SBAF Wishlist for 2021 - Petition to MOTs

Discussion in 'Leaderboard, Overboard, and Deals' started by purr1n, Jan 15, 2021.

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UNLIMITED votes. Check to tell Santa what you want in 2021.

  1. Fostex T50RP (Drop Fostex T-X0 II)

    16.5%
  2. iFi Portable Roon Endpoint

    14.9%
  3. Schiit Sabreius

    24.7%
  4. Schiit MagnIEM or Geshelli Archel IEM

    15.5%
  5. Schiit "Multius" and/or affordable NOS

    37.6%
  6. Soekris DAC with DIY digital filters

    10.3%
  7. Pi2 Design or Allo Idiot-Proof Ready-To-Go RPi/AES Streamer

    24.7%
  8. Sennheiser HE90 Resurrection

    30.4%
  9. Sennheiser "HD850"

    63.4%
  10. RAAL Requisite Headphone Version of SR1A

    18.0%
  11. Fixed Topping L30 that won't kill headphones

    2.1%
  12. More 0.000x% THD 110db+ SINAD Nested Feedback Composite Amplifiers

    3.1%
  13. John Yang of Topping / SMSL to be more gracious to his competitors and victims of his amps exploding

    16.5%
  14. Schiit Saga S (with balanced)

    13.4%
  15. iFi Zen DAC Signature (available outside of Drop)

    4.6%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. FlySweep

    FlySweep Friend

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    A (proper) UERM IEM refresh (not this "RR"-sounding stuff). If collab'ed, I'd want UE x @CEE TEE .. or w/ Drop (if we have to). <$1000. Whatever.. make it happen. There's a very good chance I ditch over ears as 'daily drivers' if that were to happen. Not sure there's a headphone (full sized or otherwise) that I regret selling more than my custom UERM.
     
  2. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    it won’t happen until the parts are mass produced for small payload nukes in ww3, which will shrink out nuts and lower our testosterone so much we won’t care about audio anymore

    nobody has made a “well-implemented modern tube amp” for under 7000 dollars. Most of these tube amps suck ass. If you think random X is good, compare it to the EC Studio, Colin/OJ’s tube amps, or TAB stuff properly restored, which is very difficult in the USA now. Chances are what you like is not great in comparison. That 10,000 dollar woo amp could be made cheaper but that is only borderline acceptable. There are 1960s tube pa amps that are cleaner sounding than it. Public address gear. And it wipes the floor with modern ORFAS “hi-fi” and “studio” tube gear.

    the best tube stuff, the best clean discrete gear with modern parts, and good modern ultra high speed op amp gear has unmatched clarity. Designing and building it and making it sound good is another story. Keep in mind a lot of the hyped up “super clean” gear you read about isn’t really clean like Grace and RME. The Modius’ LMEs are cleaner. The best stuff is like getting a Cheeto sized piece of wax taken out of your ear
     
  3. JellyRhino

    JellyRhino Facebook Friend

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    Schiit Multius, but based on LME49724 so that the analog stage is closer to the Bifrost 2 or a balanced Modius.

    Please add a Nexus Saga so we can vote for it. There are too many balanced DACs with gimped SE outputs (Modius, Gungnir...). A preamp would be all around more useful than a transformer based converter.
     
  4. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    @purr1n - maybe @soekris can answer this better, but I think the DACs already let you roll your own filters. I have seen others online roll in their own filters via the same cable/port that is used to update the firmware (with files and instructions for firmware updates already available directly from Soekris - i.e. no mad wizardry).

    Unless you meant this in a way like other mfg's DACs should let it be this easy too.
    -------------------------------
    1) More Toobz.

    Ideally we would be using SS only by now, but my guess is if we haven't found a way to make good SS / no tube designs consistently sound better at a similar price after 50+ years, we aren't going to suddenly do so in the next 25ish years (i.e. - long enough to recoup costs and make enough profits to have tube venture be worthwhile). Kudos to the people reviving WE, hope to see more similar projects (i.e. secret sauce supposedly included).

    2) Maybe a revived HE90 or "HD850" would be it but I'm waiting for a neutralish flagship headphone that to me (i.e. many will disagree) doesn't have a fatal flaw of some sort. I've posted before about how I don't currently own an "actual flagship" due to I'd rather have a half step down product than deal with whatever "flaw" in the flagship.

