Well that’s a shame. Tbh I like the phantasy ii a lot but it realy feels like its holding the d8kp back (especualy in the mids where I keep feeling it like has almost a detail/texture dip or something). As for the mk vs p2 on d8kp, I prefer the mk but I personaly found it a but hotter up top than the p2. More controlled sure, but I found myself with a bit more trebble fatigue as well.
Bit of a shame considering I like the idea of lcd-r portable. Guess I will just wait for another demo before I jump as iirc, last time I tried it was off a micro BL before I realy had more experience so that may have played a roll in my impressions…
Also, fwiw, I just emailed mk to see if the 424/428 can handle a sustained 2 ohm load. I realized I’ve put some iems on them that ain’t exactly far away from that to good success so here is to hoping. That said, I don’t expect the synergy to be great here. Maybe just a more refined version of what the jot already does at best.
I should have rephrased, while the mk is more forward and more prominent in the treble with that pairing, the phatlab has some strange peakiness the mk didn’t have
If you can go demo it, just do that instead, I wouldn’t buy one after what you’ve said previously, but if you can try one without having to pay anything do that first and go from there
I was thinking I’d try it on my 394 but haven’t brought myself to do that yet. So far I did throw it on the bdi-dc44b g tune ii, and that’s been fantastic, more clarity and tightness than the aic 10, sharper placement and image but a bit smaller stage, but more depth. This one really helped with coherency and a sense of smoothness compared to the aic 10, fantastic control
Next thing I’m going to try it with before I have to give it back will be lta zotl ultralinear+ monoblocks, curious how that will go
Oh, interesting. I cant say I noticed that last time I used that combo, but I did certainly find the d8kp trebble a bit uneven on a bunch of stuff. Tbh I think one of my most valued traits for the mk is its ability to “fix” wonky trebble tbh. Its not like it makes it less hot but it realy keeps that stuff a bit more under control. Kinda currious what the maths of how the hell that works is tbh.
Yah, that’s the plan for now. I cant realy justify more audio this month anyways so I’ll just try it when u check out the stealth and crbn
First off, I just realized, but do you have 394 and 406? I thought you just had 406 tbh.
Second, I have never heard of that second amp so ill Google in a bit but in generaly does the aic-10 give but a hair im image clarity for organic smoothness? I’ve seen that commented once before when someone was talking 1266 tc out of bartok vs aic-10 so this comment made me a little currious.
Lastly, with the more extensive playing you have been able to do, do you mind if I ask where exactly you think the LCD-R stacks up kinda tier wise? I dont exactly have a ton of iver ear experience in thus space but I was feeling it was quite different but of a similar over all tier to d8kp and am currious on others thoughts.
It was only in comparison to other amps like the mk for example, it’s not that bad but to me was noticeable
I don’t have much interest in the stealth but the crbn I will try because the same audeze fanboy who lent me the lcd r is going to make me try it lol
I used to have dual 394 ii but sold one of them. I wish I had a 406 lol
Oji Special stuff is pretty great but actual hell to try and get out of japan. Sorry slightly confused on the aic question. Are you asking if it trades some image clarity for smoothness? If so I’d say no, but it does trade a bit of image clarity for a more sizable and grand presentation, it offers a ton of width and space and does trade a tad of depth and razor sharp placement for that, but not enough for me to complain for the price point, still very accurate. Smoothness is independent from that from my experiences
Hmmm, if you assume it’s locked to the jot a with a 1-1.5k ish dac, I’d rate it on a similar tier of something like a diana v2, hek v2, adx5k, and ps2000e if you assume the traditional headphones are limited to the quality of a 2-3k ish stack. If you go higher source gear wise for the traditional headphones they start to pull ahead and the jot a starts to show it’s limitations if that makes sense, but it’s not totally embarrassed imo.
I do think things like a diana phi, d8kp, he1000se, utopia, mysphere, and others are ahead of the lcd r in enough aspects on a 2-3k stack that they sound higher tier, but if you let them go farther in source gear they do leave the lcd r behind pretty quickly imo
Fair. I’ve send both the phantasy and d8kp to a friend for a bit but I’ll pay attention there when I get it back and see what I think.
