I can see at least three there I have, your missing one of the red round Iriver ones, the was always my favourite, I’ll have to hunt it out again.
Wow, what a collection!
Yep - that is some collection 
I heard this paired with the new HeadAmp GS Mini at CanJam NY. Quite an enjoyable setup. I will be curious to hear your findings.
Best
Gregg
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Gregg – the Bridge is proving to be very good and a good match with my Z1R phones. A few tweaks in the menu (HP only, Analogue volume control) and it really sings. It betters the 1Z when the 1Z is running as a USB DAC and is certainly on par with the 1Z when this playing from memory. It integrates nicely with Roon as a simple plug and play solution and I’d have no hesitation in getting one. Not tried wireless but have it plugged into my ‘audio’ network – Nucleus and Cisco 2960.
But….
I thought I’d give the USB input a try using my Streambox S2 Ultra the same I use with the 1Z at home and for me this is better than the network connection. Via Ethernet, all is good, but the USB connection (via Chord C USB) has more drive and is even more fun to listen to. I’ve swapped back and forth a few times now and the results are consistently in favour of the USB connection so if I do go down the Mytek route it will be the Brooklyn DAC+ rather than the Bridge – ok it’s not one box but the Streambox is very small and can be tucked away. Summary, I could live happily ever after with the Brooklyn Bridge but need to hear some of the competition first.
Next on the list is the Hugo TT2 which I should have later this week to demo. I’m tempted to give the DAVE a try but fear this may lead into too much temptation…
James
PS - That HeadAmp GS Mini looks rather tasty. That coupled with a Chord Qutest…
You have started something now…
The Iriver SlimX IMP-400 (sold 1999-2002)
…20 years in the loft (the mp3 cd-rw inside is dated Nov 1999 a Neil Young mix and for some reason the theme from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!) insert batteries and it works and sounds rarther good!
(phones Fidue A83 from 2014)
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I really think Naim are missing something here…a super headline dr is desperately needed…perhaps powered by the 555ps…come Naim…what about the Head Statement!!!
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Cannot agree more, but competition is fierce in the field of home h/p listening!!!
If I were at The Company I would go for a portable player, like Pono (let this beautiful candy-bar RIP). Competing with our Chinese comrads sounds like a no-brainer to me
Why Ayre never followed up with Pono-II is also beyond me
For me my head-fi was my introduction to the world of Audiophile. The HD650 has served me a solid 10+ years and while I now prefer other headphones at the HD650 price range I still held on to it for nostalgic purpose as it was my first serious audiophile purchase. Since then, I changed a few headphone amp till I realize how much money I was spending on head-fi and make a jump to stereo speakers instead. Since then the Magni 3 has been reliably driving my HD650 and acts as a pre-amp to the system.
Would be curious to upgrade to a Valhalla 2 just for the sake of adding some tubes to the system.
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I have just bought some Shanling M100 IEMs to listen to Tidal on my mobile and stored files on my little Sandisk Clip.
Once run-in I will get a portable DAC/Amp and the sub £100 choices are the Shanling UP, the Cyrus Soundkey and the Dragonfly Black. They all review well and assuming same brand synergy the UP would seem the logical choice but has anybody compared them?
The UP started out well over £100 but I believe there is a Bluetooth version coming out (which I don’t need) hence the reduction.
I don’t intend to spend more than £100 so the Dragonfly Red is out.
To be fair, Ponoplayer was Neil Young’s project and Ayre were brought in to do the audio. I guess Ponoplayer wasn’t as successful as NY hoped, so the project was put on ice.
Ayre followed up the Ponoplayer by effectively using a similar balanced zero feedback audio design but scaled up for the desktop in the Codex DAC/Headphone amp. And then Charley Hansen, the founder of Ayre Acoustics and the man behind the Ponoplayer’s audio, tragically passed away just over 18 months ago.
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Didn’t help that Apple bought the Pono store operator and immediately shut it down.
Not the first time either. I had a Sanyo player ages ago that ran off Liquid Audio Store. Apple bought that too to form the basis of what became iTunes. One day I plugged in my Sanyo and tried to connect to the store. I actually got a popup telling me I needed to switch to iTunes and purchase an iPod. Disgusted, I threw the thing in bin and swore off iPods for life.
When he was alive, the animosity between Neil Young and Steve Jobs was something of a legend.
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A shame really - seemed a very decent product. Apart from SQ, was the USP the access to a library of hi-res music provided by the Pono store or was it something else (might be getting a bit off topic here…)
There’s much not to like about the actual product; tiny touchscreen, Fisher-Price looks and toy feel, limited battery life, Toblerone shape (OK, some love this, including yours truly), lack of any wifi or bluetooth, general odd behaviour from time to time, but the real draw is the sound. It’ll sound great with most 'phones, but in particular, IIRC it was developed on HD600s and here, especially when used in balanced mode, it’s lovely. Others will do better hifi, especially the top end DAPs such as the AKs and others, but nothing I’ve tried sounds as effortlessly natural - it’s an odd thing, impossible to describe, but you know it when you hear it. And that’s just with standard 16bit 44.1kHz FLAc files, let alone Hi-Res PCM and DSD files. Just ensure you have the final FW loaded that enables DSD playback. Also, there is some inconsistency between players - I’ve had four here and still have two of them. One is a Tom Petty Special and the other a standard black unit - the black unit I still have sounded much the best compared to the other two I let go.
