, less grain, no clipping and ofc a lot more power. The Fulla 2 does have enough power to power most headphones, there will be some where you need to turn it almost all the way up and some where it simply doesn't have enough power.

 

A tube is generally going to change the sound a bit or a lot depending on the tube and the design, and they do all have higher distortion than a solid state one, but as people say "it is good distortion".

 

I see. So I'm guessing that because some amps are too weak to get the headphone to proper volume, it doesn't sound very clean as well?

[applesuxD]

17 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

The modi 2 + magni 3 will offer you more detail, cleaner power, wider sound, less grain, no clipping and ofc a lot more power. The Fulla 2 does have enough power to power most headphones, there will be some where you need to turn it almost all the way up and some where it simply doesn't have enough power.

 

A tube is generally going to change the sound a bit or a lot depending on the tube and the design, and they do all have higher distortion than a solid state one, but as people say "it is good distortion".

 

Just saw a listing of Schiit Modi and Vali for about SGD220. (about 150USD?) 

Good deal?

 

Also there's an Objective 2 amp selling for about 60ish USD.

[Dackzy]

4 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

Just saw a listing of Schiit Modi and Vali for about SGD220. (about 150USD?) 

Good deal?

 

Also there's an Objective 2 amp selling for about 60ish USD.

if it is the OG ones, then nah not really, if it is the 2. gen then yes.

 

9 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

I see. So I'm guessing that because some amps are too weak to get the headphone to proper volume, it doesn't sound very clean as well?

well cleanness and power doesn't go together, but the magni is cleaner sounding than the fulla 2 and it has more power

[applesuxD]

14 hours ago, Dackzy said:

if it is the OG ones, then nah not really, if it is the 2. gen then yes.

 

well cleanness and power doesn't go together, but the magni is cleaner sounding than the fulla 2 and it has more power

The magni is slightly warmer right? Is there any more neutral ones?

[applesuxD]

14 hours ago, Dackzy said:

if it is the OG ones, then nah not really, if it is the 2. gen then yes.

 

well cleanness and power doesn't go together, but the magni is cleaner sounding than the fulla 2 and it has more power

"MrSpeakers reserves the right to modify product performance and specifications at any time and without notice. " 

they actually state it in their terms and conditions o_o

But they say it'll stay true to spec so i guess its fine

[Dackzy]

57 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

The magni is slightly warmer right? Is there any more neutral ones?

The magni 2 uber is very lean and neutral for its price and you can probably get it for a good price used. 

 

21 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

"MrSpeakers reserves the right to modify product performance and specifications at any time and without notice. " 

they actually state it in their terms and conditions o_o

But they say it'll stay true to spec so i guess its fine

True to spec is just the frequency range, impedance and sensitivity.

[applesuxD]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

The magni 2 uber is very lean and neutral for its price and you can probably get it for a good price used. 

 

True to spec is just the frequency range, impedance and sensitivity.

There isn't any magni 2 uber being sold in my country right now.. I've read online reviews of the Objective 2 Amp from JDS Labs, can it power the aeons? Otherwise I'll probably stick with magni 3 if it isn't that warm

[Dackzy]

1 hour ago, applesuxD said:

There isn't any magni 2 uber being sold in my country right now.. I've read online reviews of the Objective 2 Amp from JDS Labs, can it power the aeons? Otherwise I'll probably stick with magni 3 if it isn't that warm

It should be able to, but a magni 3 is quite a bit better than the O2 and no the magni 3 isn't that warm at all. 

[applesuxD]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

It should be able to, but a magni 3 is quite a bit better than the O2 and no the magni 3 isn't that warm at all. 

Alright then. I'll probably go for a magni 3. How about having a dac,will I need it if there's no hiss? (I'll be running through my motherboard out since I realise that asus sound cards have extreme EQ -_-)

 

This begs the question.. do alot of motherboard on laptops and desktops have their own EQ to boost the high and bass similar to an asus soundcard? 

[Dackzy]

44 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

Alright then. I'll probably go for a magni 3. How about having a dac,will I need it if there's no hiss? (I'll be running through my motherboard out since I realise that asus sound cards have extreme EQ -_-)

 

This begs the question.. do alot of motherboard on laptops and desktops have their own EQ to boost the high and bass similar to an asus soundcard? 

a DAC like the modi 2 would give you more detail and also a cleaner sound, is it a must? No, but it will improve your audio quality. I know that Asus has a EQ software for their mobos, but I really don't know for any other company, and you can always just use 3rd party EQs if you feel the need

[applesuxD]

54 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

a DAC like the modi 2 would give you more detail and also a cleaner sound, is it a must? No, but it will improve your audio quality. I know that Asus has a EQ software for their mobos, but I really don't know for any other company, and you can always just use 3rd party EQs if you feel the need

What headphones need those super hardcore amp & dacs like the mjolnir?

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, applesuxD said:

What headphones need those super hardcore amp & dacs like the mjolnir?

The Hifiman HE 6 can easily use that power, but these higher end amps are more for bringing out details and they generally have wider sound than the cheaper options and some headphones are really sensitive to these things. It is all in the name of getting the highest audio quality you can afford.   

[applesuxD]

18 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

The Hifiman HE 6 can easily use that power, but these higher end amps are more for bringing out details and they generally have wider sound than the cheaper options and some headphones are really sensitive to these things. It is all in the name of getting the highest audio quality you can afford.   

I see.. so how much you should pay for an amp depends on how much the headphone can improve with it.

 

Lets say an audio tech M50X is not gonna benefit so much, but a HD800S might, or maybe a hd600.

 

Or is it that lower end headphones have no reason to need a good amp/dac when one can just upgrade the headphone itself?

[Dackzy]

10 minutes ago, applesuxD said:

I see.. so how much you should pay for an amp depends on how much the headphone can improve with it.

 

Lets say an audio tech M50X is not gonna benefit so much, but a HD800S might, or maybe a hd600.

 

Or is it that lower end headphones have no reason to need a good amp/dac when one can just upgrade the headphone itself?

The first part is all up to you and what you think it is worth. 

 

The HD 800 show extremely well how good you DAC and amp is,  while the hd6x0 don't show it to the same degree, but they do improve well with higher end gear. 

 

You shouldn't buy a DAC and amp for lower end gear if you don't have noise on your onboard, because you would see a bigger improvement with a better headphone. There are Ofc somr exceptions to this,  but generally headphones before DAC and amp. 

[applesuxD]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

The first part is all up to you and what you think it is worth. 

 

The HD 800 show extremely well how good you DAC and amp is,  while the hd6x0 don't show it to the same degree, but they do improve well with higher end gear. 

 

You shouldn't buy a DAC and amp for lower end gear if you don't have noise on your onboard, because you would see a bigger improvement with a better headphone. There are Ofc somr exceptions to this,  but generally headphones before DAC and amp. 

I realise this just sums up the whole thread