Audiophilepure

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“The avidity delta between the Mojo running solo and with Schiit assistance is even more pronounced once the high-end Sennheisers are moved over to the Jotunheim’s balanced socket where the former’s 300 Ohm nominal impedance meets with the latter’s 900mW output power – that’s an extra 550mW over and above Jotunheim’s single-ended headphone output.”

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“Interestingly enough, most of the Reference Series’ sound character actually comes from the DAC instead. In recent years, DAC chips have become very powerful and all should handle most tasks similarly efficient. Many people argue the process of digital to analogue conversion does not have a sound but my recent review of the ADI-2 Pro should prove that claim wrong. The RS 02 DAC is very clean sounding and in combination with the RS 08 it creates a very slightly analytical and sterile presentation – in the most positive way”

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“At that point, I started comparing the TA-ZH1ES with the Pass Labs HPA-1 headphone amp, a well-regarded reference that, at $3,500, is considerably more expensive than the Sony. The two amps sounded surprisingly different, though the Sony was richer and fuller, which by contrast made the Pass Labs sound too lean. But, as I continued listening, I felt that the Sony’s honeyed rendering went too far, mellowing out the sound balances of familiar recordings (albeit in a very agreeable way). I came to prefer the more transparent sound of the Sony headphones paired with the Pass Labs amp. Of course, you might go the opposite way and crave the lusher sound of the all-Sony combo; it’s a matter of taste.

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“There of course is a difference between the stock tubes and the tubes I rolled in (see above) and it mostly is the ECC82 tube that will influence the amplifier’s sound most. The upgraded tube set made the sound stage wider and deeper, the detail higher and slightly increased the smoothness. My OTL topology LaFigaro 339 – depending on the tube sets used – can be a very warm and smooth sounding amplifier but the HA2-SE never comes closed to this sound signature. The Auris is cleaner, more transparent and precise, more dynamic and dare I say, more neutral.”