Headphones + amplifier

[Derkoli]

Hey everyone , im a speaker guy, i know nothing about headphones, but im after an amp and a pair of decent cans, budget around 3500-4000 (just put all my money into a turntable and new cartridge), I already have a schiit yggdrasil so it would be nice to be able to do balanced, But it's not 100% needed if I can get better audio fidelity/quality with SE/Single Ended. The schiit ragnarok looks quite nice, it also includes a stereo amplifier, which isnt needed, but i need to get a stereo amp for my PC, but the amp does not need one. Thanks for your help. (I also need to be able to get it in the UK, or shipped to the UK, also if you need any questions to be answered, im happy to answer.)

[rice guru]

Jesus man thats quite the budget .  I'm a price to performance kinda guy so high end audiophile equipment is not at all my expertise but for that kind of money . I would personally spend roughly $400 on the thx 789 from massdrop which o believe is currently up for pre order. and buy a couple of cans probably an electrostat from stax, Eon flows , and a dt 1990 . But that's just me I like vareity. If you like clear clean sound for that kinda budget you might be looking at focal.

[Derkoli]

4 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Jesus man thats quite the budget .  I'm a price to performance kinda guy so high end audiophile equipment is not at all my expertise but for that kind of money . I would personally spend roughly $400 on the thx 789 from massdrop which o believe is currently up for pre order. and buy a couple of cans probably an electrostat from stax, Eon flows , and a dt 1990 . But that's just me I like vareity. If you like clear clean sound for that kinda budget you might be looking at focal.

I was thinking focal. And i know its a pretty big budget, it wouldve been 10k+ if i hadnt bought a new turntable and cartridge. Im kinda splashing on audio rn.. And i want a pretty detailed set of one amp and headphones, i wont get too into headphones, i just want a setup that ik is gonna last and sound good for ages to come, i cant play my Bowers and Wilkins speakers too loud at night, hence me needing headphones.

[rice guru]

2 hours ago, Derkoli said:

I was thinking focal. And i know its a pretty big budget, it wouldve been 10k+ if i hadnt bought a new turntable and cartridge. Im kinda splashing on audio rn.. And i want a pretty detailed set of one amp and headphones, i wont get too into headphones, i just want a setup that ik is gonna last and sound good for ages to come, i cant play my Bowers and Wilkins speakers too loud at night, hence me needing headphones.

since you live in the UK you can probaby make a day out of going to london and going to a place that lets you audiotion headphones I believe  https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/headphones/hifi/ does 

[rice guru]

oh just realised how far corwall is from london. but still an option unless their is aplce nearby that does the same service.

[Derkoli]

8 hours ago, rice guru said:

oh just realised how far corwall is from london. but still an option unless their is aplce nearby that does the same service.

Haha yeah it is quite a drive. But i wouldnt mind catching a train, probably more expensive but alot easier.

[rice guru]

Also have you tried the hifi guides forum I also hang out there. Lots of people go there for suggestions. And discussion on high end gear a lot more thorough on options and suggestions I find. And it's a nicer community than headfi and more open to discussion than Reddit. I find this forum is too full of inexperienced people like myself to really give you any great suggestions for that budget.

[Lathlaer]

15 hours ago, Derkoli said:

I was thinking focal.

I have the Utopias and I am quite happy with them. I did not audition everything in that price range before buying them but I did have a chance to compare them to Audeze LCD -4 and Stax SR 009 and I just liked them better. Also, recently Focal upgraded their warranty for Utopias, so that is a bonus.

 

If your budget is 3.5-4k USD and you have the Yggdrasil but also are thinking about some other amp then I'd suggest two routes:

 

1) Focal Utopia (you shouldn't pay for them the full retail price - many authorized sellers are ready with not insubstantial discounts) + 3rd party balanced cable for them and keep using them with the Yggdrasil

 

2) Focal Clear (about 85-90% of Utopias performance for a bit less than half the price - as usual with expensive hobby, you get to overspend for the last 10-15%) + a new amp for them.

 

IF you have your eyes set on Utopias then even if you get them for, say 3200-3500 USD, I doubt that you will find a better amp than Yggdrasil for what's left in the budget.

[Derkoli]

4 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

I have the Utopias and I am quite happy with them. I did not audition everything in that price range before buying them but I did have a chance to compare them to Audeze LCD -4 and Stax SR 009 and I just liked them better. Also, recently Focal upgraded their warranty for Utopias, so that is a bonus.

