Would this be a bad idea? Given there are three modes (passive, differential and tube) would this be a good option if I wanted to say, use powered monitor speakers for music listening, I can switch to tube mode and get less flat sounding image.
Would this threaten the studio monitors (I doubt this, but just asking to be safe before I make a decision)?
You could use the freya + and have it just passive for studio work and turn on tubes for enjoyment and have no issues whatsoever.
Awesome. I was thinking of ways to save desk space for my computer set up and rather than getting a power amp to passive speakers to share desk space with the monitors and switching between them I can just use the studio monitors with the preamp.
(this also allows me the space and budget to get larger studio monitors (focal alpha 65 or 80s rather than 50s)
Yup, should have no problems. I’ve heard the alpha 80’s and they were pretty sweet. Although there are cheaper preamps out there
Yeah. I still got a lot of research to do wrt preamps to do but this option is available to me at least, which is good.
Thanks!
This is a secondary question about setting up this system when I get it all together. My Dac has three settings it can run on, Amp mode which they tell you not to hook up to powered monitors with, Preamp Mode, which they do recommend and a “Dac Mode” Which is just a line level 2.3v rms with no volume control. When hooking the dac to the preamp or an external headphone amp through the balanced outs, is it better to keep it in Preamp mode or Line level wrt distortion or other weird effects on the sound.
You want to input a line level signal into the preamp. What dac do you have again?
I got a Chord Hugo TT2.
I’ve just had a pretty basic like 150 dollar dac for the longest time. But I completed a big freelance thing a couple months back and it looked really cool and I wanted something from Chord for the longest time.
Is that what you are using as your headphone amp too, as it’s pretty good. You should have no problems then
Cool! Yeah, I’ve been using it as a headphone amp as well and its really good, though curiously it doesn’t have a balanced 4pin XLR out and has Dual 1/4 inch inputs but they’re not for optional Dual Mono mode. Just for multple listeners.
You really don’t need balanced since that’s an excellent amp and dac with plenty of power on tap, so I wouldn’t worry about getting a new headphone amp
Yeah. I was interested in the Monoprice Liquid Platinum, schitt Mjolnir, Xduo TA20, etc as a headphone amp in another thread because I’m interested in Tube sound and how that would affect the sound signature (I like fiddling and experimenting with stuff so Tube rolling seems really cool to me)
If you got a true otl tube amp the tubes would change the sound a lot more, but it wouldn’t work well with lower impedance headphones (under 80 ohms)
The liquid platinum and xduoo are hybrid designs
Yeah. I was actually considering experimenting with diy electronics kits as a hobby and if I got good enough at them, maybe try to make a bottlehead crack amp (I think that’s OTL) and getting a pair of high impedance headphones, like the Senheisser HD 650s or similar (are the HD 650s high impedance?)
I always wanted to get into all this stuff but never really had the time until very recently. So I’m really newbie in some areas regarding hifi.
The 650s are great on a tube, probably one of the top headphones for one lol. The bottlehead kits are otl
Also you say you are a newbie but you have some pretty totl gear lol
I did a lot of “research” (lurking forums, as well as magazines and stuff) and talking to folks more in the know at work and more knowledgable friends for the longest time. Lots of window shopping without much hands on experience.
A lot of these forums I used to go to had a lot people who were always going on about technical measurements I never really got, and a lot fighting and flame wars over brands and stuff. Also like, “you should spend 7000 dollars on custom headphone cables.” That’s why I ended up joining here. It’s way more chill.
Agreed, I just want to help people without all the bias and garbage that goes on elsewhere. The main goal is enjoyment, so I would like to make it as painless as possible lol