I quickly shied away from the only Ponomusic site. It was not very good. In the end I just side loaded or dragged and dropped my own FLAC files onto the internal memory and onto Micro SD cards. Oh, and the really good news is that it seems that the card size limit doesn’t actually exist. I’m using 256GB cards in the Ponoplayer without issue (except they take a while to initialise when first loaded), and have heard that 512GB cards work as well.
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Cheers Richard - sounds like an interesting (if slightly quirky) bit of kit
James
Thank you for the detailed reply and analysis. As you know these past few years I have been on a side journey to my 552/500/KDS system and have been actively playing with all things headphone related. I have had the chance to visit with the HeadAmp guys the past three years at CanJam NY and they definitely know what they are doing and have an astute ear when it comes to system building. After all they build the TOTL Blue Hawaii ElectroStatic amplifier so I think that speaks well as to their abilities.
I visited them this past January at CanJam specifically to listen to the new GSX Mini - and I brought my Utopia/Kimber Axios cable along for the demo. I currently have a Moon 430 HA performing headphone amplifier duties and have it connected to my 552 so that I can use my Linn KDS and LP12 as a source. Lets simply say I have never been happy with the Moon.
The HeadAmp guys built chose a system around the new Mytek Brooklyn bridge and used this to show off their new GSX Mini (and bypass the internal headphone amp). I spent a good 45 minutes listening to this system and it had all of the Naim qualities (and Linn source qualities in my particular case) which we value. Just a wonderful, engaging toe tapping system which is excellent VFM imho for a complete turnkey approach to headphone listening.
Your observations on the USB vs. network input are quite interesting. I do encourage you however to spend some time looking at the Mytek thread on HeadFi and do some googling. Do not quote me on this however I seem to recall reading something published by the Mytek designer which said that although the Brooklyn+ and Brooklyn Bridge were supposed to be identical in performance - he felt that the Bridge slightly beat out the + version due to the ability to implement a few additional things in the design process.
I also found your comments interesting in analyzing the Mytek vs. 1Z when the 1Z was used in USB DAC mode. I am now almost 100% streaming from Tidal (even though I have 3K of CD’s) and I frequently find myself using an iPhone connected to the 1Z and streaming Tidal to my Utopia’s and Z1R. I frequently wonder whether using the 1Z in USB DAC mode is bringing out the best of its capabilities so I found your findings interesting.
I look forward to hearing your take on the TT2. At CanJam NY Mr Speakers was in the same private room as HeadAmp and I had an appointment to demo the new Nimbus headphone amplifier from Violectric. They had it connected to the TT2 and I have to admit I was disappointed. I do not know if it was the Chord or the Nimbus which was throwing things off. Based on the large number of fans who love the TT2 I would like to think it was the amplifier - so I will be interested in hearing how your demo goes.
I have been actively following Simon’s DAVE thread as like you I have been tempted to look at the TT2 and DAVE for a stand alone headphone system. I am now a bit concerned as I seem to detect that the quality of the streamer plays an important part in how the DAVE performs. That is contrary to what I thought Chord’s general philosophy was - that you could connect anything to their DAC’s (even an iPhone) and still achieve stellar performance.
Best
Gregg
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I don’t know for sure, but I have not heard Simon talk about using headphones with the Dave or TT2…so he might be just using them as a DAC in his speaker system only. Maybe he will clarify if he reads this. I am enjoying my TT2 with headphones, but need to upgrade them to fully appreciate the TT2.
I only listened to the TT Mk 1 – it was hugely enjoyable. I bet you won’t regret getting the best headphones you can afford for the TT2. Late night sessions with headphones are great if you need to consider the needs of others.
Yes I agree, late night listening I find so relaxing with headphones. I live in an apartment building, so volume must be limited with my speakers. It just seems like there are so many options to choose from now, I plan on making a trip to a specialized headphone shop (3 hours away) when I am ready to purchase a new pair. As a teen, I spent countless hours in my bedroom listening to headphones (late night),so it really transports me back to my youth. Funny how much I used to enjoy it immensely, even with a modest all in one record player. Maybe it was the music I was discovering at the time…Zeppelin, Floyd, Sabbath etc. The TT2 is on a different planet, really immerses you into the recording, with no distractions from the environment around you.
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I have a loan of a TT2 on Friday for a few days so I’m looking forward to hearing what this can do. The Mytek has set the bar high…