 

If your budget is 3.5-4k USD and you have the Yggdrasil but also are thinking about some other amp then I'd suggest two routes:

 

1) Focal Utopia (you shouldn't pay for them the full retail price - many authorized sellers are ready with not insubstantial discounts) + 3rd party balanced cable for them and keep using them with the Yggdrasil

 

2) Focal Clear (about 85-90% of Utopias performance for a bit less than half the price - as usual with expensive hobby, you get to overspend for the last 10-15%) + a new amp for them.

 

IF you have your eyes set on Utopias then even if you get them for, say 3200-3500 USD, I doubt that you will find a better amp than Yggdrasil for what's left in the budget.

I take it you mean the Ragnarok for the amp. I was looking at focal utopias though. Ill have to see if i can audition them.

[Lathlaer]

2 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

I take it you mean the Ragnarok for the amp

Heh, for some reason I thought Yggdrasil is a dac/amp but now that I look at Shiit's website I can see it's only DAC.

 

Well if you are able to get Utopias + Ragnarok for the budget then by all means. I personally like more tube sound with them, hence I'm using them with Woo Audio WA8 Eclipse and I very much enjoy the combo.

[rice guru]

4 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

Heh, for some reason I thought Yggdrasil is a dac/amp but now that I look at Shiit's website I can see it's only DAC.

 

Well if you are able to get Utopias + Ragnarok for the budget then by all means. I personally like more tube sound with them, hence I'm using them with Woo Audio WA8 Eclipse and I very much enjoy the combo.

Considering how much clout  schiit has had over the years I don't know if they are the best at any price point... Certainly not the best at any price point under $500 but I'm not sure about the truly high end gear. 

[Derkoli]

25 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

Heh, for some reason I thought Yggdrasil is a dac/amp but now that I look at Shiit's website I can see it's only DAC.

 

Well if you are able to get Utopias + Ragnarok for the budget then by all means. I personally like more tube sound with them, hence I'm using them with Woo Audio WA8 Eclipse and I very much enjoy the combo.

I like tube sound but only on speakers. I hate tubes with headphones it just sounds odd to me for some reason. But the HD800's with the sennheiser amp also looks a really good combo to.

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Derkoli said:

I like tube sound but only on speakers. I hate tubes with headphones it just sounds odd to me for some reason. But the HD800's with the sennheiser amp also looks a really good combo to.

I think that heavily depends on the headphone for me  obviously putting tubes on a planar is not a good idea but putting tubes ona neutral fairly narrow headphone or a high impedance one is I find pretty great especially something like a hd 650 or 600 or a high impedance beyerdynamic which I know is not neutral but somehow sounds really nice. but if you don't have anice solid state headphone amp I would personally go that direction first anyway. and from our past conversations I believe you have a loxjie p20 anyway and from what I hear those are pretty decent when used in balance. 

[Derkoli]

On 7/24/2019 at 6:13 PM, rice guru said:

I think that heavily depends on the headphone for me  obviously putting tubes on a planar is not a good idea but putting tubes ona neutral fairly narrow headphone or a high impedance one is I find pretty great especially something like a hd 650 or 600 or a high impedance beyerdynamic which I know is not neutral but somehow sounds really nice. but if you don't have anice solid state headphone amp I would personally go that direction first anyway. and from our past conversations I believe you have a loxjie p20 anyway and from what I hear those are pretty decent when used in balance. 

I only really use the P20 for travelling now as i find my phone often has issues trying to output power at low octaves, and it helps with that, I think i'm gonna go for the HD800S' and the sennheiser HDV 820 amplifier, from analogueseduction.net, so i could return them if i dont like them. But im also going to go ahead and buy the schiit Freya + to get some more tube sound into my speakers. Ty for the help.

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Derkoli said:

I only really use the P20 for travelling now as i find my phone often has issues trying to output power at low octaves, and it helps with that, I think i'm gonna go for the HD800S' and the sennheiser HDV 820 amplifier, from analogueseduction.net, so i could return them if i dont like them. But im also going to go ahead and buy the schiit Freya + to get some more tube sound into my speakers. Ty for the help.

Personally would avoid schiit if I wanted tubes. There are definitely better options than any of the schiit products at any price point.

[Derkoli]

27 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Personally would avoid schiit if I wanted tubes. There are definitely better options than any of the choir products at any price point.

Hm ill look at other tube pre-amps then.