New gear!

[walls]

Well after tube rolling my LD2++ for a while I started to get the itch to upgrade to something better. After doing much research and auditioning what little was available to me I ended up buying some new headphone gear.

I decided I wanted a better tube amp as well as a nice solid state amp so I ended up with a WOO AUDIO WA2 and a SCHIIT Asgard 2. I also ended up grabbing an IPURE dock and SCHIIT's Uber Bifrost DAC.

I will do a little write up of each piece later but real quick I will say that the WA2 is absolutely incredible as is the Bifost DAC, the Asgard 2 however left something to be desired in its overall sound. Oh and the IPURE dock, love it! I use it's digital out to the Bifrost but I also have used its internal DAC, and it's not that bad!

Would love to post some pics but the pics I take with the iPad are too big to post on this site.

 

[Rope]

The Woo is a very nice piece, albeit pricey. Schiit's Uber Bifrost is an exceptional value and when paired with their LYR is incredible and should be even more so with the Woo.

Congrats on the HP goodies...you SUCK!

Rope

 

[walls]

The WOO is pricey but until you get to actually experience one you don't understand the high cost. It's meticulously built and sounds fantastic.

I agree about the UberFrost, I like mine a lot with one complaint.... Who in their right mind puts the frigging power switch on the BACK of a unit??? Dumbest damn thing I ever saw. Lol.
The A2 is very disappointing, congested sounding and just "meh". Not a product I would recommend to someone that wants great sound. I honestly don't understand the love this amp gets.

 

[PaulyT]

What headphones are you using with all that nice amp power?

I'm still running my humble little Audiotailor Jade tube amp, love it, and my "beauty and the beast" modded Denon 5000.

 

[walls]

Still using my HD650's and 598's. I was close to pulling the trigger on a pair of hd800's but I'm starting to lean to the T1's instead.

I also have a Bottlehead crack that's just waiting for me to get off my ass and build.

Again, how do I load pics from my iPad to this site? I don't believe the iPad will let me reissue pics.

 

[walls]

RE SIZE lol

 

[PaulyT]

Nice. Yeah I'd love to try some T1s, bit out of my budget right now (especially if I spend money on camera gear )...

There's a size limit on what you can post here directly. Do you have photobucket or some such thing? If they do auto-resize, you can link an image here directly as long as it fits within 1200x1200 pixels.

 

[Rope]

As it relates to dynamic driven HP's, T1's cannot be beat. As for ortho's, HE-6 IMO is king but real tough to drive.

Rope

 

[walls]

I have no interest in orthos at all. Besides my amps couldn't drive them well and I am not buying another amp any time soon.

I will most likely get the T1's and eventually the HD800' as well.

 

[Rope]

Interesting side note: Dane has purchased many (as in buttload) HP's, he stopped after purchasing the T1's.

Rope

 

[walls]

I thought his holy grail was a pair of JVC's?

 

[Rope]

They were till he purchased the T1's. Come to think of it, he sold the JVC's to acquire the T1's.

BTW, where the hell is GreatDane????

Rope

 

[walls]

Man I would love to hear his impression of them on his woo.

 

[walls]

Hey PaulyT pm me your addy and I will send you my LD2++ to try for a while! with all the tubes. I would love to hear your impressions of it against the Jade!!!!!!!!

 

[PaulyT]

That would be awesome! PM sent. Haven't done any really serious headphone gear testing in quite some time, not since getting the Jade and doing some tube rolling with it, guess it must've been 4-5 years ago now. Someday I'll probably want to try a good SS amp, mainly because I don't want to go through the bother/expense of tube rolling again if/why the Jade or its tubes crap out... Good tubes are just getting more and more expensive. But I do like the sound.

 

[Rope]

Tubes capable of excellent audio reproduction are more expensive/difficult to find because they were manufactured in an era where tubes were a necessity and produced for non-audio use. Siemens & Halske CCa, for example, were used in radar equipment and currently cost as much as a medium grade tube amp. Lorenz tubes, if they can be found at all, are among the finest sounding tubes ever produced and are considered the holy grail amongst tube heads.

Rope

 

[walls]

I won't get to crazy with the tubes, I have rolled enough to know that the sound doesn't change THAT much. There is a difference, but not a $500 difference.

PaulyT should get the LD by Saturday and I am sending three sets of paired tubes with it. I'm curious to see if he rates them from best to worst like I did.