Can recommendations
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:06 pm
As mentioned in outher threads which i wont pollute with this, i have lost the magic somewhat with my main system. not in terms of sound it still sounds as it did, but in terms of motivation, time, circumstances and apathy.
I have found abit of the magic in a small more personal way with the little headphone system that i have put together sort of on the cheap. Cheap in relative terms.
At the moment it consists of my jvc ql-y3f, benedict audio phono stage, wad hd83 amp that one of my friends loaned me, and a succession of different cans.
This initially started as tidal on a phone and some b&w p5s. Then added an astell and kern bluetooth dac. Mr fretless kindly sent me some p7s which are at the moment with my dad, the collection grew into several pairs of sennheiser momentums (wired) which are in use by my kids, then onto some planars in the form of fostex t50rps.
I then dropped on some really cheap hifiman deva planars that were cheap because they didnt have the bluetooth widget so are wired. Didnt bother me, i have the astell and kern
It then morphed again.
And will morph slightly again shortly
Now i am a lazy godfornothing government pleb rather than an enterprising small business owner according to the daily heil, i have some actual honest to god actual money to spend. And its burning a hole.
At the moment the stage 1 of the 'im getting a little bit obsessed and want to tweak around' plans are to have the jvc replaced by my oracle delphi with an sme 309 on it because the jvc is playing up a little. I'll do this first. the wad is currently in and out of this little setup as i bought a myryad z40 can amp which is really quite nice, and i have another can amp built by a friend of mine that he asked me to audition and see what i think of it.
I have added a linn mimik cd player because the myryad has 4 inputs
So as of now, i have jvc, benedict audio phono, linn mimik, myryad z40, hifiman deva
I have plenty of decks to shuffle in and out, a cyrus cd7 if i want to faff with the cd, 3 headphone amps to play with and a load of cans.
But.
I think that the devas are the right path, between the fostex t50s and the devas i have settled on open back planars. And i want to improve on them.
The devas were a definite step up from the t50s in terms of clarity and realism, so whats the next step.
The sundaras are an obvious port of call, but wether they are a small increment better or a sideways move is the question. The devas cost me 60 quid. The fostexes cost me about 90, the sundaras are a fair whack more at 239 quid new from a couple of suppliers or somewhere around 200 second hand.
Its a bit of a punt to be shelling out 240 quid if they are just a bit different to the devas.
So what sort of alternatives are there? This is where im not altogether confident, because the amount of bollocks out there, as we all know, is astronomical.
And as a lowly government pleb, i cant have the daily fail accusing me of being an overpaid lazy leftie for spending too much on something no better.
I was looking at the quad era 1 secondhand which pop up every so often for 350 ish, im not averse to spending some decent coin, but what to do, what to do!
Suggestions for something to look at, research, pine over, in the 250 to 400 range, that are open back planars, from people who i actually consider to have a valid opinion are rather more useful to me than the online rantings of billybollocks21 on the hifiwank forum who is a rabid [insert company name here] fanboy
Answers on a postcard....
Onwards!
I have found abit of the magic in a small more personal way with the little headphone system that i have put together sort of on the cheap. Cheap in relative terms.
At the moment it consists of my jvc ql-y3f, benedict audio phono stage, wad hd83 amp that one of my friends loaned me, and a succession of different cans.
This initially started as tidal on a phone and some b&w p5s. Then added an astell and kern bluetooth dac. Mr fretless kindly sent me some p7s which are at the moment with my dad, the collection grew into several pairs of sennheiser momentums (wired) which are in use by my kids, then onto some planars in the form of fostex t50rps.
I then dropped on some really cheap hifiman deva planars that were cheap because they didnt have the bluetooth widget so are wired. Didnt bother me, i have the astell and kern
It then morphed again.
And will morph slightly again shortly
Now i am a lazy godfornothing government pleb rather than an enterprising small business owner according to the daily heil, i have some actual honest to god actual money to spend. And its burning a hole.
At the moment the stage 1 of the 'im getting a little bit obsessed and want to tweak around' plans are to have the jvc replaced by my oracle delphi with an sme 309 on it because the jvc is playing up a little. I'll do this first. the wad is currently in and out of this little setup as i bought a myryad z40 can amp which is really quite nice, and i have another can amp built by a friend of mine that he asked me to audition and see what i think of it.
I have added a linn mimik cd player because the myryad has 4 inputs
So as of now, i have jvc, benedict audio phono, linn mimik, myryad z40, hifiman deva
I have plenty of decks to shuffle in and out, a cyrus cd7 if i want to faff with the cd, 3 headphone amps to play with and a load of cans.
But.
I think that the devas are the right path, between the fostex t50s and the devas i have settled on open back planars. And i want to improve on them.
The devas were a definite step up from the t50s in terms of clarity and realism, so whats the next step.
The sundaras are an obvious port of call, but wether they are a small increment better or a sideways move is the question. The devas cost me 60 quid. The fostexes cost me about 90, the sundaras are a fair whack more at 239 quid new from a couple of suppliers or somewhere around 200 second hand.
Its a bit of a punt to be shelling out 240 quid if they are just a bit different to the devas.
So what sort of alternatives are there? This is where im not altogether confident, because the amount of bollocks out there, as we all know, is astronomical.
And as a lowly government pleb, i cant have the daily fail accusing me of being an overpaid lazy leftie for spending too much on something no better.
I was looking at the quad era 1 secondhand which pop up every so often for 350 ish, im not averse to spending some decent coin, but what to do, what to do!
Suggestions for something to look at, research, pine over, in the 250 to 400 range, that are open back planars, from people who i actually consider to have a valid opinion are rather more useful to me than the online rantings of billybollocks21 on the hifiwank forum who is a rabid [insert company name here] fanboy
Answers on a postcard....
Onwards!