Totally understand. With that said, spend the majority of the budget on headphones. If that means increasing it a little and reducing the budget for the DAC and AMP, do it. You can always invest more in the front end later. Just my $0.02
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Not sure this is the right forum but figured I would drop it here:
Does anyone know of a good HiFi shop around the Seattle area? I am about half an hour north but can take a drive. Would be interested in speakers as well as cans.
Definitive Audio, either at their Seattle Showroom (ask for Mel) or in their Bellevue location.
Some headphone stuff, not a ton - primarily Audeze and Focal the last time I looked.
There aren’t any headphone-centric stores in Seattle or WA that I am aware of, and I lived there for 18 years (left 4 months or so ago).
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Excellent! I am not far from Bellevue at all!
I can move my current DAC and HP Amp to the new system for some time.
That could maybe increase the budget for the headphones some.
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Does anyone have experience or recommendations on whether “On-Wall” speakers are worth considering? (mods please move if there is a better thread for speaker advice)
I have a very narrow living room with only 6 ft from the primary listening position to the wall. Usage is mainly TV / home theater / casual music listening. I currently have a pair of Elac B5 (original rear ported) bookshelves on stands that sounded great where I lived previously, but are not well suited for current the space. Receiver is a budget 2-channel Yamaha R-S201BL. I’ve been looking at Dali Oberon On-Wall (which also come in a powered version) and the KEF T301’s as another option. The wife thinks the Dali Oberon’s are sexy, so that’s a plus. Does it make sense to go with one of these “on-wall” options? I believe a soundbar would be heading in the wrong direction? My speaker knowledge is fairly limited, so any advice on an eventual upgrade path (receiver, sub, center, etc) would be welcome. Thanks!
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If you are comfortable with some DIY, I think you would be better off looking at in-wall. The problem with on wall is the enclosure is just not big enough for lower mid bass, let alone bass. When you move the speaker into the wall you can use the wall cavity itself to house the enclosure, which allows you some extra wiggle room when you’re trying to cheat acoustics.
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That makes sense - thanks for the suggestion. My house was built in 1912 and has lathe & plaster walls… We had can lights installed recently and the ceiling looked like a bombed out war zone when the electrician was done drilling holes. Not too eager to go down that path, but I will consider it if it’s by far the best option for the space.
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I wouldn’t do it in lathe either. Have you considered headphones? 
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I’m using the Kanspea speaker from Madisound on my desktop and it works in a near-field setup. It uses a good quality single full-range driver and I have to believe it’s better than a sound bar.
There is a $150 3" version (3.94" W x 7.87" H x 5.83" D) Kanspea 3" and a $175 4" version (4.75" W x 9.56" H x 7.04" D) Kanspea 4".
I suspect they would work sitting on the table along with the TV or on stands in roughly an equilateral triangle with your listening spot.
You can’t know until you try something but these are good quality inexpensive units that won’t have a lot of room interaction.
I have been looking for a planar to pair with my Verite Closed. I was wondering what the opinions are out there in the community about the best planar under 2k.
Assume that you don’t need to worry about the headphone amp (or speaker amp) or DAC, just the headphones under close to ideal conditions (like not a 20k setup, but a very good one). Also don’t include price-to-performance as a factor (as long as it’s under 2k).
No wrong answers.
I’ve only listened to the Hifiman Sundara and Audeze LCD-2 for planars.
If you’re considering used prices, the RAD-0 sits under $2k and is a great combo with the VC. It’s similar to the VC in that you’ll have a unique/handmade set, but very different in terms of sound. 
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Perhaps to help the discussion, which sound signature do you prefer of these?
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Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about the Rad-0 on this forum and associated reviews. I actually came up with the price to leave it out 
out of fear that it would be the unanimous vote.
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Oh, haha. Yeah it’s a popular one. Please disregard my recommendation and I will also look forward to seeing what others recommend for a similar price. 
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This is a great point, however, I think it I should re-frame my question as: what is all of your favorite planar under 2k?
Although I personally love the ZMF house sound, I’d like to keep sound signature preference out of the equation. Part of the reason is that previously I really liked the Sennheiser mid-fi sound, but if I tried to stick with that, maybe I wouldn’t try ZMF. I’m open to exploration!
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I’m curious also. I thought about the Rad-0 until I watched the headphones.com review about it and the pressure of the single pad and I thought he mention clamp force. With that, I turned off the video and quit thinking about the Rad-0.
I had the lcd-x before the Eikon (that I bought from you if I remember correctly and I still have it through my whirl wind of purchases) and let go of the lcd-x because I thought the Eikon had the edge and buying it used, it was the same price point. Two headphones were not a thought as I didn’t want one being used all the time and the second sitting, gathering dust.
Now that I have two Decware amps with the latest version of the Taboo, it shouldn’t matter if it’s planar or biocellulose driver but I’m really curious how the Decware sounds with the planar as it was built around the lcd-2, I’ve been thinking of adding the lcd-x again as it uses the same cables as zmf, so I wouldn’t have to worry about buying more cables. I’m trying to put the kibosh on spending.
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Your wish has been granted. Someone just posted a used LcdX for sale.
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No personal experience (yet), but a common pick here is the Arya.
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I think the biggest beef I had with the Arya and the Ananda was the length of the ear cup. It had a tendency for myself to drop down or above the ear, never really set in one place comfortable for a long period of time. Plus I think the Arya ended up with a hardware warranty issue within a couple months. I’d rank them lowest for the headband. Good sound, on par with competitors. Funny, I still found them more comfortable than the focals.
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