HIp DAC is very warm sounding DAC.
It’s might struggle to drive the sundara well, I haven’t tried it specifically.
My only real knock on it is, some of it’s odd charging behavior, it’s described in the manual, but it’s pretty easy to be using it on battery when you think it’s on external power.
1 Like
yeah thats the main thing that would make me worry a tad bit tbh. It being warm is probably a plus lol, i wonder if they get a 6xx plus a hip dac, if that would make a good combo. And i do believe you have mentioned something strange about the way it charges, ill keep an eye out for that
What about one of the Xduoo XD05s? You can opamp swap to get the tuning you like and they do pack a fair punch for a small device.
1 Like
You know what? I did consider that since i myself owned the Xduoo XD05+, and it really is awesome but only thing holding me back is that after owning a hiby r5 and other nice things around similiar price points the dac on the xduoo really dissapointed me. Just felt very unnatural. But thats also to my standards, while my friend wouldn’t know so at the same time i wonder if i should just go for it and it would be part of her journey too lol. The amp on it afterall is very nice.
Got to admit I don’t use the dac as much as I tend to use the aux in. I felt it definitely sounded way better with a Burson opamp, much more natural so that might help? I have the Basic version 2 which has an ESS dac chip rather than the original AKM which will also be making a difference.
Look around for a used chord mojo possibly? Pretty excellent sound quality and will power the sundara pretty well. Prices should have come down by now
2 Likes
ohhhh yeah, dang thats right. That would would for sure be interesting to look for, i remember my boi Elementze sold his recently for like 250 in fact. Ill def keep that one in mind too, thanks!
So my friend got an hd800s and was asking for amp/DAC recs. His budget is $500 and he’s new to this. I don’t have direct experience with the headphone though so I thought I’d ask here for any suggestions. He listens to a lot of soundtracks btw. Thanks!
the 800s likes tube amps, which doesn’t really give you too many options in that price range. A bottlehead crack + speedball for a more warm relaxed wet sounding signature, you could probably find one on the used market around that price otherwise if you or him are comfortable building the kit yourself you can save some money that way. You could also try finding a hagerman tuba for a more dry and neutral sounding signature which sometimes can be had around that price, maybe a little bit more if you can find one. As for solid state im not too sure what works well in that range for a 800s so maybe someone else can chime in on that, although if it was me i’d definitely go for a crack, it works extremely well with the senn.
3 Likes
Hello,
In which direction should it go warm, analytical, a mix of both?
I haven’t heard the Sennheiser and consider them to be typically German neutral, trans-parent headphones.
Personally, as a German, I don’t like that.
Most of the time it is not even light V shaped that it could be a bit fun.
From my experience, I would go for something that is warm in sound, so that you tend to get the mix of warm and yet neutral from the tuning.
An Ess chip could come out too analytical and maybe boring.
The Allo Revolution might just be right.
But it is only a Dac stand alone.
I would personally go for an Akm or Cirrus Logic Dac.
Topping has not bad things in the program if it should be cheap. Especially the pro stuff Dx30 Dx 3 pro ect…
I can’t really appreciate Burr brown since Ify set the standard.
The Signature variant could be interesting in that respect because most Sennheiser headphones are tuned to an amplifier, you have to check if the Hd 800 is listed.
The Little Dot Dac1 is outdated, but still damn good.
But I see some problems to find a suitable amplifier for 200$.
Ideally, if you can stretch your budget, you could go for the Questyle cma 400i or Singxer Sda 2.
1 Like
He’s new so he’s not really sure what he wants. He’s asking what’s the best this and that so I try to make sure he understands it’s not as simple as that.
Yeah I saw in another thread here that the allo is a good budget option. I’ll see if I can convince him to push the budget a little to get more out of the 800s.
Unfortunately, he made the mistake of believing one of his friend’s recommendation to get the 800s with no prior thought or consideration. Now he can’t return it.
Anyway, I’ll tell him about the allo DAC. Thank you!
1 Like
Well if he want something warmer and fun but reasonably controlled, I do agree with crack + sb and allo rev but that is pushing budget a bit, but that’s where I’d want to be. The tuba is also a solid option but that is a pretty clean/dry combo and that might get a bit much for some even with a tube swap, so be careful there. For solid state in that price range, I’d personally look for a lake people g111 for something neutral with a bit of smoothness in the treble and maintaining the great width the 800s has, also paired with an allo rev dac.
But honestly for an 800s I would want to go higher if possible, but these are good starting points. Honestly cayin iha-6 was also a good warmer solid state option if you can’t get a g111 (and pair the cayin with a j2 from geschelli).
2 Likes
Yeah I’ll convince him to go a bit higher. He’ll probably want the convenience of solid state. I told him about the crack but no diy for him. Do you still suggest the rupert for it (I saw your rec in the 500 amp thread)?
So I like the neve with the 800s, but it’s not a great starter pairing, it’s too revealing toward the dac to where I think with an allo the g111 is a safer pick. The neve is something that I think is only worth going for if you already know what you like about the headphone and what you enjoy about it, otherwise it might not be a fan of it, so that’s why I didn’t mention it off the bat, but I do like it more than the g111 with the 800s myself, but assuming that’s using something like at least a bifrost 2 with it.
But I do think it’s still potentially worthwhile looking into if you don’t mind something more technicality focused though. I think it does a great job at giving the 800s more organic presentation and roping the stage in a bit, makes it very dynamic overall, very resolving, very nice timbre, and solid spatial recreation. I do think slam and impact could be a bit better but it’s a smaller tradeoff. It does make the treble peaks of the 800s a bit more apparent in the upper registers which some might find unpleasant but personally it doesn’t bother me that much. So all depends on what you are looking for I guess, just a pretty intense listen
3 Likes
Gotcha I’ll make sure to convey that, thanks!
Any other suggestions around the Neve?
Like around the neve price point or regarding the neve itself? I personally can’t really think of many other 500 ish buck amps (at least new ones) that really stood out with an 800s from my experience. I guess the corda jazz ff was solid with the 800s
Ah duh, technically a questyle cma400i is a very nice all in one that would work very well with the 800s, that’s in price point perfectly
2 Likes
Yeah I meant price point.
I’ll tell him about the questyle too like was mentioned earlier.
Though I think the prices of the questyle and neve have gone up quite a bit unfortunately.
1 Like
Just because I have to ask. Anyone actualy heard this spaceship?
3 Likes
My Art SCC monitor controller died after about eighteen months so I am looking to replace it. I need a (minimum) two in two out preferably with per output mute. So far I am looking at this:
SPL Control One. around 500 Euros. This is the maximum I’d like to spend ideally. I decided to move up from lower range as I’d like it to last longer and to deaden the details of the sound a little less.
Any experiences of the lower end SPL products? Any alternatives are also welcome!
Planning ahead a bit, as it’s a move not likely to be made for a year or so. I currently run the Pi2AES into an Aqua La Voce S3 (or USB from laptop).
My next DAC, I’ve tentatively had in mind, is the Weiss DAC 502. That DAC has some streaming and extra feature capabilities, which are a perk, but also raise some questions. Are the inbuilt streaming capabilities easily outperformed by a dedicated streamer? Would the DAC benefit from a quality DDC such as the Denafrips Gaia, rendering the built in features useless? Is it worth adding a DDC to current chain in the interim, or just take those funds and apply toward the upgrade?
3 Likes