It just seems like a clash of personalities. I’m sure it’ll blow over.
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With statements like these you are indeed selling your ideas, knowledge, and experience as something that others should hear. To the extent that anyone listens to you, you gain influence and status. Many people do this either consciously or unconsciously and for profit or for free – it’s not wrong to seek knowledge or become an expert. Conflicts arise when (1) others want to experience for themselves or (2) have a different perspective based on their own ideas, knowledge, and experience.
These sorts of disagreements can be easy to resolve in achievement-oriented competitions (e.g., which airplane design flies fastest or farthest), but are challenging or impossible when the standards involve personal preferences. Audio is experienced alone and has many dimensions of personal differences. Would you say, “I have experience with all sorts of headphones and KNOW that the best are Beyerdynamic”? Well, some people don’t like those at all…
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This was very well said! Thank you for this post!
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This is a forum for enthusiasts and I welcome posts like @M17XR2B’s that show his passion. I always read anyone’s post assuming that it starts with an invisible “in my humble opinion”.
As long as it doesn’t look like someone is shilling for a particular company, I love clearly thought out enthusiastic posts with definitive statements, because it gives me something I can do some more research on, knowing full well that I may not agree with the OP.
@M17XR2B, I look forward to reading about your next end game setup after you inevitably find that there’s no such thing as end game in our hobby. 
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I am thankful for posters like @M17XR2B who have hands-on experience with building stuff and tinkering with different design concepts. I value when people share their thoughts based on this sort of acquired practical knowledge.
Anyway, time to get back on track.
Last perceived end game was Stax. KGSShv, SR-L700, SR-007 and SR–009.
But Zach ruined that.
Current perceived end game (which better stick): VC, VO and Auteur. End game amp and dac is yet to be decided. I am hanging on to my Questyle CMA400i, Torpedo 1 and Loxije P20 in the mean time.
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If I may circle back on the questions in my prior post, that may have gotten buried last week? Thanks.
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Let me start by saying this is my honest opinion, my views for my tastes on my system, on one is forcing me to write these impressions online, I haven’t heard everything, grain of salt, bla bla bla.
Let’s start backwords.
I wouldn’t use anything else than focus built DHT single ended tube amp, the tube is very important but it’s the amp as a whole that makes the magic. I’d say the PSU is more important than the tube, I’d rather have an overbuilt PSU with a common tube than some exotic tube with a typical psu found in most 2000$ amps. We’re listening to modulated DC from the PSU after all, the tube modulates it but it’s the quality of the psu that’s of paramount importance.
For number 2,
Amps: Studying the Audio Anthology magazines from the 60s(I have volumes 1 to 3) and similar other publication shows what were common practices in the past for tube amplifiers are now reserved only for what we call high end or TOTL. My gimped view of amps is due to being aware of general practices among enthusiasts and I’ve got a deep appreciation for Japanese designs that are also my personal benchmarks. I don’t want to be nasty but a typical 1K headphone tube amp costs 200$ in parts, yes there’s a whole lot of others costs but it’s my desire to listen to the top 10% not bottom and not even know it. I’m salty having owned and heard multiple totl tube amps I now realise they were average at best but then again a 20kg PSU isn’t practical for commercial purposes.
For the headphone, strictly for dynamics and I haven’t validated this in any way and is pure speculation but it’s gotten me pretty far and to where I’m now. Scaling, modern headphones seem to be built to sound at their best with the common amps on the market. I can’t get away from the 300ohm sennheiser headphones HD650 and HD580. For a while I’ve been comparing the Utopia among many others with the HD650 while upgrading amps but as a grossly oversimplified view of amp categories.
DNA Stratus: HD650 is somewhat meah, Utopia is wow.
Apex Teton: HD650 is hell yeah, Utopia is double wow.
