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Ezees t1_j9hsklo wrote

If you don't totally like your setup - then you haven't actually reached your "endgame". When I first tried planars (the he4xx), I was really impressed with them - but after awhile I started to hear their shortcomings. I started looking for other planar options for a "reasonable price".

I then bought the Sundara, then the Ananda, and finally the Arya V2 - and now the Arya Stealth. After treading water in the mid-priced, mid-fi lines - I didn't start to really hear "endgame" until I got the Aryas. Before that point I was just spending money on "side-grades", and before long I had spent more on them than if I would have just bought a high-end setup. In the end, that's what I did - went ahead a got a mostly high-end setup - some of them from the used markets. I wound up with a mid-level SMSL SU-9 DAC, then a used Gustard H20 discrete Class A BAL amp, and the Aryas - plus, better interconnects, cables, Hi-Rez streaming like Tidal, and media players like Audirvana. Now I actually hear "endgame" and have really stopped looking for "better" - because now my setup is wholly immersive and it'd cost me at least another ~$1.5K to even try.....

My guess is that now you're hearing the shortcomings of your setup - both of the headphones and of your sources - all of which are really solidly in the mid-fi categories, not having the performance or sound qualities of better, more revealing setups - that are also more expensive unless bought used.

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mghazik OP t1_j9j78yz wrote

May I ask you how much emotions I lose with this mid-range equipment?

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Ezees t1_j9mpo8p wrote

I can't really put an accurate number on it - but you'll know after you hear a better setup and are able to compare for an extended time (one week+), and the devil is in the details. IMO, most of my entry-level/low-midrange IC-based DACs and amps (ie: Topping D30, Topping A90, Monolith '887) were bright/harsh/sharp in the treble while still missing details, had unnatural timbre, were lean in the bass, and had a shallow/flat soundstage with little depth.

Contrasted when listening to my midrange SMSL SU-9 DAC and mid-level and high-end discrete Class A or Class AB amps (ie: Emotiva BASX A-100, Schiit Magni 3+, Gustard H20) were: More detailed in the treble but not piercingly bright/harsh, more natural sounding voices and instruments with much better realism and trailing edges, fuller bass that's also much more textured (in an tactile, ASMR type of way), and soundstaging being not only wide and tall but also it's easy to hear a sense of depth/space.

I'm not going to say that these differences will always be night and day - that would be a lie - but these sometimes small-ish details can be the difference between just listening to some tunes vs an immersive and realistic listening experience. I tend to advocate for discrete Class A or Class AB amps over any of the IC/THX-based amps like the A90, THX-789, and the like for realistic timbre and less treble harshness (IDK about the SH9) - as the amp is more important than the DAC once you get past the entry-level DACs and into at least mid-range ones. Of course, all of this is IMO - and YMMV.......

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