In various forms I owned the Yggdrasil the longest, but it started life as an original unit, then got a USB Gen 5 upgrade, then got the Analog 2 boards, and finally I had a Unison-equipped model around for a couple of weeks.
I don’t own one anymore, however.
The next two would be the Linn Klimax unit and the Chord DAVE.
I don’t own all of the above, nor have I owned all of them - some were on extended demo either from dealers or friends. If I was building a non Linn/Exakt speaker rig, I imagine I’d go for the MSB DAC (along with at least a set of Wilson Chronosonic XVX speakers).
I could probably do a top 20 list for DACs - though I’m not going to.
Where for some classes of products I can barely manage a top 5 (at least with the caveat that everything on said list would be something I’d be willing to buy - or buy again for items I once had but have since sold).
Torq, thanks for your impressions, I would like to ask if you´ve had the opportunity to listen to Lampizator DAC´s and if so what is your opinion? Would they be in your top 20? TIA.
A bit more considered than one of my earlier lists. And not solely based on what gets the most listening time - but definitely based on what I use, enjoy, own and/or would buy/re-buy if doing it all again.
RAAL-requisite SR1a
ZMF Vérité (Open)
LB-Acoustics MySphere
Focal Utopia
Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC
Audeze LCD-4
Rosson Audio RAD-0
HEDD Audio HEDDphone
ZMF Aeolus
Sennhesier HD650
Assume similar caveats here as for this post on DACs.
Congrats, @Torq! Thanks so much for the advice you’ve given and hospitality and generosity you’ve shown, both here and in the real world. I hope you and the lovely Mrs Torq have a marvelous time. Please contact me if/when you decide to go to S Africa - I’m writing this from Heathrow T3, about to board a flight to Cape Town so my advice will be fresh!
I won’t be answering questions, even those that reference me (@) directly, if I’ve already answered them. If you ask me something/reference me/tag me in a post, and don’t get a response, it’s almost certainly because I’ve already covered your question/issue/concern earlier in that thread, or a related one (eidetic memory is both a significant life-advantage and an enormous social-drag) … and you can find the answer using search.
You might see me selling off things I am actually rather keen on. That’s not an indication that my thoughts about a given unit have changed. Logistics mean I can’t keep AND use everything I have, so it comes down to priorities (e.g. keeping the ADI-2 Pro FS R BE over the latest ADI-2 DAC FS) … and I don’t tend to let things hang around if they aren’t getting active use.
Direct PMs asking for detailed gear advice are likely to go unanswered. I’d rather focus my limited time on public questions where the responses are more broadly readable/useful.
Responses to gear-specific questions are likely to be more terse/ribald if/where performance/enjoyment was lacking. Don’t ask questions about gear you don’t want to know my real thoughts on.
I have a couple more “10 Favorite” lists to finish including pure tube-amplifiers and solid-state amplifiers.
Beyond that, I’l be in and out, but a lot less active than in the past …
Prior to “sailing” away, we made a not-so-quick detour to Winthrop, WA, this last weekend for some balloonacy …
Prior to our flight, of which my lovely wife has some entirely dubious eyes-glazed-over pictures of me wearing ZMF Vérité Closed*, fed from a Cayin N8, at about 2,200 feet, we got to capture a number of colorful shots, including these two …
what else to say! hope your driver got your landing smooth!
I am looking forward to more of these balloonacy pictures, if you find the time!
now that you mentioned your portrait with the ZMF, we want to see it, of course
I can’t currently name 10 closed-back headphones I would be willing to spend my money on, at least not again, for the purposes of just listening to and enjoying music with.
ZMF Vérité Closed
Focal Stellia
Sennheiser HD820
ZMF Eikon
Focal Elegia
The Next Three ...
Dan Clark Audio AEON Flow Closed 2
Sony MDR-Z1R
Fostex TH-900 MK2
The Sony here is just so warm, and the bass is really not well controlled, bloomy and gets into the lower-mids, that while an situationally enjoyable “guilty pleasure” listen, it really only works well with the WM1A/WM1Z and TA-ZH1ES, for me.
And the Fostex is so peaky and the treble so prominent, that its also relegated to short bouts of listening, with very specific music, and even then really needs the pads off the 610 to be usable.
I haven’t head the ZMF Atticus at enough length to rate it … though that’ll change in the very near future.
Assume similar caveats here as for this post on DACs.
