What 500$ solid state amp would you recommend over the A90 than? Apparently 6-7 of Zeo’s patreons think the A90 is great. What’s wrong with combining a neutral sounding amp and dac with bright sounding headphones anyway?
as mentioned earlier, i think people would generally recommend RNHP, rebel amp, and gilmore lite mk 2
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I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, but at the same time I don’t know if it really does anything that impresses me for the price, it’s good but not great compared to what I have tried
Nothing really if you want something brighter (you are going for the arya anyways), the a90 will drive them just fine and I don’t think you will have any complaints with it. I just think you could get more for your money tbh. Let’s take the aforementioned liquid plat for example. Using the arya, the liquid plat will smooth out the treble of the arya so it’s not as prominent, taking the headphone more neutral than neutral bright imo, whereas the a90 will maintain the neutral bright signature. The liquid plat will increase stage width and have a more engaging presentation than the a90 from my experience, but the a90 has more accurate imaging. Timbre wise, the plat will be more natural sounding, where the a90 is going to be a bit on the drier side of things. Both amps are very impactful and dynamic. Detail wise, I think both amps have similar levels of surface level detail, but the liquid plat has more lower level detail to be had, where it sounds a tad masked on the a90, but the a90 is more forward with what it has where the plat is a bit more relaxed and not as forward. Really comes down to preference, personally I like the liquid plat more than the a90 for most music with the arya, but I think it really depends on what you are going for sonic signature wise.
For the arya, I personally think I could use a bit more drive and control in the low end when using the rnhp, so personally I might not suggest this pairing.
This would actually be quite solid for something that is on the more energetic side of things, but still slightly sweeter sounding, it would be pretty solid
This would be a bit more brighter and intimate than the other amps, but it’s also sweeter and less harsh than the a90, also a good choice
Other amps that I have liked with the arya is the cayin iha6 as it’s a very impactful and powerful amp, that is neutral but slightly warmer and smoother leaning, pretty good overall
Going up in price, the arya and the violectric v280 is a really good pairing as imo it really emphasizes a more speakerlike presentation with cool presentation, lots of control, and a neutral yet everso warmer leaning sound that is pretty great. The rs-08 is a slight step down in technicalities and a bit more neutral but also a good pairing with the arya. There are more amps that I would mention in the price range used but the used market is somewhat barren at the moment
Would you plan on using the features the adi 2 dac has? If not, I might suggest something else but if you like to mess with eq and stuff like that, it’s a nice dac. From what I have read above, I it looks like you wouldn’t, so I might suggest something else instead that’s a bit less but imo a bit higher preforming in some aspects than the rme. I think if you are going for spatial accuracy, I think the denafrips ares ii is something you might appreciate as it’s an energetic dac that has pretty tight and accurate spatial recreation imo, it’s a bit smaller in stage but has very good depth and is pretty accurate in it’s imaging. It’s also pretty detailed and slightly forward. I think another good pick would be the soekris dac1421 for something more analytical but it’s picky on what amps sound good with it and it can be a bit too much for some (also harder to find at the moment)
Also since I haven’t fully read through the thread yet, it seems like you are going from a m50x to an arya, personally I would recommend against this. I think it would be really worthwhile to take a smaller step forward and really learn your preferences to figure out what you really like before taking that larger step in the arya range. I think trying out some things out in the 300 range would give you good perspective of what’s out there before jumping a few tiers above
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I would take advantage of the EQ to tweak the sound. Some guy on Reddit called Oratory1990 makes presets to use on the RME ADI-2. Apparently h the one for the Aryas is good.
You can’t use that on an adi 2 (you would have to try and recreate it by hand I think which would be a pain and not as accurate), that would be done in software using EQ APO and is imported in, this also doesn’t cost anything and can be used by any dac. Also be careful with eq, if you use too much you can take a fidelity hit, personally I would only use EQ if you feel like you need it for smaller tweaks, not to reach a target response. It’s worth trying out for sure but don’t go nuts. You can try the Oratory1990 m50x EQ for the headphones you have now if you want to see what it would do
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What do you mean I wouldn’t be able to do it? He has presets made specifically for the RME ADI-2 on certain headphones with the exact settings to enter.
