I find that is entirely a matter of how noisy and how loud I want to play them. How much of the outside world do I WANT to shut off? I have Etymotic ER-4XL and they will really isolate me - at the expense of the irritation of a deep insert IEM tip. Usually I want more interaction with people, I’m old school.
The Porta Pros are easy to drive, so I can certainly play them loud enough that the outside world is mostly background. But I would still be able to respond if someone says “Stick ‘em up!!” (Extreme and hopefully fictitious example).
I bought the Focal bathys but don’t particularly like the wireless sound. If I’m mostly going to use them in wired/DAC mode, is the money better used on a wired headphone at similar price?
I’ve read that the Bathys sound improves with break in. So perhaps you’ll like it more with a bit of time. As for utility, you need to consider your use case and your budget. Yes, you can probably beat the sound with wired but there are trade-offs in moderate price ranges.
What do you listen to now, both music and headphones or speakers? What do you like and dislike in terms of sound?
I’d keep using your current purchase for a few more weeks before making a change. That way your choice will be more informed.
Finally, what is it that you dislike about what you’re hearing?
I hope this is the correct place for this question. I find the site a little confusing.
I’ve just purchased a set of Hifiman he 1000se headphones and am looking for advice on the chain to use them with. I hear/read that they work well with just about anything, but do scale up.
My current chain is a Sinxer SA1 amp and Topping D90SE dac. I mainly feed this from my Audiolab 6000 CDT but also straight from my Samsung Tab A with Tidal.
I’ve been looking at the Ferrum OOR and Wandla. Would this be overkill? Does the he 1000se not benefit from this upgrade enough to warrant it (I know this is largely subjective but I’d like the advice). Are there other amp/dac pairings people would recommend? I tend to like a reasonably neutral sound but am happy with things a little darker or brighter, just not to much. The top end of my hearing is not what it was so there’s that.
Are you wanting to upgrade because people have told you the HE1000 SE scales, or do you actually find your current amp and DAC lacking? If the latter, in what regard? Finally, what’s your price range?
When I bought the 1000se I had it in mind to upgrade the amp and dac. Having heard that the 1000se works great from just about anything and I feel my current gear is decent, I just wonder if it might be more prudent to stick with what I have. I don’t feel my current gear is lacking but if I can get a discernibly better sound quality by upgrading I probably would want to. I would consider spending say something around $6k total on the amp and dac. I’ve considered looking at valve amps but feel that sticking to solid-state might be better for me.
The 1000se is one of the easiest to drive planars I have on hand, yet that doesn’t mean it doesn’t benefit from a good source. What you have currently I would consider a pretty good source set up. Improvements are obviously possible (as always) but I don’t think you are going to get a huge leap, more of a flavour that you will or won’t like more.
As you have a good budget, my suggestion would be, if possible, to try out your 1000se on different things before buying. I don’t know where you are located but this could be at stores, meet ups or even at friends places. When you find something you like more, then you can start deciding if the upgrade is worth it or not.
Regarding tube amps, I have only tried the 1000se on the Echo MK2 and it is not my favourite Hifiman pairing with this amp. But, as always, YMMV.
I’m in the North of the UK and it’s at least a 200 mile round trip to any store that might have any decent selection of amps and dacs. Also I don’t know anyone who is into hi-fi much less head-fi. I bought the hekse online from a store that has a lot of great gear, Ferrum, Felix, T + A, Chord, SPL to name but a few but that would be probably a 400 mile round trip. The decision on the hekse was made on reviews and that I also own an original Ananda. I understood that Hifiman tend to have a house sound as regards their open back planars.
Not looking for the best, but for money’s worth and performance that can be heard.
Let’s get real here: I don’t have much in-person experience with Class-A amps, but I heard they are very powerful and linear from reviewers. From this, what I am looking for is a fun, warm sound with not much linearity and a huge sound stage with depth and width while keeping the detail, imaging, and technicalities intact. In these sound profiles, I found these amps: the EarMen CH-Amp, the Burson Audio Soloist 3X Performance, the Burson Audio Soloist 3X Grand Tourer, and the HeadAmp GS-X mini, so from these, you can see my price range maxing out at $2500. With these, I am mixing a tube amp that has full tube output, and I decided to buy the xDuoo TA-22.
Now my setup will be a DAC (Fiio K9 Pro or Cayin RU6) with balanced output to an xDuoo TA-22, which has tube-full output but with RCA out only, to a Class-A amp to balance headphones.
What will I be using this setup for? Mostly movies and TV shows.
I know I am crazy and asking for a lot, but I am very curious. I would love to have an opinion about Class-A amps in this setup and which will be best, or maybe even go in a different direction and save money.
Can you expand on why you’re specifically looking for a Class A amp, as opposed to any solid state amp (regardless of class) with a fun, warm sound? And is there a reason that you want to put a tube amp (and I think the xDuoo is a hybrid amp, not a pure tube amp, but I could be wrong) in the signal path? I think this will enable people to answer your questions.
I suspect that when connecting a “flavored” pre-amp to a “flavored” amp, there’s a risk that you’ll end up with a cocktail that you don’t enjoy, and that it would be better to have one of them be neutral.
The other thing I got a bit confused about is whether you’re looking for a single ended or balanced solution. You mention that you’re using the balanced outputs of your DAC, but the pre-amp, while accepting a balanced input, only has single ended outputs. And you want to use a balanced cable with your headphones. This isn’t a balanced chain, because there’s a conversion to single ended and then back into balanced, so the signal may be degraded.
Back to your list of proposed amps: I own a Burson Soloist 3XP and have heard a Burson Soloist 3XGT and a HeadAmp GS-X mini at CanJam (so experience is limited on those 2) but I wouldn’t describe any of them as warm and fun. But it’s all relative. e.g. I had a Pass HPA-1 on long term loan a while ago, and that was very neutral/linear, very detailed (and also class A), and the Soloist 3XP was warmer than the Pass. On the other hand, if we take away your Class A requirement. I’ve been told that the Violectric 2xx series of amps has a warm, fun signature, if that’s truly what you’re looking for.
Class-A isn’t typically more powerful than class AB, D, or other types of amps by it’s nature. They can be, of course, but pound-for-pound, they’re actually less efficient than most other topologies (less efficient doesn’t mean worse, of course).
Also, I generally would recommend against daisy-chaining amps. You can, but you’re by definition adding more chances for things to get degraded along the signal path, need to buy more interconnects, can run into impedance issues, etc. Think of it as filters in photography - you can add five filters to adjust the “flavor”, but you’ll degrade the clarity of the image as you add them. Better to pick a single filter that fits your tastes (or two, separate ones that serve separate purposes on separate occasions). There are virtually limitless sound profile options for $2,500.
This will sound harsh, but so be it: Why do you want to spend up to $2,500 on an amp for a headphone collection that includes only one can that costs more than $500? In fact, most of your headphones come in under $300.
None of the cans in your collection demands nuclear substation levels of power. Why do you need all that Class A power? Probably every one of those headphones could be driven just fine with a $99 JDS Labs Atom+, which produces 1 watt per channel at 32 ohms.
I would spend money on better headphones, not amps. You’ll get far better ROI.
I do think this is right - you will get a much greater benefit from upgrading your headphones. Additionally, your original proposal is sticking an (up to) $2,500 amp behind a $320 preamp - you can’t ever really improve a sound once it has gone through something - only degrade it less or change its flavor. If you like the xDuoo tube amp, that’s totally cool! But then don’t bother with another amp behind it; you won’t get anywhere near its full performance. Just use the xDuoo. If you want to step up your amp game, by all means, but then skip the xDuoo.
