Show us your headphones

I rather like its default setting of 700 Hz cutoff frequency with 4.5dB of feed. Seems to work well for me when I want to use.

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Thanks for this… trying out Jan Meier’s settings… CF 650 / FL 9.5. Been using this for the last 10 tracks and it sounds really good. While not the same as NFL, the presentation is certainly closer to it than without it. Very pleasing.

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This is a Duo that i have eyes on:)

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Lovely bit of kit, when Sony decide to do High End they do it well, but too often they just paddle in the shallow end

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Sennheiser HD 650 ( 2019 ) - beyerdynamic dt 880 black edition - grado gh2 - hifiman he 1000 v1 - Shure srh 940- creative aurvana live

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What price range/level of headphones would you recommend to suit my Nova, I want to get the best out of them but don’t want to spend too much if the Nova can’t do them justice?

I use a pair of Meze 99 Classics with my Nova and they are brilliant. V good price. There is lots about these cans on the forum so have a look on the search function

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My first picture here – until recently I didn’t have nice stands to “display” my headphones. But eventually I decided to get Room’s Audio headphone stands. These are the metal version, which is much heavier than the wooden one. I really like the look with my Sennheiser HD800S and Focal Elegia; and I think the greater weight makes them much more stable…

In the back, you can see a print by Natalie Goncharova. When I saw it in Tate Modern it reminded me of Stravinsky’s Firebird, and I rather like Russian Avantgarde – as a few here might have guessed considering my avatar. :grinning:

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Look really good on them… look really well made!

The print adds a lovely splash of colour to contrast the monotone colours of the headphones and stands. Very nice!

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Does anyone own or have listened to the Abyss AB 1266 TC headphones.
The new iteration of Abyss’ flagship headphones.

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I have a pair of the Dan Clark Aeon 2 closed backs on home demo at the moment and am impressed with them. They are very comfortable and have good isolation.

I am using the Vivo single ended cable into my Auralic Taurus II headphone amplifier.

The Aeon 2s are less efficient than my HD800 phones - 93 dB vs 98 dB per whatever

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been dying to hear Abyss, was tempted by the orginals. saw a review that said partnered with my Cavali audio Liquid gold amp they were a match made in heaven. Head-fi website is often filled with these colourful descriptions. They are serious cash though and very few turn up second hand.

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I bought these for use with an RME ADI-2 FS … comfortable, quiet, very nice sounding to me! Happy still after a few months, albeit limited total time listening.

Enjoy your demo, good luck with the search

Regards alan

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Perhaps this is a little off topic @alan33 but what are your thoughts on the RME ADI-2 ? it looks like a very neat bit of kit with lots of features

Hi Roog,

Yes it’s a really neat box with lots of features lol, although I’m really only using it in its basic default mode.

First I ran it off a Windows computer (acting as a Roon endpoint) into Dynaudio active desktop monitors and that was fantastic - so acting as a USB DAC plus preamp, with either cinch RCA (great) or XLR (better) out to the Dynaudios. Nice volume control, and seemingly impervious to the complaints you sometimes hear about noisy USB sources from computers. I enjoyed that not only working at the desk in the home office (near field), but also from the sofa / den located at the other end of the room (far field, say 6 or 7 m away).

Then I moved it to my bedside night table, to use as a headphone station fed by a RPi4 running RoPieee. There are two outputs: 1/4” for regular phones (I have Sennheiser HD650 plus the Aeon 2 Closed) and an even lower noise 1/8” one for IEM (I have several modest sets from Campfire and Orvieti; used to travel a lot). Both are really solid to me, but this is the first serious headphone amp I’ve owned so take that for what it’s worth.

The reviews were all stellar, as you likely know, both on the DAC and the amp portions of the RME box - I bought it without a demo based on the strength of reviews plus (enthusiastic) agreement by the guy at the home studio store I deal with (and could return for shipping and flat restocking / open box fee if I hated it) as well as the guy at the online headphone shop I haunt. As you can infer, I am happy with the purchase (and note that many devices reviewed with “comparable” performance at or near the price point are either DAC only or Amp only, so it’s sort of a two-for-one; particularly I noted the Violectric amp was cited as being equivalent in one or two comparison reviews).

My faith that “some stuff shouldn’t matter if things are done properly” (I’m a retired research physicist / manager from the national metrology lab) is vindicated with this box as well. The online forum comments from the RME engineers are pretty matter of fact in saying that if you can hear cable differences or USB source differences or even USB vs TOSLink vs Coax differences then the DAaC input design could (and should) be improved. I agree and thus far note that they have done their job really well indeed. It is studio / lab grade in build and performance, which I appreciate and enjoy.

I have also used both my iPhone and my iPad as input sources (using the Lightning-to-USB or USB C-to-A adapter, respectively) and those sound great with either
locally stored or network streamed content. I used it this way when I took it to Germany to stay with my wife for the month and didn’t bring my Roon Core along (although when I go back next time, I will just use the Atom headphone out instead to avoid hassles of carry on weight and fragility).

Some will disagree at this point, and hear improvements and prefer performance from higher quality sources… no problems! This is already great quality for me and about as convenient as I can imagine.

There are a million settings to adjust, several eq presets you can save, cross fade, etc., as well … I’ve done essentially nothing with those so far. It sounds awesome straight out of the box.

Hope this helps and I’m happy to try out anything that might interest you if you are seeking something specific. Good luck with your own explorations!

Regards alan

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Cheers @alan33 your comprehensive comments are helpful and encouraging, I am on the look out for a DAC with volume control and this one seems to be an interesting prospect. I also like the idea of the EQ section as I am not averse to the idea of bass and treble controls in my system.

I would be interested to see how it drives a Naim power amp.

I am also intrigued by the RME DAC. Reviews suggest it’s at the level of Chord Hugo/Qutest, Mytek, and Benchmark – quite an achievement, if true, at that price point… Also, user reports suggest it’s pairs well with Sennheiser’s HD800S, which is music to my ears… :grinning: If the RME DAC pairs reasonably well with a Naim power-amp – even better!

I found it drove the Dynaudio active monitors well, but have no other experience (although the thought has certainly occurred to me!) … I believe @anon91915252 also has the RME ADI-2 FS and there are probably others as well. Since it has a small remote, including volume and input switching, it would be fairly convenient. Those needing analog inputs could also check out the PRO version which has a much more studio (rather than hifi or audiophile) sensibility.

Good luck with your search, I certainly recommend getting a closer look and demo of this if you can.

Regards alan

edit to add a photo to get the thread back on track:

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I use it for Headphones mainly but it also drives some powered speakers. It has a variable level outputs for different sensitivities which you can leave it to auto adjust or set it your self it has 0db, +7db or +13db. I don’t use the preamp at all as it drives a set of powered speakers which have their own preamp so only line level inputs. I know of people using it direct to power amps and they have been very happy with it.

Its a very good DAC and headamp I can only sing it’s praises. It has features you can use or ignore it gives you options. Apart from using its very good loudness feature I keep it all as defaults and let RME decide what’s good.

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Thank you both for your feedback. As you say, there are people on the RME forum who say that they are very happy with it feeding their power amp directly, its just that none of these people have Naim power amps, typical!