Yep, and honestly i don’t know! I am happy with my setup but then again i was also happy with it before i introduced a streamer into the chain, and man i was missing it and i had no idea! lol
I am thinking, what else is out there that can deliver an even better experience? That is why i started wondering. I don’t think there is anything i am not getting from my chain, but how would i know?
Ignorance is bliss i guess? hahaha
Oh btw, i do use the OOR for both the HE6 and LCD-4, all of the others will almost always go into the Quicksilver.
Adding a streamer is a bigger step than upgrading one.
Your system is at a point where a significant upgrade is likely going to cost a significant chunk of what you already have invested in it.
A tube amp that will drive the 1266 well is probably a $5000+ used cost.
I’d be looking to spend $3000+ for a definitive jump in DAC’s, though you could go incremental with the Yggy.
Stepping up in SS amplification is probably going to be $4000+, and it’ll be more about signature than definitively better.
You can fiddle with cables, but I wouldn’t go overboard on your system.
There is up in streamers, but I’d probably put the money elsewhere first.
Usually the way it goes is you hear something you love and you jump there first, then you deal with the fallout and quadruple the cost of your system over a couple of years.
Or you could just stay put with a system you obviously already really like,
I’d actually disagree, I think there’s a handful that do it around the 3k ish range that I’d personally be happy with, but all depends on what you want out of the headphones
Just an couple ideas on a different type of changes that can satisfy your itch:
You can consider a tube amp that has a preamp to the Oor (in Poweramp mode or regular) if you want some new flavor and a change for all your headphones basically.
How about active speakers from the Oor instead of headphones?
Bout right given where you are and where you’d need to go to get meaningful mo’better. If you’re not willing to roll up your sleeves and commit to the eventual budget, might as well enjoy where you are and buy more music and put the money into your retirement fund.
I won’t lie though, there is substantially better out there, but t comes at a cost and I don’t mean just dollars.
Perhaps a dabble into vinyl? You can get a good table, cart and phono for about $2-3k, mind the little costs which can add up like maintenance and cleaning stuff.
I’ve always preferred listening to full albums. I first got into music of a differnt era when songs were composed as part of an album, but i never considered the value of music composition when considering the flip on an album. The video goes over this and several other reasons for vinyl.
I resurrect a vinyl setup. For me it was more about crossing a threshold. It is too hard to progress through all the variable of a tt setup. Cleaning is a pain. I got a degritter which has worked out great, but it was the cost of a component… it almost acts like a component.
Vinyl can be complex, with many steps, adjustments, cleaning, and such. It doesn’t need for be that way for every session, though I have friends who enjoy going through the whole cleaning and adjustment process weekly or every time they use it. It’s a personal preference, and can be therapeutic too as it’s a choice when streaming is easily available in the same set up.
One component, or many components it’s all contributing to the experience. At the end if the day, spin some vinyl and relax as the crackles and pops come through one’s speakers.
I want to add that 2-3k on a phono setup when you don’t have one and are not sure what you like is not the only option. You can have a decent phono setup for about 500 and then spend the savings on actual vinyl to play on it while you work out if you want to go further and what you want out of it.
I like to put a record on on a Sunday morning while we have breakfast and relax together. It doesn’t need to be clinical, it is about atmosphere. Someone else might want to get deep into enjoying cleaning and collecting records and trying to get them to play “perfectly”. Both rewarding but until you know what you want to enjoy, better to dip a toe and actually have some music to play on your deck!
Have anyone used the xi k dac?
There is one on sale right now. Im coming from a soekris 2541. It might be more of the same since it uses a custom soekris board, maybe a little better?
Just curious, since the seller is the one who sold the hpa Pass 1 for 1500$. Might get crazy price on it and sell my soekris LOL.
Im very curious about the hifiman prelude, I wonder if the hifiman amps are really starting to compete in their price brackets, not only that but both their $2500 flagship Goldenwave prelude.
Wavetheorys review was very positive.
Hifiman had nothing to do with the design of the flagship prelude class A amp or the $1000 serenade dac/amp.
Goldenwave is a chinese company that made a deal with hifiman and they designed and manufacture the prelude and the serenade. Hifiman has no hand in those amps, only selling them.
Rumour has it hifiman found the perfect price to perfomance ratio with the prelude to drive the susvara at the budget price because they thought the synergy was special.
Now with their other 2 recent dac amps, the ef400 and ef600 those seem like they made them themselves. I think both of them are extremely good and competitive for their prices, specially compared to the chifi competion.
I think hifiman may really become a gear powerhouse if they keep going like this.
I wonder how with all these good products they manage to make the most shit cables known to men.
I tried to get into vinyl several years ago on my headphone-only setup after inheriting all of my dad’s old vinyl collection. So far though it sounds /nice/ but not amazing, and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Despite cleaning w/ both a SpinClean and also a Keith Monks, I’m still getting more noise than I’d like.
They are supposed to be quite good DAC’s, never heard one.
Appreciate the physical design, but he spends far too much time on that.
Note everything he discusses is a positive, take that for what it is.
