Short High End DAC Comparison PT.1 & PT.2, Source Gear Progression, and General Thoughts

Very nice ‘M0N’s Preference Reference’ guide…enjoying the simplistic format

For stuff with different versions like Diana (or HEK), would Phi/TC (not sure if you’ve heard TC yet) be lumped in with V2 or is there enough separation that it could straddle the line into the next tier? Or, I guess you might have intentionally excluded due to worse value…

You may not have had enough time with it or tried the pairing, but would you consider the Corda Soul a close alternative to the V550 Pro for Susvara?

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I basically picked what I liked the most. Omitted the Diana phi because I don’t really think it makes sense, picked hekse because it’s the newest and I think most technically capable, and not lacking all that much from the old.

Probably but can’t really say

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There, added gsx because it does have it’s moments and I have too many tube amps on there, and I’m also making a headphone and amp pairing section for each headphone, but that’s proving to be more work than I have desire to do that right now, so it’s somewhat unfinished lol

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Looking forward to your picks for fostex. Not that I have time or space now to give my chain some listening time but still very curious.

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@M0N you keep adding and adding to the shit tier list it’s crazy.

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Haha yeah, adding more stuff, just finished added dacs, working on adding daps, portable amps, dac/amps, digital sources, eventually cables, and some other potentially relevant things. Also reorganized and readjusted ranks. Taking a break from pairings for now since that’s getting tiring lol. Plan to further try and clarify the level of jumps between tiers and walk though each tier and price point to go over generally what you get over the next tier (sorta like I did with the different tiers of dacs in the past but more refined)

Tried to make it more readable as well

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I love and appreciate all of this. I know you dont want it as a reference, but it is a solid baseline of just knowing the options that are out there.

It is also just good to get a perspective from a single set of ears, and a set the has some respectable experience.

M11 = shoebox full of dogshit tier. Its like dogshit tier but the stage is the size of a, well, shoebox

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I’ve kinda accepted that it might become one for some, so I feel like I now have to put in a bit more effort if it’s going to be used like that

oooooohhhh thanks that’s absolutely worth adding

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Gotta go walk the dogs but I’ve got some reading material when I get back. One Shit list to rule them all.

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Borderpatrol DAC: Warm creamy mush, low technical ability, really makes me mad lol.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Pot stirrer!

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I genuinely do dislike it, and would never want to own it lol

For phone users, if i switch to desktop mode on chrome then it is a million times better. Just an fyi to avoid killing yourself.

Any shot this makes your tier lists or not competitive?

So I enjoyed it when I owned one, but the reason it didn’t make the list is because I didn’t find it stand out for the range. It was good, and somewhat competitive in it’s range, but just not as stand out as some of the other options out there

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Just realized yesterday that you’ve got a * next to the Horizon. Congratulation, you chased one down and caught it!

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Ha yeah, might take awhile to get in though

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Currently in the process of adding cables, wonder how long that will take lol (although already got most of them up, just will need to add desc)

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That reminds me, i got my norne today.

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For the 800s?

HD600

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