Personal Loaner: Piety²

Do you want to join the tour?

 

I have never heard a Pietus Maximus, am VERY far afield which makes shipping expensive, and it's a gamble whether anything sent my way will even get to me, or make it back. Cannot in good conscience ask to join sadly.

 

Oh right. I was not thinking about your location when i replied. Sorry for the falso hope.

 

Revived the package today. Will open up and test it out in morning.

 

This loaner has tested my patience a good amount. The franken amp works well, but shipping has been brutal on the internals. Since its origianl shipping, we have secured some more wires with zip ties, but then lost some standoffs to what i can only assume was a few good tosses by UPS.

Fixed the standoff issue with bigger hardware and loctite only to have another signal wire break off, probably due to over working the wire while fixing other stuff, or general weakness from all the tossing about once the standoff brokes.

At this point I have secured all the wires as well as I can with zip ties, clamsp and glue, improved the solder points in almost all locations, and trimmed some of the excess wire. The amp is ready to go back out.

I am going to send it out again this week. Let me know if any of you are no longer interested.

@Pancakes if your ready I can send it your way. Just send me a pm with your contact details.

 

You got pm.

 

You're almost at the point you might as well just pot the amp and fill the thing up with epoxy

 

The loaner is on its way to pancakes.

Third times the charm!

 

Received and

 

Shipped to @AlPastor.

Huge thanks to @Ksorota. Personal loaners are worthy of the highest honor. I'll put my thoughts together and write something but the TLDR is that it's a wonderful amp. I enjoyed it immensely.

 

I'm terrible at describing sound and all its nuances. And a terrible writer in general but I'll give you what I got.

Chain:
Qobuz -> Audirvana on Mac -> Pi2AES via wireless -> Yggdrasil A2 AES -> amps -> Diana V2

I index for width, separation, macrodynamics, no weird frequency fuckery.

I bought the DV2 3 years ago and have since been looking for an amp for it while all along starting to become annoyed that I bought expensive headphones that I'm not happy with. They're uncomfortable...at the very least, they should sound good.

I loved the BHA-1 for its slam and width but the insane gain was a dealbreaker. I did the gain mod but some of the magic went away.

Then I tried the LAuX and loved its separation and delicacy but it was too limpdick.

There have been a bunch of other amps along the way that I didn't care for.

Also, with every amp I've tried I've ditched the DV2 and gone back to my HD600.

The Piety^2 has 90% of the width of the BHA-1 and its slam and the separation and subtlety of the LAuX. It's also more resolving than both and extends further down low and up top. And, it has amazing low, mid and high bass. Both in volume and definition. I'm blown away. Guitars and bass guitars are fan-f'ing-tastic. The treble is spot on for me. I listened for the entire week with the DV2 and loved it. I didn't bother listening to any other cans so unfortunately I can't give feedback on synergy with something more common.

What a fantastic hack.

 

@AlPastor do you have the amp? You should have received it on Tuesday the 28th.

 

@Pancakes Yes, received the amp. Thanks!

 

Shipped off to @RestoredSparda

 

Piety Squared just arrived from @AlPastor. I haven't opened the box yet but it looks in good condition from the outside.

Edit: She's missing two screws on the top panel but everything is solid and nothing rattles or sounds loose. I love the stickers.

 

Don’t worry about the screws. I left those two out basically out of laziness. Lol


Anyone feel free to add more stickers!

 

Those two missing screws definitely added to the "What's in the box" impulse. Must. Refrain.

Really enjoyed this project. Now I want to hear a Pieti Maximi.

 

I plan to add a modius e or a Vali(1)^2 setup into the box. But also want to update the box at some point. I do think some re working off the wiring is necessary…but that is for the v2 version.

 

Not just a Pi Max….I wonder what a Pi Max^2 would be like?

 

Ok...giving this some actual listening time this evening and I'm gobsmacked. I will be building one asap if @Ksorota can offer some details and the used piety market is kind. I can see why you would miss this!

The synergy with Yiggy A2 and Atrium Open is wonderful. Full, tight and impactful bass. Treble is absolutely not fucked and has none of the etch of a single piety. Surprising width to the headstage. Lots of resolution and plankton. Busy passages don't get messy.

Very fun, dynamic, clean and engaging. Stupid smile on my face while listening.

Absolutely 100 percent prefer this over MJ3 with Atrium Open. Seems to be a better pairing with Yiggy A2 than I thought Pietus Maximus was (although I don't have one at home right now to compare). I have a MJ3 though so those comparisons are fresh.

MJ3 with Atrium is noticeable softer, less dynamic and less engaging. Like a pillow is over the drivers. Also stages further away where Piety² is closer.

I can't listen with JAR 650 as I dont currently have a balanced cable. May reterminate my stock cable this weekend to try...

Excellent work @Ksorota. What a fun project! In its current state it's the definition of "don't judge a book by its cover". Lol.

PS. The unit has the same volume knob as the DNA Stratus. Kind of a cool coincidence.