I think? Not sure, not heard the a30 pro. Admittedly I’d want to move to a nicer amp first before upgrading the dac
Pagoda is nice, although that’s not much discount used for a single ended version considering what they went for new. Also the pagoda is more neutral than the orchid, but still worth a look
It’s a nice dac, but honestly I didn’t find the first bda to be all that impressive, I thought the 2 and 3 are were it got a bit more worthwhile, but I can’t say the brystons would be my first pick if my goal is overall stage and space, they are only ok in that regard
Well I don’t have much at the moment. Timeless is my main, and AD900X & Erupt for hphones. Probably will test out FH9 and FD7. Then I will look at testing something like LCD3/4/5, Aria, Verite.
All/any genres. Except rap, country, J-pop/K-pop Mostly instrumental/soundtracky stuff with electronic or guitar solo stuff. FPS games, obv.
To me this more just seemed like a “I want to try different things and see how they fare” rather than “looking to build a chain,” cause I’d assume if you are buying multiple dacs just to test, you aren’t really looking to put together a complete setup around a specific thing, just interested in seeing what’s out there
Hm, if that’s the case, I’d likely get the headphones and also a better amp sorted out before doing any comparison with the above, since not sure how much value you’d get from some of the aforementioned dacs with what you currently have
Hard to say at this point, yes… But it must be done this way, with the way the timeline is. After the Mojo 2 test is over, I’ll have to get back to amps and headphones. I am extremely happy with the A30P, at least. Especially over the G111.
Otherwise, I just test Mojo 2 against the Sanskrit
I think for the headphones you are looking at, I’d really suggest moving up to that 1k ish range amp wise first before buying multiple dacs, I think there’s a lot of good options there that won’t be a significant bottleneck in your testing. If you were looking in that range considering the range of cans, I’d look at something like a burson soloist 3xp, vio v280, and if you wanted to go for a tube option a quicksilver headphone amp, and go from there. You could also try to find a used bryston bha-1 around the 1k ish mark as well, or a xi broadway potentially. All depends on what you are after, but I think it’s something to prioritize if you are planning on grabbing some of the mentioned cans
It’s a good all rounder that I think would handle all the mentioned cans fairly well (almost equally well) so it’s a safe pick. Grab a supercharger with it if you can. Plenty good enough to not have any issue taking advantage of the dacs you are looking into, and power the headphones quite well
Yes and no, I think in this case it’s more about solving bottlenecks. I think sub 1k, largely the amp is going to be the more impactful piece, but going higher things start to even out, and higher still I actually might say I’d place more emphasis on the dac. But given your current amp, the price range you are looking in, and the headphones you are planning to try, I think prioritizing the amp at the current moment will both be more rewarding and also better allow you to take advantage of the dacs you are looking to test, so that’s what I would do first
I sea, eye see. I guess if I go that route, I should have a better eye into what Mojo 2 and Sanskrit sound like, and also compare the Burson to the A30P, and see what difference is there(with my current phones, at least).
Yeah that’s mainly my thought. The chain is only as good as the weakest link, so if the amp can’t both properly convey what it’s given by the dac and can’t control the drivers to the level they should be at, it’s not going to be great sound. Same potential issue with a dac deficiency, both headphones and an amp are only going to be as good as what they are fed, so a lackluster dac can also tank a system since that’s what’s technically feeding everything downstream. And of course if your headphones aren’t capable enough you won’t really get the benefits of nicer source gear. It’s all about balance for the most part. Hard to explain why, but I think there’s larger jumps in amp quality at this price point than dac quality, so typically getting a nicer amp seems like a better investment sub and around 1k vs the dacs in that range, those come after that
It’s a nicer power supply, generally better sq from my experience across the board, worthwhile upgrade. In regards to the 5a vs 3a, I’ve only heard the 3a, the 5a was made for some of their newer higher power stuff like the gt or their speaker amps, not sure if there would be extra benefit with going with the higher one or not on the regular 3xp
Would be curious of that as well, the gryphon looks interesting, and it would be cool to see how it stacks up to the signature as well. I’d also want to throw in the centrence hifi-m8 v2 which I personally liked over the diablo, that’s a real solid portable as well. Perhaps a woo wa11 would be an interesting comparison too
+1. The wait time for Mojo 2 was 2 months so I bought the Gryphon instead. Now curious to try Mojo 2. I had Mojo and compared it with the Signature, liked Signature more.
To me, the Signature sounds better than Gryphon. The grphon can sound too smoothed at times and it’s analogue DSP (xBass, xSpace…) is more subtle. Signature powers something like the Sundara much better than Gryphon and you get better slam with it’s bass boost. SE on Gryphon is “meh” and balanced is noisy, much more portable and stacks nicely compared to the Signature though.
Sorry to hijack this thread but since we are on this topic, I’d like some input. I never paid much attention to my desktop stack, mostly tried some 20+ portable DACs and was planning to get a similar setup as @CT007 for my desktop soon.
I’m currently using the Zen stack with 4.4 interconnect. was planning on replacing Zen CAN with A30 Pro and later replacing Zen DAC with ARES II (liked the R2R sound from RU6).
Currently own the Sundara, Meze 99C, A&K Diana, Kinera Norn… and want to build a solid base (DAC/Amp) before upgrading to Campfire Cascade, Arya or Clear… is A30 Pro a good choice or do I get the Singxer SA-1 for double the cost?
It’s bloody fantastic, in my eyes. TONS of power, tons of flexibility, very affordable, and sounds more clean/accurate, extended in both ends, and just slightly less spacious than G111. But, I don’t have a need for balanced amp inputs/circuits, if that’s what you’re aftre. It does have balanced inputs, but not balanced output circuitry.
Mostly instrumental/soundtracky stuff with electronic or guitar solo stuff. FPS games, obv.