Thanks I’ll try it out and see how it sounds.
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Yes, the amplifiers that burned up my headphones were the Schiit Heresy B-stock and the Topping L30. And it must be said that Schiit did offer to look at my amp and were very good at communicating with me. I chose not to spend any money on shipping because I was already out the $100 for the amp and Schiit said that there was no guarantee that they would decide to let me exchange it for a better model until they looked at it.
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Topping on the other hand through their English speaking representative on ASR first provided directions to communicate directly with the sellers and not him. After contacting the seller, the representative on ASR said that I am not eligible for compensation for my headphones since I didn’t communicate with him. So why did he say to communicate directly with the sellers and not him! I have contacted Topping through all means available and they have given me the runaround. I rate then a grade of F because they do not offer any support and their products are garbage. In my online nightmare reading through all of the posts on Topping I learned of their poor internals and poor quality control that so many posted about. Did you know that you cannot remove the knob on most of the Topping amplifiers. They use a cheap pot that when you remove the knob separates it from the board. The Topping representative on ASR has posted this numerous times when Topping owners had removed their knobs and suddenly their amps were broken. There are so many other posts like this that lead me to the conclusion that they are garbage. So, I most definitely cannot recommend Topping due to the poor piss quality the nonexistent support. Instead go with reliable brands like Headamp. I have two Headamp amplifiers sound amazing and I trust the build quality. I have read only great things about Bryston, Rebel Audio, etc… I have twenty year old amps that work as well as they did on the day they were made from Ray Samuels Audio. There are some really good amplifier manufactures with great track records out there. People should be made aware of the garbage that have been put into some of these horrible brands that have suddenly put into retail. They are not quality products and people should stay far away from them.
Update: Schiit HAS paid for my shipping the amplifier back to them and a refund IS on it’s way back to me. I take back all that I said about their customer service.
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Update: Schiit HAS paid for my shipping the amplifier back to them and a refund IS on it’s way back to me. I take back all that I said about their customer service.
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Yeah very true. Audio is very subjective so worth trying things out. Where with something like Pc monitors a review tells you all you need to know. Even gaming mice your don’t really need to try something out as if hav the right hand size and use the recommended grip for said mouse your probably going to like it.
Is that common for the Asgard to do that? What exactly do you mean by burning up?
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Curious, why the xc other the x? I’ve generally heard that open backs are typically better, besides bass, but depends on design but for something with very similar design I’d expect the open backs to be best. Also I believe there is a store which I can go to which has both lcd series and focal clears
I had a Lyr 3 eat the left driver of my Eikon. Schiit paid for return shipping, had the Eikon drivers replaced and the amp returned, and when they asked where I wanted a replacement Lyr sent and I said I wasn’t confident owning a Lyr 3 going forward, they straight up refunded my purchase no questions asked even though I had owned it for about half a year. I wasn’t out one cent. Sure, I was without the Eikon for a while, but so what - these are luxury goods, not essential life needs. They treated me well enough I decided to forgive the occurrence and haven’t had an issue after that, and I’ve purchased a LOT of their stuff since then.
So am I the kind of person who has a bad experience - despite being completely taken care of and had things made right - and immediately goes to forums to repeatedly trash them? No. Sometimes, things happen. Lord knows I’ve made mistakes, and I’m glad for the people who are understanding and accommodating when I do. Heck, my favorite tube seller has fucked up a few times , but he’s always treated me right and fixed it. I still wholeheartedly recommend him to others. Sometimes the value of a product isn’t in the price or their return policy, it’s in how they support and care for their customers.
It’s not silly at all. I’ve found not all EQ is perfectly transparent or has some sonic degradation, some headphones don’t respond well to EQ, that I spend more time tweaking EQ than listening to music, and mother nature’s EQ (brain burn-in) is far superior to anything we’ve done digitally.
Wow. Passive aggressive patronizing is sure to win friends.
