Believe it or not, it can take weeks or months of regular use to appreciate the quality differences on the high end. Yes, diminishing returns but also auditory training. I myself can hear quality levels above the HD 800S but don’t get enough from them to spend the money.
I bought the Focal Elex several years back without hearing them first. They made female voices and violins sound as if coated in bronze. This perception lasted for 20-30 hours, but then went away. Later I sold the Elex in favor of the OG Clear, and find it to be far less metallic (but still metallic on a brighter DAC).
Also, check the upstream equipment. The DAC and amp can make everything sound alike, or cripple the performance of higher end products. (Alternatively, some expensive gear may reveal snobbery and placebo effects when there’s no actual value just a sense of elitism.)
You’ll find all kinds and all interpretations with audio.
This is such a great post. I am currently in the midst of an internal debate with myself over a similar situation. I can’t yet decide if I can tell enough of a difference in my latest “upgrade” to my chain. It’s only been a week and a half with my new amp, and I don’t know if the improvement is very small/insignificant, or if something in my chain is holding back what would be a noticeable positive change.
In my specific case, I’m wondering if my Bifrost 2 is the weak link in my chain or if I should take a step back in the amp department and be happy with a great-sounding setup that has far less money sunk into it. Then again, like you said, sometimes it takes weeks or even months to appreciate quality differences.
In my experience, the transducer makes the biggest change in sound quality, so I focus most of the budget on that. Once I’ve found “end game” or “good enough” (in my case), then I start spending more on the DAC and amp. Even then, the difference between DACs and amps is minimal compared to getting a better (or different) sounding headphone. Heck, pad wear has changed the sound more than a DAC or amp swap in my experience (unless one of those components is flawed in some way).
What do you find lacking in your existing system? Answering that will better help us make suggestions.
As @PaisleyUnderground correctly posted, I bought the Cen.Grand 9i-806 “Little Silver Fox”. It’s been impressive enough that I’m selling my former favorite amp, the Quicksilver. I’ve been spending a little time the last few days doing some comparisons between the new amp and my other solid-state amp, the Cayin iHA-6. I really wanted the difference between the amps to be more obvious. As it stands, they both sound excellent with the Elite! I guess the problem is that neither amp seems to be lacking. My rational mind says, “Keep the cheaper amp!” I just don’t want to be hasty in my decision.
I don’t know how much this comes down to the fact that the Elite being relatively easy-to-drive. I’m wondering if upgrading to something like a Yggdrasil from my BF2 might allow me to hear the improvements the fancier amp might be providing, assuming they objectively exists and are just currently hard to detect.
I think you’re right, the Elite is probably not very amp-picky. It also helps that both solid-state amps have plenty of current on tap to drive them very well. I’m going to keep enjoying the Little Silver Fox and will eventually upgrade my DAC to see if that opens up the potential that might be held back with my BF2. As it stands, everything sounds great with either amp, so it’s not a very stressful dilemma.
In regards to my Auteur, I think I might prefer the high impedance single-ended output of the Cayin iHA-6, but I haven’t done much head-to-head comparisons. I’m considering selling the Auteur soon since most of my listening is with the Elite these days.
I can’t really comment on the amp/headphone part of your chain, but…
Like you I had (well, technically still have and need to sell it) a BF 2 OG, and upgraded to the Yggy OG. My primary “critical listening” high tier amp is a Burson Soloist GT, which is a bit of a beast like your Little Silver Fox is. It is capable of driving most anything, and is Burson’s best amp, Class A, and all the rest. It is a great sounding amp, I love it with almost anything, and it sounds fantastic with my Atrium, Rosson RAD-0, and Utopia 2020.
The difference going from the BF 2 to the Yggy was quite noticeable, with deeper, cleaner, very well controlled bass, and smoother sounding mids. Treble frequency clarity is greater, with a more refined top end than the Bifrost. Soundstage instrument placement is also better, and more expansive. I really can tell the difference. It is a cleaner, more resolving, and more refined DAC than the BF2, less “colored” maybe but still very punchy and fun. The Yggy was my latest electronics purchase, as I already had the Burson, so it was a direct substitution for the BF2.
Not that the BF2 isn’t a great DAC, it absolutely is, especially for the price. But the Yggy is 2.5-3X the price, so it better sound better! But 3X better? Well, that’s a different story…
Thanks for telling me about your experience going from the BF2 to the Yggy. That is very helpful information. I did get a chance to demo the LIM before I got the Elite and the Little Silver Fox and what stood out was the more detailed/textured bass with my Auteur. I assume I would be able to hear even more improvements now with my new headphones/amp.
Hello! I’m looking for a pair of small, foldable wired headphones for around $150 or under to use as a beater pair for commuting when I want to give my ear canals a rest from my earphones. I listen to a lot of genres, from hip hop and soul to 80’s Japanese city pop and Korean ballads.
I currently own the DCA Aeon 2 Closed, Etymotic ER3SE, and JVC HA-FD02. I was looking at the Sennheiser HD25, Koss Porta-Pros, or the Audio-Technica M40x, but am open to any suggestions.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
KPH40 doesn’t fold, but I guess you could mount them on the Porto Pro headband, which does. I did something similar by mounting my KSC75X drivers on a Porto Pro headband.
The only thing I’m worried about for the Porta-pros (and any of the Koss headphones for that matter) is the lack of sound isolation. Do you find that they are okay for relatively noisy environments (ie. Busses, planes, subways)? Thank you!
No, I personally do not. I use either over-ear noise canceling headphones (Sony-Apple-Bose) or Apple AirPods Pro IEMs with built-in noise canceling. The Porta Pro is very open and airy by design.
In the Porta Pro’s price bracket, you’ll likely get better noise blocking from an over-ear cup or an in-ear product. However, noise blocking doesn’t approach noise canceling in effectiveness – with the exception of Etymotic’s products.
But 3X better? Well, that’s a different story…