I have a $75 Liquid Spark that drives SN pretty comfortably, but I agree that more power will sound better. Mainly in sound stage. The THX789 is good, but a bit cold.
Yeah, I would agree on that point. I have tried them on an Asgard 3, Topping L70 and Soloist 3xp thus far. I still prefer the Soloist 3xp out of the 3 which does have the most power as well. I am not cranking it to anywhere near max on that though. The headroom factor, as well as how clean the power it is being fed are the main contributors to the end result.
Absolutely. My current questions is actually on making a close back planar sound like a open back, but it is much harder than dynamic drivers. All closed back planar sounds like a closed back, Its going to be the million dollar question to find a solution.
As a person who didn’t like closed back headphones before Starry Night, I can say that you are definitely heading in the right direction.
I’m gonna do my best
Unfortunately I don’t have an R2R yet so mainly the ESS in the TA30 and burr brown in my ifi gear. Also the TA30 is a hybrid so impedance doesn’t play as big of a part as like an OTL amp.
well I’ll say the Dan Clark closed backs are pretty unconventional for a closed back in how well they stage and sound
The Aeon cx do sound open with good soundstage, although I wanted more from it. I think the sound is a bit too flat, it is not very organic. But as a closed back, it’s very well isolated.
I have to say DCA have the best tuned closed back planar
Well someone finally tried SN with the Schiit Gjallarhorn SJY Audio Starry Night Planar Magnetic Headphone | Page 4 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
I was wondering how it would sound on that amp since I first saw it go on sale.
I finally got to try out my Starry Nights while I was at home for a few days last week and I think they’re actually quite nice. The treble does tend towards sibilance sometimes so I’ll definitely be working on possibilities for minimizing that, but otherwise they were a good listen especially with jazz, acoustic stuff, and more low-key rock styles.
I found that running the SNs off my Lyr with some warm tubes in there made for a pretty good pairing though perhaps slightly underpowered at times. I didn’t have enough time to thoroughly explore all their ins and outs and capabilities, but my first impressions were largely positive.
Were you able to spend more time with them connected to any other gear yet? Just curious if you found a pairing more to your liking.
I should actually revise that post. I didn’t find them underpowered off the Lyr after I realized I had the volume turned down in the player I was using on my phone because I hadn’t used it in a while. After I turned it up, the Lyr actually made for a good pairing at a reasonable price.
I tried it with the GS-X Mini, but found it to be too bright and it certainly didn’t help the sibilance issue the SNs can be prone to. The Ferrum stack was absolutely stellar with them which didn’t surprise me at all because it is one of the best planar rigs available these days (its good with other stuff too). I just mentioned the Lyr because that seems like an amp that’s more in the price range of what folks might be looking to pair the SNs with. I cant picture very many people springing for the Oor/Hypsos setup to drive their SNs lol!
As for DACs, I found that the SNs really took well to the Schiit multibit sound. There seems to be some real synergy going on with that liquid smooth and effortless presentation that they bring to the table. I dug it with the MMB2 and it only got better off the Yggy+ OG.
I didn’t get to spend enough time with everything to know where I’d settle, but if someone asked me for a rec for a relatively affordable setup for their SNs, I would have no problem telling them to grab an MMB2 and Lyr. They can scale beyond that, but you have to look to spend quite a bit more to beat it.
I’ll be interested to give the SNs more time in general on all kinds of signal chains when I have the chance. I’m specifically looking forward to trying it out on the Tor Audio Tube DAC II and the Liquid Platinum I have waiting at home for me. I’ll keep the thread posted if I find anything cool, but I won’t be home with the SNs again until June.
Have you found any cool pairings or anything?
I made an account, I was looking up if more people have purchased these. That’s me you linked! The Gjallarhorn has been great so far.
Nice to see you on Hifiguides as well. I replied to your post on Head-fi, and i decided to share it with others on this forum since more info on equipment combinations that pair well with SN are always welcome. Thanks again for the info!
Schiit Audio finally had 5 units of B-Stock, and I managed to snag the last one. Unfortunately the adapter cable I ordered won’t be here until next month. I guess I will test out the amp with my RP-600m speakers until then.
awww, haha. Well hopefully when it comes you’ll be as impressed with it as I am!
So everything is here, and so far so good. The biggest difference I noticed is with Vocals and drums. I think the fact that the Gjallarhorn has a simpler/shorter signal path is part of what gives it a different flavor over the other amps I have tried. Listening to some Bad Company at the moment and I am liking what I am hearing
Wiim mini>Bifrost 2/64>Topping L70>Gjallarhorn>SN
Cool! I have quite a few things I’m gonna try my SNs with when I get home, but if I don’t find a sweet spot of some kind, I have a friend who will buy them from me for about $100 less than what I paid so unless I find something that really has some synergy that I like, I’ll most likely be moving my SNs along to someone else.
I am kind of curious how the Topping A70 pro would handle SN. It pumps out 17 watts per channel into 16 ohms. I find it funny how it is more capable on paper than the A90d yet it is priced $100 less. Lol, at least it is bringing down the cost of entry into the realm of hard to drive headphones, and headphones that benefit from more capable amps in general.