Haha. I’m actualy the other way around. The normal looking FR + closed back nature of the stealth has me massively currious (as does the absurdly low sensitivity ). Only going to try the crbn cause jts will be there and “why not?”
Lol, I just won’t even ask why you had two. I gotta say though, the 428 has me kinda tempted by a 394 given the similar voicing.
So esentialy the comment I was given on bartok HP amp vs aic-10 for 1266 was “aic is much smoother and fixes the 1266 vocal recess but bass imaging seems a hair fuzzier”
That makes sense. How do you feel it seemingly stacks up if yoy don’t limit yourself to the jot? That’s more of what I’m currioys about tbh.
Yah, I realy wish I had a more convenient way to have a desktop stack. Realy a shame ill probabaly just not hear most of my cans to propper potential.
Gotcha, well then I think I answered that with the above
I think it can scale with equal ability to the first set of aforementioned cans then, and scale about as far as they can, perhaps slightly not as far as the dv2 or the adx5k, but about as far as the hek v2 and ps2000e imo. Which is a bargain if the lcd r was sold as a 2k headphone with no jot. But I haven’t had the chance to try it on the more 1-2k headphone amps so I can’t really give a decisive answer there, more speculation.
I should have also added that it compares favorably as I could see myself considering it over some of the aforementioned depending on my goals and it offers better value than some of the options too
Lol, yes. But it also means no money for sus amp or raal.
Yah, you did. Just 2anted to clarify.
Ok, fair. I am currious what in the 1-2k range does well with these. Seems like speaker amp may be the better bet kn that area to get 2 ohm stability (or power to handle adapter box). I know you aren’t a massive fan of it in general, but think an ahb2 may bring out a bit more slam? Seems to be kinda the slammiest sus capable amp sub 3k that I’ve heard of (though apparently only in med gain with low gain sounding like shit? Idk, just talking on what others have said anyways). What else is even in that range that woukd run it? Gsx-mini won’t, audiogd will but idk anything about their offerings in that range. Hsa-1b us above that range but seems like an obvious pick for an all arounder a bjt north of there.
I gotta say, I actuaky realy realy like the presentation og the Rs. Not natural but very very enjoyable. Its kind of the detail (not stage) presentation I imagine people talk about when they say 1266 are detail forward (having never heard them). If so, I wonder if I may actualy prefer the 1266 to sus as I find the kind of striking nature of the presentation quite fun
works very well with the 1266 if you are into that, but otherwise yes. Although you could also swap the raal for a mysphere and that would work with the mass kobo pretty well lol
Not sure, at the used price that would likely be better, but I bet sub 1k new for a speaker amp the jot would still be a better pick. But 2k ish used can get you quite a lot
Sure, but knowing that amp I could likely kiss goodbye any sense of stage it had left lol, and also limit microdynamics among other things, but it would still be better than the jot for sure (but I’m just a hater lol, although I dislike that amp for a reason)
You can get better at that price range. Also if you really want slam I wouldn’t go for a susvara anyways imo, there’s better for that. IMO the d8kp and dv2 can hit harder than the sus can if you try and prioritize that (the sus wasn’t made for raw slam though, so personally I don’t think it’s a problem. If you want true slam from hifiman, go find an he6 lol)
For the lcd I’d personally look for used krell, pass/threshold, parasound halo, hegel, classe, bryston, and others that are less common. At least I’d assume those would pair well in different ways, should be able to find models from all of them below 2-3k used
If you like the raal, and you like the lcd r presentation, I have a feeling the 1266 might be really worth a look before the susvara (although susvara is also worth a look too lol)
Also, using a mojo mystique evo pro 21 (w/ upgraded chokes) → pass xp-32 → 2x lta zotl ultralinear+ → box → lcd r is quite fantastic in some aspects and meh in others. Firstly, it’s very very clean and tight especially in the low end, really allowed the lcd to showcase it’s texture and separation there. Stage wise it is on the more intimate and deep side of things, but it’s a lot of depth, and placement accuracy and organicness did improve, very sharp image. Tonally it did lean more clean and slightly dry with a bit more forwardness, but not enough to really bother me all that much imo, felt pretty neutral. Extension was great on both ends. Dynamically really showcased micro but it also gave a nice boost to macro. Timbre wise very good. Lots and lots of detail and texture too. So a bit more reference micro focused but easily worthwhile and enjoyable, was surprised this pairing worked out so well. If I swap the dac for the bricasti, it does get even more technical but becomes a bit more relaxed, even more dead neutral (the mojo at least added a bit of extra warmth and body), but also smoother and more effortless sounding imo, although a bit softer and less sharp
Enluem 23R - no? - Enleum got back to me about the 23r and said they would worry about drawing too much currently (r should theoretically pull less than sus, so idk whats uo there).
