Stock aeolus is warm, punchy, and dark which makes for a non-fatiguing relaxing listen. The mullard el84 tubes the tuba comes with, increase the soundstage, make vocals and instruments sound as natural as it gets, and increase the treble a bit while maintaing the relaxing, non-fatiguing sound of the aeolus. It’s glorious. Suede pads are also great, but that’s more neutral-bright.
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Brings up the treble? Interesting… so it doesn’t make them overly warm? That was kinda my worry.
No, absolutely not, to be frank, the aeolus with the stock aeolus perforated leather pads definitely doesn’t need to be any warmer. The stock tubes of the tuba are actually perfect for it. Haven’t felt the need to tube roll at all since receiving it.
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Well shhhhiiiiiiit. That may be my pick. It powers them pretty well?
Now I’m looking into this. Ahhhhhhhh my wallet
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On the ‘Hi’ gain output, loud is generally for me somewhere between 9:30 to 11:00 depending on whatever album I’m listening to. It definitely has enough power and headroom.
Also, the difference between a SS amp like the RNHP and the Tuba was nuts. It definitely sounds like a higher tier from the rnhp with the aeolus.
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Well it’s on my list. So hard to find videos on it. It’s 1/4 inch right?
Yeah, two 1/4 outputs. One for low gain and one for high gain. RCA in.
Okay that’s what I thought. I wasn’t sure from the pics and the specs didn’t say. Cool. That may be the one I go for. Thanks!
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If RNHP is a 10/10, what is Asgard 3? And what about Atom, which I already have? I know that would make Phonitor and others greater than 10/10, but play along! I’d have to sell less stuff to get an Asgard, and the extra power is appealing to me.
You can have a look at the Feliks Audio “Echo”
at 499 Euro / 450$
as another option or another sub 500$
build yourself a Bottlehead Crack with Speedball
there is also the Eddie current…
so many “right” choices 
It depends on what headphones you go with for which amp would work better imo, I can’t really give some arbitrary numbers tho lol
Foiled! Haha. Ananda, 6XX, 4XX, 177X, Dekoni Blue. May be selling all but Ananda to get LCD 2CB, LCD XC, or Eikon.
So the ananda might preform better on something like a cayin iha6, but surprisingly the lcd x and xc preform very well with the rnhp, they pair pretty dang well (they also do well on the cayin but with the cayin you trade some nuance for some slam but it is small). I can’t comment on the eikon tho, but I don’t think zmf do anything special with the rnhp if I go off of my verite, they do love a tube tho
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iha6 looks nice, but I’d rather spend less if I can. Is Asgard better than Atom? Nearly as good as RNHP? Or not close?
I think the asgard is a step up from the atom but not at rnhp level, but it would be good for the ananda. I think it depends on what you want to prioritize, the XC is just awesome with the rnhp, and the ananda does better with more power so the asgard 3 might be the better pairing. The ananda does just fine off of the rnhp (the arya preforms admirably too), so no issues, you just have to choose to prioritize one.
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I can concur.
My LCD-X sound fantastic powered from the RNHP.
X/XC are low impedance but planars still require a fair amount of power, and the Neve delivers.
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The ananda likes more power for better control because of it’s larger drivers, also it can be more picky than the lcd line
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Are you saying LCD might sound nearly as good on Asgard because they’re less picky? Or is that just what I wanted that to mean? Lol
Well, no, but it would still be more than acceptable lol. I think the rnhp is the better choice still, as personally I would prioritize the XC over the ananda if it were me
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and the Ananda out of :
the RME ADI 2 fs standalone in High Power Mode single ended(obviously)
vs
RME +THX AAA 789 (balanced out of 789)
vs
ifi xDSD standalone (with balanced 3.5 TRRS to XLR adaper)
vs
ifi xDSD + THX AAA 789 (with balanced 3.5 TRRS to XLR adaper out of 789)
I know THX… is going to be replaced at the end of the year… wonder if the xDSD on it´s own has enough current for the Ananda?
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