New Headphone setup

[cooltoad]

I acquired a new headphone setup recently comprising of Denon AH D2000 and Schiit Asgard headphone amplifier.

The purchase was fuelled by an imminent fear (not the Mayan calendar) as i have a family history of hearing loss after a certain age and i wanted to enjoy the best listening experience while i can. Hence in a moment of craziness decided to go for the setup.

I am extremely happy with the purchase and hope to enjoy it for a while before thinking about my speaker upgrade.


My initial impressions:

The main difference between the headphone ouput of mac mini directly/ my nad headphone output as compared to the Dedicated headphone output is the gradual volume gain of Asgard as compared to the sudden volume gain in the former setup where i am not able to go past the minimum volume or i'll get my ears blasted .(not sure why it is so) The SQ is great especially while listening to jazz or relaxing music and i am able to enjoy the musicality more as there are less distractions with a closed can as compared to listening from the speakers . However, the soundstage in front of you as from a speaker is missing.

will post further impressions after burn in.




sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[iaudio]

cooltoad, enviable head phone set up you have got there mate! Congrats.

I think its more so because of the high gain and distortion from the direct headphone out that you cannot tolerate it, compared to the Schiit.

 

[cooltoad]

Thanks Iaudio, Life is too short, so wanted to take one last attempt at a good headphone setup before upgrading my speakers . Was looking for tube amp to partner with the denon, but the opinion was that it paired well with SS, hence the schiit happened.

 

[srinisundar]

Congrats on your purchase.

 

[iaudio]

Yeah, cooltoad, enjoy it! The Denon D2000 is supposed to have awesome bass.

 

[cooltoad]

Yes, Iaudio, Not sure of burn-in, but they keep getting better and better as i let them run, and jazz and stuff like Mark knopfler sound glorious. Especially for night time listening it is fantastic and will be irreplaceable by speakers. Even stuff like porcupine tree which i dont listen to a lot, as they sound too congested to my liking on the speakers or smaller headphones, sound likeable on the combo.
How i wish i had these or anything similar 20 years earlier and i would hardly have taken them off.