Hello,
A
friend recently gifted me some Stax Sigma headphones. It had been a long while since I hadn't used my stereo system, my habitual mode of music listening these days being off a Dragonfly Black hooked to an android phone running USB Audio Player.
So at first I installed the Stax adapter behind the amplifier, plugged in the phones and put on a CD. Both the amp, 35 W power, and the CD player are from Teac; a modest, but reasonable quality combo, the H300 model. The Stax held their promise, sounding just marvelous. Then I decided to try with the Dragonfly off my phone, plugged on the Aux input behind the amp. All the Stax magic evaporated - no more sparkle and dimensionality, only a flat, veiled and dull sound. What might have happened there? The Dragonfly is supposed to be able to work with some powered speakers or an amp. But here the difference with the Teac CD player as a source is almost like night and day. Moreover, the power off the DF was very weak; I could max out the amp and the volume would still be bearable. With the CD player as a source, halfway on the dial was plenty enough.
Could it be that the Dragonfly doesn't work that well in that configuration due to a case of "double amping" (the DF being a DAC/amp) and the Stax being what they are, mercilessly reveal every parasite noise? Occasionally I will hook it to my AV receiver (which is a lot more powerful than the Teac amp) and truth be told, the DF it will sound acceptable but nothing exceptional; I suspect an effect due to weak output on the DF's part here as well. Would running the DF off my computer give better results?
If it turns out the DF has that limitation I'll be "on the market" for a fixed DAC. I'm looking to spend as little as possible. Which values should I look at to know if output is going to be enough? I happened on this site through the Topping D30 article. Interesting but have they been changing some components? Would the D30 give me CD quality results? As I said, the sound off my CD player is really, really good and crystal-clear. Otherwise, have you guys heard about the company Audiophonics? They're a French distributor of Chinese electronics who also make some very affordable DACs under that name, Audiophonics. They have a good reputation but few online reviews. They're easily available from my country, Switzerland. That was a long first post with many questions and I thank you for your patience if you made it so far.
Best,
vert
A
friend recently gifted me some Stax Sigma headphones. It had been a long while since I hadn't used my stereo system, my habitual mode of music listening these days being off a Dragonfly Black hooked to an android phone running USB Audio Player.
So at first I installed the Stax adapter behind the amplifier, plugged in the phones and put on a CD. Both the amp, 35 W power, and the CD player are from Teac; a modest, but reasonable quality combo, the H300 model. The Stax held their promise, sounding just marvelous. Then I decided to try with the Dragonfly off my phone, plugged on the Aux input behind the amp. All the Stax magic evaporated - no more sparkle and dimensionality, only a flat, veiled and dull sound. What might have happened there? The Dragonfly is supposed to be able to work with some powered speakers or an amp. But here the difference with the Teac CD player as a source is almost like night and day. Moreover, the power off the DF was very weak; I could max out the amp and the volume would still be bearable. With the CD player as a source, halfway on the dial was plenty enough.
Could it be that the Dragonfly doesn't work that well in that configuration due to a case of "double amping" (the DF being a DAC/amp) and the Stax being what they are, mercilessly reveal every parasite noise? Occasionally I will hook it to my AV receiver (which is a lot more powerful than the Teac amp) and truth be told, the DF it will sound acceptable but nothing exceptional; I suspect an effect due to weak output on the DF's part here as well. Would running the DF off my computer give better results?
If it turns out the DF has that limitation I'll be "on the market" for a fixed DAC. I'm looking to spend as little as possible. Which values should I look at to know if output is going to be enough? I happened on this site through the Topping D30 article. Interesting but have they been changing some components? Would the D30 give me CD quality results? As I said, the sound off my CD player is really, really good and crystal-clear. Otherwise, have you guys heard about the company Audiophonics? They're a French distributor of Chinese electronics who also make some very affordable DACs under that name, Audiophonics. They have a good reputation but few online reviews. They're easily available from my country, Switzerland. That was a long first post with many questions and I thank you for your patience if you made it so far.
Best,
vert