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Showing 1 of 96 reviews about:
Fayne
2585
Jun 28, 2019
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jefferIf you can wait, the Massdrop x Grace Standard DAC Balanced ( https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-grace-design-standard-dac-balanced ) is going to be the cheapest Balanced DAC out of the lot. It should be showing up sometime next month since they're about to deliver the first drop.
Otherwise, the Topping DX7s ( https://drop.com/buy/topping-dx7s ), the Topping D70 ( https://drop.com/buy/topping-d70-dac ), and the SMSL SU-8 ( https://drop.com/buy/smsl-su-8-dac ) are all excellent and reasonably priced choices. All of which drop at regular intervals and can be found at places like Amazon.
I personally have the DX7s and find it works pretty good with both the 789 and the LCX. The ES9038 isn't a bad Delta-Sigma DAC chipset, a bit sterile in sound (doesn't really add its own audio flavor), but clean and able to handle DSD512 and PCM768kHz. The SU-8 has the same series of DAC, so I expect it'd be rather the same. The D70 uses an AK4497 and the SDAC-B the AK4452, both are great chipsets.
jeffer
11
Jun 28, 2019
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FayneThanks Fayne for your input. I noticed the Topping D70 (nice AK dual DACS but quite pricey). Also, recently, I noticed the SU-8 (half the D70 price but it seems like there are quality and firmware issues?). Both Chinese made, like so many MD items (excuse me, now Drop). Your Grace brothers suggestions seems VERY interesting (affordable at only $150) and US design - yeah, I can wait. Cans? ... I have 6XX and Cal's (I often follow DMS on YouTube). Interested in getting a decent set of planars (Ethers? - yeah, you got 4XX & Fostex). You have a lotta gear, although it seems that there's no one can that'll "do-it-all." One bummer about the Grace is that it has no optical input.
Fayne
2585
Jun 28, 2019
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jefferMost all of the cans I have are in the mid range of price. I find it pretty difficult to justify ~$1-2k cans.
As open dynamics go, I rather like my HD6xx. After a few mods, they became my usual go-to cans. Pads bugged me, swapped them out with fenestrated sheepskin. Cable had to go balanced. Nothing major. HD58x being the close runner up for me there, same mods.
For closed dynamics, the MD Meze 99 Noir and EMU Teak are tied for use.
The EMU Teak are the delicious Foster sound with that custom teak ear-cup, comfortable and not overly compressing on the head. Easy to drive, but absolutely able to handle an amp with power. Swapped the pads with fenestrated sheepskin and added a balanced cable. Getting the version with detachable cables was absolutely the best move I made, even if the jacks are unconviently low and prone to hitting shoulders.
The Meze were super unexpected. Cheap, comfortable, light, good sounding, and easy to make a balanced cable for. My only complaint with them is how they eat my hair when I take them off. They grab long hair if you don't have a hairband on, so painful. They're incredibly sensitive and able to be driven by anything... that doesn't have a high fixed gain (like the CTH). I've found the 0.66x gain on the 789 and 0x gain on the LCX to be *perfect* with them.
As planars go...
The He4xx sound rather good, but they give me a headache after about an hour. I'm not sure if that is because of the headband, or the planar drivers. Part of why I'm not getting the XX, I'm totally not risking expensive cans that might be a love-hate relationship. The He4xx require much power to drive.
The Fostex T50RP Mk3 are rather nice with a bunch of mods, comfortable and rather neutral sounding as semi-closed back goes. Sadly, not balanced without major mods. Also does require a reasonable amount of power to drive nicely.
The Fostex T60RP would be my absolute favorite cans... if they didn't make a godawful racket when agitated ( https://youtu.be/k-zmNnCMkUY video showing that off ). They sound great, are extremely comfortable, have balanced wiring, and have those beautiful wooden ear-cups. Mind you, they're really just T50RP Mk3 with a bunch of factory mods. Still delicious, still power hungry.
I've been thinking about the MrSpeaker Ethers. The physical/mechanical design is similar enough to the stuff I like to be rather tempting. And I rather do like planar sound, in general, especially closed back configuration. The price though... ow.
