Massdrop x THX AAA 789

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by neogeosnk, Feb 26, 2018.

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  1. Greg Brown

    Greg Brown New

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    When I listen to music on my HP setup, and I'm not completely satisfied with my chain I tend to fidget and get distracted. I quit listening to music and instead listen to my system reproducing the music.

    Now that I'm using my Yggdrasil and 789 I'm happy. Ignoring the price of the 789 and instead listening to it, and admiring the thoughtful design I have become satisfied with my HP chain.

    Tidal Masters > Roon > Yggdrasil > 789 > Awesome HPs. Been a long time in the making, but now I'm listening and relaxing, not tweaking and researching products.

    Hope this lasts for a while......
     
  2. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    After canceling my order many months back, I'll see in the next few months with regards to picking up this amp. Could always go for more cheaper Balanced Amps.
     
  3. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    While it has balanced input and outputs it's not truly balanced. For some reason I prefer the SE in (I'm using BAL out). Not sure if it's the topology, my chain, my imagination or lack of coffee in the mornings lately as a reason for that preference.

    I'm still really enjoying the 789. The amp is clean, sounds great and I can use every headphone I own with good results. Still runs cool... After having loads of hot running amps it's been a nice change. Recommend a well performing DAC though, it's quite revealing.
     
  4. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I was more thinking about using it as my desktop amp for casual listening. The catch for me is getting an el-cheapo balanced DAC. It also beats not changing the cables on my Clear and LCD2-C when I want to use them from the Jot Bal to Magni 3.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2018
  5. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    Well, in my opinion it doesn't matter if you use balanced or se input. Just give it a decent source and it'll sound great.
     
  6. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    I finally heard this at a minimeet feeding an HD 600. Quite mediocre; endgame my ass. Maybe for redditors with BA IEMS listening to anime schoolgirls. Mids never pop; Screams, snares, and Marshall guitars don't pop outta the mix like they should. Low gain sucks and makes all cymbals sound like Lars Urlich's compressed coffee cans. High-gain was a lot better for bass and treble but the thing was still veiled in the mids.

    Can it make Sennheisers loud? Yes.
    Does it have some fidelity to recordings? Uhhh not really.
    Does it let the sound of what gear it's fed come through? Yeah a bit so it has some transparency to it. The flaws of the Soekris and Gungnir Multibit 2 were apparent.
    Does it sound cool? Hell to the no.
    Is this really that much better than a Magni as a cheapish amp? A little bit.
    Is this better than the headphone amps in non value engineered interfaces (no Focusrite trash) like the newer RMEs, Dangerous Source, Lavry, and Prism boxes? Hahahaha. Nah.
    Worth $250 over a Magni? Not really. Save your money for big boy gear.
    Worth $350? If you're a redditor who just dropped 1k on an RME ADI 2 DAC and you need another box to test your wallet's might to flex while Fortnite streaming wearing closed cans.
    Conclusion: Another overhyped Reddit and Amir meme.

    What can you spend 250 to 350 bucks on instead?
    - An HD 600 and a Magni or something
    - JBLs and just crank them and rock out while you save for real deal stuff.
    - A guitar. You can learn to play. The cheap Strats and real wood Ibanez RG stuff are actually decent.
    - A cheapish interface like the Steinberg 4/8 channels (no codec chips in those) and some used shure mics so you can record yourself play.
    - A ton of booze that will enhance everything
    - At least five dinners at decent restaurants. Take a woman out and have fun. Stop eating at the Cheesecake Factory
    - At least 25 CDs way better than every anime soundtrack ever
     
  7. Baten

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    So where exactly did the "anime" connection come from o_O? I'm sure it doesn't hold up to the highest standard of non-value engineered interfaces, but I think you might be a little hard on this thing. Perhaps a magni is better value I'm not gonna disagree. But this thing rocks a 3.5mm, TRS and XLR output with three gain switches (again, agree low gain sounds the worst so I definitely believe you auditioned this thing properly), but I still think you can do so much worse than buying this little amp.
     
  8. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    Psalm

    Please list the top 3 headphone amps you have ever heard regardless of type (tube/SS etc)

    Just want to know what you think is good/TOTL.

