Wow this is pretty insane just how full circle things came. Turns out I was in the right realm of ZMF the entire time, but just on the wrong model.
@M0N on your recommended stack, are these items I need to be buying used to stay within a realistic budget or can I get these new from somewhere and stay relatively affordable? Also, I know this may be a little ridiculous, but aesthetics are important to me (these will sit on a desk, so I want a nice presentation) are there any stacks that you think would work well for me and/or do your recommendations stack well/easily?
The tuba is going to be hard to find used, without wood panels itās 600 I think. The bf2 is starting to come up used around 500 ish but still harder to find, new is also 600 iirc. Imo very reasonable for the headphones
The autuer can be found around the 1.2k range sometimes used
Damn it lol. With the tuba not really, not many things will stack. Admittedly I canāt say there are really any true stacks in this price range that are fully matching I would suggest you go with. Perhaps the bifrost 2 and lyr 3 stack, but imo I donāt think that would be the best match for what you are after (although it would still provide a good experience and would actually have more slam than the tuba, but is a brighter leaning amp and also might not sound as organic as the tuba will imo, but if you had to have a matching stack this would probably be the one I would pick at this price point for the closest you might want sound wise)
One thing you could do on your desk setup is to have a small shelf for both your amp/dac and that may help the aesthetic of the way your desk setup looks.
I have an email into Zach with my feedback on the other headphones and I am curious to see what he recommends for a headphone model as well as an amp/DAC to go with it. I asked him for his genuine opinion so I am curious. As for now, it is definitely looking like Auteur (unless someone else hops in with an alternative).
And just to be clear @M0N you recommend Tuba and Bifrost? Not the other suggestion (sorry I forget the name. Haha.)
Iām overly biased here to Bifrost 2 -> RNHP -> LCD X. For 1 headphone that resolves like the sundara, has some nice bass overall, great synergy, and can look DAMN FINE with minimal work to make a stack look good on a desk.
Iāll be 100% honest here, M0N has been more spot on with amp/dac synergy than anyone else Iāve followed or spoken too. While Zach can recommend a lotā¦ M0N recommendations are on point since is personally invested into quite a bit with amp/dac/headphone synergy more than anyone else I know of.
Weighs less than a motorcycle and Iāve worn them for nearly 14 hours straight. Thatās a āexperience for yourself and decideā and I wouldnāt promote it as impossibly heavyā¦ worth people checking them out and knowing themselves.
1 piece of vinyl on the face plate and it dramatically changes the look, scroll through the RNHP thread.
Honestly he has been nothing but helpful and a great resource for me so far (as has the rest of this forum!) but an extra $1,200 wasnāt on the radar so I just want to make sure itās the right move before I go full out, thatās all.
The other option here if you want to piece meal it (and it will take some guidance on the best path pending headphones) is maybe a Soekris amp/dac or Halo dac Cyan.
While tubes are awesome, 2 things to know about tubes.
Warm up time
heatā¦ as a gamer you may need to see your local heat management into the equation
spaceā¦ tube amps need space and may cause issues if placed under a monitorā¦
You can see where the element is in this picture, that open space is where whatever audio setup I get is going to go. Iāll move the coffee cup by my monitor mount and put the headphone stand there so that spot is reserved, haha.
Good point, it is a tad on the heavier side of things but it distributed it well imo
That would be what I would personally pick if I were buying an auteur wanting something neutral with like 1200 for an amp and dac
Wouldnāt recommend it as an amp dac combo, the amp is lackluster and that is going to be a brighter more analytical sound, personally would not be a fan with the auteur
The holo cyan would be a solid all in one imo, that would be a good match in sonic signature and synergy if you needed an all in one
It depends on the amp, the tuba runs fairly cool, but like a bottlehead crack + speedball can run pretty warm
Thatās the issue with all audio gear. As you move up you need better amps/dacs so if you want to buy a 1 k headphone u have to have 2k ready etc. Itās a hidden fee of sorts lol
I think for @Sschaffer24 this might be the better way to go since itās probably not a good idea to have a tube under the monitors. Do check the dimensions to see how it fits on your desk if you decide to go this route. It looked a little long in the images.
If he did go this route, he could later on always grab a nice tube amp and use the dac inside the holo. The cyan is a dac first and foremost, but the amp is actually pretty solid in there tbh (but not on the same level as the dac imo)
I like the idea of finding something that I donāt have to worry about upgrading down the road. Problem is I donāt really have anywhere else in my office to put a setup other then on the fesj
