Show us your headphones

I don’t like headphones either @charlesphoto - but you’re right, the Amirons are supremely comfortable. Great sound, too for just £450.

I got mine on Black Friday for $319, so even happier! They sound sublime through the V1, but recently got a Matrix Mini in the office that has both 6.35 and 4.4 balanced inputs. Could only find an eBay Chinese ‘audiophile’ cable for the 4.4. It’s short so keeps me tied to the desk, but it was that much better then the 6.35, at least on that DAC.

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Nice photo Kev, I’m a big B+W fan (not bad headphones either!)

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Can I ask what is the base/isolator unit its stood on? I have a Star too , thanks

It’s a simple black granite chopping board


Koss KPH30i
These are about 40 bucks and sound great

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Hi all,

I seek your advice. I took the plunge couple of years back to buy Seinheiser HD820’s. I already had a DAC V1 which was being used in conjunction with my Mini Mac. This was pre Quboz on Naim streamers. I thought great, the DAC V1 would act as my headphone amp. It has served me well. On a Saturday night whilst the family are watching the “ever exciting” Saturday night TV I listen to music through my headphones. It has surprised me how much I’m enjoying my audio diet in this way. I feel I have exhausted the V1 as my headphones amp and yearn for more.

Your move! Which path shall I go down? Obviously the Seinheiser headphones amp would be the natural partner. I am unsure which way to go. I don’t want to change headphones at this stage, just amp. What do you guys recommend?

Violectric ? There are many good choices that adds little warmth to hd800s

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Hi Dusty
I think the answer will depend partly on your existing system, and whether or not you want to use this with headphones. If so, you may just want an analogue headphone amp connected to your system.
On the other hand, if you want a standalone headphone setup, or one which only uses a digital source, you may want a combined DAC/headphone amp like your V1. I find the Chord DACs to be very good with headphones. My Naim streamer is connected to a Chord Dave, which happens to have an excellent headphone amp, although that’s not the main reason I bought it.

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Hi guys.

Thank you for your advice. My main system is a 552/500 and ND555. I currently use a DIN cable from 552 to V1, and change output on ND555 to Digital BNC. I have no idea if this is the best way? I have moved Mac Mini to different location after ND555 update enabled Quboz etc. Is the way I have V1 connected the best way currently?
I have read many favourable posts here about Chord and the Vioelectric. Due to lock down I’ve not had a chance to demo anything. Also, I had no budget in mind. Obviously off the scale, this will keep my wife happy! Although just an amp that will drive the 820’s happily and me not thinking I wish I had got some else!!!

I don’t think I even heard my HD-800 properly until I put them on a Luxman SQ-N150 tube device. Like another headphone entirely. I’d gone with the HL2/HCdr initially after it saw off a Chord Hugo and despite the expense it was hard to beat.

I can’t comment on other combos with the same Luxman amp, but paired with HD-800 is like they were made for each other.

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Recently traded in Stegadiver 5 for a ProMission X👌

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I’m confused. (It doesn’t take much!) The only DIN connection on the V1 is the analogue output. Would you not use the SPDIF connection from ND555 into the V1 for headphone use?
Those of us who use our Naim streamers as a digital transport into a Chord DAC do this, and feed the signal back into the preamp or power amp. Not a conventional use of an ND555, I admit, but who knows?!
As for which DAC /headphone amp you should choose, of course Chord is not the only option out there, but from their range, I would consider the TT2, as I believe it has a particularly strong headphone amp.

Same here I use a V1 for headphone listening connected from my ND555 with a digital cable just switch to digital out for headphone use.

My 252 it not connected to the V1 at all.

What do you make of your Kann Alpha? Mine is burning in nicely now and the performance is pretty special I think. Way ahead of the original Kann it has replaced I would say.

Bruce

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Cheers guys. I didn’t think to connect it that way. Having said that at the time I did call Naim on how to connect and what I have is what they advised. I will connect using a digital cable. This has me wondering if I may get better quality results this way.

One thing my dealer did was to reconfigure the DAC V1 remote settings so that the volume control does not activate my 252 handy for when you switch back to speaker listening.

I like a lot👌, it’s quite powerful unit so no problem to drive even HD800S and since I have InEar PMX, it sounds fantastic.
Today I have listened SP2000… wow, that’s the beast ! Sounds much more open and analog compared with Kann Alpha … only a bit pricey :grimacing:

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I’m still confused! How are you getting the signal from the ND555 to the V1? It can’t be via the DIN connection because that’s an analogue output. There is no analogue input.