TechEnthusiast
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- Joined
- Oct 19, 2020
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I know that I am probably going to get beat up for this, but I cannot distinguish any significance between low end ($100) and mid tier ($300-$900) gear. I know that it can be measured but I just cannot hear it. I realize that I probably have somewhat diminished hearing now in my mid fifties, but when comparing, I have even consulted my son's who are in their teens and they tend to agree with me. Now when we change headphones that's when the differences stand out.
I have sampled just about everything on the market with little success. I still have a Fiio K3 (amp/dac), and currently sampling a borrowed Schiit Heresy and Monilith Liquid Spark. In the past I have directly compared The monolith with a slew of other highly touted peices including: Monolith 788 and DX3Pro+ dac/amps along with Topping 30, 90, SmSL 200, Ifi Zen Can/Dac stacks. Even had the Schiit Asgard regarded as one of the best amps for its sound signature. Amps, indeed are an important upgrade when I started venturing into planar headphones, such as the Hifiman Sundara and Edition XS. But none of those listed amps provided any different sound signature that I could distinguish, however, some did provide more power (The Ifi Zen Can did have a bass button on it that was interesting). I found that the maximum power that I needed comes right from the 2 I have now (Spark and Heresy). I even went through the trouble of sampling balanced cables that made no audible difference to me. And with regards to DACs don't get me started....it all smells like back in the 90's when a salesman at Sound Advice tried to sell me $1k cables for my speakers when $50 did the job just as well....Snake Oil. These kinds of things have been exposed in double blind tests when comparing different sample rrates of audio clips.
Perhaps it is just me but I cannot hear an audible difference between my MB and an $800 dac. Even now while writing this I have been switching back and forth between the Liquid Spark and Heresy and they both sound the same when volume matched and I believe the Spark does have a little bit more power on my XS, perhaps due to the fact that they are 18ohm headphones.
I have sampled just about everything on the market with little success. I still have a Fiio K3 (amp/dac), and currently sampling a borrowed Schiit Heresy and Monilith Liquid Spark. In the past I have directly compared The monolith with a slew of other highly touted peices including: Monolith 788 and DX3Pro+ dac/amps along with Topping 30, 90, SmSL 200, Ifi Zen Can/Dac stacks. Even had the Schiit Asgard regarded as one of the best amps for its sound signature. Amps, indeed are an important upgrade when I started venturing into planar headphones, such as the Hifiman Sundara and Edition XS. But none of those listed amps provided any different sound signature that I could distinguish, however, some did provide more power (The Ifi Zen Can did have a bass button on it that was interesting). I found that the maximum power that I needed comes right from the 2 I have now (Spark and Heresy). I even went through the trouble of sampling balanced cables that made no audible difference to me. And with regards to DACs don't get me started....it all smells like back in the 90's when a salesman at Sound Advice tried to sell me $1k cables for my speakers when $50 did the job just as well....Snake Oil. These kinds of things have been exposed in double blind tests when comparing different sample rrates of audio clips.
Perhaps it is just me but I cannot hear an audible difference between my MB and an $800 dac. Even now while writing this I have been switching back and forth between the Liquid Spark and Heresy and they both sound the same when volume matched and I believe the Spark does have a little bit more power on my XS, perhaps due to the fact that they are 18ohm headphones.