Diktation
5
Jun 28, 2019
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FayneLike you I have 58x, 6xx and HE4xx (as well as Nighthawks which I can't stand) and wanted to try to step a bit farther up out of Mid-Fi. I bought some Aeon Flow Closed for ~$500 second hand on eBay. All I can say is wow. I'd suggest moving on to that instead of spending 2k on Ethers. At least it's a little more reasonable $ wise
Gramblor
83
Oct 14, 2019
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DiktationI have Sennheiser hd650's 598c's and a Sennheiser gaming headset. They're all good, but my Nighthawk/Nightowl Carbon's absolutely cream them. I'm interested to know why you don't like them. In my experience, they create a three dimensional soundstage with unreal clarity that blows my mind. That said, I haven't heard other high end headphones, so don't really know how they stack up. For instance, I'd really like to hear Hifiman headphones, such as the Edition XX.
I use a Topping A30/D30 stack (with the Burson op-amp mod) and a Dragonfly Red, which I'm happy with, but these DAC/amp reviews make me wonder what I'm missing out on.
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- Good clean cheap R-2R loving. It sounds fairly good right out of the box. It didn't do bad things during initial listening with CTH and HD6xx cans. Handled all the music sent to it at max PCM rate (power of 2) from Roon.
- It does what the specs say it can do. All the I/O work. All the buttons operate correctly. No extra driver required, and verified as working fine on macOS 10.14.5 and Ubuntu 18.04.1, both driven by Roon.
- Has that full sized USB-B instead of the initially planned Micro USB-B. No need for me to worry as much about ripping the bloody micro off the board.
Dislikes:- The USB cable which arrived with my unit was faulty. At least one of the wires/connections has a short. Luckily it is a standard USB-B, of which I have maaaany cables. ( -0.25 stars )
- Lack of display. I do like seeing what the unit is doing. Either a cheap LCD/OLED display or simple strip of LED which indicate the sample rate and bit depths would have made the product better. ( -0.25 stars)
- The brains of this unit appear to be BUS powered. While it isn't the full R-2R board, it still kinda sucks that it draws juice even when the power is off. I'm not a big fan of unplugging things like this between every use... Luckily I've a Schiit WYRD on hand and can use it's hard switch for the USB. ( -0.25 stars)
- Has the same scratch magnet crap paint that all the other MassDrop AMPs and DACs have. I know it is a budget thing, but dang this stuff attracts scuffs. ( -0.25 stars)
I'm a bit nitpicky with the dislikes, but that is just because with a few extra touches, this would have been a top class product. As is, in the few hours I've had it, I'm not unhappy. Continuing Impression 2019.06.20: Spent the day listening through the THX AAA 789. The neutral/transparent nature of the 789 helps show off the warmth and general clarity of the Airist, as well as the flaws. I still enjoy the sound produced, but on the 789 it is much easier to hear the soft pops made by bits falling off the ladder (no, really). It gives that extra analog flavor, sort of like hearing a small crackle or pop on vinyl. Not exactly optimal, but not unexpected for R-2R without parallel/quad ladders and bit correction. I was hearing these on the CTH, but couldn't tell if it was new tube related, or from the DAC. Definitely the DAC, and it is not clipping. I rather like the 789 with any of my sources, and it is no different with the Airist. I did notice that I had to jack the volume up significantly versus when I source from any my balanced DAC/interfaces. Most likely the 2Vrms vs 4Vrms (or higher) thing, no issue there. Overall, still happy with the Airist, but I think it pairs better with the CTH than the 789. Update 2019.07.28 (final): My ZDT Jr. arrived and got added into the stack, immediately being used with the Airist. It works just as good with the ZDT as it does with the CTH, with the main difference being that the ZDT is a better amp overall. I also spent some time with the Airist on the LittleDot 1+ and was not unhappy. I still do not like the Airist on the 789 or the LCX, it is very much too easy to hear the defects. Would I suggest buying the Airist? Yest, but with major caveats. If your amp is tube and single ended, the Airist adds to the retro/analog flavour. By analog, I mean all the random pops and hisses you get from the cheap discreet R-2R. I do not recommend using this DAC on any type of amp that is super low noise (JDS Atom, THX AAA 789, etc.), you will catch all the bad without the tubes to help smooth it over. I give it 4 stars because I enjoy the DAC subjectively, the warmth and something about the sound flavor evokes a bit of nostalgia, not because it is objectively better than any of the other far cheaper DACs I've got.