The All Purpose Advice Thread

I would advise against selling everything and buying a slightly better source (option B). I own a Gungnir Multibit and had owned a Bifrost Multibit, differences are there, but isn't earth shattering, just a bit cleaner, and bit more detailed. I would vote option C as making the biggest difference if you went with the torpedo iii. Awesome amp. Mjolnir wont make a huge difference sound wise from the Lyr2 (although it is better). BW would be awesome too, but more expensive. Either way try to improve amp, you'll hear a bigger difference there.

 

Oops Sorry yeah I already have Orange Globes, warmth isn't exactly my desire. I was just speaking to the general sound of the HD800 at it's worst. I very much like them though.

 

This is where I am leaning as well, I'll be honest. Since I put the uber board in the vanilla bifrost, I am not at all sure I could identify it from the multibit reliably. DIY does not scare me, so the Torpedo is definitely appealing, but like most things I'd still a tad leery about buying blind.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be in touch when I get back in town.

 

I largely agree with Josh, except I think he mis-typed the first proclamation of "not-C" and meant "not-B". In your current scenario, if you are confident in your love of HD800, you should upgrade your amp. You have 2 workable DACs, and 2 very solid amps. Sell those and get either the torpedo III or black widow (while you can...). You should also be warned that regardless of what path you take, you are squarely in the land of diminishing returns.

 

@aufmerksam is correct, meant "B" (edited above) and he is 100% on point with the diminishing return comment, although a great amp can make the hd800 sound that much better.

 

The Land of Diminishing Returns lies at the edge of the Mid-Fi Hell flatlands, where there are many mirages and distractions. After that is Summit-Fi mesa, whose face is only scalable if you lighten your wallet enough. If you make it over that though, you'll see a parting of ways: to the left, Scaling Back taiga; to the right, the Cave of Phono Mysteries. Only go right if you've restocked your provisions and armed yourself adequately - here be dragons.

 

Thank you for all the replies! Yes I have been leaning toward exactly that I think the BW might be a little richer than I want to go with and I very much like tubes, so the Torpedo III with cinemags seems the obvious choice. Has any one here heard both/care to comment? I suppose the new BW might sound a little different than the first though as well, or not? I get to hear an EC balancing & EC 4-45 next weekend, but those are firmly out of my tax bracket. Bifrost Multibit-Torpedo III-HD800(Tamed) I think should make me quite pleased.

 

Don't forget the tangled forest of cables, fire swamp of usb defuckifiers / reclockers, and dead marshes of linear power suppliers.

 

Reclockers Of Unusual Size? I don't think those exist.

 

PSU Marshes clogged with the detritus of the fallen civilization of radio gear, the corpses of fallen Astrons and Series Linears locked in eternal conflict.

 

Don't forget the valley of treacherous tube trolls...

 

Come on, everyone around here knows it's Shaffer's Valley of Glowing Delights!

 

Does anyone have a map of this?

 

But then again, they came up with the Discworld Atlas in 2015, so who knows?

 

Here you go:

 

"So what's holding up the turtles?"
"You're a very smart young man, but you don't fool me. It's turtles all the way down!"

 

Okay, now for something completely different.

I've been chatting with an HF member who will be at Canjam and is looking to sell his Noble 4U's for $275. I checked Hifishark for prices and that seems like a good deal compared to what the 4 is going for in other recent sales.

I'm going to give them a listen before I decide to pull the trigger, but before I do, are there any other IEM's in that price range I should consider? I currently use and love the HD600 and Oppo PM-3 so you can have an idea of my sound preferences.

 

If you start silly...

 

$500-750 amp for HE-6... Opinions? Speaker amps preferred. Vintage is an option, but takes a lot of time, research, negotiating, and potentially hundreds more to recap/refurb.