Hello - I want to share here my story - that is, my journey - towards settling with the gear I have.
This is mostly because for several weeks, I engaged in very stupid behaviour - "reading reviews" - that cost me my sleep.
If you are having a similar journey, this is for you.
If you are looking for advice what is the best to buy, this isn't.
My story starts some time in April 2019, when I had some spare money and came up with the idea to upgrade my audio gear. I had so much joy listening to some classical Music performances on YouTube, that i figured I'd appreciate it enough to justify the investment. I initially set myself a budget of 600 EUR (~700 US$). I quickly found out (is it true? - I don't know!) that I get the best sound from upgrading my headphones rather than optimizing my stereo speakers.
Up until that point, I was listening on a Sennheiser HD 555 which I had bought for ~200 US$ in 2005. So I had used for ~14 years. Now that's a lot of bang for the buck.
From reading "best headphone 2019"-style reviews, I found out that a good option is the Sennheiser HD 660S with Apogree Groove. I went into a Sennheiser Show-Room, and compared my HD 555 to a HD 660S (without Amp) and the HD 800S with the HDVD800, their DAC/Amp Combo.
I noticed that the HD 660S sounds very similar to the HD 555. I couldn't really tell a difference. To some extent, I believe my old HD 555 was "warmer". The HD 800S/HDVD800 sounded more detailed and I noticably enjoyed it more. But dismissed it for the price.
So I went ahead and ordered myself the HD660S with Apogee Groove. And because it had shown in some "best audiogear..." articles, I also ordered myself a fiio Q5, because of the Bluetooth and Portability.
I was so happy when it arrived. It was so much fun to listen to my music on HD660S, and on the fiio Q5.
I compared it to the HD555, though, and again didn't find a difference.
So I returned the HD660S/Apogee bundle, because I figured I'd constantly tell myself it was not a good deal for me.
Since fiio announced their Q5s, a follow-up to the Q5, I returned that one as well. Consider: The Q5s has a "balanced" out, and a more advanced Amp module, it must surely be better.
With that, I still didn't have a better head-phone. So I started to look for affordable HD 800S. I found out a page where I can buy it in "B-condition", but it was still too expensive. And then: At last! - I found an ebayer offering his HD 800S for a mere 1k EUR (~1,150 US$). So I immediately bought it.
This is where the nightmare began:
The HD 800S has an impedance of 300 Ohms. It needs a proper Amp. And it's a balanced headphone. So a balanced Amp would be good. I read some mentions that there's not really a difference between balanced/ Single-ended, but still... come on... you need it.
So I started looking for Amp and DAC.
And looking for these, I spent probably 60 hours over 3 weeks reading reviews of DACs, Amps and DAC/Amp Combos. First I set myself a budget of 400 US$ (the RRP of the fiio Q5s, which was not yet available, and postponed to July, then August, now September). Then I took into consideration other devices which I could find on eBay for a discount.
Here is a list of devices I looked into. And read 2 or more reviews about at least 1/3rd of them - I hope this ranks high in Google, so that you read the article and check yourself if you are in the same trap:
- Schiit magni
- April eximus DP1 (this has a beautiful name!)
- fiio E10k
- fiio BTR1k
- audioquest dragonfly
- Shangling UP2
- Auris "Amplify"
- audeze deckard
- NuForce uDAC-5
- Objective2+ ODAC
- Matrix M-Stage
- Marantz HD-AMP1
- ifi xDSD
- Topping DX3 Pro
- SMSL M3
- Aune T1 SE MK3 (Aune is also a very sexy name)
- Liquid Carbon X
- CTH + SDAC
- Neo 430 HAD
- Woo Audio WA7
- Sony TA-ZH1ES
- Fostex HP-A4BL
- DNA Sonett 2 ("sonett". That sounds powerful!)
- Schiit Mjolnir
- Radsone Earstudio ES100
- Behringer PowerPlay HA4600
- Monoltih 124459
- Aune S6
- Aune S7
- Schhit Jotunheim
- Klipsch Heritage
- Monoprice THX.
IMPORTANT: I'm not saying ANYTHING bad or positive about these items. Ah, many of them have amazing design and I'd like to have them just for the look and the touch. My point is just how confusing and time-consuming it is, if you want to "optimize" by reading reviews.
Luckily, I didn't order & test any one of them.
Unluckily, I was clearly in an "addiction" for finding the best bang for the buck, and doing it by reading reviews and getting my own conclusions.