This. You can constantly take the stance that you’re always right, but if you do please don’t waste our time asking for opinions then battling us about it. I have zero interest in feeding your ego. I will, however, happily help those seeking more knowledge and willing to consider differing points of view.
So how about this. Get your headphones. Try them with the amps you own. See if you desire any improvements to the SOUND you’re hearing, and gracefully accept the input of other more experienced people who are willing to help you get those improvements.
Or don’t, in which case bugger off.
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In the $400-500 sure it’s easy to avoid certain brands but in the $100-300 it’s rather difficult to avoid Schiit as their stuff is the best for money from what I’ve heard
Went today to richer sounds. They didn’t have a great selection. I tried out the 560s. Prefer abit more bass presence, I enjoyed the bass presence on the lcd2c, and sounded abit unnatural to me so probably abit to warm for my liking, I’m not against warm cans but I don’t like cans like the Zeus which are just super warm. I also tried the 800s. Just had a Meizu dongle amp/dac so they didn’t really get the power they need. I also didn’t get to try them out with classical or jazz but I the soundstage was very good
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Yes, I read the history of Schiit, and was aware that they had teething problems. Did not realize that might have been what you were referring to, although the problem with your Heresy post-dates that.
As this forum was started well past the time of Schiit’s startup issues, it explains why I had not read about it. I have not read Head-Fi for many years, but used to follow the Headroom stuff back around the turn of the millennium. When I came back to paying attention to headphones and got the invite here, it was Schiit was a new name to me. And my first Schiit products were later products, the Bifrost 2, Lyr 3, and Loki, all of which have been flawless from a (personal) QC standpoint.
Thanks for the pointer so that I got your context. You can see how this forum differs from other fora. (We have people who can do Latin declensions). I always try to do posts that shed light or else at least be funny.
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THIS.
Humans aren’t perfect, and never will be. Everyone makes mistakes. What makes a brand’s reputation isn’t dictated by the mistakes they’ve made in the past, but by what they will do for their customers to rectify their mistakes.
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I’m sorry your trip to Richer Sounds wasn’t more successful.
The HD 800S needs and deserves a much better amp. It really benefits from a tube amp, or a tube hybrid, although the Schiit Jot 2 could work well (I’ve heard it with my HD 800 SDR, which is a modified version of the original 800, one that uses basically the same approach to changing the tuning as Sennheiser’s revision in the 800S). It was a good but potentially fatiguing pairing (fatigue is an issue, potentially, with the HD 800 S for some listeners.
The HD 800 doesn’t have the best bass response necessarily. It’s tight and fast but it’s not especially pronounced, and it doesn’t go deep enough for some tastes.
Did you like the tuning generally? Was it too bright? The wonderfully open, spacious sound is one of thehallmarks of the HD 800S.
I have the LDC2-Classic and I know exactly what you mean about it sounding unnatural. The bass is good, and since you find the LCD2-C’s tuning a bit too warm, you should be able to narrow down your search.
I’d suggest that you avoid, for example, the Clear Mg. I’ve not heard it but I’ve read plenty of descriptions of its tuning being warmer and closer to the sound of Audeze headphones. Perhaps @ValentineLuke can help here, if he wouldn’t mind?
Another option for you might be the Audeze LCD-X (the 2021 version). I’ve read that it’s brighter than the previous one and the LCD2 series. I suspect the bass isn’t all that dissimilar to the LCD2-C’s, but I could be wrong. Maybe @Dynamic can chime in here for you.
Based on what you posted previously, if not the LCD-X, then you might be on the right track with the original Clear and Elex. I’ve not heard the Elex but you should be able to get a sense of its tuning from posts on this and other forums.
I have the original Clear. If I were to compare it with my HD 800 SDR, which, again, isn’t far off the sound signature of the HD 800 S you heard, I’d say the following:
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The HD 800S has a much wider, more open and spacious soundstage, and instruments sound as though they are very precisely located in that overall soundstage - you can hear each one (or each group of them) distinctly and separately, with plenty of air around them
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The Clear’s soundstage is much narrower but it doesn’t feel claustrophobic because it does imaging very well, and instruments are still separated quite nicely
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both headphones have similar, excellent resolution, meaning that you can hear similar levels of excellent detail in the music with each of them
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the Clear sound slightly faster (to me, at least), which might suit your musical preferences (did you mention liking metal?)