Analogue Paper Squared TUR-08 - yes but… - Analogue P2 got back to me and said the TUR-08 should be cable of running it directky but with a 2 ohm output impedence they woukd recomend an adapter box to get the best sound out of it.
Wait did bakoon rebrand? Guess the conflict from bakoon japan and bakoon korea got to them? Not sure, but interesting they decided to do that. And it’s not really about how much current it would pull I’d assume, it’s just that they aren’t expecting a load that low in the first place likely. But who knows, the adapter box is a safe bet that would likely work too given it has speaker tap outs
Yes they did rebrand. Apparently Sankar and bakoon Japan had a pretty nasty falling out from what I hear, so they are now enleum. As for the stability, thats what I assumed would be the issue, but the email I got is weird as they are specificaly concerned about current draw. I havent replied yet (got it last night) but I’m tempted to ask for clarification tbh
Called it lol. It’s the audio note fiasco all over again lol
I wonder if they optimized current draw for specific loads to get the most out of it with most things. I actually had the same concerns with my re leaf because while they are current drive, they would likely die if I tried the lcd r because they weren’t designed with that low in mind (output impedance thing?). I do wonder if it’s output impedance, given current drive amps typically have output impedance within the hundreds at times
So idk jack about current drive topologies but I thiught power supply determined max current in such a way that max current is always achievable under a certain load (where some of that needs to be used to step up voltage
So I am absolutely not the person to ask for this, but I think that’s correct but not sure, but typically amps are either current limited or voltage limited, and you can change that power band around depending on how you want to design the amp. So it could just be a case where the power band would leave the 2 ohm range current limited for whatever reason. donno, I’d ask someone like @Polygonhell or @MazeFrame on that one. But this is why I’ve been hesitant in plugging the R in willy nilly, because something that seemingly looks like it could work might not actually
There are lots of limits, at some point your components act like fuses.
Power supplies have limits.
Amps will have voltage and current gain stages with finite gain.
And V=I*R applies.
I don’t know anything like enough about the internals of an LCD-R or Bakoon to be definitive.
For sake of understanding, assume the power supply is always voltage limited (= infinite available current).
Most amplifiers look at the voltage they have on the output side, compare that to the input (music) and from that adjust up or down.
Current Drive looks at the voltage drop across the speaker, since I = V / R, it can compare input (music) to what goes on with the speaker.
The BIG Asterisk
The speaker (and cables leading to it) are a HUGE factor with current drive.
Electrons move at about 1/3rd the speed of light in a conductor (at room temperature, in copper). The round trip Amp-Speaker-Amp is long enough to phase shift the feedback ever so slightly.
Easiest way is to compensate using a capacitor in parallel with the speaker.
Voltage limited VS Current limited
Say your amplifier can deliver 2W per channel peak, but is also limited to 0.5A or 10V.
It results in the following curve:
but in generaly does the aic-10 give but a hair im image clarity for organic smoothness? I’ve seen that commented once before when someone was talking 1266 tc out of bartok vs aic-10 so this comment made me a little currious.
