$500 Budget what do you get? | Just yesterday, I...

$500 Budget what do you get?

Showing 1 of 7 conversations about:

Apr 18, 2019

Just yesterday, I bought a Sony ZX300a for $420, does that count? It's still ”shipping!” If someone gave me an extra $500 right now for the explicit purpose of buying a new amp, DAC, or Amp/DAC combo, and considering that I already have some killer pieces in that price range that I LOVE (Chord Mojo, Cavalli Liquid Carbon), I would either like to play with some tubes (Darkvoice, Schiit Lyr 3, Bottlehead) or a solid state amp that I’ve always been curious about but never needed to own alongside what I have (Meier Audio Chord JAZZ FF, THX amp by Massdrop or Monoprice). I would also be curious about the iFi Micro iDSD BL, but I wouldn't sell my Mojo to get it because I would miss the optical connection for my TV or PS4.

Apr 18, 2019

EvshrugDefinitely counts! I am personally interested in the Cavalli Liquid Carbon, massdrop thx aaa 789, JDS Labs Element, JDS EL Dac, Schiit Jotunheim, Schiit Bifrost and Schiit Asgard. I am not looking for end game, more so wanting hear good but different.

Keth

760

Apr 19, 2019

CamBE2010I'd change it up based on this comment, there's no reason you need to go crazy expensive to get a fantastic experience. A JDS Atom, Dark Voice, and Grace SDAC. Total comes in right around $500 for all three, and will scratch the itch for tubes, and super clean solid state performance.

DamienR

167

Apr 19, 2019

CamBE2010I have owned half of those. El Dac is a bit soft sounding to my ears until you get used to it. The Element is my favourite Dac/Amp combo (SE) Gaming End Game!, LCX (+Sdac balanced) nice combo personally perfer its sound more than LCX (+SU-8 balanced). Jotunhiem (+balanced dac) is a big no to my listening tastes, it did sound alright with Hd6XX but with the AD2000x/AD1000x/HD660s & HD800s no... not for me, to be frank the HD6XX was also a no for me. Anyway to answer the question: Amp: NFB-1 (If you could get the MD THX it'd be that, but you can't), Dac: SMSL SU-8, Dac/Amp: Monoprice thx aaa Dac/Amp.

Apr 19, 2019

DamienRThe LCX I think is what I am leaning too most at this point. I've got a few fun little amps but would like to upgrade some or try something new. A lot of these AMPS and DAC's I got on killer deals through ebay and a local used marketplace like ebay. The most expensive was the Little Dot which I paid $120 for and probably the Magni 3 which I paid full price for Current Setups: Office: USB -> Topping D30 -> Bravo Audio Ocean Desktop: USB -> Massdrop O2 + SDAC -> SMSL SA-98E -> 2 x MB42X - C Optical -> Modi 2U -> RCA Switch -> Magni 3 or Little Dot MK III (I've got quite a few different tubes for it. There is a great tube rolling guide on Head-Fi) Mobile: Fiio Q1 MK 1 Headphones: Argon Mk III Sony MDR 1-A MD 6XX MD AKG K7XX (Don't really use, thinking about selling. Got it cheap on eBay so no big deal) DT Pro 770 250 ohm DT Pro 990 600 ohm AT ATH-M50X (Didn't like so I gave them to my wife who loved them) Superlux HD 681 and 668B (My first introduction's into open back and best $10 purchases on eBay I've made) MD HE4XX (I gave these to my dad for Christmas. I enjoyed them but enjoyed other headphones better) I really like the Massdrop O2 + SDAC with most of my headphones and I like the Little Dot with the HD 6XX. So those two I could imagine keeping for awhile. What I want to change or upgrade is the Topping D30, Magni 3 and Bravo Audio. They were the first DAC and AMP I bought. I like the way the O2 sounds better than the Magni 3. I also think the Modi 2U sounds better than the Topping D30 so I would likely keep the Modi 2U and just move it to my office.

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Apr 19, 2019

KethYou're the second person to recommend a JDS Atom to me in the last 24 hours. How does it compare to the O2 and Magni 3?

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DamienR

167

Apr 19, 2019

CamBE2010I prefered the Magni 3 to the O2, nothing wrong with the 02 just i was double amp'ing when i had them. I'm going assume you like a bit of "color" in your music so the LCX+Sdac would be a option i do think you'd like. Honestly i'd go O2+Sdac for office & use LCX +(dac) at home because its power is in the balanced output, no point getting it for single ended headphones.

Apr 19, 2019

DamienRThanks for the tips! I think "color" is an accurate description. My wife likes a little bit more precision. The M50X's sounded too harsh for my ears. I like my music to sound more mellow.

Keth

760

Apr 19, 2019

CamBE2010Much cleaner than both, and it lacks the compressed "house sound" of Schiit. If you want something SLIGHTLY rolled on on the high end with better build quality, the Liquid spark is also amazing, and has more power.

Apr 19, 2019

KethThanks everyone! I love discussions like this, makes me want to buy everything. Hahah

Evshrug

3772

Community

Apr 19, 2019

CamBE2010The Massdrop LCX has a different power supply than mine... so I can’t exactly predict what it sounds like, but probably really close. I like Schiit DACs (I have a Bifrost Uber, and used to have a Theta multibit DAC from the old company the Schiit founders used to work for), but the Cavalli has a smoothness and “Liquid” quality that The Schiit amps I’ve tried usually lack for me (sounding a bit fatiguing). I think the Jotunheim sounds great with dark headphones (like the Dekoni Blue), but I wouldn’t recommend connecting an HD 800 or DT 990 to a Jotunheim or Magni. I think the SE output of the Liquid Carbon actually sounds great! Maybe not as good as the balanced output, but it still made a great pairing with my stock HD 800, and I’ve never felt the need to do the Super DuPont mod due to having good amp and DAC synergy. I also really enjoyed the Cavalli sound in the Liquid Gold, Liquid Crimson, Liquid Lightning, prototypes of the Spark (haven’t heard the improved production version of the Spark yet, but I expect great things and read favorable reviews!). I trust the SQ of his designs. The first manufacturing factory had some QC issues (the first time I tried using the XLR-4 output, my amp broke itself and all outputs stopped working), but I sent my amp in to Cavalli and he fixed it up to work perfectly for the past two years. The new amps use a different factory, I believe. Amazing SQ that sounds like a much larger and more expensive amp (but still bested by my HDV 820, but that Sennheiser should win if it costs so much!). Between my HDV 820 for home duty and the incoming Sony ZX300A for portable or “computer free” listening, I have to admit that everything else is redundant at this point. I considered the Acoustic Research M200 instead of the Sony, because it’s also such a good deal here on Massdrop, but I travel outside of the country sometimes so I wanted something with enough battery to last a week’s moderate use without recharging. The M200 has a longer battery runtime than A&K players though, so for most people the M200 would be an awesome deal (and you can stream from your phone to both the M200 or ZX300 via high res Bluetooth if you ever want to use Tidal/Spotify/Pandora/YouTube).

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