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Both headphones have good treble extension and clarity, although both of them can be fatiguing
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The HD 800 S’s treble isn’t quite piercing, to me, but it’s certainly bright
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The Clear is less bright but the treble can be a bit crystalline, meaning that it can have a kind of almost glassy, hard edge to it, at times. This may vary from person to person (I’ve heard frequently that the Elex has a rougher or more peaky treble than the Clear)
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The Clear has a richer, fuller tone; it’s warmer than the HD 800 S but it’s not anywhere near as warm as the LCD2-C
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the HD 800 S sounds thinner than the Clear
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The Clear has a stronger bass emphasis; it’s a different bass presentation than the LCD2-C but it’s in no way inferior; in fact, I prefer the Clear’s bass as it has more mid-bass heft but it also digs down deeply into the sub-bass region (for an open back headphone, that is)
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I prefer the HD 800 S for music with acoustic instruments, especially classical and jazz music
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I prefer the Clear for rock and electronic music
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For me, the Clear is the better all-rounder
I hope these descriptions help and can allow you to triangulate your preferences a bit. It’s helpful to have a point of reference so that you can understand how a pair of headphones sound in relation to others.
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A Burson Soloist or a Headamp GSX-mini have enough juice.
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At best saying this is like saying “most people would prefer harman target tuned headphones”. Harman is an average of what most people like. Most people may prefer open backs. Maybe. But it’s not an indicator of objective quality.
But, I also think closed backs received a lot of backlash along the way. And the above is more of an assumption than anything else. Not sure where that backlash comes from.
I would take the lcd-xc over nearly any other headphone I have heard. Except my lsa hp-2 (yes, because of the bass) and the drop ether cx (because of clarity).
But I consider the lcd-xc to be one of the safest and most competent headphones I have ever heard. Blessing 2 dusk iem being another one.
I don’t EQ, and that makes the lcd-x a disaster by comparison. The lcd-xc’s one flaw was easily fixed even with my eq standards.
I think closed back isolation should not be underestimated. I think blocking outside noise has significantly increased sound quality for me. That may help explain why I personally prefer many closed backs over open backs.
Go to that store and listen.
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Their early products weren’t necessarily ‘great.’ I learned of the Vali when shopping for my first headphone tube amp. Reviews of the day acknowledged issues and compared them to inexpensive Chinese mini amps. None of the amps at that price point were very good back then.
The WayBack machine has a lot of interesting Schiit website snapshots. I was really intrigued by the Vali’s soldered on-board tubes. I chose another amp with a removable standard tube.
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I’m going to give the Clear a try after I test out the HE6SE as There’s a 99% chance they are going back. This is great feedback, thank you.
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I agree completely. However I hope I don’t need to re-enact Samurai Financial Advisor.
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I agree. Schiit sound per dollar ratio is VERY good but I have been burnt by the experience and my $100 sitting in a drawer unused. I would gladly pay more for an amp that I have full confidence in and don’t have to worry about my precious headphones or wasting my time in the future dealing with customer support. This is why when reading the Rebel Audio reviews I am very intrigued by the use of high quality components that they use.
Update: Schiit HAS paid for my shipping the amplifier back to them and a refund IS on it’s way back to me. I take back all that I said about their customer service.
So how is this relevant to this conversation exactly? Seems like an issue with a long outdated product, and action has been taken to compensate affected customers. My takeaway from this would be that Schiit has improved the Asgard in later generations and assured us that if anything goes south, they’ll provide us with a fair solution. 
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As @ProfFalkin pointed out, Schiit has paid for return shipping on faulty equipment. I don’t see the problem here.