    3) Idiot proof plug and play low cost streamer device with I2S, AES, coax, etc, whether it be from Pi2Design, a new ifi box, or any given company or member/s.

    Yes, many of us can handle assembly and setup of the Pi2 kit as it is w/o issue, but it seems like most of us are all doing the same thing with it and not deviating much from the baseline product - so why DIY it at this point?
    To clarify, I enjoy DIY. But IMO DIY is mostly about 1) education + experience, which I don't think most of the consumer market is after 2) being flexible and making changes to get exactly what you want - again, I don't think most people care THAT much about getting that last 1% exactly how they want 3) Maybe cost savings - yes, you may save a little, but now days it seems like component + kit cost is close enough to product cost that I'd often rather just support the people making the product. There's also your own equipment costs, extra components that most DIY projects inevitably go through, required pre-req knowledge - i.e. don't build something that will explode or shock you, etc.

    4) May go against #2, but more <$1k headphones that aren't strictly mid-fi purgatory products. I understand a $500-1k headphone is not the same as a $3k+ TOTL headphone... but how many of us have one or two <$500 headphones that we still use regularly or even instead of a $3k+ TOTL headphone?

    2 main reasons
    a) Bring IMO overpriced headphone and IEM prices back to more realistic levels. I've heard many $4k speakers + sub that mostly sound better than a $4k LCD4 / Utopia or even worse, a $3k+ IEM. (Assuming similar $ on amp/dac/accessories).
    b) Enable more innovation. Not just by nature of having people come up with more products, but also by having the products more accessible to more people - i.e. less hesitant to gamble $750 on a new entry VS $3750.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  5. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    I would say I would like a upgrade to the Schiit Yggdrasil. They have really improved their range of products for everyone, like the bifrost 2 but they haven't improved the dacs on the high end. I know they may be hesitant from the fiasco of an upgrade process last time and its a pain in the ass, but a lot of new dacs or newer iterations of dacs have come out.

    If Yggdrasil could retain its strengths, have a more natural/neutral tonality, with a darker blackground(probably help with its strengths), I think it could probably could beat out the newer bois. At this point, I just can't be bothered to spend more for a Rockna Dac, or the new fad NOS dac, or the latest/greatest fpga 1-bit hydravox blah blah. I just want to love the Yggdrasil, and see it ascend to the top of all these new dacs, and become a no brainer recommendation at its modest price point! @schiit Been waiting for updates on this for while, and sort off let down its a new product instead of the upgrade to this big boi.
     
  6. obsiCO

    obsiCO Thai Fish Experiment Gone Wrong

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    • Affordable ZMF. I'm sure I'm in a minority here as I don't mind plastic or metal if it helps reduce the overall cost, and as long as it doesn't break apart at the touch. I've read somewhere that Zach once contemplated on this idea and I hope he makes it happen someday.
    • @Zampotech 's new, big boy amp. SW51+ is nothing short of amazing for such a smol amp and I can't wait to see (and hear) what he can cook up in a bigger, badder form.
    • A great all-DD IEM with the following qualities: (1) Great technicalities and resolve, (2) HD650-ish tonality, and (3) At non-ORFAS pricing. It seems like you can only choose 2 with the current ones in the market. I'm not big into hybrids since it feels to me that, no matter how well one hides the BA's timbre, a hybrid would still lack that seductive "DD mayjick" in the mids and highs. With a single DD, one doesn't have to worry much about an amp's output impedance as well and that makes it tons easier to synergize with gear. JVC FDX1 is pretty good but I want more.
    • Schiit's take on Black Widow, maybe a bit more neutralish. I possess zero knowledge on the engineering side of things though I'm hopeful that it's going to be Schiit who can replicate (by all accounts) the magic of Black Widow: tube-like fluidity and staging, excellent resolution, and slam. Jot 2 might come close from what I've read but still seems to not be improved much on staging, but I'm sure that's not exactly easy to replicate and all.
    Random thoughts:
    • I was thinking of a DAP successor to ZX2 but seems like Shanling's got everyone beat already.
    • @E_Schaaf 's headphones are hella exciting to a closet slam slut such as I. Too bad I live across the pond.
    • Schiit Sys with a big knob on top not unlike Fulla.
    • Not exactly to MOTs but to us -- while there are plenty of great guides for headphones and dac and amps on here, I feel like we don't have as many guides or resources on the 2-channel side of things. I'd hate to spam the shit out of @Psalmanazar inbox with noob questions about active monitors but I think I just might!
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    LOL, who added the last 3 items?
     
