Have you tried the new revision of the hifiman he400i the 2020 version. That is probably my next headphone.
I have, yes, gotta say I wasnāt the biggest fan of itā¦ not quite bad just kinda meh in my opinion. For a budget planar though its good
Would you recommend them instead of the 990s that i own?
If itās for soundstage and imaging that would be a huge no from me as 990 is better but If you want a more neutral sound and planar Iād say itās worth trying out at least. It has good imaging and above average staging just not as good as 990 but in terms of a more enjoyable listen it may be better considering just how bright 990 is
It just depends on if you appreciate brighter treble. The mids on 990 are its weakest spot as they are recessedā¦ if you wanted a bright mid centric planar Iād immediately say grab sundara as that one is superb and well worth the moneyā¦
I dont know if you know the music of the carpenters they are my favorite group a close second are the doors. When and if i purchase the xduoo ta-10r i plan on listening to this type of music with my 990s. I like the carpenters because of karen carpenterās voice and the instrumentation used on their songs.
I just let my sister have my g6 to use with her headset on her ps4 so now im using my 990s through the quarter inch headphone jack of my sony receiver. I have to crank it to like 35 or 40 for it to be manageable. So most likely the ta-10r will be my primary piece to use with my 990s. The receiver is a sony str dh 790. I use it with my klipsch rp600m. Do you know what could pair well with the darkvoice 336se if i can find it cheaper to pair it with a dac. As i cant go above $320.
Just thought of this, but are your 990s balance modded? If not, itād likely be better for you to get something that is single ended only output. I donāt know how the single ended on the xduoo is, but since it has a balanced output, thatās likely where most of the design attention went. Another hybrid option if you really want tubes is the Vali 2+. You could get the Modi 3+ and Vali 2+ for combined $250 and have a solid stack that is not going to require that you run balanced to get the most out of it. Same goes for Liquid Spark stack ($200) or Modi 3+/Asgard 3 stack ($300).
At the end of the day, I donāt think your choice of amp ( or DAC) is going to make or break based on your preferred music. Youād be hard pressed to make a choice that wouldnāt give you an improvement in performance. Depending on what you choose, you could even have enough room left in your budget to pick up another pair of headphones to try something new to complement the 990s.
No they are not modded they are completely stock. I donāt think its completely balanced as it only has one tube. I think the balanced connection is there for convenience. How would all these combos you listed pair with the 990s.
It may not be true balanced, but pretty much any amp that has a balanced headphone output intends for that to be the primary one used and will give a higher level of performance than the single ended output that tends to be a bit of a design afterthought.
The combos I mentioned were mentioned with the 990 in mind, so they should all pair well, and may very well outperform the single ended output of the Xduoo.
Good luck, and let us know what you end up going with.
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I did notice that you can get a 4490 or a multibit dac in the asgard 3 by itself. Iāll probably do the modi 3+ and asgard 3. Do you know of any reviews of this stack?
You can get an internal DAC card in the Asgard, but it is voltage limited and decreases the output of the amp (unless thatās changed). I canāt think of any reviews of the stack, but thereās plenty of the individual units.
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How would you compare the vali 2+ and the asgard 3. What would suit the 990 better. Oh and would i be able to change the tube on the vali 2+.
Sir, have you pursued information about these products outside of this forum, and read the threads within this forum about the products youāre inquiring on?
Thereās not yet any sales commissions on this site.
To answer the question, I would do the A3, and get an external DAC rather than its add-on units.
Iām unconvinced you want to delve into the world of tube-rolling after reading through all this.
Keep it simple enough, the A3 is relatively future-proof for you, puts out significantly more power.
To give you a complete curve-ball, given your Carpenters-focussed pursuit ā have you ever listened to the Sennheiser 600-series headphones? (58x, 6xx, 600, 650, 660s, etc)
Something with more attractive, mid-focussed tuning like these or the Hifiman Sundara would fit the bill. Also the DT880. With the Asgard 3 you can handle the 600ohm units no problem.
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This, absolutely.
Amazing amp for a good priceā¦
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To answer your questions no i have not tried the senheiser 600 series. Also sorry for all the questions im relatively new to this hobby like i said on my first post Iāve only had the 990s nearly a year. And lastly thank you for the comment on the asgard 3.
I think the thread here has gone a bit out of the wayā¦
Letās sum some things up hereā¦
Yes, @Martin_Medrano I have heard the music from carpenters and I listen to doors. 990s will work fine for karenās voice but the mids are more recessive which has me concerned the headphone may not suit youā¦ if you want a bright mid centric approach you may appreciate the 880 more in this case as the mids are more emphasized with the treble on the 880s. I took to the T1 2nd gen later on down the upgrade path because of the better smoother mids of this sortā¦ as I just wasnāt a big fan of recessive vocalsā¦ you can always EQ it but I found that such a hassle. Honestly, you may love the Sundaras come to think of itā¦ they do quite well for carpenters
as for ampsā¦ letās keep this simpleā¦ if you have the budgetā¦ asgard 3 + the multibit(note: you do lose a bit of headroom from this) or a modius(if you want to save some money you can swap this to a topping E30 as itās a bit warmerā¦ just not as clean to my ear). Otherwise go the spark entry level setup and call it a day for a while. No need to get into tube rolling thats addictive as hell and costly, xduo is nice but less your going to balance that beyer or get a balanced headphone later not worth having an amp with a balanced port as most of the good sound qualities are located in that particular port on each of those amps. Those balanced ports arenāt just convenienceā¦ never tried one where that was the caseā¦ most the power and good properties of an amp will be placed into that balanced port whereas the single ended will be weaker and not sound as good
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Thank you for your help i will close the thread.
After seeing the MT602 review itās a no brainer
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Back into the rabbit hole i go. I was just about to pull the trigger on the liquid spark stack as my birthday present this summer paired with the hifiman sundara.
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Either will be good. The liquid spark will have more current for the Sundara. Didnāt know you were going to purchase them. If you were going to stick with you DT990ās Iād pick the MT602 due to the high gain design helping with the 250 ohm.