Upgrading Sound

[Clover11]

Sound is a big part of the experience for me and I am looking to upgrade from the gaming headset I got as a gift a long time ago. Since I tend to race at night after my wife goes to bed, I almost always use headphones. I'm perfectly fine with adding a Amp/DAC for the setup and they don't need to have a mic as I am fine running an external mic. I'm just digging into this, but here is some of what I am looking into now. Imaging, and comfort are big factors for me. Originally I was thinking open back but it seems like there are also good closed back options like the Beyerdynamic MX300. I have also seen a lot of recommendations for the Artic Steel Series Pro wireless. I had not really been thinking wireless would give me the same sound but I don't know much.


Headphones:
Sennheiser HD600, HD598 HD 599
Audeze LCD-1 or LCD-2
HiFiMan Sundras
Beyerdynamic 1990, 770 or MX300
Grado?
Maybe even spring for some Focal Elex

AMP:
Schiit Magnius
Shiit Magi

DAC:
Schiit Modius
Schiid Modi

Maybe the Schiit Hel would work well for both but I kind of like the idea of a balance setup with the Magnius/Modius.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

For pure music streamers is the way to go, they are completely isolated from PCs, you only need one to stream files over, plus they have direct integration with streaming services like Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify. I don't think Amazon HD made it there yet though, so if you use one afraid your options are limited.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've ripped my entire CD and SACD collection. FYI with the Oppo 105D you can rip the full 24bit wide data of an SACD

 

[Deleted member 197115]

You should consider some lossless streaming services. Hoarding digital files is an old school nowadays. I have huge digital library, just stoped using it completely after switching over.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I listen to Spotify for a lot, but I don't have a high bitrate streaming service.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I listen to Spotify for a lot, but I don't have a high bitrate streaming service.

Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music HD all sport redbook lossless and high res titles. Deezer has a mix of mp3 and redbook, no high res. They all have trial period, check them out to see which one is more to your taste and has the right selection of your listened genres.
Tidal high res is MQA encoded, so it's essentially lossy format and to get full advantage of it you need MQA enabled DAC. Others are using standard FLAC encoding.
One more Amazon and Qobuz have offline mode, so essentially you can download albums you like and listen without internet access. From what I remember Tidal doesn't have that feature.

EDIT: Offline mode is present in Tidal but only for mobile app, not desktop.

 

[Mr Latte]

Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music HD all sport redbook lossless and high res titles. Deezer has a mix of mp3 and redbook, no high res. They all have trial period, check them out to see which one is more to your taste and has the right selection of your listened genres.
Tidal high res is MQA encoded, so it's essentially lossy format and to get full advantage of it you need MQA enabled DAC. Others are using standard FLAC encoding.
One more Amazon and Qobuz have offline mode, so essentially you can download albums you like and listen without internet access. From what I remember Tidal doesn't have that feature.

EDIT: Offline mode is present in Tidal but only for mobile app, not desktop.

My friend on his 20K+ LINN HiFi when we both done blind tests
We could not correctly determine LOSSLESS 24biit 96KHz material compared to CD and high bit rate MP3.

In some cases they all sounded good as sure the speakers gave amazing detail and quality.
The source material seemed to make limited differences.

We may not have the best ears, both in or mid-upper 40s but even on his luxury hifi we both could not correctly distinguish enough difference on several tracks. On some material, we did choose correctly but we were not consistent at doing so.

A large portion of the audio industry is a con. many labeled HI-RES material is taken from CD quality masters, repackaged/resold at a premium.

He would say that more accomplished or personal preference with the hardware used may bring greater rewards or pleasure and satisfaction from the music than the type/format of source material used.

 

[RCHeliguy]

For the VAST majority of people once you get above a 320 kbps MPG3 a properly compressed file is indistinguishable from the raw file.

The biggest reason that people are getting 24 bit music is that the companies selling these "tend" to remaster the music and allow more dynamic range, but unless you remaster them there is no sonic difference.

In some cases the original mastered music on 16 bit sounds better than the remastered 24 bit versions. It varies greatly.

I have had some were the original redbook ( standard CD ) sounds flat which is purely the product of how it was mastered and the remastered version sound much more full of life with more dynamic punch. But if you had remastered a 16 bit version similarly, it would sound the same.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I like how $20K equipment makes someone authoritative expert.
If compressed mp3 is the same to you as high res material, be happy, you can save money.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I like how $20K equipment makes someone authoritative expert.
If compressed mp3 is the same to you as high res material, be happy, you can save money.

My comments on compressed files are based on scientific analysis conducted with A/B testing that also includes audiophiles.

At times people could hear a slight difference between track A and track B, but were completely random with regard to which one sounded better or which was was compressed vs. uncompressed.

And yes I mostly listen to 16 bit music. I ripped my disk collection as FLAC files simply because disk space is cheap and I never wanted to go through that again.

When people dispute blind A/B testing, that is when I know they've bought into "magic".

