Looking for Mid-Fi Recommendations

Thanks again for all the responses guys! If I do decide to go with the Vali 2 I definitely wouldn't be spending more on a tube than the amp costs, overall I am trying to keep costs down.

@Psalmanazar If the M2U stack would be a good inexpensive pairing for the HD650, what would be the equivalent for the DT880 in your opinion?

@Sqveak The Bifrost is an Uber but without the USB. I did see a post buy Jason Stoddard stating that they believe USB isn't up to the level that SPDIF is (source: http://www.head-fi.org/t/545842/sch...tion-and-anticipation-thread/405#post_7593148)

@Mikoss Sent you a message! The hospitality is greatly appreciated.

 

Well guys just to update this I ended up ordering the Lyr/Uberfrost this morning so I am looking forward to hearing it! @Mikoss may have got me hooked on HD800's though!

@Mikoss and I are going to do some tube rolling with the Lyr and the DT880's and see if we can find a good match (comes with about 10 pairs of tubes), after that I will report back with my findings in case anyone else is curious.

Just wanted to say thanks one more time to everyone for all of the help, especially @Mikoss and @Griffon , it is greatly appreciated!

 

@BrettMatthews: Any updates? Did the Bifrost & Lyr work out for you?

 

@Sqveak So far so good, I've really been enjoying the combo!

With this combo I have definitely been preferring my HD650 over my DT880's, that's not trying to say that I don't enjoy the DT880's but that this has just given me a new appreciation for the HD650. I am still not a huge fan of the HD650 on the O2/ODAC combo (which I do like the DT880 with) but the 650's sound great on the Lyr with the Amperex 6922 PQ (US), and the 6N23P Reflektor SWGP. I found a pair of 6DJ8 Orange Globes for a great deal on eBay last night so I am looking forward to hearing them with the HD650's as from everything I have read they seem to be a favourite pairing with them!

In the future I might end up changing the Lyr for a Valhalla 2 if I find a good deal on one (since I am really enjoying the HD650 and could see myself sticking with it for quite some time), and possibly do the 4490 upgrade on the Bifrost (currently is Uber without USB). I was planning on putting a post out looking for someone who may have upgraded a more recent Bifrost to Multibit from 4490 and would be willing to let it go. The multibit upgrade would just be too expensive after I factor in shipping from Canada. That and I am still trying to figure out if putting in the USB gen 2 would be a worth while upgrade for me from the toslink that I am currently using.

But overall I am happy with the current setup and have been doing quite a bit of listening lately. The real next step is to get some more music!

 

Once you figure out which tubes you enjoy best, you can sell off the others to fund a DAC upgrade I see a lot people obsessed with rolling tubes on HF and often wonder just how blown away they'd be if they invested a small portion of that cash into a new DAC.

 

Yep, that's my plan! Find my favourite pair, keep one spare pair and clear out the rest! @Mikoss and @Griffon have both warned me quite a bit not to go too crazy with the tube rolling so that's my plan.

After I start selling some of the extra tubes is when I probably would get the 4490 upgrade unless I find someone looking to sell theirs because they upgraded to multibit.

 

Just wanted to give an update to this thread for future knowledge. Before I do my update on this thread I first wanted to thank everyone again for all of their help, especially @Mikoss and @Griffon !

So where am I now? I ended up finding a great deal locally on a Valhalla 2 so I jumped on that and haven't really looked back. My current setup is:

Macbook Pro (toslink) -> Schiit Bifrost Uber -> Schiit Valhalla 2 (stock tubes) -> Modded HD650 (Coin mod, rear foam and spider removal, dynamat)

I was able to do a bit of a comparison between an Ember 2 (that Griffon graciously sent), my Valhalla 2, and Lyr. My preference with the modded HD650 was to the Val2, I felt that it had a very good compromise between the other two amps when it came to power and clarity. The Lyr had lots of power but lacked the finesse, and the Ember 2 had the finesse but lacked the power and impact that the Lyr has. Enter the Valhalla 2. To me this is the perfect middle ground (at least for me), between the Ember 2 and Lyr, had great clarity and airiness like the Ember 2 but wasn't missing the impact from the Lyr.

As mentioned earlier in the thread my Lyr had came with a hole bunch of tubes. I sold all of those tubes (before I got the Valhalla 2) and was just left with Orange Globes for the Lyr. I gave the OG's a go in the Valhalla 2 and found that I preferred the stock tubes to them as the OG's were fatiguing to me with the Modded HD650's, where as the stock tubes I didn't have that same issue with.

So where does this leave me? I am tapping out of the tube rolling game! I am going to sell the Lyr (for sale btw with the OG's and a spare pair of tubes), sending @Griffon his Ember 2 back, and I am just going to enjoy things for a while as is with the setup I listed above, stock tubes and all! Time to just enjoy the music.

Possible future upgrades? Only thing that I am currently interested in is the 4490 upgrade for my B-frost, and when I do that I might grab a spare set of tubes for the Val2 from Schiit.

What have I learned? Listen to the wise ones around here, don't go down the tube rolling rabbit hole! It's better to save that tube rolling cash for better equiptment. Try to find something with good synergy for what you have, and try not to float around too much in the mid-fi purgatory doing side-grades.

Overall, would I recommend this setup? Definitely, as its been said a ton of times on here, I think this setup has very good synergy and overall works great! Hopefully this helps someone in the future with their decisions.

 

Welcome to the club my friend. In my opinion this is a great endgame. Now go spend all your money on speakers! ^_^

 

You may even consider upgrading headphones, which will make a bigger difference than a new amp.

I went from the DT880 to the Beyer T90 which is the best decision I ever made in this hobby. The T90 gives you about 80% - 90% the performance of the flagship T1 (some even prefer the T90 since it sounds less analytical and more fun) and I scored one for $320 of the HF classifieds. One of the best price to performance ratios I've ever encountered.

The T90 is in that weird place of not quite being summit-fi but also easily outperforming the DT880/990/770. Easily. So it never caught on. But there are plenty of hidden gems out there that don't get all the attention, allowing them to be had for incredible deals.

This would easily be an end game HP for me but I want the HD800 because its slightly better. But the T90 would make anyone into the Beyer sound very happy.

EDIT: sorry didn't see your last post.