So I recently got to hear this amp at a dealer, and holy cow this is pretty dang good for 400 usd. This is very good with great control and resolving power, but still has a pleasing sound that’s not overly bright. It also has bluetooth and a spdif dac which is really good for the price. Form factor is also pretty nice too. Overall this is something that should be in your radar if you are looking for an amp in this price range
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Steve Guttenberg just posted a super positive review:
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Nice, more people should know about this amp, its pretty good
I need to stop spending money on DACs and Amps, but this and the RNHP tempt me more than I’d like to admit
Lol I just committed to stop spending on amps as now I’m set lol. The RNHP is pretty great, and what I actually use for mastering work even though I have other amps
I should clarify to say that if (when) I do drop more money on DACs and Amps I need to move away from $500 range sidegrades, and commit to spending more money on true upgrades/endgame quality
Just curious what do you have right now for dacs and amps
Combos: CTH + SDAC, PS Audio Sprout 100
DACs: Airist R2R, SMSL VMV D1
Tube amps: ZDT Jr, Dark Voice
Portable: Mojo + Poly, THX Portable, Topping NX4
Waiting for delivery from Drop: THX789, La Figaro Tube Amp
I mean I would at least personally say you are already pretty much set tbh. You could even narrow stuff down too lol. I would focus more budget on headphones imo
Yeah, I am pretty content, and will be even better once the 789 arrives. I use the CTH+SDAC at work along with the portables, and I plan to pair the 789 with the D1. The Airist R2R is really great paired with either of the tube amps I already own, and i hope it’ll be even better with the La Figaro. I use the Sprout a decent amount when I want to quickly swap from speakers to headphones. So yeah, it’s a lot, but I have a specific use for all of them for now. But they are mostly in the same price range, so a RNHP for instance shouldn’t give me too much more than what I already have as much as I like the look and sound. If I ever get the money to really upgrade, then I will sell off some of these. I’m talking TT2 + M-Scaler and a tube amp like your Cayin or the Audiovalve
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Yeah, you really don’t need something like the rnhp when you have the amps you have.
Currently I am fairly set with the amps and dacs I have (if you are curious check my profile), and really am focusing more on headphones at this point.
You’ve got some great gear. Was it you that had a Phonitor X? I’ve been eyeing that. I’m also planning on cutting back on the $200-$500 headphones as well. As much as I love breaking in a new set of headphones, the plan is to save up that money for some higher end headphones like ZMF, Arya, and maybe an LCD4 or Utopia somewhere down the road. Right now my go to’s are Empyreans and Clears, and they are miles ahead of my other gear. I use Andromedas and Aivas at work, and the rest are slowly collecting dust
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Phonitor sound, so that wasn’t me. I don’t know if someone on here has a Phonitor (from memory). I do have a GSX MK2 DACT instead, as I was looking at the Phonitor but went with the gsx instead
A friend of mine has a GSX Mini and that sounds great. I haven’t personally heard the Phonitor yet
The gsx mk2 is nice albeit a bit bright at some times. I actually use most of all my gear daily (believe it or not) with different setups that work really well together, because sometimes I might prefer different amps for different headphones. But the 6se stays next to the speakers lol because I need that amp
I love the idea of the 6SE, but the Sprout is fine for my near-field setup with LS50s. If I wanted to push them for room scale, I would consider upgrading the amp and then potentially consider the 6SE, but I’d rather use the $1600 on Aryas if I had to choose right now
I also like my aryas because of their unique presentation, but I do think the actual capabilities of the he6se are better imo. But it doesn’t make sense imo without a very powerful speaker amp. Running them with the parasound halo a21+ and they sound excellent
I’ve heard the 6se may be the best headphone you can buy if you power it properly, but I am hesitant to drop the cash on Hifiman headphones due to quality control. That applies to the Aryas too. That’s why I think my next purchase will be one of the ZMF line-built like tanks and a lifetime guarantee. If I can get the $100 coupon code to work, I’ll be picking up the ESP/95x this week just to have a pair of estats, but that’s it for the rest of the year for me
I don’t know if I would agree about the best headphone you can buy lol, but it is pretty good. It really depends on preference
Would this be a good starter all-in-one for someone new to hifi?
I was looking for something to put on my desk to power a pair of Micca RB42 speakers as well as serving as a headphone amp for either a pair of Fidelio X2HR’s, HD6XX’s, or HD58X’s.
I was going to go with a stack consisting of a JDS Atom, Topping D10 and PA3 but this piqued my interest because it has every feature I was looking for as well as some additional ones for only 100$ more.
Will this sound better than the stack above or is it not a discernible difference for 100$ more?