What do you don’t like about your current chain?
What are your sound preferences?
Total budget?
- If a mfg warns against using a tap box or a headphone load on their amp (common for balanced output speaker designs such as Ayre for example), really don’t do it.
Quoted from the shit list. You didn’t read it carefully enough /s 
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That wasn’t on there yet when I asked 
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Couldn’t decide where to post this so ended up here…
After some time with the ultrarendu I think I miss my antipodes S stack. There’s a level of improvement that was felt and now missed between the two. I wonder how much the opticalrendu helps with that gap but I’m guessing there would still be one.
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Well, I suppose it’s overall quite good, but can be a bit cold/analytical/dry and fatiguing at times. I’d also like to move away from the Chinese DACs, but I can definitely say that the Gustard DACs are a noticeable step above the Topping/SMSL stuff.
Sound-wise I prioritise bass (impact, slam, quantity), and macrodynamics. I like an overall full-bodied, dynamic, and exciting sound. I care less about resolution and detail as I listen to a lot of metal and recording quality varies substantially, so I need a source to be quite forgiving and non-fatiguing as well and not too analytical, bright, or detail-forward.
The total budget for my source chain is <10k AUD (~7k USD). My current chain (A26+V550 Pro) cost about 5300 AUD)
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If you don’t mind staying Chinese go for a Holo stack, Spring 3 KTE and Bliss KTE. Fits very well what you’re looking for imo
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If you like speed impact, I think 550 is actualy a solid amp for you. Bliss does slam like a truck as well tbf, but I honestly don’t see much reason to change your amp up before you settle on a dac.
For dacs, I would look at rockna wd first and foremost, but meitner Ma3, Dave, and may are all also options here depending on what your prioritize
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Most of those will create budget problems but I dont know the Australian prices so perhaps
Thanks, I think you’re right, I’ll get the DAC settled first.
Those DACs are a bit out of my price range here yes… Rockna is 13k (Signature Balanced is 23k and Wavelight 7000), MA3 is 17.5k and Dave is 19k. I see Daves pop up on the local used market sub 10k, but the other two not really.
As an amplifier upgrade, a hybrid amplifier might make sense.
However, there are not really many that are also good.
But you can search for them.
The Gustard R26 has created a good symbiosis with my Feliks Euforia amplifier.
I read that the A26 is a bit more neutral and together with the Violectric it might be a bit too much neutrality.
If you have the opportunity to try the A26 on a less neutral amp, it might shuffle the cards.
If you really want to go with planar headphones on tube amps, make sure they can be driven.
The Cayin Ha 6A or 300 mk 2 might help.
But there are other possibilities than these amplifiers.
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While none of yjem pop up.super regularly on the market, all of those should be doable arojnd or under 7k used Fwiw.
You’re already looking at the Schiit OG, that’s it. Going higher up in a DAC adds a lot but you may not want/need all of it. A used Yggy OG can be had for well under 2K and you may be able to pause there for a good long time.
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Reading around about this, I should be good to run iesl off of it, just not sus directly, correct?
I assume the issue is that the differential output isn’t coupled to ground, in which case yes you should be fine, and I’d assume the issue only really applies if you use an SE connection somewhere.
Though they could have other reasons to suggest against it, like sensitivity to load, in which case all bets are off on what the results would be.
I’d specifically ask the manufacturer, but if they haven’t explicitly tried it, most likely you’ll get a not supported response.
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Any love for the Audio-GD R7HE R2R DAC around here? Always heard good things about the brand…
You’re not going to find a lot of AudioGD love here.
They’ve had some overtly bad pieces, I’m sure some of the pieces are fine, but it’s not a brand I’d personally experiment with.
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Fair enough. I personally was always wary of the brand. Their website is awful and hasn’t changed in years. But they certainly have their vocal fans.
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If you go back 5 or 6 years there was a lot of love for them, they were one of the first Chinese value manufacturers in the headphone space. There are just a lot of competitors in that space now. The toppings of the world have eaten up all their mindshare.
They certainly have their fans, I’ll resist digging up Torq’s review from a few years ago of their at the time TOTL R2R DAC, it’s a funny read, but the gist is he absolutely hated it. That’s one person’s take, who’s views I would consider questionable at times.
Obviously some people really like some of their pieces, however, many of the glowing recommendations I see are from people who don’t really have experience with a lot of other pieces at the price point.
I honesty haven’t heard anything recent from them, so I can’t say if they are good or not.
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@dB_Cooper and others who own or tried the dCS Network Bridge, some insight would be greatly appreciated around a few questions I have:
- What is a good used price given it’s been discontinued for about 2 years?
- Without any physical buttons, and relying on the app any potential drawbacks?
- If you were to upgrade, what would be the next logical step for you?
Much thanks…
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Spoke with arye and using the iESL is totaly fine. Full responce in the ayre thread.
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