MostlyGordon

I only listen with headphones, mainly LCD-2c. No complaints from me, I'd buy again. If you are a Roon user, look no further in this price range. If you don't use Roon, the new Fiio R7 might be worth a look.

I have a Matrix Audio Mini-i 3 PRO which works well, but I hear good things about the Topping DX3 pro+. Do you have a local dealer? Most will be happy for you to bring your own cans for a test. If not, most high end home theatre amps have decent headphone output. If you can try the HD6xx with those, you will get an idea of what a desktop amp will be like for extra power.

Probably not. I have HD650s which are supposed to be pretty similar. I don't think they sound good unless I use them with a desktop amp. Why not take them to a dealer and audition some desktop amps with them. A/B to your Ztella and form your own opinion. BTW, I have a Ztella, and think it sounds great on other cans...

I have all my Music (10K+ albums) on a NAS and use a Mac Mini running Roon. I have a DAC attached to my Mac connected to my HiFi. But, Roon will also stream to DACs connected to Raspberry Pi's, Chromecasts, Airplay speakers etc. So from my Phone, PC's and Tablets I can remote control music to any device in my home. I also run Plex on a PC mapped to the NAS. With a Plex Pass and PlexAmp, you can get to your music over 4/5g mobile and / or download any album to your phone to save bandwidth. You can also run Plex on the Mac, but I wanted to keep it dedicated to Roon.

Agree, drives my HD800S and LCD-2c nicely🙂 Using mine on Ethernet with Roon.

RF could get into the cable, but you how would he know it was the radio station? The station is analogue and should not be intelligible in a digital signal. Are you sure it's not coming from his amp / speakers during playback? In any case a few turns of the cable through a toriod should suppress any RF.

I ripped all my SACDs to DSD on a hacked PS3 years ago, they now play through most of my DACS (via Roon) and DAPs. Not sure about getting a DSD signal from an SACD player to a DAC. I don't think Toslink supports DSD, so your player would need a DSD DAC capable USB port.

I have over 10,000 albums on a ReadyNAS, Roon is on an 8th Gen i5 NUC with PCIE SSD and 16GB RAM. Didn't do a whole lot of planning, but it runs very well.

Got some Aeon X closed last week to use out and about. Haven't used them much yet, but never had Dan Clark cans before, so a nice edition.

Very interesting, I have not heard the MGs yet, wonder how they compare to straight clears? The 800s are very good for critical listening, or testing gear. They are not very engaging especially compared to the Clear. The other issue is that they are huge and don't have much camp force. The sound signature changes as they slide around you head. So, if you use them pick a comfy chair, and do not move. Having said all that, I would not part with mine, they are an icon.

I have 800s and T1 gen 2s. I would take the T1 for gaming every time, much better imaging. The 800s wins on soundstage by a large margin. I would think the 1990s are a step down from the T1 and 800S. I collect headphones and like to rotate through the collection. Would have to say I'd rather listen to my Clear or LCD-2C for casual music listening than either of the above. But everyone's ears are different...

If you change you downloads / streaming to HIFI rather than MASTER you will get Red Book FLAC. I can't hear the difference, but I'm a 55 YO who's been to too many loud concerts:-) Cheers, Gordon