I canāt deal with the harshness of my Dekoni Blues. Something about them just causes ear fatigue and a borderline headache when I listen for more than 30min, even with putting some foam over the driver.
So I think Iām going to send them in to Modhouse and turn them into Argons. Anything I should know?
I have T50RPs with ZMF suedes so this may not apply to your situation. But I find source gear affects the harshness of the FR for these cans quite a bit. When compared to any other source vs my Asgard 3 / OL DAC, which makes them sound smoother and brings out depth, they sound pretty harsh. For example Iāve run them out of a MBP with Appleās highly praised USB C audio dongle. The clarity is there but they are far more fatiguing. What source gear are you using? Itās possible the Argons could return to you sounding harsh still if your source gear pushes your Dekonis that way.
My source gear is pretty neutral I feel like, I have the Grace SDAC and SMSL M3 as a DAC, and for the amp I have the Cavalli Tube Hybrid and the JDS Labs Atom. I tried every combination of them and itās harsh and fatiguing on all of them, even the CTH.
Iāve also pad rolled them and found the velour pads to be a little more forgiving, but not enough. Just not sure where to go from here - I have about 10-11 pairs of headphones now and nothing has fatigued my ear to the point of nausea quite like these.
For anyone who would like to try, the Argons, running on the TA-20 (1.9W at 50ohm single ended), with 1951 RCA Black Top tubes, is a special kind of sublime that I struggle to put into words.
Itās like the music is split into layers and every layer has this smooth bass and treble extension, if that makes sense. Itās a wonderful dimension to the Argons.
Obviously far below the ideal. Have you already tried toying with EQ to see if you can narrow down the harsh regions? Perhaps knowing the locations of the FR spikes could help narrow down the issues, and also whether Argonization is the solution
It might be my downfall but Iām one of those people who doesnāt like the idea of EQāing very much, although Iāve considered getting a Schiit Loki for these kinds of situations so I can roll back the treble.
I would be open to suggestions of gear that could potentially resolve the issue for anyone whoās experienced the same thing though.
Whatās a good price range to look for for TA-20, used or new?
You already have great amps. But itās hard to say enough good things about the Asgard 3. At $200, it might be worth a try as an upgrade from Atom, you may find you like it much more than both your existing amps. The other option is what Joshua Valor did, buy a cheap tube preamp to pair with the Atom and see if that helps the FR.
If you havenāt already tried the ZMF Oval Suedes, those are just awesome with T50RPs
Drop price is pretty good at $300. I got mine from Aliexpress during one of their huge sale periods for around the same price.
I purchased the argon mk3 recently and I have been looking for an amp & dac to go with it. I am looking in the $300-400 range for both and I canāt decide between the asgard 3 with a dac module (the multibit or ak4490) or to get the 789 with a $100 dac. Any suggestions or preferences?
Asgard 3 & Topping E30
Agree for sure
Drop had it for $275 at one point, and Apos audio price matches drops price. This is great because Apos ships right away. So you get Drops price, without the wait. Thatās how I got my TA20.
This what I use, and I think it is a great value for what you get. I second this!
Anyone heard from Ryan since the riots etc broke out? He said he would ship mine probably Monday but I havenāt received any notification. Forgive my ignorance but would he be in an affected area? I hope heās OK.
My argons shipped out on Saturday and were supposed to be here yesterday. The usps tracking hasnāt updated for 3 days now so hoping that I get them soon
Jeebus H. Chrisst, its 90+ degrees right now and I was using my Argons and it felt like my head was gonna melt 
Haha so glad that mine will be arriving in āwinterā here. Winter where I live means average highs of 22 Celsius (~72 Fahrenheit) ā perfect headphone weather!
My Argons have just been shipped. I would like to know if the THX 789 can power them properly or would the SMSL SP200 would be a better choice. I currently own a Liquid Spark
single ended or balanced? if SE go with the sp200 as itās SE out is the same as itās balanced out power wise. But really i would probably try to steer you away from the THX route and instead get something like a Asgard 3 which has gobs of power and sounds more natural and less harsh and analytical than the THX.