No, you were correct to be confused. I worded it poorly. To sum up I’m wondering if there is a used open back headphone in the $1,000 range that would be such a jump up that would justify selling off all that other stuff for.
Hope that makes it clearer.
Then I would agree with lol and say that the hd800s is excellent if you crave detail and wide soundstage, can be a bit bright though. I think the Arya is also a good contender as well. The ZMF open lineup might be something to consider, but I personally have not heard any zmf cans before, but alot of people really enjoy them for their detail and soundstage.
If you currently are satisfied with your cans atm, and like having multiple pairs to go to, I don’t think it would be worthwhile selling them off imo. I find that I like having multiple pairs to go to
I’ll research those. Thanks a lot!
I haven’t considered those even though I’ve heard they have great sound stage because I heard exactly that, they are bright to some. Is sensitivity to brightness the same as hearing those hissssses in high parts of a song? For example, I had the Khadas Tone Board and during certain parts of Rock’n Me by Steve Miller Band, he’d sing a part with an “S” and it would almost make me wince. Is that the same thing as sensitivity to brightness?
Thanks for your patience with answering these questions. Really appreciate it.
That’s more sibilance, and it can be connected with brightness, but it doesn’t mean that all bright headphones are sibilant. Also headphones can be sibilant even if they aren’t bright either. Sibilance usually is around the 5-8khz range in the audio spectrum. It is typically the ssss or shhh, t sounds, or z sounds. This can be eq’d out, but I would check to see if others have had issues with the hd800s. I didn’t find them sibilant, but that doesn’t necessarily mean and you won’t.
The tone board might have been more revealing then you were used to, because sibilance is mainly caused by the headphones, rather then the amp or dac, but the amp and dac and more easily allow the headphone to emphasize that
Thanks for taking the time to explain. I’ll continue to research those terms.
I second M0n’s advice on the DAC. You will have a better experience and hear greater differences from upgrading headphones first, then sources, then amps, and then pad rolling before you’d really want to change a competent DAC for the next step up. I’d even go as far as proposing that after the $200 to $500 level of DACs that you wouldn’t need an upgrade until looking at end-game HiFi beyond ‘just flagship’ headphones (whatever that means).
But of course if you are into gear or are absolutely in love with one set of headphones and $1k to $3k is acceptable to spend on a DAC because you want to know you have an overkill setup, then by all means.
But you may have some regrets after you realize what you’ve done lol. Until you then realize again what you’ve done and are now very satisfied
But even then, I would make sure your amp and other components are appropriately preforming before you invest in something like that as well
I’m going to guess that the person that is an audiophile focused on gear would be the kind of compulsive type to try to get everything at the same level, or otherwise yeah probably regret.
I’m speaking from experience. At least I am physically limited by where I live, otherwise my speaker setups and headphones would be a lot more overkill
He likes the Phantoms, which I find have darker sound signature. In that case would lcd2c be the route to go with. That is a headphone I’d like to buy again.
I have question. Where does the SMSL D1 rate? I own it but after gsx mini comes in I’d consider higher priced or better same price range dac. I’m thinking no more then $2000.
I’m going to have to pick your brain sometime on Ether2 or Empyrean or something else…but my limiter is my wife, so I probably need to wait until the holidays before I really plan out my next acquisition.
The only issue with the lcd2 classic imo is the lack of detail for the price. It just doesn’t really do super well if you really like detail like he does
He could have bought my Aeolus for $850.
I own a GS-X Mk2 dact and I think it pairs really well with the holo audio spring 2. I currently have the spring2 kte, but the spring 2 v2 L1 would fit your budget
I actually didn’t really find the ether 2 that interesting, the comfort and build was excellent as usual, but I didn’t think the sound represented the price
never heard of spring. When it comes to dacs I look at Z but that only goes so far. That’s reason I bought the D1 which sounds great with my ifi pro ican.
The company is holo audio
Here is the link
https://kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-spring2-dac-kitsune-tuned-edition/
Really nice r2r dac. It balances out the brighter sound of the gsx imo
The soekris dacs are also pretty killer r2r dacs if your interested
Yeah, that is kind of what I get when I watch and read reviews on the Ether2. Part of me wants to know what an Ether2 closed back would be, but only if it would ever be a thing.
It would be nice. I would like to see an upgrade to my ether c flow 1.1. Kinda stopped using it for studio monitoring work after I got the mx4, but it’s still a great headphone