  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    It isn't hard to figure that part out. :p
     
  9. animus

    animus Almost "Made"

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    • High end single DD IEM that doesn't suck. I've heard almost everything there is to hear in IEMs and it's embarrassing how most single DDs are fatally flawed in some way or another. The few exceptions are all, surprisingly, lower end stuff like the FDX1 and the ER2. Where is the TOTL equivalent of this? Why does budget stuff do tuning and timbre so much better than all the high end crap that floods the market? Absolutely shameful.
    • High end DAP that at least tries to compete with desktop gear. Same with the DD thing, the DAP market is mostly really subpar. I haven't heard the Shanling M6 that people seem to like here, but there's stuff from other brands like iBasso, A&K, Cayin that's all really just awful to listen to. I've been using a WM1A for 2 years, I know all its flaws from the inside and out, and somehow it's the best I've heard and there's nowhere for me to really upgrade to. It shouldn't be like this. Where is the DAP stuff that has the same kind of resolve and dynamism as my desktop setup?
    • PI2AES that's idiotproof and works with everything would be lovely. All the current PI OS solutions seem too complicated and not straightforward enough for their own good.
    • Utopia successor that fixes some of the Utopia's flaws. As much as I like the Utopia, no one can argue against the fact that its staging isn't the best, and it will have a tinge of metallic flavor even on the best setups. Fixing both of those problems would be great, when Focal stops screwing around with car manufacturer collaboration headphones.
    • I don't know how realistic this is, but it would be incredible if someone managed to put together a DAC that chased after the aspects that make the Wavedream so good without the crazy price. From how the stuff is described it reads like it's a tier above everything else, and it makes one wonder if something like that can be attained for, I don't know, Yggdrasil prices. Within sanity for most people into this stuff.
     
  10. Roget

    Roget Acquaintance

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    I like to see different designs for low distortion amps. They use the same three parts.
     
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    • True-High-End DD IEM. Probably not realistic. The best with respect in timbre and low end texture was the Sony EX1000, but obvious treble peak issues. I've heard HFM may have one or two, and with mods, could be really good. Maybe large DD for bass and a smaller DD for highs less likely to have peaks? Not crossing my fingers. The last place I would look toward is Sony or any of the Asian manufacturers.
    • I do not think it's possible for portable gear to have performance like desktop gear. Constraints such as long battery life, efficiency, and small packaging tend to go against good sound.
    • A huge problem is Crazy Rich Asians randomly buying up every other latest and greatest new $2000 - $3600 IEM and proclaiming as awesome, until the next one comes out. If there is no discretion, then all we are going to get is continued shit.
    • I'm sure Focal with come up with a successor to Utopia that improves upon it. For $8000.
    • Stuff like the Wavedream is almost bespoke, a design which has been improved upon over years to meet a certain vision, from Rockna first using MSB modules, and then ditching them for their own designs. If someone did end up making a DAC as good for 25% of the cost, no one would believe it was as good. That's how the https://www.orfas.org world goes. It then becomes a matter of preferences, synergies, and even self-worth (just look at how bent out of shape the AHB2 guys at ASR got when I didn't happen to like the AHB2). This is the reason I encourage folks who have gotten seriously into the high-end to leave SBAF. SBAF offers nothing of benefit for them.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  12. pure5152

    pure5152 Friend

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    While we’re blue skying, I wonder if schiit would ever consider a two chassis dac: one chassis for power supply, other chassis for inputs and outputs? The gungnir and Yggdrasil are great DACs, but huge for desktop setups with not much space— having a two chassis solution you could stack vertically would have a much smaller footprint and would allow for a much better power supply and analog output stage (hardware balanced, no op-amps. Again, blue-skying, but possible, no large fancy chassis, could be very awesome?
     
  13. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    Mike addressed this in the latest stream. He has a strong preference for the ownership/usability simplicity of keeping everything in one box. So probably unlikely.
     
  14. animus

    animus Almost "Made"

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    I think it's definitely possible. Not necessarily on par with a really good DD headphone, but with the resolve of something like an Ara (to reference something you know) and a tuning somewhere in between a U12t and a Dusk. I do know of an attempt at this in the coming months, but it will be ORFAS priced unfortunately.

