The All Purpose Advice Thread

I need (want) a good pair of open headphones. The rigs will be Gungnir Multibit to Freya to Cavalli Liquid Crimson and Eitr to Modi Multibit to vali2 with a decent tube. My current headphones are Mr. Speakers Ether C v1.1, no flow mod. I fall into the smaller camp that really likes these. I run 2 black filters, which warms them up and gets them close to the Aeon closed.

I listen to a lot of male and female singer songwriter stuff, from indie to country with a fair amount of americana in there. Also a bunch of 70’s to 90’s prog rock. Add in a smattering of classical, electric jazz, metal and hair rock from the 80’s and current-ish pop.

I’ve owned and loved the HD650 twice, and my first really good headphone (not counting the grado 125’s) were HD580’s with the then obligatory HD600 grills and HD650 cable.

From memory as it’s been a year or two since I’ve owned the HD650, I’d improve (widen) the soundstage and have it be just bit brighter on top. Last, a little less laid back, and a bit more real bass. I’m not a bass head, so that is least important to me.

Finally to the questions:
Am I describing the HD650 KISS?
Am I describing the HD800 with the resonator mod?
What else should I be looking at, with dynamic drivers and $600 or (much) less, used being perfectly fine?

 

Multiple outputs are usually the same as using splitters. There's probably a few cases where outputs have a dedicated buffered out as well as separate volume control (RME?), but those cost a fortune.

 

You are indeed describing an HD800SDR!

 

anyone know of a good speaker amp that is about the same size as the Schiit Bifrost? I'm trusting that you all won't recommend the usual chip amp/ class d stuff.

Bifrost is 6x9x2 inches.

 

At that size, there is basically nothing but class D.

You're going to have to make your peace with the fact that AB, let alone A, of any power would need that much volume just in heatsinks.

I mean, it's possible to cram single digits of class a in such a chassis, obviously - the Asgard 2 does it - but there ain't a great deal of speaker power amps like that, even the wimpiest of Papa Pass' Firstwatt stuff is several times larger.

 

Lyr 3

 

To run speakers?

 

in what way is the Lyr 3 a speaker amp?

 

You could use the pre-amp outs on Lyr 3 to drive powered speakers but Schitt did not recommend using original Lyr to drive speakers:

Suspect same holds true for Lyr 3.

 

Kinda of a joke but it can push 9w into 16 ohms. That's more power then a 300b amp

 

What speakers are you looking to run?

 

Actually you would need to do it from the headphone out. Preouts have 75ohm output impedance.

Edit:

Misunderstood

 

More seriously, build this

https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/frontpage/products/amp-camp-amp-kit?variant=7072933085218

Chassis is 7.8 x 9 inches and can power up to 5w

 

Schitt does say on Lyr 3 page that:

Not saying you are wrong but Schitt says fine; checked before original post.

 

Wording was just confusing. Artur9 was talking about speaker amps and you were talking about powered speakers from the preouts, which of course you can do.

 

I've driven speakers off my Leckerton, so I'm sure the Lyr 3 would work. Although that's of course not recommended, especially for desktop monitors where the efficiency will be closer to 80-85 db/W. A couple hundred watts would be a better choice.

 

Even the last bit about a bit of bass? I'm quite happy with the bass from the Ether C's which is accurate, and appropriate. A good bass drop won't rattle molars for instance.

Also @Gaspasser or anyone for that matter - please point me in the best direction to read up ad-nauseum on the SDR mod, and whatever else needs be done. Is the SDR a purchased item? Begged item? hand made by me item? Meantime, I'll try out my search-foo and google-foo to find the info.

OK, I'm straying into "here, let me Google that for you" territory, with sarcasm set to kill, so maybe I'd better do my own homework....

 

The SDR mod is a creation of our very talented @sorrodje. I believe you can PM him for details.

 

@artur9

Also if you look around there's a lot of SET amps around that size, if that's what you are into. Here's one example:

https://www.tubedepot.com/products/tubecube-7-stereo-vacuum-tube-amplifier

From the Bifrost size limitation, you are basically limited to low powered single ended amps(SS or tube) as far as discrete amps go. The smallest class-AB discrete amp I've seen is pretty much this one.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/dayton_apa150_e.html

Gainclones are really your only option.

That specification is typically at 1 meter, at a desk you are sitting closer than that. 25w should get plenty loud.

 

I’m not sure it’s possible without class D. But if you go that way, Hypex NCore400 is the best of the ones I’ve heard; I like it better than many other Class A/B Amps. There’s a DIY version (or used to be) from Hypex that is the right size. I have the NAD M22 implementation and it’s stunningly good.

The NAD D3020 is a sweet little DAC/Amp combo. The DAC is like the M51: totally rounded off to cover up the sins. The amp is a Hypex uCore, predecessor to nCore, and not as crisp. But zero effort required to get it going and at $299 refurbished it’s a bargain IMO. Interface is sweet.

In Class H, the Benchmark ABH2 is also small (but not Bitfrost small). Stereophile A rated and I can attest to it being the lowest noise amplifier ... probably in existence—but I don’t like the sonic signature: way too etched for me.

I don’t actually know since I haven’t tried, but my *guess* is that any of these will sound better than an el-cheap-o SET.