In the end, it all depends on the equipment, whether OTL or set.
The Wa3 is certainly not wrong in this sense.
If you want my honest opinion, an R2R Dac is generally very good for both amplifier variants.
The rest is just customisation and depends on the headphones you want to drive.
300ohm headphones go very well with OTL although it may be a matter of taste.
The Wa3 should have the power for it, especially it will probably be above the Feliks if I had to guess.
Otherwise you have a little more choice as a set amplifier.
Cayhin ha3a, Quicksilver where you mentioned yourself.
Icon Audio HP8 is also something that is not to be despised.
My last tip for you is perhaps because it is probably a bit harder to get tubes in Mexico.
Here is something to choose from where you might get better access in Mexico.
Especially because of the current situation, 4 years can seem like an eternity.
Everything will sound better than the BHC.
I’m sorry to hear that it may have to be repaired again to bridge the gap.
Hey guys i need some help.
I currently own a Gumby and a v281 + Cambridge AXR100 to drive my Susvara, but a friend of mine is selling the stack on the photo. Benchmark DAC3 + OOR + HYPSOS.
I had previously owned th OOR + HYPSOS and was not impressed, but the 10v output from the Benchmark made a big difference.
Long story short, i am experiencing the Susvara to its full potential for the first time on that stack, it beats my chain and its not close. It elevated the Susvara to #1 in my collection.
My question is, for US$1400 is the Benchmark DAC3 the best option for this setup? I am trying to understand its differences compared to the Gumby, i know for sure the OOR benefits from a stronger DAC signal, but other than that i feel like the Gumby’s sound signature is much more relaxed, with less bass impact. Does that sound about right?
My highest priority for sound preference is a presentation with lots of bass impact and texture but also lots of detail and separation for busy prog metal. I also like some of the more organic sound i get from the Gumby, but that is not a top priority.
I am trying to figure out if it will be worth it for me to maybe sell my entire chain and get his instead because of what it did to the Susvara…
if you can save a little more and buy a used Wandla (around $2K) it has a 10v balanced output, the ideal synergy to Oor and Hypsos and makes much more sense long term as a stack
Yup, and in the tubes, I have the WA3 coming in about a week. I wanted to get some nice 6922 tubes before I got it but its my first time purchasing with Andy from VST and I think hes been very very busy since its taking him weeks to get my tubes ready. But I prefer to be patient and get better tubes anyway
Since I got it at a very nice price, its the version with the choke and some upgraded caps… And I haven’t been able to fix the BHC at all, I was worried about the noise but the seller promised that with its current Sylvania 7235 it makes no noise at all and the Tung Sol 7236 that I have is also a very popular power tube for the WA3.
I do really hope I can use my mullard cv2984 works without noise but thats not always the case with the WA3,
Worst case scenerio I dont like the amp, I can sell it and get another BHC, since I also asked some god tubes for the Quicksilver to Andy then I might just end up with that, who knows.
But I for one really seem to like my 3 high Impedance cans on the BHC way more than in anything else and I hope the WA3 can make for a good experience as well. It will probably be my only woo audio amp I dont plan to get any other from the brand.
I am almost closing the deal on one, i think you are right and it makes total sense.
Also, a friend of mine confirmed that the Wandla is a good pairing to the v281 as well, seems like a non-brainer, well except for the price
I think my heart is set to blind buy the Orchard Audio Valencia headphone amp. The biggest downside is that it’s a power headphone amp meaning a preamp is needed unless I want to blow my headphones up. I want to use this with a solid state pre-amp that is not the Schiit Midgard, but at the same time, I kinda want something niche just to match its weirdness. Anyone know any boutique preamp builder or some really cool solid-state preamp under $1000 USD? If its tubes, I guess I don’t mind as long as it’s very common tubes and the tubes are cheap.
Id also like to know TBH, my audio technica BHA100 has a quite good unbalanced tube preamplifier, it was discontinued very fast and its a great balanced headphone amp but im extremely amazed how good its preamp performs by using 2 pairs of 12ax7 tubes (common)
Right now only thing I can think of is kara F which is basically a midgard on steroids, but ive never been a fan of schiits pres
https://www.schiit.com/products/kara-f
You can also get a DAC with a volume knob. There’s a lot of them around (including, of course, Orchard’s own PecanPi line).
Does it need to be active? If not, you can take a look at khozmo. I think hattor (their more expensive brand) has an active stage that you can add
Thanks for the replies. After a good night sleep, I decided to use it with the Supratek DHT Cabernet Preamp. So I will most likely just stack the Valencia right on top of the Starkrimson Ultra 2.0 power amp and just unplug the XLR from there and plug it in the Valencia. I looked up lot of equipment’s last night that can do preamp under $1000 with XLR output and they just seem not worth buying for me. I still want to do an all solid state build, but maybe I can do that with another amp.
The Valencia amp requires an XLR connection. You can buy an RCA to XLR converter, but I always feel more comfortable just using straight wires to each other without anything as the middleman.
I thought about the Kara, but it didn’t really click with me when I used it at a local meet. It might be way better in my system, but it doesn’t really grab my attention enough to spend about $800 on it. The MJ3 on the other hand might be really interesting…
I thought about that and may do that down the line. For now, I want to just keep using my Mystique Evo B4B 21 DAC. I do plan on getting a backup DAC just in case I decide to upgrade my Mystique Evo DAC or if anything goes wrong with it. I think I might get something cheap like a Topping DAC or something.
They seem really nice, but to get the good Attenuator option is expensive. The power output of the Valencia is about 15.12W into 32 Ω per the spec sheet. I feel like the volume knob is going to very important on whatever is playing the preamp role.
Hey guys, i have a Pi2EAS and i have just purchased a Ferrum WANDLA.
I was using the coax ouput to connect the Pi to my Gumby, but now with the WANDLA i think i should use either EAS or I2S, right?
Which of the two is the best option for me?
I wouldn’t abandon COAX/SPDIF if you’re happy with it. In general I do usually stick to AES if possible but that’s just my experience/opinion.
I’ve heard super bad I2S depending on the cable but lots of people say it’s the best. I had the Airlens streamer and couldn’t use the I2S because it was way too bright and too harsh. Switching away from I2S (and tossing the DH Labs cable into a fire) to coax helped, but I ended up returning the airlens.
I don’t think there’s a way to know which is “best” without trying it yourself
I entirely endorse this opinion.
Technically I2S is better because the clock is separate from the data signal, so it doesn’t have to be reconstructed in the DAC.
However there is no guarantee the clock from the streamer is better than the reconstructed clock in the DAC. Or perhaps more importantly that you’ll prefer one or the other.
Is it even possible that COAX is better than both?
It will depend on a lot of variables, including the cables, streamer and DAC implementation.
My personal rule of thumb is to start with AES and go from there, but there’s really no universal answer
Edit: if you’re buying a cable no matter what, and already have a coax cable, I would personally probably try an I2S cable. If I had no digital cables on hand and was buying only one, if probably choose AES.
From a technical standpoint, there is a minimal difference between AES and SPDIF over coax, AES is generally balanced, and I believe the signal level is higher.
But your source might be better over one than the other.
I already own a DH Labs D-750 Digital Coax, its the only cable i have currently.
Maybe its a good idea to buy both an AES and a I2S, just don’t want to spend lots of money on those for the test…