    Probably not, but something that tries to reach for that would be better than the same stuff that sounds like bad delta sigma over and over. I wanted to start writing about the DAP market but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I would be repeating myself ad nauseam because most stuff has the same flaws, especially if it's by the same brand. It really shouldn't be like this.

    I don't even really think it's an Asian thing, there are just too many people with more money than sense in portable audio that buy buy buy without much regard for sound quality. To them it's very much a status symbol thing. I'm aware of plenty of Americans that do this too. The more this continues, the more the portable audio market (especially the Western one) will stagnate. That's where crap like the U18t, or even worse, the likes of the Empire Ears Wraith and the Noble Sultan come from.

    Definitely, though I'm kind of sick of waiting, hence I mentioned it at all.

    I guess I wasn't necessarily getting at being identical to the Wavedream/having similar performance for cheaper, but rather having a similar sound at a lower pricerange. Something that's a step below a Wavelight, if you will. Of course the cheaper it gets the more you lose from the original, but given it seems like Rockna is doing something that no other company really is, having a more accessible model might be a really competitive and unique option for people unprepared to drop car money on a DAC.
     
  15. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Oops, I was working and didn’t see the note about writing a paragraph or two to justify the suggestions, so I made some updates to my post. :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  16. Raimei Templar

    Raimei Templar Friend

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    The T-X0 mkII would have been a big deal if it had not died. It would have actually offered some competition to the 6xx at that price point so I would like to see that come back. Since this is a wish list, I would also take a T60RP drop variant that actually has quality control! Or alternatively do the T-X0 mkII, charge a extra 20 bucks and change the shit connector to the same one found on the T60RP so you can easily go balanced and dont have to worry about failure. Budget planar space is pretty much Hifiman or bust so would love to see another option there.

    The rumor is that Geshelli Labs is planning a Sabre based dac since they cannot get anymore AKM chips so there might be a nice Sabre DAC in the works. Would be nice to have a affordable non-Chifi Sabre pure dac out there for people who dont want/need a interface.

    My biggest want not on the list is for Schiit to update their internal dac cards to have unison and output 2v rms. If they were to put out a new version of their multibit card especially, 200 bucks addon for unison and multibit would be real tempting. I would love to pick up a Jot 2 and just have one box that has everything I could ever want or need covered, but the internal cards are just not as good as the external offerings. I can never go back to Cmedia offerings now that I have had unison and Amerano.
     
  17. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    @purr1n focal should first improve their tweeters and stuff bolting 10 dollar Chinese players amp to the back of 1000 dollar speakers
     
  18. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    I would love to see EC schematics / designs become available so people could DIY their own, we could put together a community project to build / have batches of them built, or someone (Uhemmmm @Zampotech ) to pick up the helm and start producing Studio B's, ZDS, etc.

    A cost no object dac from Mike / Schiit two chassis, bonkers analog output stage or perhaps a safe way to bypass the output stage like the gumbreya?

    Zampotech's new hp amp and power amp

    I like the idea of a ready out of the box pi2aes streamer for lazy people.

    ECP to get back up and running / producing fast and cheaper
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  19. Tchoupitoulas

    Tchoupitoulas Friend

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    I'd be keen to see a few things:

    From Campfire Audio:
    • an updated version of the Orion, perhaps a more refined, mid-fi version in the $400-500 price range? In other words, an Andro Lite. (Not something as bassy as the Polaris).
    • keeping the OG Andro and Solaris as part of the CA stable and at their current prices, respectively, of $1000 and $1300.

    From Sennheiser:
    • a cheaper Drop or other collaborative or standalone version of the HD 600. I realize the HD 600 recently and briefly went on sale for $300 on Amazon, and I understand that they've just had a refreshed color scheme, but why can't Sennheiser figure out a way of offering this classic headphone for somewhere in the same ballpark as the HD 6XX?

    From Audeze:
    • bring the price of the LCD2 Classic back down to its original, introductory price of $600. It's been on the market for more than three years now.
     
  20. Degru

    Degru Facebook Friend

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    Stax to get their head out of their ass and make something as good as the Lambda Signature again. No more ported estats please. A new housing for Lambdas with better build quality and front side acoustics. Also a new SRD unit, preferably at a reasonable price (or using really good transformers if not). I love estats but they're hard to recommend when all the best stuff is decades old and out of production, or priced at many kilobucks.
     

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