Forgot to mention, the other element that I don’t really know what my stance on yet is decay. I assume the focal with the atom is on the faster side of decay, so having something with a slow decay in contrast might be interesting.
Perhaps like something like a 1990 pro which has a bit exaggerated staging and very good imaging, and is more aggressive
If you wanted something a bit warmer and more relaxed, you could get something like the hifiman edition xx, which would have a really large and interesting presentation that the elex can’t quite give
I think I’ll just stick with getting an amp and dac in that case. I don’t suppose there is two amps I could get that would color the elex drastically different making it like 2 different headphones in a positive way is there?
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Out of curiosity, which dac/amp are you currently using?
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Atom and D10
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So very few headphones will become extremely different sounding with different amps, but you can get something that will emphasize the benefits of the elex. I would honestly consider getting something like a rnhp and then later on save for a balanced dac
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How much does the rnhp go for used generally?
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If you can find one it would be around 400
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Also, I’m not sure why, but the weight hasn’t been bothering me for the past few days. I’m not sure if I just adjusted to it, or I changed something unknowingly.
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What class of amplification is the rnhp? I mainly care just to know whether it runs hot at all or not as it’s been stated that class A can run hot, but idk about the other classes. I already know it’s solid state.
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Rnhp is class a/b, runs fairly cool
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The hifiman edition XX would be a great compliment to the Elex i think. Or if you want fast decay and speed the 95x is on sale at drop for 400$. its a eletrostat. the XX is a Planar. The RNHP would be an amazing amp to get also. would make the Elex sound much better. but not sure how much better compared to another headphone.
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Why a balanced dac specifically? Is it not worth looking at any unbalanced dacs?
Well, the rnhp has a balanced in, so you might as well use it. You can very use an unbalanced dac if you like though
If funds are tight, just get an Asgard 3. The RNHP is a very nice amp but until you know you’re in need of it, I wouldn’t touch it. Bifrost 2 + RNHP + LCD X is such a good combo but some of these cheaper headphones I’m trying out right now don’t seem to really handle this amp and dac properly. My Schiit Heresy and THX 887 work better on cheaper gear. I WILL say the RNHP are my immediate go to with planars. The things it does to open up the treble is accurate but SO enjoyable.
My 2 cents but Asgard 3 MAYBE with the 4490 DAC on it (better implementation than the Modi 3 4490) and get Sundara’s.
So I think if he wanted to up his performance on the elex, the rnhp makes more sense as imo he already has a pretty good amp, and the a3 would be an upgrade, but I might worry that it wouldn’t be a big enough one for the elex
Without hearing the Elex, I just assume the only thing that might get him ball park to where he wants to be is a tube. I maybe mistaken but maybe a Schiit Vali with some tube swap maybe?
Hmmmm, the elex does not take well to tubes tbh, but if he wanted to go hybrid, something like the liquid plat would be my pick
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The question is, maybe the sound signature of the Elex just isn’t for him? Hence the reason to recommend the Sundara and an AMP that could help power it that gets closer to that RNHP sound signature without sucking up the budget. Or at least move in steps in that direction.
I mentioned a couple options above that I thought he might like, the sundara is also a good pick, if he did go with the sundara I don’t really think he would need to upgrade his amp atm imo. That being said, I think the elex is a higher tier than the sundara, so technically a downgrade but it is different enough where I would see no issue in owning both
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