He told me all I have to do is enter the values in the bottom left table.
That was phrased strangely my bad but yes, you will have to enter the values into the adi 2 by hand. In comparison for apo eq, you are able to just import a file and it does everything for you. Also apo eq and the eq in the adi 2 are functionally similar, although apo has more features and flexibility with more bands and potential accuracy to the target response, but you don’t have to deal with software with the rme which is a bonus for some I guess
The RME ADI-2 DAC is really an amp-DAC, yes? If so, you might want to just stick with that (i.e., without another amp) for a little while at least. Get some listening to the headphones in with that. You will add gear later…
Of course if you decide on a different DAC, this option goes away.
Also true, but then you also limit yourself pairing wise for some of the higher end headphones, but at that point you can get a nicer amp anyways. The adi 2 dac fs has a headphone out that works well with most of the midrange headphones so it’s not a bad idea
Limiting yourself was kinda my point. Until some listening happens, that is. No long term limitation implied!
I mean but you are spending 1k on a dac amp lol
Yeah… seems money isn’t really the issue in this instance. And it’s still well within range of some of the other pairings suggested, anyway.
I would wait on a separate amp IF I were going with the RME. Use the “Swiss Army knife” as a Swiss Army knife for a while.
Its still preferable if you can demo the 1990 first. Personally i find the 1990 nothing short of earrape but if you enjoy the spiky trebble then yes the 1990 is a good can.
I’ll consider getting the liquid platinum amp with the Aryas. I honestly don’t know what amp to get because I’m getting so many mixed opinions. At first I was set on getting the THX 887 from mono price after seeing all the good reviews. But apparently it’s not that great and flat and boring sounding…
I just want a setup that sounds good for every genre and for gaming. ( I mostly listen to metal and classic rock though)
If I did get a liquid platinum would having a tube phono preamp connected to it sound weird? I’m also going to use it to listen to records with headphones.
@M0N
because this hobby is based on subjective opinions. Your not going to get a straight answer of. Yeah this one… its the best. You’ll end up with a wide variety of opinions and recommendations.
Theres pros and cons to every setup in particular even a jack of all trades setup will find some faults in it as well as headphones. Even in the case of arya it’s not very bassy so for a rock/metal lover you may not even find the most enjoyment in it.
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It may add a little more color, but the LP is a pretty clean sounding hybrid, so it shouldn’t get too overly gooey tube sounding if that’s your concern.
+1. You don’t know how much fun you can have in the 200 or even 100$ range. You don’t know how good 128kbps mp3s can sound on great headphones, lol. I’d rather try “these headphones” with these kind of drivers and these kind of drivers and these IEMs and these planars and deciding what is the best for you. And then, asking what is the upgrade of that, specifically, in the 1000$+ region.
Otherwise, you’re most likely doing a 1000$+ mistake. Audio is subjective AF. It’s not because headphones are 1000$ that they’ll sound good to you.
…I mean, to each their own but IMO you use EQ on inexpensive stuff or pay 1000$+ headphones to not use an EQ anymore, lol. Also remember if you prefer one EQ settings on one pair of headphones you’ll need to set an EQ for absolutely everything you plug your headphones into… multiplied by the number of headphones you have and the number of devices you got. 
At least start with a 300$ Schiit Asgard 3 with the AK4490 DAC included.
At least try some good headphones for rock and metal, which might even be available to listen to at Bestbuy or something similar.
Fostex T50RPs with Shure 840 pads.
Sennheiser HD280 Pros (new version).
AKG K361.
Beyerdynamics DT880 600 ohms.
Otherwise, 500$ Audeze LCD-1, Neumann NDH20s?
Maybe I’ll save my money and get something a bit cheaper. I’m still not 100%. I heard the topping A90 and D90 stack is great.
This metalhead found the A90 rivaled with his 3000$ Benchmark HPA4 headphone amp. He didn’t like the D90 as much though. You could find a better DAC.
What would be another great dac to use with the topping A90? The Schiit Bifrost is the same price I think.