lcmusiclover

Lol. Kevlar. Was that wishful thinking? I haven't seen someone leave so quickly over basically nothing before.

Kevlar397: He just wasn't manly and tough enough to, uh, multiquote.

Kevlar: high tensile strength but can be brittle, right?

Why not power amp? They really open up with surplus (quality) juice.

Not sure I need more than the Master 11 -- it has the +6 dB gain upgrade.

I thought that way ... until on a whim hooked up to 200Wpc amp. Then I could understand why folks often consider dual Schiits.

I think it shines moreon 2 ch over headphones. Good choice!

Yep, that's the conclusion I reached after a lot of comparing. Slightly different sound, but didn't hear 'better' enough to justify.

Only if he didn’t put insanely low price...

Yes, that is the problem :)

Still more to go: HE-6se, Opus#2, Plenue II, Emotiva XSP-1, either Gungnir Multibit or Yggdrasil (still can't decide), LC-X amp

I'm sure transformer rolling is only subtle, but what would you point towards changing with the nickel? I've been too lazy to swap out the amorphous that mine shipped with because it's glorious as is with the Utopia.

Definitely quite subtle. But the swap process takes long enough that you really look forward to the 'new' sound :) Nickel is little warmer/thicker. Airier from Amorphous and slightly brighter.

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to buy a dac1541 for a second room setup along with a second 3F and think the nickel might mate well with it and the Utopia/Stellia. Will give a shot.

ringing... and muddy bass?

http://audiojudgement.com/cumulative-spectral-decay-csd-plot/

http://theaudioannex.com/forum/threads/how-to-read-a-speakers-cumulative-spectral-decay-plot.9439/

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/measurement-and-audibility-headphone-break-page-2

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/tutorials/how-to-interpret-graphs/csdwaterfall-spectrum/

Thanks all! Guess I have some reading to do.

For instance, with Yggdrasil I started to easily hear more of how the vocalist moved around the mic, and whether they sang more from the chest or head. I don't think this adds much to musical enjoyment, but this level of detail does increase the goosebump factor at times.

Music source? Hopefully keep trying it in different combinations of headphones and amps to see what the stuff downstream may be coloring or not.

DSHA-3F & Liquid Platinum are the only amps. I've tried all my headphones (Utopia, Auteur, HEKv2, Ether 2, RAD-0). Just got HD-800S -- will test with them tonight. All analog connections are balanced. The thing is, I could clearly distinguish between A2 Gungnir Multibit & Denafrips Pontus.

Depends on headphones/amp/music used for evaluation. Consider it money saved if you don't feel Yggdrasil A2 is worth the extra dough.

Utopia, Auteur, HEKv2, RAD-0, Ether 2 all out of DSHA-3F. I clearly distinguished Gungnir Multibit from Pontus.

Coolio. I think that just makes Gungnir Multibit a remarkable value then and Bifrost 2 even more so it seems.

Yggdrasil warming up :)

Your DSHA-3F will suck with those. Better send to me instead.

@zonto OK, what's your address :)

Not mine ;)

Never listen to what jexby says. In fact do the opposite!

The madness never ends. There are only brief pauses, but it always returns.

I believe I only tried the amorphous transformers (correct me if I'm wrong @Vtory and @tommytakis). I have no desire to try the other ones; it sounds amazing and fits in well with the character of the amp.

versus previous SS amps (Violectric V280 & Bryston BHA-1)

With nickel core transformers?

Actually, I've swapped in the Amorphous I got from @jexby, using them right now.

Right? It really works well with most headphones but does wonder to 'some' headphones including Focal open trio, Verite, Auteur, and Ether 2.

Yep, really adds impact and weight to E2 sound, which can seem a bit thin/sparse, without tilting tonality or harming stage.