Do you want a different take on music? Pick the different headphone.
Do you want to get the most out of your Clears? Pick the amp (they do respond well to quality gear).
That being said, I would not recommend getting the RME for pure sound quality alone. They certainly don’t pair well with the Clears in my experience (both as a DAC and an amp). So, if you’re willing to share what your overall strategy is in what you’re trying to achieve (audio-wise) then you’ll get more recommendations and advice, along with providing more details such as budget and necessities.
Until the last year or two I’d have said go with new headphones. After messing around more with DACs and amps, I now say they form a quality tripod. I’ve also come to advocate the “start from the source” model – quality losses can never be regained. They can be covered up or partly reconstructed, but never fully regained.
As such, in owning the very capable Clear my suggestion would be to get a new DAC, then a new amp.
If constrained by your choices then it must be the RME ADI 2…but I’d not buy it myself. I’d never use its numerous tweaky features. Also see @hifiDJ regarding pairings – the Clear calls for body and fullness in a DAC rather than a primarily technical approach. I’d also buy a separate DAC versus amp, per the unique needs of planar headphones (@elliot), electrostatics, etc.
I’m now making a hobby of driving cheaper headphones and speakers (e.g., HD-600, HD-6XX) with more expensive equipment. They indeed scale. Start from the source.
I agree with this, although I’d personally get the amp first, then the DAC.
@TELLIOTT-TX Headphones will, of course, give you the biggest change in sound quality; but there’s no denying that the Clears will scale with better source gear. Now having the LCD-X 2021 in my possession, I can easily recommend them. But they crave to be driven properly, so again, I’d probably get an amp and DAC first and see what you think of the improvements they provide for the Clear. If you’re still wanting, the LCD-X is great.
Before Bifrost 2 I’d have agreed about the amp. After Bifrost 2 I recognized how bloody awful and whiny and thin and screechy every single Delta Sigma DAC I owned had shaped music.
LOL, I hear ya. Still, amps have always provided more of an improvement for me, and I’ve had much better amps and DACs than I am running now come through my hands; just never felt like paying thousands to keep them. To each their own. In @TELLIOTT-TX’s situation, though, both should be replaced.
Speaking of the BF2, it’s my next purchase. If I hate it, I’ll blame you.
Thanks. I think I’m leaning in that direction as well (DAC and then Amp). If I went in that direction, I would eventually buy a class A (or class A biased) headphone amp like the RNHP. Ultimately by getting a better DAC, I want to see what it will do to transients and bring out details out of the recordings for better or for worse. Based on what I’ve read and watched, I’m getting a sense that the RME DAC would certainly be an improvement over the Modi (non-multibit) and the amplification stage would be an improvement over the Hersey. If the LCD-X would struggle to be driven by the Heresy, then this greatly simplifies my choice.
Both @Nuance and myself own the Class A RebelAmp. When I hit on Bifrost 2 → RebelAmp → Clear, I instantly concluded I’d hit the point of diminishing returns for headphones. I then switched to speakers to expand my experience to room-filling and staged music instead of in-the-head headphone music.
I’ve compared my Hart cables to stock Focal, Rosson, Hifiman, Meze and ZMF cables and I didn’t hear any degredation. In a couple of instances, the Hart cables sounded slightly better, but in most cases they sounded exactly the same. Hart uses Mogami wire.
It’s a great cable system to have if you own multiple headphones and/or amps because you end up owning a library of headphone/IEM connector and amp connectors and you just click together the combination that you need.
Yeah, the system is really the allure for me. I am sure there are “better” cables out there but have not dived into that. As such, all my cans get Hart cables, an extension and then can plug into the Hart XLR interconnect in my Burson. Simply one disconnection, one connection and I am rolling again.
Thanks but im probably going to get the hart xlr cable. I had the periapt xlr for my 6xx but found it to be a bit microphonic when i taped on the wire.
From what I read, there’s a preference for XLR over RCA. Something I haven’t explored but curious if I would be able to tell the difference for my Bifrost 2–>Soloist 3X setup.
Depends on how the product was designed. If the intent was a fully balanced topology that’ll be better but if it was placed for convenience, SE will usually be the way to go. No comment on Bifrost but Soloist SE is no bueno to me. The difference will also vary depending on the headphones used. Using a Utopia the difference will be quite stark, so I’m using BAL all the way.
As for cables, I don’t want to open a can of worms but regardless, you should have your setup complete first then think about exploring cables last. In the meantime, just get some solidly built XLRs. I use Supra XLRs as their connector points are very solidly built but you can use anything you want.
Yup, absolutely. My solid state setup is all done. I use Hart Audio cables for all the cans (Stealth Arya, VC, soon to arrive HD 800S and Clear) and currently have an AudioQuest RCA connecting the Bifrost to the Soloist. Figured I’d start doing the little tinkering upgrades, which is where cables came up. Prob a better USB-B or coaxial for connecting to iPad and then XLRs to connect the two electronics.
