They hold their value way too much used as well (good and a bad thing I guess). Then again the abbas is likely a bit underpriced for what it offers from what I gather lol. Some really like the chord sound, some don’t, I can see why people do and why they pay for them, but I personally wouldn’t.
Lol
Rofl. This is exactly how I feel about both the wa33 and 3es. They are incredibly incredibly accurate, but holy shit do they just make me hate listening to music
The TT2 isnt exactly a resolution champ IMO. Especialy not at its price. I think 3k would be fairly comsenurate for where it stands so its not suprising that a similar-ish tier abas can win out here
Rofl. Brutal. But realy, imo, you can make a good chain for this that isnt as boring as chord stuff when you want to actualy listen. Its one of the reasons I value the AIC-10 so highy. Put on ambient music nice and low? Perfect tune out. Want to realy get into something though? Its still highly engaging. The MA3 also did this fantastically and (from what I read it seems like) totaldac does this as well
Yeah the big surprise to me is probably because I’ve been using Abbas for almost a year now and really enjoy the dynamics and engaging presentation. I had the .1se which was definitely a step down in resolution compared to my rockna and I haven’t really compared my Abbas 2.3 vs other DACs. I just assumed I was losing in the resolution game while gaining in the engagement and musicality game. Didn’t realize it smashes the TT2 in basically everything except for lofi listening.
which rockna do you have? Didnt realize you even had another dac besides the abbas tbh
I had the wavedream XLR before I got the abbas.
Agree with @M0N , especially if he is using nearfield, any oversampling DAC will outperform DACs like Abbas.
It’s all about HOW you wanna listen music. If I listen to something like Malia, JFDR or Felix Laband, Weiss DAC + HiRes is perfect. BUT if I listen to for example to some older Jazz or live concert records , I prefer the 30y+ Pioneer CD and onboard 20bit DAC.
Like Janos said:
Brain needs noise!
Without noise, it sounds artificial.
Actually the Abbas beat TT2 in nearfield when it came to everything except “enjoyableness”. Later in the day he did say he kinda is in love with Abbas but unfortunately he’s looking to consolidate his setup rather than get separates.
I think the first impression between the two is probably due to the fact that he’s just use to TT2 in the beginning. I think it’s easier to enjoy what you’re used to in the beginning but I can definitely see if you need background music, you have to turn down Abbas cause it’s definitely engaging.
So uh, I ended up doing something I said I wouldn’t. But it’s just for fun. Yep. It’s not what it looks like
you can’t just drop bombs like that on a random Tuesday afternoon!!
jk I will definitely read this multiple times, thanks for sharing @M0N
You need the Shit Scale™ also for DACs from pt1/2/3 
the new ASR audiophile measurement standard 
For me perfect: listening JFDR in the background and just smiling. Especially I’m a complete headphone noob 
9pm greets from Germany!
I can skip the IEM sections therefore read through this shit list much quicker than ya’ll!
Great post!
I love the nomenclature used.
Also agree with most of what I’ve heard on your lists. And a courageous first post on the Dog Shit list (due to community cult-like status of that vendor). When I heard them I genuinely had a ‘wtf?’ moment.
Well done, Sir.
Good Shit, M0N! Thank you!
I really really really wanted to do one with source gear, but like, that will take me a lot lot longer, and I feel like I’ve wrote enough about source gear lately lol
Just make a separate post (easier said than done, but would be just as appreciated).
M0N’s an estat shill.
Who doesn’t own any more estats lol
There’s a good reason why estats cost so much, but then Koss does theirs and your like wait a minute…
Oh that’s true I still have my 950 lol