Is it weird that I am really curious how Horizon/Starry Night v1 sounds on this?
https://www.schiit.com/products/vidar2
Maybe some time after my Horizon purchase I might consider picking one up. (Key word is might 
)
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Just got my Horizon yesterday. First impression is that boy these love power🔋. I personally feel they as about as hard to drive as a Tungsten. I had to crank the A70 Pro to -25bD and High gain mode ( which is a lot of watts).
The build is both premium and also jank at the same time. Things I love are that everything you touch is either, metal, leather or wood. It feels like a tank, despite being so light. Things I feel could be improved are the fit and finish: particularly some visible milling marks of the CNC machining, and there is some overspill of the glue used to hold the ear pads in place to the 3d printed plates. Also the fact the ear cups spin around is annoying. But I also keep in mind that this is a one man operation, and this product is impressive as it is.
The highlight for me is the sound 
. I compared these to my Arya v3, whose original MSRP costs significantly more than the Horizons. The Horizon’s are more neutral than the Arya’s. But the soundstage is wider, and the detail retrieval is next level. On my first day using these, I heard parts and intricacies of the song that I have never heard before.
Great job Jeffery. I am excited to see what you churn up next. Hope you fix the aforementioned issues in either v2 or future iterations.
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Been testing the Horizon out for the last 2 weeks and I should give my initial impressions on this great pair of planar headphones. I find the MSRP for these are reasonable - not too expensive and not too inexpensive. I’ve tried a few DAPs but the only capable DAP is the Fiio M17 in DC mode. It drove the Horizon quite nicely! Ampsandsound tube amps and dsh-3fn didn’t quite have enough juice to drive these. These are as hard to drive as my HE6se V2. Luckily the eddie current black widow 2 amp did a great job with these - giving it tight impactful bass with airy wide and deep soundstage.
These aren’t bright headphones but the midrange is very high end with phenomenal clarity and resolution. Midrange qualities are better than my HE6seV2 and HE1000v1. I would say overall, it’s about 10% better than the HE6SEV2. My modded HE1000v1 renders instrument more naturally with better timbre than the horizon.
I think the HE1000v1 and horizon complement each other really well and it’s suitable to keep both. But I’ll chose the Horizons over the HE6seV2 though since I feel they have similar tone but horizon’s deep, wide soundstage, and comfort are a huge plus for me over the HE6seV2. Also, these work really well with my cayin CS150 tube amp and FM300A 80 watt solid stage speaker amp.
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Welcome to Hifiguides!
Congrats on your new Horizon headphone. Based on your experience with Horizon as well as others in this thread, I will have a lot to look forward to when I finally pick up a pair. My current top planar is a Arya V3, so it would seem that Horizon has a chance of kicking them of my desk. We shall see though. 
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Just to share my continuing experience with the Horizons.
I have been running them balanced with xlr from a DO400 w/ 6w@16/3w@32. Tho adequate I wanted to see what they can do with more watts. I’ve been running them now on a SP400 w/ 12w@16/6w@32 and I notice about a 10 to 20% improvement in layering, resolution, soundstage and headroom. My reference tracks for this test was the “Tropico 6 OST” With the DO400, I run the Horizons @ high gain between -10 to -5dB. With the SP400, I’m running them @ 85 to 90 out of 99 on high gain but this THX amp is a low gain design.
I will likely be trying a H400 w/ 15w@16/7.5w@32 and a high gain design.
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Some planars just need more power to sound their best ( several SJY offerings amongst them ). I am super curious whether or not my Mjolnir 3 would get the job done as it is not your typical 2 watts per channel headphone amp. If it falls short, I can always turn to my Gjallarhorn mono blocks. 
Thanks for continuing to share your thoughts and findings on the Horizon. It helps all of us in the end.
Out of curiosity, are you using the stock cable?
Happy Listening!
I’ve used the stock sjy cable along with other longer ofc cables, all balanced.
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My go to cable for 3.5mm headphones has been a 6 foot Gravedigger cable (4pin XLR terminated) by Corpse Cable since last year. It is well constructed, and great sounding cable in my opinion (I know that is a loaded statement given what Z thinks about cables). We shall see if I like it with the Horizon next year. 
quick powerability note from my Cayin IHA6
HD6xx - low gain 1/4 volume
Horizon - low gain 1/2 volume
madness lmao
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Updated on Horizon: JDS Element 3 mk2 Boosted - absolutely gold. Just barely into high gain and lots of headroom.
Archel 3 Pro is my workhorse and great with the Horizon but definitely less headroom on that.
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It is sad that I am just noticing that is you over on Head-fi. lol
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Ahaha. I am everywhere
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Update: My tiny Fiio BTR15 runs these SJY Horizon’s fine on low gain 
. I have no idea what is going on on. I wonder if my A70 Pro is being knee-capped in regards to it’s max power output due to being run over SE RCA.
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In some regard yes, due to the RCA signal being around 2v vs XLR around 4v. As long as you are using the balanced HF out it should not be that drastic of a difference due to the amp’s max power output. You would just need to crank up the volume knob a little more. I have tested that on my Soloist 3xp in the past powering the SN v1.
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What DAC are you using?
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I’m using the line outs of my Fiio K7 right now to feed the A70 Pro. Regardless I managed to snag a D70 Pro Octo for 25% off, so hopefully i’ll have an answer to my SE vs Balanced input question soon 
.
Yaay fiscal responsibility!
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my BTR7/Cayin RU6 run them pretty well balanced, dongles new meta lol
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Going to try a pair of ZMF Caldera lambskin pads on my SN v1 this morning.
Only a few minutes into my listening session, and I am noticing a narrowing of the soundstage, an increase to the treble, and a little less bass (granted that I have not hit a bass heavy track yet). So far the Caldera Lambskins are not bad, just different and worth a try. I will add to this post once I spend a full hour with them.
Edit: Just a PSA, do not use these pads if you have bright gear, and you are treble sensitive. You will not have a good time.
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Not solely a SJY Audio topic, but I am always curious as to why people get so bent out of shape when a one man operation small business take a while to get their order out the door. It is not like ordering from a Hifiman reseller or something, these smaller companies build the headphones to order, and it takes time to get through a backlog when they become popular. I see those who ordered the Tungsten getting bent out of shape regarding the long lead times. 
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