Comments on Profile Post by caute

Want to try out a YA2, holo, rockna, and some totl vintage or vintage-sounding r2r stuff, then choose one and have a huge hulking DAC with a tiny Piety sitting atop it.

I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a headphone amp. That's speaker money! Whereas one can use an excellent source both for headphones and speakers. It's much better investment.

Gungnir A1 is still my favorite piece of kit. I think I’m source > transducer > amp. but I really haven’t heard any good amps, so there’s that. Perhaps a relatively-modest Sonnet 2 would change my mind re: order. Also DACs seem to be less nervosa-inducing than amps for some reason.

@Claritas exactly! And under the source category, a good transport like the pi2 designs or holo red can also serve both 2ch and headphones, or you can just take the pi out of the pi2aes and code it to control a mini drone to pick up your mail from the mailbox (I don’t know if this is even remotely feasible lmao, but the possibilities seem endless with sources).

Never getting rid of my pi2 or good DAC, while I feel like hp and amps are more liable to FOTM or FOTY syndrome, at least in my case.

Our tastes change. Less so, with experience; and age itself is also a factor. When I was 24, I couldn't imagine I'd enjoy any drink more than Laphroaig 15. But a dozen years later, I found it barely palatable. I suspect that tastes change *less* as we age. But I am not so old that I have accumulated enough evidence to support that guess. So let us ask one of our wise elders. @Thad E Ginathom, what do you think?

the Dave is one of my best purchases in audio imo, having a great source is very valuable

Oh I forgot about the DAVE! the only good Chord product I ever hear about lol, that's gotta go on the list, but my goodness, imo, I'll take the industrial design Schiit over the space aesthetic of the DAVE any day... but strictly sound tho, is it truly worth the used price of entry (or half MSRP)? as most people seem to, if begrudgingly, admit?

I think so, https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/chord-dave-revisited-in-2022-vs-wavedream-signature.12197/

Wow! Over a totl-of-the-totl WD Sig XLR! A must-hear, for sure

I'd follow @Claritas's recommendations. Since you already have a Gungir A1 and pi2aes, you might be well set for now on that front. I'm backwards on that recommendation with my setup. I run a bifrost into an EC amp, but I know I shouldn't touch a nicer DAC unless I buy a DAVE.