I also bought a focal clear MG past week. Absolutely loving it so far. Pairing it with a schiit hel 2 right now, which is fine in term of sound signature for me. It also looks great:
It sounds absolutely amazing. However, I think a Dac/Amp upgrade is inevitable long term, for music listening that is. The hell would remain as my dedicated gaming device long term, but I think it could be used as a dac mid term. Upgrading in stages makes most sense, right? AMP first, with hell pre out, seperate DAC later. That way I could spend a little more and have more of a journey. Also, with the rate at which DACs get better every year, I think waiting a year to buy a DAC might be very worth there. I am in no hurry though, so I am keeping an eye on the 2nd hand market for this upgrade, I am quite pleased with what I have right now.
I see the RNHP brought up quite often in combination with the clear, but only in combination with a âfunâ dac like the bifrost. Is it extremely clinical? The looks of it seems like it is, it reminds me of stuff we use in the hospital. For some reason it makes more sense in my head to have a clean as possible DAC and a fun AMP (Singser?) instead of the other way around. Maybe even 2 different AMPs in the future.
The âproblemâ with the schiit stuff is I am in Europe and warrenty could be a problem then (shipping overseas). I do vastly prefer the looks of schiit stuff compared to RNHP though. Not extremely important, but still a factor. Something like Singxer or topping look fine, althoug not as good as schiit I think, but would be preferred over RNHP looks.
My budget is around 500 right now, or maybe 700 for a stack. But 500 now and 500 in a year or so is possible.
Yes and no, the neve can be slightly hard to pair dac wise as itâs pretty dependant on the dac for itâs performance imo, and can also easily be tilted toward something too clinical or too warm and smooth, imo finding something that gives good balance is key
The bf2 ends up being pretty natural sounding overall and striking that balance well. Generally what the bf2 does with the neve is it expands the more intimate staging of the neve while maintaining most of the depth, adds more low end impact and body overall, keeps the great timbre, and slightly smooths out treble which can get hot with poor recordings. Also adds more macrodynamics to the neve which typically focuses on micro. The end result is just pretty natural neutral and a great balance between everything, it doesnât tilt it too far one way.
It depends, itâs moreso just finding things that have good synergy together as you want to assess the combination of the chainâs end result rather than the individual components
Makes sense
Fair lol
If you were still interested in the neve with that budget, I might suggest dac wise considering an allo revolution dac with the nirvana smps, that would be an upgrade from the dac in the hel, should be attainable in eu, and is pretty high performing for the price (albeit with limited io). A handy feature of the Allo is the ability to change how it sounds a bit though oversampling filter bypass or 2nd and 3rd order harmonic control, which can be handy to tweak the sound to your liking, good synergy with the neve imo. Later on you could upgrade to a bifrost or other 1k ish dac and get more gain if you end up really enjoying something like the neve
Another more euro friendly option that I also enjoy with the clear (although not as much as the neve) is the lake people g111.
I have a more in depth comparison of how they pair with the clear here, both are great options
I would mention the little labs monotor for something more analytical but not overly so as an option. It probably isnât winning in looks either lol. Copying a few comparisons over from another thread as well
The allo also happens to pair well with the little labs when you tune it to oversampling filter bypass and make it a bit more relaxed and warmer
Sorry for the multiple links and quotes, I just realized Iâve already written some of this beforehand
Makes sense that it is all about the combination rather than the single components. Good to know. I thought it was as easy as combining a warm and a clinical together to get something in between. I guess it would be better to wait and buy the stack in one go then. Maybe wait for schiit to be back in stock in EUâŠ
That allo solution does look very promissing though. I already use a Allo digione in my stereo system, which I am very happy with. Buying the linear power supply could have the additional benefit that I can try and see if that makes a difference in my stereo too, which would be great to try. Going to read up on that further for sure. But if I understand you correctly, the allo is not and end game DAC, but a temporarily solution⊠I rather spend a little more now than buy a new device next year. Interesting option for sure though. I honestly hope to never spend 1K on a DAC though lol.
Thnx for the copy pastes. Another rabbit hole to jump in!
Yeah thereâs other things you have to take into account like presentation, timbre, dynamics, resolution, transparency, tonal density, impact, etc
I mean possibly, but it probably wouldnât hurt to grab the neve now and use your hel as a dac for the time being, should be an upgrade over the internal hel amp (although I wouldnât assess it with the dac in the hel)
Nice
Somewhat yes, itâs good enough to not be called a stopgap or temporary solution, but itâs not to that next tier of performance so if you think you can squeeze for something like a bf2 off the bat, thatâs probably worthwhile (as with the Allo again while good, you might find yourself itching to upgrade later on)
Have you also have experience with the Singxer SA1? Have been very curious about that AMP for a while now, and even more positive reviews are coming in over time, with passion for sound comparing it to the Jottenheim now as well. Curious if that could be a nice partial upgrade combined with Hel DAC.
Going to see if I can audition the Neve anywhere around here. Not convinced enough to buy it second hand right now (partially because of the looks⊠please donât shoot me lmao).
Itâs nice but nothing to write home about imo. Iâd say itâs on a similar level to the jot overall. Warmer smoother relaxed, decent technicalities, lots of power to drive things
I would yes for more easy to drive things, but even though the jot or singxer arenât exactly to the same technical level as a neve they will drive harder to drive planar much better, as thatâs the main weak point of the neve
Went to a boutique yesterday to listen to a lot of headphones (Arya, ananda, zmf aeolus, lcd-2) and dac/amps (RNPH, a few burson audio and some tubes).
So far, I am still liking my Clear MGs. The owner of the shop wasnât a fan of the Clear sound (too clinical) but personally I didnât really like the lack of punch in a lot of other headphones I heard, especially now I have been listening to the clears for a couple of weeks.
On the other hand, the Clears are a bit in your face. Especially on the Burson audio (not sure if that is a more clinical amp?) Therefore, I was really liking a tube amp I heard, paired with the MGs. The Fezz Audio â Omega Lupi. Has anyone else tried the amp? Other great tube pairings with the focal Clears?
Wasnât all too impressed by the RNHP, but the fact I started at 3K dac/amps might have played a part in thatâŠ
Getting back to my schiit hel 2 at home, I am certainly convinced I am going to need an upgrade someday, but I am also quite surprised how well it holds up for iets 200 dollar price, it is not THAT bad. I think going to try and take my time and actually audition multiple amps before I buy one.
I donât know if I would call burson clinical, but it is forward for sure
Very interesting, never seen this before, looks pretty nice
Personally I havenât really enjoyed the majority of the tube amps for the clear under 1k, but there are some good options, I think things like the quicksilver headphone amp or lta mz2 would be good picks for the clear
That can happen lol, once you hear whatâs above you canât really unhear it unfortunately
Not my favourite pairing, but I found the Clear OG decent on a Feliks Echo, itâs like turning it into a completely different direction but still in a somewhat enjoyable way.
Thatâs kinda what bothered me about that pairing, it kinda removed the reasons Iâd want to listen to the clear in the first place for the most part, wasnât a fan of that change personally (like if I was after the type of sound that gave, I would have grabbed something like an auteur instead if I had an echo)
