I see that you have a DAC. It’s unclear if you have any headphones yet. You expressed an interest in getting either a Utopia or LCD4. Why these? Do you want both? What are your preferences?
How about getting a pair of HD 600 or HD 650 headphones and pair them with a Schiit Jotunheim 2 or Lyr 3 amp? You could spend six months listening to that setup and determine what you like or dislike about it and then upgrade from there.
It would be a shame to spend thousands of dollars only to find you don’t like what you purchased.
Generally agreed with all of the above advice. I “started” with Utopias, but only after spending many hours between shows and local dealers figuring out what I like. And even then, I started running them out of a Chord Mojo and slowly bought and sold used gear to figure out what I liked in terms of DACs and amps. Still undergoing that process.
I wanted to start with something good and may be upgrade in a few years. So it felt like Utopia and LCD-4s were one of the better dynamic and planer headphones, so wanted to get either of them. Had a chance to listen to both of them and a ZMF the other day, and ended up getting the ZMF
Great advice! I would prefer something that I can tweak over time instead of selling it in six months at the moment. Having said that, if I don’t end up liking something I will probably have to figure out a way to change things up, so yeah I agree it’s a risky affair.
Your playbook is one that we all can take note of (easier to execute, in part, post pandemic), not to mention your DAVE unboxing video remaining the standard .
Congratulations! I hope you’ll love your new ZMF when it arrives. Which one did you get, if you don’t mind me asking?
I’m glad you were able to audition the headphones before buying - this makes your choice less risky. ZMF headphones are a good choice when it comes to risk - they retain their value well so if you were to change direction, you could sell the headphones for a minimal loss. In effect, you’d have rented an excellent headphone for a few months, which is no bad thing.
Now that you’ve picked out a DAC and pair of headphones, it should be easier to choose an amp. I’d recommend looking through the threads here - lots of folks have ZMF headphones (I keep waiting for the site to be rebranded as (zmf)headphonesdotcom ). You’ll find plenty of good recommendations, including the amps by ampsandsound or DNA, as well as the Pendant, among others. You could always ask Zach, I’m sure he’d steer you in the right direction. Bear in mind that overall system synergy matters, so picking out an amp that would pair well with your DAC is important.
One last thought: sometimes it’s not possible to find a single chain (DAC and amp) that will serve as a foundational setup for all of your headphones. (Even my fairly modest collection of headphones necessitates that I have three different amps, although I’m hoping to reduce that to two soon). If you were to get a Utopia or other headphone in the future, you might have to get a different amp. Or not. It depends on the amp. And tube rolling might help.
i got WA33 EE JPS. ineed best amp for J-pop. i read your review again and rememberd you are using Diana Phi. i love LCD-4 and LCD-5 for upper mids, vocals are very important for J-pop yet LCD still a tad behind perfect in Treble. i dont mind less bass than LCD4
so i wonder now how good vocals in Diana Phi when compared to LCD, i want to try thb lol. my DAC is M-Scaler + Hugo TT2. soon will add DAVE to the family. hopefully Diana Phi will give me the Treble i want + keep the mids romantic on this setup
.
). You’ll find plenty of good recommendations, including the amps by ampsandsound or DNA, as well as the Pendant, among others. You could always ask Zach, I’m sure he’d steer you in the right direction. Bear in mind that overall system synergy matters, so picking out an amp that would pair well with your DAC is important.