Honestly the stock systems in most new mid-range cars are surprisingly good, they use dsp and correction that’s actually well done now and at least don’t use shit tier speakers and components
Yea. Seems to be the case. Regardless I agree, I’d definitely want to step a bit higher.
Next amp purchase is either a real mid-fi tube amp or a Phonitor E or X (if I wanna just skip the whole separate DAC thing). That’s after a long time saving though. Need to grab a Bifrost and/or Monoprice DAC before I even consider the E / tubes, as I’d feel kinda cruel feeding a phonitor with the enog (even though I love it).
Ahh makes sense. Cool.
It’s really starting to throw me for a loop. I think it’ll get even more noticeable when I switch back to the Eikons for a bit of time. Is quite pleasant.
Haha, I still got the stock Nissan Altima audio system from 2010. Is not atrocious when plugged into my iFi Nano. But the aux port is now loose cause of so much use. Gotta fix that.
So with the clears, I personally wouldn’t recommend a tube amp, and the phonitors are good but not great imo, I would personally prefer a violectric v280 at that price range (when they start popping up used again they are sub 1k)
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Any good pairings for the clears / elegias in a higher end solid-state?
Edited my post above. I think with the liquid platinum you already have a pretty solid amp, I think the next step would be a violectric or perhaps like a gsx mini imo amp wise. But first I would grab a nicer dac
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Violectric stack (v850 + v280) worth recommending? Or throwing the dac into the v280 and calling it a day? Or will the bifrost/ares compete with that?
So the violectric dacs are nice, but imo not on the same tier as the bifrost/ares, they aren’t holdover but they also won’t really get close to full potential with those amps, I would really recommend putting more into the dacs imo, as you go up dacs make an even larger difference imo
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What would you recommend in the $1500-$2000 range then? If I’m willing to drop that on a DAC (which means keeping the current Eikon + Elegia duo and the Liquid Platinum + Erish for a long time after I pick up the DAC). Bifrost is still the primary choice unless I get a used or on sale ares ii.
Sorry to keep pestering you with these questions, and thank you for taking the time to answer them!
I think it depends on the amp, with the violectric v280 or v281 I like the soekris dac1541 (they are out of stock but apparently they have a new dac coming very soon to replace it) or a Berkeley alpha dac series 2. For the gsx mini, I think something like a holo audio cyan or spring 2 would be my picks there. The lampizator amber 3 is also real solid if you can find a good deal
Personally I would say stick with like the bifrost or ares first and then grab the higher end amp, I wouldn’t say go for this high end of a dac this early. Also look used for all of this of course
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Where would you place the Meze Empyrean among the high end headphones?
Personally not that high, I think sound wise, I would only pay half their msrp, you pay alot for the build, I personally don’t think they are worth based on sound, but the build and comfort are pretty nice, but at 3k it’s a tough sell imo. It is nice for a flagship to have a more warmer and fun tuning, but I think the technicalities are lacking for the price
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What would you recommend as a next step past the Elex’s?
Right now my Elex’s AND my Sundara’s are my “go-to” headphones. Really enjoying both off the LP.
I mean if you don’t mind a bit more neutrality, the clear is a great step up, and you have a violectric on the way which is an excellent pairing and works very well with the clear, very direct upgrade from the elex. I think if you wanted to go up from the sundara, this would be different, but going for a hifiman arya would be a really nice pick as well imo, would be different presentation from the sundara but a large step up in technicalities and also a more interesting presentation imo
I wondered about the Arya when I was researching the Sundara. The Ananda seemed too bright/trebly according to research and the Arya was too expensive, based on my track record with previous planar’s.
Wouldn’t the Clears just be a small/gradual upgrade from the Elex’s? They list in Canada for about 2K. For 2K, I would want to blown away, like I was with the Elex’s.
Appreciate the feedback as this is just future research. All my new toys are so awesome they have me all jacked up. 
It’s around 1.6k cad used in canada from what I know, but there currently aren’t any listings for used at the moment
Absolutely not, IF you have the amp for them, which you do with the violectric, if you still only had a sp200 and didn’t plan on upgrading I would agree, but with the right amps they are easily on a higher tier than the elex. Used in canada a common price is 1.25k cad which might be more attractive to you lol
Also I do think that your next investment should most likely be a higher tier dac at the moment imo, but going for a higher tier of headphone is def worthwhile imo
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I can’t imagine an amp being a Lot better than the LP, but I guess I’ll find out in a few days.
I was kind of hoping you might suggest a whole different headphone that I hadn’t even considered. I want to try everything. 
So hows the Susvara for detail retrieval Mon?
I can do that if you would like lol
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Sure! At this point it’s all speculative.