The All Purpose Advice Thread

If anything you'll get sent to dislike hell for saying cables make no difference

 

Well, for a change, I think I might have a chance to actually audition some equipment. Moon Audio is about 15 miles from my home and he sells Cord and Matrix. I am not in a big hurry so it might take me a while. Since I posed the question and started the thread, I will post here when I have made my purchase..

 

Hi friends,

I've seen a couple mentions of adding a subwoofer to the headphone chain to fix the bass/subbass roll off and I'm curious to try it with the hd650s. So if I were to do that, do I just get a preamp like Saga and connect the sub through rca out? I'm not too familiar with speaker related stuff and would greatly appreciate any help! Thanks

 

What's the rest of your setup like? If you have a headphone amp with preouts that don't get muted when you plug in a headphone you're set. Saga could work but you have to connect the headphone amp to it as well otherwise you end with having to control volume on two points. This way you max out the headphone amp and use the Saga for volume.

 

Certainly a pre-amp can solve this problem. My Emotiva XSP-1 has secondary outputs specifically designed for this. It has adjustable-frequency high-pass (on the main output) and low-pass (on the sub- output) filters to allow bi-amping. For example, you could drive active speakers off the main outputs and an active sub- off the sub-woofer output, or drive amps for either (or both), using the cross-over frequency adjustment functions in the pre-amp to shape the cross-over point. Note that each of these outputs have both balanced and single-ended output.

Here's a link to the manual, just so you can see what's possible.

Link to XSP-1 product page.

Note that I haven't been using the cross-over functionality -- I used the Emotiva to drive two headphone amps from a single source with the high- and low-pass filters defeated -- both outputs become full range that way. I also used it for source-switching and volume control via the remote.

 

Tysm for the prompt response. So my current setup is : Gungnir Multibit > ZDT Jr. > Verite/ HD650

I also have a DSHA 3f coming the end of this month but it's balanced in/out only. I think Doug also warned me not to put a preamp with 3f :/

ZDT Jr. only has a SE pass and not preout, so I'm guessing I would have to control volume on 2 points like you said

@lcmusiclover Oh wow, you just threw a lot of speaker terms at me haha I'll get back to you after researching the terms you just mentioned! Also the link doesn't seem to work for me

@ultrabike sound advice. I'll look into this option as well.

 

Corrected.

 

Well i'd wait on the Ecp amp and see what you think then. Otherwise i have to side with @ultrabike that speakers are best if they are practical.

 

Hey all,

Recently purchased an Aeolus (currently being made) and am in search for a good tube amp for it. I would like the amp to be neutral-ish in sound, have good clarity and have a wide stage. I'm pretty new to tubes and have researched a few, but nothing has caught my eye yet.

I would like to keep my budget around $500 new or used.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

I think BHC or Massdrop ZDT Jr will fit your need.
Sometimes Liquid Platinum goes on sell for around $600 or you can get B stock from Monoprice for 500

 

Thanks! I have been looking at the LP and ZDT. How warm sounding is the ZDT? Since the Aeolus is already a warmish headphone, I wouldn't want to add too much warmth to it.

 

no experience with the Aeolus here, but ZDT Jr. doesn't strike me as warm in the typical over saturated/wet "tooobz" way. It has well defined midrange response with clear but not overly aggressive treble. However, ZDT Jr. does not have the most "authoritative" bass.

 

May want to look into a Valhalla 2. Under $500, very resolving, neutral, pairs well with high Z dynamics. The 6CG7 tubes fix alot of the amp's shortcomings (lack of slam, haziness, dry treble). Not up on how well it pairs with Aeolus but the amp is good enough to be worth some research. And Schiit has a 15 day return policy.

 

I would recommend Cavalli Tube Hybrid. It may not be the best in any category, but it ticks a lot of boxes. I haven't even touched Jotunheim after I've got it despite its weaker slam. Excellent clarity, fairly deep stage (although not necessarily wide), and good micro-detail retrieval. The stock tube is plenty good enough that you don't need to replace unlike Vali 2 or Valhalla 2. You can always add an LPS for overall betterer-ness as well if you can find one used for cheap.

I think CTH is a great match for warm cans like HD650 because of its slightly lean character. Aeolus should fit nicely with it.

 

Just FYI multiple people have reported the MCTH seems to develop problems, so I would be cautious before jumping in head first.

It may not be a problem if you are the original owner and have a warranty, but you may not even want to deal with the hassle.

I would check the MCTH thread to get an idea of what you might be in store for before deciding. Knowledge is power and all that jazz.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! Those were the amps I had on my radar, so it seems like I was looking in the right area. Now time to do some final research and make a decision (the hard part!).

 

I've been researching network streamers lately but I haven't been able to get my hands around all of the information out there. Any advice / recommendations would be very much appreciated.

My current setup is: Mac Mini (SSD) / JRiver > USB > Metrum Acoustics Adagio DAC

Everything sounds great, and it works perfectly with absolutely no dropouts. I'm thinking about experimenting with a new network streamer in my setup for a few reasons:

1. Many people recommend against using a general purpose computer for streaming. I've tried to optimize the Mac Mini as best as I can, but a purpose-built audio streamer might be an improvement.

2. Numerous people with my DAC (and other Metrum DAC's) have preferences for the AES or SPDIF inputs rather than USB when it comes to sound quality. I'm not sure how much of a difference this might make, but I might like to experiment with one of those connection types to see how it affects the sound.


I've thought about trying an Auralic Aries G2 streamer. They are expensive but I've heard they sound great. I don't think JRiver would be compatible but I'd be willing to get into the Lightning DS software if the sound quality was a significant improvement. I'm not sure if my rack is suitable for the Aries though. I'd have it in a cabinet that has a lot of space it's usually closed.

Another option would be an Allo DigiOne Signature player. I'm not all that hands-on when it comes to building computers, but I could get one of them pre-built. I unfamiliar with how to properly order and hook up the "clean" and "dirty" sides for power and I don't have experience with Linux, but I'm willing to learn.

Does anyone here have experience comparing these streamers? Are there others that I should consider?