New Amp for Audeze LCD-3 (and maybe DAC?)

[mackat]

Hi,

For a number of years I have had a Schiit Gungnir/Mjolnir stack, and I have had an overall good experience with them. That said, I am considering upgrading and would like some advice. I would like to take a look at other brands, as I know Schiit doesn’t have the best reputation in regards to measurements. I would like to find a headphone amplifier that:

1. Has enough power for the LCD-3’s

and

2. has at least a selectable XLR and RCA input if it is balanced (the inputs on my current Mjolnir are unfortunately summed)

i am not restricting myself to balanced choices, so that isn’t a huge factor. I am a bit confused as to what difference balanced actually makes (I am not a very electronically inclined person). If I am not mistaken, I have read that it makes more of a difference between the DAC and amp whereas not much if any difference on the headphone side of things? I have used my LCD-3’s with my JDS Element, and have found the sound to not be quite as good as the Mjolnir. However, this may well be a placebo effect. I wonder if it has anything to do with the power output, but I don’t listen extremely loud.

if I end up getting a new amp, I might want to get a new DAC too, so any suggestions are welcome on that front as well. DSD would be welcome, but isn’t necessarily necessary. I would not be looking to spend more than $1000 total, as that is likely around what I could get for my current devices on the used market. I am open to buying both new and used.

Your help is appreciated!
Ben

 

[Typevii]

RME ADI-2 DAC
Long thread on here.
Quite a few folks here have one so hopefully any questions can be answered.

 

[mackat]

I have researched the RME ADI-2 DAC to some extent and it looks very nice. It is, however, more than I would prefer to spend on a single component. I am guessing that the internal headphone amplifier is not quite what I’m looking for to drive the LCD-3’s (am I mistaken?), so I would have to either keep my Mjolnir or still purchase another headphone amplifier.

Does anyone know if there are any amps/DACs closer to the $500 each price range that would likely better the Gungnir/Mjolnir combo that I currently have? Or would it just be worth it to go for the ADI-2?

 

[flipflop]

Does anyone know if there are any amps/DACs closer to the $500 each price range that would likely better the Gungnir/Mjolnir combo that I currently have?

Unless you have some tangible problems with your Gungnir and/or Mjolnir, I would suggest sticking to them.
If the reason you want to "upgrade" is to ease your mind, you might want to send them in for measurements first to see how they actually perform.

In any case, Monolith by Monoprice Desktop Balanced Headphone Amplifier and DAC seems to fit the bill.

 

[mackat]

Unless you have some tangible problems with your Gungnir and/or Mjolnir, I would suggest sticking to them.
If the reason you want to "upgrade" is to ease your mind, you might want to send them in for measurements first to see how they actually perform.

In any case, Monolith by Monoprice Desktop Balanced Headphone Amplifier and DAC seems to fit the bill.

You make a good point. In my case, I do have a good reason for wanting to upgrade the Mjolnir: more than 1 switched inputs. The first gen Mjolnir has an XLR input and an RCA input, but for whatever reason, they are connected. The only switch is to lift/connect the ground, not to switch between the inputs. The manual says to not have 2 devices connected at once.

In regards to the DAC, it is more of a combination of being displeased with how poorly some Schiit products have measured here, as well as simply wanting to try something new after having it for 7 years.

 

[Tks]

A THX 789 and any of the well measuring DAC's seen here recently? Seeing as the 789's ridiculous demand has subsided. Or get the new one from Monoprice at the end of October (if they don't pull some nonsense by telling us a week before that all stock has been bought up or something dumb like that, which most companies are guilty of when they stumble on a desirable product).

Or wait for SMSL's THX amp (whenever that comes).

As for balanced, the only real benefit is some mitigation against groundloop issues (may want to look this up as I lack the diction to explain it with visual descriptors as some folks here could). But for most people balanced will simply grant more output power. The good thing with the THX 789 is while you don't get the benefits of groundloop immunization if you connect an unbalanced DAC to it, you can still reap the power benefits to some degree which is nice (I guess a benefit of not being fully deferentially "true balanced" amp).

One thing I will say though that I am still at a loss for understanding though, is this whole idea of "enough power" even people here talk about with respect to some headphones. I don't understand how you would know if an amp is powerful enough even though if I set my RME to 2V output, and use medium gain setting.. I can't come close to even half-way on the volume knob on my THX 789 amp I feel like my ears are going to blow to pieces listening to any modern music(and this is in unbalanced mode.. with balanced I can't even get to 10 o clock). I can understand perhaps tracks with 16+ DynamicRange ratings (like Passion Of The Christ OST for instance), but everyone that talks about "enough power" always talks about how the bass isn't "full enough" even though the volume is. Even Amir says this in his subjective portions about his earlobes rumbling or whatnot. I understand the power requirements for bass and subbass are far more demanding than the mid and treble ranges of course. But I can't for the life of me imagine running balanced anywhere near full blast. And tbh on dynamic drivers like those found on HD lines from Sennheiser, every single one of them start distorting whenever I test them by cutting off mids and highs using EQ and just playing a song with it's bass intact.

Sorry about the long winded reply.

If you need balanced for decent enough power, then you don't need a full balanced system it seems if you go with a THX based amp (you can still hook up your balanced headphones). With that in mind, you could save money and not get an RME and just get a 789, and an SMSL SU8 (not a fan of this DAC with it's age by now), or even if you can muster a wait, the DX7 Pro from Topping may be a nice all-in-one bigger balanced brother to the excellent DX3 Pro of which I and Amir still use as awesome daily drivers.

Reading back what I just said.. seem's I only offered more dilema than clarity..

 

[maxxevv]

As per @Tks , the THX789 and the recently reviewed Monoprice 887.

Or if it comes out soon enough to be verified for performance, the SMSL SP200

@tomchr has a new HPA-1 amp too, should be interesting.