DNA Stellaris: HD650 is what’s that magic in the mid range, an x factor wish it had better technicalities, Utopia is endgame, seriously impressive among the best I’ve heard
DIY PX4 amplifier version 7: HD650 is how does it hit so hard and focused, why is it wider than utopia with better mids and seriously impressive special cues. Utopia is bit better than Stellaris, impressive but want more HD650
DIY 801A: HD650 x factor in full force, midrange in full bloom, crazy detail and extension beyond what I though possible in headphones. Utopia is as impressive as before but doesn’t seem enough somehow
Current 10 power amp: HD650 I don’t care if this thing eats one of my legs, soft drug level of addiction, what I’ve been looking for these last 15 years Utopia: Doesn’t get any use apart from testing, it still sounds amazying and I don’t care for it
This was a 5 year long journey across multiple dacs, transports, amps, cables and every stupid stuff I could try and hear it for myself. A sort of genetic algorithm, the best goes to the next generation, the rest are sold, done 5 major extinction level gear purges.
Just like planars do better on speakers amps so do dynamics on set amps is my empirical observation for a large set of data points. There’s a reason many agree Utopia needs a tube amp, the synergy is just there.
The higher end the dac/amp where synergy exists differences between headphones get smaller. I still have the Stellaris as a reference point and reality checks along side the modded WA5.
For the TOTL DAC question, no, I can’t recommend anything over 2K, the wavedream is stupid and only for the most hardcore of deluded people. Car analogy, the BMW M5 is the most one needs or can handle, the Zonda Huayra is another league.
It’s as I’ve said before, each component takes a chunk of the overall quality, the goal is to minimise losses, my approach is to take out as much as I can out of the audio signal with simple, overbuilt tube amps.
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Thanks for your detailed response and commitment to the cause.
Acura NSX or BMW M5?
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Oh my. My favorite car so far was my 1995 Impala SS. Mine was lightly modified, but for the dollars you’re talking, I could go with a nice upgrade to the leather interior, suspension, and engine.
The advertising for that model from the factory was either:
-
Zero to 60 in 6.5 seconds with four sets of golf clubs in the trunk, or
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Mr. Vader, your vehicle is ready.
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Nice ride. The performance/utility of hauling 4 sets of clubs can’t be understated.
My uncle restores Chevelles. I’m more of a Ford guy - used to drive a 1990 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer (full size).
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Haha. My first car was an 84’ Ford Ranger. My last Ford was 63’ Falcon Futura. Fun little car.
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Nice wheels ha - especially the Falcon Futura! Classic.
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Back from the dead. 
I guess my currently end game is as simple as a HD 600 with an external (stereo) subwoofer. Wait… Gotta try that project sometime. 
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I think that I may be at my “end game” system, where I am so totally blown away by the veracity of the musical reproduction, that I have stopped paying such close attention to variation in technical nuance that I have been chasing for so many years.
I am listening to: Qobuz 96k FLAC > Roon Nucleus > dCS Bartok > Raal Requisite HSA-1b > Raal SR1a “earspeakers”.
I have done a lot of listening to live music at club venues - and this is truly a “reasonable facsimile”.
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I’ve been saying ‘plateau’ or ‘local optima’ (for the machine learning and modeling geeks) instead of ‘endgame’.
For me it’s been:
Headphone:
Audirvana Flac library or Qobuz →
Schiit Yggdrasil →
ZMF Pendant →
ZMF Verite Closed
Mobile:
Neutron player →
Apple Dongle →
64 Audio U12t
Speakers:
Audirvana Flac library or Qobuz →
Schiit Yggdrasil →
ZMF Pendant →
Lejonklou Tundra Tarandus →
Rogers LS3/5a (15 ohm)
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I currently go Lumin U1 Mini → Chord M-Scaler → Chord Hugo TT2 → ampsandsound Kenzie Ovation → LCD-5/Utopia/ZMF VC/HD800S/ZMF Aeolus. Pretty end-gamey.
The only things that tickle my curiosity are substituting in a Holo May DAC and a DNA Stellaris. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that’s where I’m heading, only that I hear so much about those options that I’d love to satisfy my curiosity and have a long time to try them out with my system.
As it is, I’m perfectly happy with my current, presumably permanent, endgame.
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