How did this show up?
I started reading reviews when I got home. I continued when going to bed. I found myself reading about it at 3 AM in the morning. And I was tired the next day at work. It was just that important to me. And it had these consequences.
The best line in these reviews: "For just XXX US$ you get a device playing at a quality for easily X times the price." --- This got me very excited. It must be a good product. I want to read more reviews. Maybe this is the gear for me.
This is why I'm sharing this.
Then I was about to buy a Schiit stack (the DAC/Amp Combo for 600 US$ ish). I had it in my shopping basket several times.
And then saw the thread here about the dangerous grounding issue, and about the workaround to get rid of the humming. I decided I don't want to get that involved with the device.
And at some point in time I arrived at the Topping DX3 Pro Thread here. I was disappointed. I didn't understand the measurements. There was no "this gives you the sound of a 600 US$ amp at just 200 US." All that was said it that it compared very much to the expectations in measurements.
But at that price, I just gave it a try, ordered it.
At that point in time, i had listened to the HD 800S on my Notebook Audio out for ~1 week. And it was already pretty good. I'm not sure if I actually made a comparison to the HD 555.
As the Topping DX3 Pro arrived, it was pretty underwhelming. It didn't sound better than my Notebook Audio Out. Just a little bit in the bass space. And louder (which is always good). -- I'm still intending to do some blind tests with friends, to figure out if they can disambiguate the equipment when set to the same volume.
And I'm happy with it. I've read objective measurements. I'm still concerned that amir just by accident got a model that performed better than other production runs (there are threads about DX3 quality here... and of course they did raise my doubts, too). So I do have a good DAC/AMP combo. And it has Bluetooth, which is amazing. And it set me back much less than where I was going.
To me, it's important to have peace of mind. And I hope that those of you, who recognize yourself in that journey, find peace of mind, too.
And maybe - MAYBE - I will one day try other equipment and go for things like the looks, the name, or my subjective listening, but not go for the reviews out there.
Thanks for reading that far. - This is really about my personal experience, to other people who are in the middle of a similar journey.
And, this is a HUGE thank you to Amir, and this community, including those haggling with Amir.
P.S.: If this sounds like an AA meeting share, it's because it's my intention.
This is mostly because for several weeks, I engaged in very stupid behaviour - "reading reviews" - that cost me my sleep.
If you are having a similar journey, this is for you.
If you are looking for advice what is the best to buy, this isn't.
My story starts some time in April 2019, when I had some spare money and came up with the idea to upgrade my audio gear. I had so much joy listening to some classical Music performances on YouTube, that i figured I'd appreciate it enough to justify the investment. I initially set myself a budget of 600 EUR (~700 US$). I quickly found out (is it true? - I don't know!) that I get the best sound from upgrading my headphones rather than optimizing my stereo speakers.
Up until that point, I was listening on a Sennheiser HD 555 which I had bought for ~200 US$ in 2005. So I had used for ~14 years. Now that's a lot of bang for the buck.
From reading "best headphone 2019"-style reviews, I found out that a good option is the Sennheiser HD 660S with Apogree Groove. I went into a Sennheiser Show-Room, and compared my HD 555 to a HD 660S (without Amp) and the HD 800S with the HDVD800, their DAC/Amp Combo.
I noticed that the HD 660S sounds very similar to the HD 555. I couldn't really tell a difference. To some extent, I believe my old HD 555 was "warmer". The HD 800S/HDVD800 sounded more detailed and I noticably enjoyed it more. But dismissed it for the price.
So I went ahead and ordered myself the HD660S with Apogee Groove. And because it had shown in some "best audiogear..." articles, I also ordered myself a fiio Q5, because of the Bluetooth and Portability.
I was so happy when it arrived. It was so much fun to listen to my music on HD660S, and on the fiio Q5.
I compared it to the HD555, though, and again didn't find a difference.
So I returned the HD660S/Apogee bundle, because I figured I'd constantly tell myself it was not a good deal for me.
Since fiio announced their Q5s, a follow-up to the Q5, I returned that one as well. Consider: The Q5s has a "balanced" out, and a more advanced Amp module, it must surely be better.
With that, I still didn't have a better head-phone. So I started to look for affordable HD 800S. I found out a page where I can buy it in "B-condition", but it was still too expensive. And then: At last! - I found an ebayer offering his HD 800S for a mere 1k EUR (~1,150 US$). So I immediately bought it.
