I have the WA8, which is similar…and it is beautiful. I find I listen to both equally now. For jazz and smooth genres I love the tube amp. Nothing can do that, not even Dave. Solid state I found out are not capable of a true tube. But for hip hop, and detail retrieval, I like the Arche. Like Dua lipa and Halsey, amazon on Arche. Dulled on WA8 tube. But miles davis and billie holiday, tube wins hands down.
Both is nice to have. WA8 sits next to my Arche and they are perfect together. WA8 dac is terrible btw, use only line in for amp. Form factor is amazing.
Ok. I will give it a second chance. What frosts me is the return process. I went out of my way to send it to them the morning after the RMA was issued but didn’t get the same service in return for a unit that was only in my house for 2 days and deemed DOA. I would completely understand if it was a warranty claim months after I bought it. In addition to the USB issue the front faceplate had a small scratch on it. Customer service is important to me and I felt that it was lacking from Focal in this instance. Headphones.com has been great BTW. No issues with them. Great communication and follow up from Taron
I think it’s important to understand that people around the world are still impacted by covid and life and things like customer service are impacted as well to varying degrees. Give grace.
Covid didn’t impact the return to them which they paid for an overnight so it shouldn’t impact the receipt of a new unit which they sent to headphones.com. I would understand if there was a supply issue but that isn’t it. I have about had it with the covid excuses but that’s a whole other topic…
Yes, of course. What do you need? I’ve still got a box with cables, terminators, probably a Syquest or Bernoulli or two, Some of those 3.5 inch 25 meg drives, and plenty of appletalk cable.
Hey John, yes…I know you what you mean. A lot of the audio vendors are like this unfortunately. They have inefficient logistics or have been leaned out on staff due to COVID. You’re just lucky you bought through headphones.com and @taronlissimore and @andrew run such a respectable business with customer service putting customers first and focusing on what makes you happy and sounds right to you. Many other audio vendors only want to up-sell and make a pure profit off you. Hang in there, they will make it right. And I can guarantee with almost certainty the Arche is the way to go for any Focal headphones. I tried so many AMP/DAC combos, but Arche just sings. A tube amp could compliment it on the side, but honestly, the core foundation I find to be the Arche. Unless you purely listen to Jazz and classic sounds like Laura Fygi, Nicki Parrott, Rosemary Clooney. Then tube is the way to go purely. But for any other genres, I crave more brightness and detail. There are other options for much more and won’t be as well integrated as the Arche, nor compact, nor affordable. I must hand it to Focal for making such an incredible all in one unit to match their line. Read the review by @Torq. He nails the points on it, and he is a highly experienced audiophile with equipment far beyond, but still appreciates the Arche. Hang in there John, I’m certain you’ll have it soon and will enjoy.
Btw, if you do use the iPhone to drive it, you MUST use the USB 3 adapter with lightning cable. It is the only way the Arche works. I tried it again this weekend. Although I feed it using a high end PC, and found better results with proper cables and tuning. Minor difference though…iPhone is excellent. But you must power it during play.
My pleasure! I’ve always loved music, but also started out this year in this high end space…so I’m still learning everyday. This is the best community online that I’ve found though! Head-Fi is good to for research, but headphones.com feels like home.
The analog outputs (RCA and XLR) on the Arche are not line level. They are level-controlled by the volume knob. They’re also always hot, and there’s no way to direct sound to the analog outputs or the headphones independently. So you’ll want to unplug your headphones when you plan to make use of the analog outs. It’s not really a great device if you will rely on this sort of flexibility.
Thank you so much @nugget ! That was my suspicion as well. And yes, totally dangerous because you could blow your headphones if not you don’t remember to unplug. I wonder what the intention of those outputs is? What would be a use case?
I’m re-asking a question that was originally asked in the Clear thread, hoping to get more traction, as I have similar equipment to the OP and I’m starting to look into what else I can buy, since I’m about to reach a stable position of Bifrost 2, Lyr 3 driving a Stellia and (close to being delivered) Verite Open, and what else is there to do once you’ve reached the finish line except move the line. The OP had the same dac and amp but had a Clear, I believe.
I’m wondering if the Arche is a true upgrade or more of a side grade to the BF2/Lyr 3 for the above headphones. I wasn’t really in the market for a new amp, but that $1000 discount is really tantalizing. I think I can convince myself that there are reasons to keep both sets of equipment, especially as the Arche is small enough that I can move it to another room when needed, or take it with me on road trips.
I know Torq states that he loved the Arche with both VO and Stellia, but can anyone with experience of both amps explain what differences I’d expect to hear, going from the Schiit stack to Arche? Many thanks.
Just a note for those considering the Arche. The $1000 coupon only applies to new Arches, it does not apply to open-box units. While 80% off is an incredible deal, it’s also unfortunately too good to be true.
While I am extremely disappointed with the poor customer service that Focal has been providing for the Arche issue, I am (still) hoping that the promised new firmware update will both fix the 384 khz issue introduced with the last firmware as well as the USB handshake issue. Last time they responded they promised the new firmware would fix that USB handshake issue as well, which they acknowledged they are aware of in same email. They promised the firmware will be ready by end of month…
One other question…on low gain, I have to set volume to at least 40 on the Arche (using USB from PC at max volume), sometimes higher, in order to get decent volume on the Stellia (connected via balanced cable). Is that normal?
I generally had the Arche around 35-40 for the Stellia in low gain on the Arche. I generally run the Arche in high gain with all the Focal cans though.
Regarding the Arche issues with USB, from what I’ve been told that is now in Focal France’s hands and the NA team is waiting for a response from them. So there’s a bot bit of a line-up for information to be passed down but Focal is looking into the issues.
I just purchased an Arche from Headphones.com and I’ve been looking for several weeks and couldn’t pass up the open box price!
I have a couple questions. I have a pair of Focal CMS 50 active monitors the Arche will drive and a Focal CMS active sub I need to connect as well. I’m looking at two options.
Run XLR cables from Arche to Sub. Then from Sub to CMS 50s.
Run RCA cables from Arche to Sub and then run XLR cables from Arche to CMS 50
Essentially with #1 I’d be going all balanced XLR from Arche to a sub then from sub to CMS 50s.
Option 2 has the XLRs going to each CMS 50 and the RCA going to the CMS sub.
An alternate option is to use an XLR Y-splitter at the Arche and then run separately to speakers and sub with XLR cables. I’m not sure if that impacts the quality of the audio signal though.
My main question, does option 2 have a downside? XLRs to powered speakers and RCAs going to Sub?
I just want the best sound over speakers and when I listen in on the headphones out.
I posted on the Audio Science forums this same questions and received great information. Short answer, is that the XLR Y-Cable should work just fine without loss of audio signal.