It will certainly be comming to our meetup!
Also, I mostly use them off of hugo2 or p6p. Pulled the trigger on a BF2 to play with yesterday. Im kinda feeling like the amp doesn’t let these scale very much but we will see once the bf2 arrives
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Had them on for an hour, with the jot a using the lampi pacific as the dac, right away I have to use the pre on the lampi to take the volume down otherwise I don’t have much range on the jot. Comfort is good but I can get the fazors to touch my ears at times. But first impressions are very very positive given the price. Enjoyable, will need to keep listening so far
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Yeah that’s a good point. For a purpose built amp you’d think they would’ve dropped the gain somehow.
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To be fair the lampi has higher gain than some of my other dacs, but from briefly swapping to other dacs it still was something I needed to dial back somehow for good range. I think that dynamics and impact get tamed if you don’t find a way to push the amp harder, so I would suggest using a good preamp inbetween it if you can to allow yourself to push the amp harder as it does sound better and more lively that way imo
So far I do agree with @don that while the bass boost to me is a more pleasing tonality, you do take a bit of a hit in some technical areas. I think generally it reduces a bit of separation and gets a bit more muddled and macrodynamics take a hit, perhaps something else but I haven’t messed with it enough
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Few quick notes
This is a lot of resolution for the price point. I am giving it a very high advantage with the dac, but like seriously this is a lot of information for the money which is presented in a nonoffensive and engaging manner. Not super organically presented but enough to where it’s not as big of a problem as some other cans
Texture is very impressive for the price too, it can really reveal lots of nuance, granted that sometimes this texture can be presented strangely and slightly in an inorganic manner, it’s very prominent and forward which makes things pretty enjoyable nonetheless.
This along with the speed and separation makes it a very pinpoint and on the dime feeling, allows for a more overall clean and clear sound where nothing conflicts with each other, but this isn’t always a good thing imo, more on that below.
Spatially it’s somewhat meh to me, it’s not really that impressive, it’s not that bad but it’s also not organic in placement, it’s not that large or expansive and slightly on the intimate side of things, and while it has good separation the placement feels off and feels disjointed at times. So this does need some work, but it doesn’t bug me enough ruin the experience all that much as it’s holographic and fun
I was surprised that I have little tonality qualms with the bass boost on, although with it off it can get a bit forward and lack coherency throughout, but with the bass boost on it’s enjoyable and actually does sound like the tonality of an audeze (lcd 3 ish) which I wasn’t expecting
Timbre is very good, but it also feels disconnected from other aspects which impacts the overall organicness of the headphone
Dynamically it is fantastic at micro but macro is meh, could do better there. I do think dynamics are presented in a bit artificial way but it’s capability in micro makes me ignore that for now.
Overall a very engaging listen so far, it can give tons of information and nuance while remaining inoffensive and pleasing (but not exactly that organic overall, it feels like it should be but things just almost lack coherency and don’t work together). I do think the sound lacks substantiality which can lead to a weird sense of things lacking and breaking immersion, but it’s still enjoyable.
I did swap out dacs half way through to the totaldac d1 direct with the d1 drivers acting as my pre, and this was really worthwhile. While the pacific offered a more overall technical and precise experience, the totaldac really improved on the macro side of things, adding actual slight amount of impact and slam, added more stage width and space without reducing depth, improved coherency, added a bit of welcome smoothness, and gave nice thickness and body. Also takes a more macro focus which was appreciated without reducing micro. This doesn’t overcome the problems noted previously fully, but it does help for sure
Tonight I plan to hook it up to a speaker setup which would be a bricasti m21 platinum → m28 monos. You think it would work with a current drive amp? Although I’m super skeptical and I don’t want to risk it. I’m not sure if I have any headphone amps that I think can really handle 2 ohms without issue. Although I might try. But so far this is a really good value given what it offers at 2.5k, shame it’s limited. But I also worry this limits scaling and upgrade potential in the future, if it doesn’t work well with other amps that is, we will see there lol
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I will say if this is an actual ribbon or not, it’s advertised as one so I can say I already like it more than the sr1a lol, but I never really liked the sr1a that much anyways
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Damn you notice a lot in a short amount of time lol. Experienced ears no doubt. This texture observation makes me want try a better dac but the unnatural staging observation makes me not want to. I haven’t noticed anything all that unnatural either but as we both know the bf2 is lacking in depth and is pretty smooth overall so that could be helping things. Normally I’m pretty sensitive to that too. Amber 3 should be interesting.
Nice, your friend must’ve given the go ahead to experiment. Should be interesting.
I contacted Nelson about the F7…
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not a real ribbon. High trace density planar. its traces on a film and fully tensioned instead of suspended by 2 ends
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Cheating a bit when the dac offers so much texture already that it’s hard to miss lol, makes it easy since I just have to judge how much comes through in comparison to other things at this level lol
Yeah will be curious in your observations there. I should note that on it’s own it’s not that unnatural, it’s only when you compare it to things at or above the price point
Using a custom speaker attenuator box now for safety (and a custom adapter that my friend had already wired), and actually fuck off why is this so much better, makes the jot a sound terrible. So yes I can confidently say with only like 30 min of listening on a speaker setup that the jot is really holding back what these can do. But I will wait a bit until saying anything more
Also random thought, to me this feels like a fixed heddphone, or what the hedd should have been imo
That’s what I figured, it sounds closer to an amt than a ribbon imo, but it’s really not all that different from other planar
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Does that mean we’re all getting Pacifics? You guys first!