    Thanks
     
  9. maverickronin

    maverickronin Friend

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    Some kind of tick. He throws that in when describing things he doesn't like.
     
  10. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    To Psalm's credit, even as an anime fan, I can't think of a single well recorded track. In an effort to not derail the conversation further, if you can think of any, respond to me via PM or profile post.
     
  11. maverickronin

    maverickronin Friend

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    I pretty much agree, but that's not any different from 99% of other modern music. It's not like a random metal track in my library is mixed any better than a random Jpop one
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The Massdrop THX AAA 789 is essentially the Objective 2 amp done right since the form-factor of the Objective 2 was not really portable in the first place. If you want to nitpick, I'd say its weaknesses, in order os severity are as follows: 1) lack of slam / macro-dynamics, particularly in the low end; 2) lack of microdynamics - which includes 90% of SS designs; 3) veil in the mids (hard to notice since the background is so clean, but it's there - I hear this veil to varying extent with every design that uses opamps.

    Still, with the amount of power and flexibility, it's hard to beat for the price. The highlights of the THX AAA 389 are the deep open staging, clean sound, normal sounding highs, and fine detail rendering (for the price). IMO, this amps pairs well with HD650, LCD2C, and most ZMF cans.
     
  13. Sonorus

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    Any suggestions about SS designs without the lack of microdynamics? (non TOTL stuff).
     
  14. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    The mid veil was very noticeable. This THX thing on high-gain makes open back dynamic headphones sound like a two-way speakers with too big woofers that go too low thus a recessed midrange creating a bathtub effect. Think Adams A7X or poorly set up KH120 (no suck out if correctly set up with no desk reflections or wall bass) or you know, just some meme focal junk. Except the midrange was not just recessed in volume from the THX, it actually hazy and veiled. The punched in Marshall leads of Iron Maiden just didn’t HONK and POP out, which they do even on the remasters on better gear.

    I do not think this has anything to do with using op-amps, as many worse measuring amps using cheaper opamps don’t veil the Marshall honk. The problem is nobody will sell a much better, non muddy version of the cmoy or something outside of a tacked-on feature in an interface as who would buy it? I think this THX thing is just another poorly-designed, overdamped for higher numbers, mediocre solid state amp like the O2 if it didn’t clip and Neurochrome that’s actually worse than the stuff you probably already own.

    Keep in mind this type of overdamped for mental masturbation with an audio analyzer numbers veil is a different type of veil than the current feedback stuff like the Magni 3 and Grace products have. Current feedback type veil is still different from constant current veil from tape heads and idk what SBAFers might be familiar with, the Apogee Groove? Yeah this THX veil was more annoying than those and the treble never cuts too. Garbage .
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  15. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Who cares? They’re headphones lol. Don’t sell this THX thing if you already have it unless you want to consolidate metal boxes or get cash for something better than what you have with more features. Use what you got for headphones and buy good speakers, treatment eventually, better masters, etc. Ignore hype trains from video gamers and people listening to Spotify at work. Even JBL 305 are flatter than any cans despite lacking any detail. Speakers from there just get better and better and better...
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    EC Black Widow, but BW is OOP and not ideal with inefficient planars and has organic bass that will turn some people off. Micro and macrodynamics (for SS) are why they are so sought after. Best for brighter or neutral headphones like HD600, HD800, Elex. Luxman too, but Luxman is just slightly veiled compared to BW; but Luxman looks like luxury product. V281 too, but kind of etchy in highs and poor value. GSX2 at high gain, but dem razor blades.
     
  17. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    I enjoy some anime and have a Reddit account. No wonder I like this piece of shit amp. Unless I'm using Gain 1 or 3, then less so...
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Hey, I plugged my Switch into the THX AAA 389 to hear the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 music through various headphones. Them Japanese sure do spend a lot of resources on video game music.
     
  19. maverickronin

    maverickronin Friend

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    And Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is just average for a Mitsuda Yasunori soundtrack...
     
  20. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I mean without Yellow Magic Orchestra we wouldn't have Video Game soundtracks. What did some of these computer geeks who were programming sounds on arcade machines do when sound chips can make music, put YMO music in their games.

     

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