Finally got to give the SNs a try for a short time this evening. I ran them off my Ferrum Oor/Hypsos stack with the Holo May KTE as DAC. The setup had plenty of power to drive them and the SNs do some things really well, but they do have some noticeable sibilance and upper mid shout for me. In the next few days when I have more time to try some solutions and get more listening done I will definitely report back. The fit and finish is really pretty incredible for the money. Thus far, I have found myself leaning towards acoustic genres and some lighter jazz as genres as good matches for the strengths of these headphones.
so I haven’t found these to be nearly as power hungry as others have reported only thing I’ve had issues with was my Xduoo XD05 basic which was fixed with a 75ohm impedance adapter
current tries
XD05 basic (Burson V5i opamp)
FIIO BTR7 (BAL)
Cayin RU6 (BAL)
Topping DX7Pro (SE and BAL)
Rebel Amp (ran at max used DX7Pro to control volume)
I’ll whip out my A90D later and maybe try it on the Emotiva A2m if I do the jumper mod but initially pleased
It is not that they can’t be driven with less powerful amps, it is that they open up more if you feed them more power. Class A and AB amps seem to work best in my case. Also the V1 and V2 are slightly different.
If I had the money, I’d 100% spring for both the Starry Night and Moonlight. It’s been hard trying to decide which to get, so I’ve been waiting for some initial reactions first. Definitely would have gotten the SN already if those amazing new lacquer ones didn’t sell out already.
I’m shifting focus on more open backs and more exciting products. Work on something new.
Moonlight will be the first open-back with the new design change. The next release will be the Umi, a successor to the Hinode. Of course, a flagship is in the work and I will bring it to SoCal Canjam.
If there are any demand for a new closed back, I will have some ideas for a flagship closed back later in the year.
Invited a friend over to try out my setup who has never tried mid to high end audio equipment before. I hooked up SN to my mono blocks and handed him my phone to control my Wiim Pro. He had a huge smile on his face for 30+ minutes straight. Then I told him I will be getting Moonlight soon, lol.
Eagerly waiting for my Moonlight to ship so I can compare them to my Arya Stealth, and Starry Night V1. I might also put my HD660s back on my desk to compare as well, lol. I am still toying with the idea of brining them to my local Hifi Audio shop to demo some amps. I have a dongle DAC to connect to my phone, but I gave away my 3.5mm to RCA cable a while back, so I will have to buy another to be able to demo those amps.
hopefully I enjoy it enough to be my main closed back for AC days