 

[Deleted member 197115]

It is quite simple really, compressed track is missing information present in original material. I think we all agree that it's scientific and can be easily measured. Whether it sounds better or worse to some, or the same is matter of personal preferences, genetics, and developed listening skills.
I find it quite amusing that this decades old arguments MP3 vs FLAC is still alive. Well, guess anyone venturing into higher end audio going through the same phase.
From my end I can just add that high resolving headphone setup is much better for this sort of analysis, old or badly mastered tracks will probably show little to no difference, and some things are not that easy to spot during intense (first mistake) A/B/X comparison but become more apparent after prolonged listening sessions.
Anyway, not trying to convince anyone of what they can or can't hear, your choice and your money. Investing $20K into high end and settling for MP3 is ridiculous IMO, why do you need that high end system in the first place, could have just settled for FM radio. But people have different priorities, expensive stuff could be just a statement to impress others.
@RCHeliguy, why did you bother ripping your SACD in high res lossless may I ask, if it's all the same?

 

[Mr Latte]

I like how $20K equipment makes someone authoritative expert.
If compressed mp3 is the same to you as high res material, be happy, you can save money.

I'm just giving you a truthful account and I very much expect a lot of people if doing their own blind tests, they too, will not be able to clearly define correctly what is the HD-based source.

Its not as if the difference is so huge and bigger differences are possible with hardware, just as user-defined tuning preferences are possible with EQ.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I ripped what I could just because I had the physical media, and disk space is cheap. I figured why not ? It's that simple. I have 2Tb of music files right now and while most are available through streaming services, some are not. There is a LOT more content on streaming services than what I personally own.

 

[Clover11]

I ended up ordering a Schiit Jotunheim 2 and a Modius. I'm thinking the Jotuneheim 2 should give me the flexibility for any headphones and keep me satisfied for awhile.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I ended up ordering a Schiit Jotunheim 2 and a Modius. I'm thinking the Jotuneheim 2 should give me the flexibility for any headphones and keep me satisfied for awhile.

Why you didn't just add DAC module to Jotunheim?
And don't forget to source balanced cable for Sundara as this amp has balanced drive.

 

[TedBrosby-]

I still remember when SoundBlaster cards were selling for like $200 and I would have customers (I built custom gaming computers), who wanted really high end sound cards for their 5.1 speaker systems, and how much trouble I went through explaining to them that their speakers are the biggest impediment to their sound quality.

 

[Clover11]

Why you didn't just add DAC module to Jotunheim?
And don't forget to source balanced cable for Sundara as this amp has balanced drive.

I'm not sure I made the right decision and I thought about going with the "True Multibit" DAC but my thinking was that just going separate would give me more flexibility if I even want to change it up. It won't last there, but I also wanted to try it on my home stereo system and see how it compared to the DAC that is just coming from my Denon System. The Modius can just run through the USB, so no extra power cord which is nice, though that is not really an advantage over the all in one unit. Just a notable nice feature if you have a bazillion things plugged in already.

 

[Mr Latte]

Part of the fun is finding what you like but to do that you have to try things.
It's just that with audio, it's a huge industry with a lot of options and a tonne more opinions.

You can get great results that will please most people with not spending, too much money but can also easily spend a lot more money in search of "even betters" with no guarantee of being much more satisfied.

WTTJ

 

[RCHeliguy]

Depending on what you are listening to, audio fidelity isn't even important.

Lately I've been on a Daft Punk kick, and their music is all electronic samples and manipulation. It's more like an ear worm with lots of repetition but nothing that remotely sounds natural. As long as you have strong bass and dynamic range it sounds great.

The extreme opposite would be some of the obscure Maple Shade CD's I've purchased which have VERY minimal post processing, simple microphone setups where they adjust volume levels of everything before recording and just record.

In some of these recordings the stereo imaging is phenomenal. It's like you are sitting in the room they are recording in and know exactly where each instrument is and can hear the singer hanging mid air between the speakers. You can hear the minute details of the musicians. In this case everything revolves around how the music was recorded so that it doesn't interfere with the subtle phasing of the music that your ears use to determine directionality.

That said the vast majority of the music I enjoy isn't recorded remotely like that and I typically only play from the Maple Shade collection when showing off my stereo. Even then I only start with that type of material at lower volumes, where you can still hear a whisper, then I start increasing the volume and moving to the better recordings and remasters of more popular music.

In the end I listen to what I enjoy and it frequently is not "audiophile" material.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

I'm not sure I made the right decision and I thought about going with the "True Multibit" DAC but my thinking was that just going separate would give me more flexibility if I even want to change it up. It won't last there, but I also wanted to try it on my home stereo system and see how it compared to the DAC that is just coming from my Denon System. The Modius can just run through the USB, so no extra power cord which is nice, though that is not really an advantage over the all in one unit. Just a notable nice feature if you have a bazillion things plugged in already.

Seems like True Multibit option has a better spec than Modius. Try to ping Shiit support may be, they might suggest something less speculative than myself.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

You can get great results that will please most people with not spending, too much money but can also easily spend a lot more money in search of "even betters" with no guarantee of being much more satisfied.

Sounds like tactile journey of someone I know, or description of any "normal" hobbist in the world.