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Been a couple of hours and everyone knows no one here ever stops listening to music so… No news is good news?
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Much better. Firstly, it really elevates the macro side of these headphones to where it has legit slam and impact imo, and it’s very dynamically alive while keeping all the micro goodness it was already solid at on the jot and elevating it too, it no longer sounds dynamically blunted per se. The coherency issues I had with separation and placement have improved to where it’s no longer a concern for me, and it’s actually relaxed a bit overall with more organic presentation. Spatially more accurate but still isn’t stand out on these cans. Timbre gets better. Tonally I do think it strikes an even better balance but that will depend on the chain, also gives a nice bump in tonal density performance by getting more meaty at times and also being able to control that weight and apply if needed
The biggest thing to me though is just the sense of tangibility and feeling, it now actually sounds substantial and more like how things should, where you are experiencing the recording vs observing it behind a slightly warped window, recreating the experience, and to me that’s the biggest win
It’s kinda disappointing that some owners will not take it off the jot, because with the right setup they are clearly missing a fair bit imo. I will say though that judging with a chain that is overkill an entirely unreasonable to consider with these headphones, and this specific setup tends to tilt more toward the more neutral smoother relaxed side of things with a bit of warmth but is also damn technical which is a really ideal match for the audeze imo (although a bit more warmth could be nice here)
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Man, it’s going to be hard to draw value comparisons given it’s a system. But I think the closest comparison I might be able to draw that I would have on hand would be a diana v2 perhaps.
I think that if you gave the lcd r system a 1-1.5k dac, and the diana a 2k stack (v280 + 2541, soloist 3xp + cyan perhaps), the lcd r would pull ahead in things like resolution, overall texture, and easily speed and separation, microdynamics, and timbre, but I do find the diana more spatially impressive with more organic placement and more immersive stage, better macrodynamics, much better slam and impact, and perhaps better tonal weighting, better low end extension and grip (but better tightness on the audeze). Tonality might be a toss up, but overall I think the lcd r would be higher tier in this case depending on priories.
If you bump up the source gear for the diana and let’s say a 4-6k stack and the lcd r system gets a 2-3k dac, you start to run into the limitations of the jot a imo and you might find that the diana now starts to equal the audeze in other things it was previously pulling ahead in, and get better at what it was already good at. Still very impressive, but that jot a is showing how it can limit the scaling of the lcd r imo, and I’d likely give the edge to the diana. Although I’d want to do more testing and listening to fully confirm that, but I’m pretty sure it would be the case
But given that, if you had no plans of scaling and couldn’t really afford to go higher, the lcd r system offers quite a lot for the money in terms of technical performance, but it is a bit rough around the edges (compared to what it could be) and limiting in the future if you stick with the jot. But if you can ditch the jot things could potentially be very promising depending on what people find out works or not for headphone amps
Overall so far I like it, and if it weren’t limited I could see this being a big hit and easy rec depending on what someone is after. I really hope to see what they can do with this design and improve on it in the future, it’s already really great, I’m sure they could take it even farther
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You talking about diana v2 or phi?
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V2. I think the phi would be a different story (same with a d8kp or possibly he1000se imo)
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Any idea what the spec of that impedence box you are using is? Is it just a straight up gl1200 box?
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If we assume some of the speed/technicalities, is because they’ve gone with a lot of trace coverage on the driver, and hence low impedance.
There is a lot of scope to put out something at say 8 or 4 Ohms, that would be easier to find an amp match for.
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No, custom made by a friend, the impedance of the box is around 8 ish ohms iirc on the amp side, pretty nice materials used (thick internal kimber wiring, wbt nextgen signature binding posts, mundorf supreme silvergold solder, high quality resistors). I could use it with tube amps if I wanted to as well and likely be safe I just realized
I’d say for headphone amps I’d want to see at least 8, but even 4 would give more flexibility
Edit: looks like the resistors are duelund cast graphite silver
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@Draaly have had it on the aic direct in, and this is the shit (on low mode, using the totaldac). I can totally see this being exactly what people are after. This amp does what the speaker setup had done, although tilts warmer and smoother, and offers more immersive soundstage. Although I can’t think of any of my other amps that I’d want to risk going direct on right now so I have no baseline outside the jot a.
If I had to describe the experience now, it would be more laid back and less forward than the jot, much more spacious and open sounding with more organic placement, much better macrodynamics while keeping micro strong, the sense of smoothness and liquidity that I am after for this headphone, reasonable impact and punch, a warmer smoother more meaty signature reminiscent more now of like an lcd 2 or lcd 24 perhaps, and just generally that sense of actual tangibility where you experience the music rather than observe it if you know what I mean
I’d say it’s an even better match than the speaker setup, although I think it scales less than I had initially hoped for, as at current moment I doubt something like the aic could be justified for only a lcd r, because while it sounds a lot better than the jot and a reasonable step up, if you compare a susvara on the AIC vs the lcd, it’s quite obvious the LCD been pushed as far as it can go where the susvara can actually show the full capabilities of that amp (and sounds significantly higher tier)
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Also since someone had linked me an instagram or something post from woo trying it on the wa8, I had to pull mine out and try it, surprisingly really enjoyable and would be a cool (trans)portable setup. Really boosted the organic factor of the headphone, although did lean it a bit too soft and relaxed for me, but excellent micro focus throughout, with surprisingly reasonable stage size too. Still a reasonable boost over the jot a lol
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