Not sure on the amp setups personally but it was definitely solid state. I had asked him ahead of time if it was tubes or solid state as I had learned that some tube amps have their tubes installed inside the unit
Nice 
I think tubes may pair nicely with them honestly. Since the bass falls under the neutral to my hearing I think some added warmth would do real well there
True. But the fact that its not harsher or brighter than 1990 and T1s to your ears says alot even with SS.
I will say just in general if you have treble sensitivity it is still very noticeably bright. That sparkle and brightness is noticeable from the get go, well that or I just have an ear for bright against dark headphones anymore after switching to a nighthawk carbon and lcd-2 for a few weeks lol. If you have a lot of sensitivity to treble I would advise potentially steering clear of just purchasing it but auditioning it I think itās a very welcome sound. Itās definitely not as harsh as the 1990 where the 1990 can just be straight unforgiving in those highs especially if paired with amps that make it sound anemic or brighter. I donāt personally have any sensitivity to itā¦ I can wear the t90s without issue as well as 990s and they arenāt painful to meā¦ just annoying if sibilant. With the hd800s it did get up thereā¦ but not enough to the point where I would call it sibilant. 1990s were definitely the sharper headphone
So far I donāt think Iām overly sensitive its just not liking the graininess that the 1990 presents almost always. I love sparkle let say like windchime level if thats what a sparkle is or like a sword on a rock noise those my ears love but that harsh SSS or grainy treble is a turn off.
I donāt really find the 1990s to have the harsh SSS sound personally unless its a bad recording or something. I did however find that the highs on the T1 against the 1990 were smoother and more relaxed and I found that same welcome change on the hd800S but comparing the 3 the hd800S had the least brightness to my ear and still smooth so you may find that as a welcome addition to the graininess your getting out of the 1990s. As someone whoās favorite signature is brighter headphones. I would honestly buy this in a heartbeat though granted I like a touch more bass so I would have to pair it to a Tube Amp, which may potentially reduce the treble further as well not sure.
I thought I like dark headphones but I found after my limited experience that I donāt. Now I prefer quality bass not muddy but also nice treble like sparkles and smooth with body mids, would you say thats neutral or warm or what exactly?
So, when I hear or say warmth I think bumped mid bass and clear vocals. When I hear sparkle I think windchimes something with a sharp zing to it. Smooth mids meaning it has a fairly flat frequency across the grid no large dips or raises and smooth highs well when say it isnāt like the 1990s over there which dips hard down than shoots back up and is kind of irratic but rather a steady rise then the high point than comes back down. Muddy I think just means too prominentā¦ its overwhelming your sound it stays around too long.
SO if you told me you prefer quality natural bass with smooth mids with some body and treble that has sparkle I would think okayā¦ he prefers generally a neutral bright kind of signatureā¦ headphones that tend to be a neutral bright yet maybe more mid centric, unlike the 1990 cause the upper mids drop pretty hard. Something like the DT 880 fits into those kinds of categories for example.
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I see. I wonder how something like schiit loki will benefit the 800s. They say its gradual knob that controls 20hz - 400hz - 2khz - 8khz, I prefer this style to EQ software as its on the fly infront of me.
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I have heard fantastic things about that little equalizer though that itās a bit more pointless if you are using the headphones on the pc as you already can just pick up PEACE APO which responds great.
Alright thanks.
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So after reading alot in this forum, other combos popped out now 
@M0N recommended soekris1521 with violectric280 as they pair well but it was expensive for what I want to do. I saw @Hazi59 combo of Soekris 1321 with G111 same companies as the more expensive one (based on soekris description its the same as 1421 1541 minus amp).
This combo is 1000$ so similar to Bifrost2 Lyr3 and tbh I changed my mind about lyr3 I donāt want to deal with tubes at all atleast for now.
So now I think I have 2 choices:
- Soekris 1321 + G111 (so I read @Hazi59 says its a neutral combo with a hint of warmth with soundstage)
- Bifrost2 + Something else maybe G111 also or asgard3 (but you said asgard3 kinda bottlenecks the 800s so thats out of the way I think)
Really sucks when you have so many options without being able to audition or borrow etc
So itās not as good as the 1421 or 1541 because of a different output stage and lesser dac module in the 1321, but I can confirm that the 1321 and g111 is a very solid combo imo
Yeah I think you would want to go a bit higher than the a3 for an 800s, but honestly for the price itās a pretty solid pairing if you couldnāt spend more
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@M0N Thanks much appreciated.
O is Bifrost2 + G111 a good pairing? assuming G111 is a higher tier than A3
Itās still pretty nice, but I think I prefer the soekris on the g111 a bit more, something about how those go together is just quite special imo. I think if you wanted a more fun sound, the ares ii pairs well with the g111 for something a bit warmer and energetic
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ok thanks. Iāll stop now
Iām not sure why, but when I use the bf2 on lp/vio gear itās almost like the way they present and stage is a slight mismatch, where the 1321 and ares ii (to a lesser extent) seem to work better with the presentation and space of the lp/vio gear and improve upon what the g111 does where the bf2 almost tries to shift it a bit
interesting. maybe they tuned their amp to work with r2r more?
I donāt know if I would say that, I think it can sound excellent with some sigma delta, I think it comes down to the more unique way the lake people amps present and recreate space
My guess is that for me the bf2 gets pretty wide, but looses focus and accuracy on the stage with the lake people, and it also kinda affects the slam, also itās a bit smoother which doesnāt do the best with lp amps
The 1321 really tightens up the g111 spatially and is more precise in that range it has, also the 1321 is a quicker dac, so that could be it.
Signature wise, the 1321 can be lacking in some areas on its own, but paired with the g111 it really fills in the holes, on other amps the soekris stuff can be a bad match, whereas with the bf2 it sounds a bit more complete on most amps, it generally sounds good with most amps
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