Ah, I completely forgot about the ta20, that’s another great option. I could only think of the ta10
also forgot about that one, that may be the one
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of mine. Its being fed by a Geshelli Enog 2. I spent about $100 dollars in a variety of tubes to sample and then wound up buying two more matched pairs of the tubes I liked best.
This has nothing to do with the amp quest, but given you have the RME I’d think you’d have a blast experimenting with the EQ option. Here is a short video tutorial on using it:
Really doesn’t look that hard.
As a get-your-feet-wet exercise, you could create an EQ to get your Neumann to match the dreaded Harman target you’ve probably heard about. The settings you want to enter for the NDH20 can be found here in a small box at the bottom:
All you’re doing is dialing in five different loudness adjustments called bands. All of them have the default type of Peak, so you can ignore that. Then each one has three other factors: frequency, gain, and Q. The first band you enter will have a frequency of 70 (Hertz), a gain of -3.4 (decibels) and a Q of 0.2. The chart at the bottom of the page in the dropbox link will show the other four band settings.
It’s like cooking a new dish from a very easy recipe. But if you don’t like the result, just throw it away, so no permanent change to your system or damage to your bank account. Or you can play with mods to the basic Harman curve, like elevating the bass or reducing the treble, then humble-brag how the Harman target is OK for starters but you prefer a 2 dB reduction at 7 kilohertz or some such. Happy to answer any questions that might arise if you try this out.
(BTW: there’s also a recipe for the T60RPs but it would require a bit of finagling since it uses ten bands instead of five. Still, easy enough to adapt it for the RME.)
1 Like
FWIW my class A Aune X7S sounds amazing with the LCD 1. It is tough to outright recommend due to the higher output impedance, but in general it is a very sweet sounding amp IMO.
This is the DAC I lust after and the million and one configuration options and signature tweeks are the very reason to buy one.
I don’t really think you can go wrong with an ADI 2 Dac (if you have the budget), as there’s lots to mess around with to get it sounding how you like
Yeah i was looking for a balanced capable dac, and i knew if i got anything other than the ADI2 i would still be dreaming of the ADI2 and end up upgrading to it eventually no matter what so i just went for it. Definitely did not have the budget for it at the time, but Paypal Credit with 6 months no interest financing is a beautiful thing haha, and B&H photo had it in stock and accepted Paypal so that was the route i took to get the ADI2.
awesome find, thanks for this. i will be experimenting with this information.
P.S. this has to be the most productive forum of any category on the internet. When someone like myself posts about something i am not a professional at and know every single thing about it, i dont get ridiculed and berated for it. My questions are either answered flat out, or tons of information is given to me to point me in the right direction. Excellent platform overall. Cant say anything like this about any other forum ive gone to whether it be audio related, or car related, or anything else. All of you guys are awesome, thank you.
2 Likes
Amen. Been high on my list for a long time too. Having hearing issues at present that make any such purchase moot, but have been consoling myself with the thought that there may be an ADI-3 DAC in the oven that will be worth waiting for. Hoping for a few more bands of EQ and a THX AAA amp topology upgrade or equivalent improvement. Others might add balanced output to the wish-list.
1 Like
I’m looking at an SMSL M500 + SP200 combo for much less than the RME ADI 2 cost. Just food for thought, they’re both balanced. Although the THX stuff doesn’t seem fully balanced internally, but the noise floor is already so low it really doesn’t matter.
The RME is definitely a hefty price tag, but it does have pretty much every option anyone would ever need (for 99% of people). That’s why I went that route. I know I’ll never need to buy another dac. I have a barebones simple dac, jds labs ol dac, and the RME. I’m set for dacs, and dac/headphone amp combos for that matter.
1 Like
I personally would think that’s a better sounding combo over the adi 2 if you don’t want the features the adi 2 has to offer. The amp will be a decent bit better then the amp in the adi 2 dac
1 Like
I’ve considered getting something thx because of all the hype around it but I find myself thinking that although the specs on paper are basically unbeatable, will I actually be able to hear a difference between the thx and the stuff I have now (RME and JDS EL amp). So far in my head, the answer has been no I won’t hear a difference, so I haven’t pulled the trigger on a thx amp yet.
It will be an improvement, but not a huge one, and also you may not enjoy revealing more harshness, because the thx stuff is very transparent and quick
1 Like
Yeah I’m really not sure with thx stuff. I’ve been on the fence for a long time. Now with the new smsl offering, it’s even harder because now it’s a good amount cheaper than it was before to give it a shot. But now I have my eye on the ta20, so I have no idea what to do haha
If you are looking for a darker amp, check out the massdrop LCX, it leans more on the darker side with a little warmth as well, also manages to keep it pretty damn clean sounding too. I had one earlier this year but ended up returning it for the monolith thx 788 instead, but I sometimes still miss the darker sound signature it brought to my headphones.
What about the CTH? That’s also a good option
I think both have some issues though so be aware with the massdrop and cavelli stuff
Yeah the main issue with the LCX is it does not have good SE power, so if you get it be aware it’s balanced output or nothing.
I also though there were some qc issues, I think some of the units have died outright or had clicking or humming issues, some have a noisy psu, and some have volume pot issues if I recall correctly for both the LCX and CTH