This is where the nightmare began:
The HD 800S has an impedance of 300 Ohms. It needs a proper Amp. And it's a balanced headphone. So a balanced Amp would be good. I read some mentions that there's not really a difference between balanced/ Single-ended, but still... come on... you need it.
So I started looking for Amp and DAC.
And looking for these, I spent probably 60 hours over 3 weeks reading reviews of DACs, Amps and DAC/Amp Combos. First I set myself a budget of 400 US$ (the RRP of the fiio Q5s, which was not yet available, and postponed to July, then August, now September). Then I took into consideration other devices which I could find on eBay for a discount.
Here is a list of devices I looked into. And read 2 or more reviews about at least 1/3rd of them - I hope this ranks high in Google, so that you read the article and check yourself if you are in the same trap:
- Schiit magni
- April eximus DP1 (this has a beautiful name!)
- fiio E10k
- fiio BTR1k
- audioquest dragonfly
- Shangling UP2
- Auris "Amplify"
- audeze deckard
- NuForce uDAC-5
- Objective2+ ODAC
- Matrix M-Stage
- Marantz HD-AMP1
- ifi xDSD
- Topping DX3 Pro
- SMSL M3
- Aune T1 SE MK3 (Aune is also a very sexy name)
- Liquid Carbon X
- CTH + SDAC
- Neo 430 HAD
- Woo Audio WA7
- Sony TA-ZH1ES
- Fostex HP-A4BL
- DNA Sonett 2 ("sonett". That sounds powerful!)
- Schiit Mjolnir
- Radsone Earstudio ES100
- Behringer PowerPlay HA4600
- Monoltih 124459
- Aune S6
- Aune S7
- Schhit Jotunheim
- Klipsch Heritage
- Monoprice THX.
IMPORTANT: I'm not saying ANYTHING bad or positive about these items. Ah, many of them have amazing design and I'd like to have them just for the look and the touch. My point is just how confusing and time-consuming it is, if you want to "optimize" by reading reviews.
Luckily, I didn't order & test any one of them.
Unluckily, I was clearly in an "addiction" for finding the best bang for the buck, and doing it by reading reviews and getting my own conclusions.
How did this show up?
I started reading reviews when I got home. I continued when going to bed. I found myself reading about it at 3 AM in the morning. And I was tired the next day at work. It was just that important to me. And it had these consequences.
The best line in these reviews: "For just XXX US$ you get a device playing at a quality for easily X times the price." --- This got me very excited. It must be a good product. I want to read more reviews. Maybe this is the gear for me.
This is why I'm sharing this.
Then I was about to buy a Schiit stack (the DAC/Amp Combo for 600 US$ ish). I had it in my shopping basket several times.
And then saw the thread here about the dangerous grounding issue, and about the workaround to get rid of the humming. I decided I don't want to get that involved with the device.
And at some point in time I arrived at the Topping DX3 Pro Thread here. I was disappointed. I didn't understand the measurements. There was no "this gives you the sound of a 600 US$ amp at just 200 US." All that was said it that it compared very much to the expectations in measurements.
But at that price, I just gave it a try, ordered it.
At that point in time, i had listened to the HD 800S on my Notebook Audio out for ~1 week. And it was already pretty good. I'm not sure if I actually made a comparison to the HD 555.
As the Topping DX3 Pro arrived, it was pretty underwhelming. It didn't sound better than my Notebook Audio Out. Just a little bit in the bass space. And louder (which is always good). -- I'm still intending to do some blind tests with friends, to figure out if they can disambiguate the equipment when set to the same volume.
And I'm happy with it. I've read objective measurements. I'm still concerned that amir just by accident got a model that performed better than other production runs (there are threads about DX3 quality here... and of course they did raise my doubts, too). So I do have a good DAC/AMP combo. And it has Bluetooth, which is amazing. And it set me back much less than where I was going.
To me, it's important to have peace of mind. And I hope that those of you, who recognize yourself in that journey, find peace of mind, too.
And maybe - MAYBE - I will one day try other equipment and go for things like the looks, the name, or my subjective listening, but not go for the reviews out there.
Thanks for reading that far. - This is really about my personal experience, to other people who are in the middle of a similar journey.
And, this is a HUGE thank you to Amir, and this community, including those haggling with Amir.
P.S.: If this sounds like an AA meeting share, it's because it's my intention.
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