Update from me after doing the first major overhaul of my gear in about 10 years. Coming from the LCD-3, Enigma Acoustics Dharma 1000 and a Nuprime DAC 10-H for speaker system and HP set up, and more entry level stuff (HD225 for portable, 99 classic for the office; Asgard-2 amp, Nuforce semi portable Icon DAC/amp, Red Dragonfly for the office and Fiio M11 DAP which was a primary source of my listening).
It started over the winter with a Fiio K11 R2R DAC/amp which got me thinking about investing in a proper desktop set-up.
I started with the the Schiit Bifrost 2/64, Jot 2, and grabbed a Lyr+ to play around with the tube sound. Then, major amp upgrades with the Violectric 280 & GSX Mini. On the HP front, grabbed an unboxed deal on the Arya Unveiled and LDC-X, and Focal Clear. Whew!
The Dharma 1000 and the Arya unveiled gave me the same thing, really, which is more refined non metal listening particularly classical, jazz, and folk oriented rock and indie fare (Dylan, Fionna Apple, CSNY, Radiohead, Willie Nelson, -that kind of stuff). I wanted a nice dynamic headphone to balance my planar headphones and the Clear with it’s punchy slam was a great pickup. I wanted to check out the Hfiiman sound and I really like the clear window into refined music the Arya Unveiled provides.
Jot2 is not getting anytime. I’m thinking about getting a mulitbit card and using it as a DAC/amp for the office or casual listening in my living room space with a closed back HP. I just sold the A-2 and Dharma 1000 to recoup some funds.
So conclusions? Well friends, I’m very much enjoying mixing and matching the Vio and GSX with different headphones. As expected the GSX shines with my darker sounding HPs, especially the LCD-3 and X, and the Vio excels with my brighter headphones (Clear and Arya U). The X is really agnostic and very versatile either direction.
At some point it probably makes sense to get a harder to drive headphone just to see. I think both amps would do well with flagships like the LCD-5, HE1000 SE, and ZMF line. But, the sound quality is so good now, I’m wondering if I’ve hit that wall of diminishing returns??? This is certainly a set up I could live with for a long time without complaint.
In my main system, I think I’d like to replace the Nuprime DAC 10-H that has a 1O Year old DAC, preamp and HP amp. I’m thinking of saving for the Schiit Gungnir 2. It has a bevy of inputs and outputs. Right now, I have a CDP and Sonos Connect on 2 coax inputs and a set of XLR outputs I can add one of my HP amps and RCAs connected to my clones monoblock amp and Alta speakers. I like the fact that I could use the new Forkbeard app as a digital preamp without having to buy a new preamp since I’m all digital at this point.