What DAC/amp(s) Next..?

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Source Gear / Other
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I’m a headphonist at heart who has been IEM-focused lately, and currently. Equipment that also is killer for headphones would be a nice bonus, but is NOT a requirement.

Right now I have a D50s, Mojo and ATOM amp, probably ending up with Clairvoyance-level IEMs. 100% desktop use, single-ended is all I need. I cannot say whether my DAC or amp is a/the bottleneck, since I think both(have not tested Mojo yet) are equally excellent sounding… So perhaps there is more noticeable results with more money spent on an amp than DAC? Or vise versa.

It seems the A90/D90 are maybe not the greatest choice, for a somewhat sterile sound(?). Any nice options out there that would knock my socks off? Of course I love a spacious, detailed, 0% distortion soundstage, and great bass, with everything in between…which I expect in gear above what I already have.

  • Any better combo than Asgard 3 + Bifrost, for a lower price…? Swap Bifrost with something cheaper, maybe?

  • Or G111/Singxer SA-1 + ?

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dunno about the amp…but how about the Asgard 3 for an amp?

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Hm. I want to go bigger than $199, for sure. Max $750 for amp or DAC, but looking for an upgrade of both up to $1000.

Thoughts on Lyr, on the Schiit side of things? (the most power I’ve ever seen, wow) I had a Jot 1, Magni 2, Vali 2 before. Can’t say I’m a fan of Schiit sound, in general/so far.

4

the Lyr is awesome as a hybrid tube amp. but if you look at it you do yourself a disservice ifyou don’t look at the Monolith Liquid Platinum as well.

5

These 2 amps would likely be better suited for headphones than IEMs, would you say? (I like the headphone input options on that one!) I wonder how Woo WA7 compares to those.

6

mmm…IEMs. you’ll want to look for amos designed for them. mist have an IEM setting it lo gain.

a number of iFi have this feature.

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7

For Schiit, Asgard 3 + Bisfrost looks worth a try. But I’m not a fan of the current Bifrost pricetag. I wonder how Bifrost+A3 sounds VS Lyr w/Multibit DAC… :thinking: :thinking:

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The singxer sa-1 might be a good fit for you Singxer SA-1 / Balanced Amplifier Fully Discrete Class A - beyond THX 888 ?! | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org I don’t know if there’s much iem action reported though

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Interesting. This amp shape seems to be popular to copy these days. I’m not familiar with this company. Some insane specs on that, damn. Do you know what the general sound is like, compared to Asgard 3 perhaps?

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it sounds like the singxer is considered in higher class along with the jotunheim.

When comparing the jotunheim to the asgard 3 it’s considered as a budget class a whereas the jotunheim is a beast.

And after significant burn-in (100-some-odd hours) the singxer out classes everything while not being too class a biased.

Edit:while we’re at it the hifigo sales pitch says your sensitive iems will work great because of incredibly low noise floor. Singxer SA-1 Latest Class A Amplifier Available Now — HiFiGo

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