I have this and had a JDS Atom.
Updated to a balanced DAC and cables to match.
Difference was not worth the hundreds of dollars invested.
Money is far better spent on headphones.
This is an amp, not a DAC.
Chord Hugo is a $2500 product 🙄. Cobalt is a portable and you can get better alternatives for this like TempoTec Sonata E44 which is 79 bucks.
I like the 789 for IEMs and full size headphones (not many THX based amplifiers support IEMs like 789) and desktop setup with SU-8s.
The below recommendations from Andy vault.
1 TempoTec Sonata E44
2 Ovidius B1 Apogee Groove
3 Hidizs S9 Pro E1DA 9038SG3
4 Astell & Kern PEE51 Hidizs S9
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what are these four pronged inputs and outputs i've been seeing on these amplifiers? i've always been used to just the analog inputs where you could plug banana plugs into
Do you mean the balanced connectors? Balanced tech can have long runs with no loss and no interference. Long cables connected to stage performance gear is often using balanced tech/signal. This has balanced input and balanced output.
I recall the Grace DAC on top of the item in the pictures on the Drop website being on SD recently at a CRAZY cheap price for a blink of an eye before it went up in price. I recall everyone saying it's a great DAC.
what are these four pronged inputs and outputs i've been seeing on these amplifiers? i've always been used to just the analog inputs where you could plug banana plugs into
The front one is a 4 pin XLR output that you can connect a balanced headphone cable to. The back dual XLR 3 pins are balanced inputs from another source (a dac)
The 3 pin xlrs each carry a channel, and the 4 pin has separate wiring for each channel (2 per channel)
Can this be comparable to Chord Hugo or Cobalt portable headphone amp/DACs?
If you own a chord hugo there's not really a reason to buy this imo. You could connect the Hugo output to the amp since the Hugo is very transparent, and you can gain the sonic properties of this amp. But most people probably want to keep the transparent output of the Hugo or go into a tube amp.
This is a fantastic headphone amp. I bought it soon after it came out for $399 and have not had any regrets. I don't have any super hard to drive headphones like HE6, but it handles everything I have from a Focal to Sennheiser HD6xx.
Yeah… amps don't have any digital inputs like optical, usb, coaxial, AES, or IS2 unless they have a built in DAC. This is a straight up amplifier. Analog connections only.
This or Schiit Magnius?
I have HD6XX right now, but may get new cans in future.
But I'm looking for something like Audeze LCD-1 or Hifiman Sundara, so amplifier will bot be that important for the upgrade.
If you own a chord hugo there's not really a reason to buy this imo. You could connect the Hugo output to the amp since the Hugo is very transparent, and you can gain the sonic properties of this amp. But most people probably want to keep the transparent output of the Hugo or go into a tube amp.
I am actually curious how this sounds and wanted to try this out separately not to use with Hugo. I want to have this for desktop set up.
How does it play hi-res files and can we connect an external DAC to this Amp?
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Updated to a balanced DAC and cables to match.
Difference was not worth the hundreds of dollars invested.
Money is far better spent on headphones.
I like the 789 for IEMs and full size headphones (not many THX based amplifiers support IEMs like 789) and desktop setup with SU-8s.
The below recommendations from Andy vault.
1 TempoTec Sonata E44
2 Ovidius B1 Apogee Groove
3 Hidizs S9 Pro E1DA 9038SG3
4 Astell & Kern PEE51 Hidizs S9
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
The front one is a 4 pin XLR output that you can connect a balanced headphone cable to. The back dual XLR 3 pins are balanced inputs from another source (a dac)
The 3 pin xlrs each carry a channel, and the 4 pin has separate wiring for each channel (2 per channel)
If you own a chord hugo there's not really a reason to buy this imo. You could connect the Hugo output to the amp since the Hugo is very transparent, and you can gain the sonic properties of this amp. But most people probably want to keep the transparent output of the Hugo or go into a tube amp.
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This is an amp, not a DAC.
Yeah… amps don't have any digital inputs like optical, usb, coaxial, AES, or IS2 unless they have a built in DAC. This is a straight up amplifier. Analog connections only.
I have HD6XX right now, but may get new cans in future.
But I'm looking for something like Audeze LCD-1 or Hifiman Sundara, so amplifier will bot be that important for the upgrade.
I am actually curious how this sounds and wanted to try this out separately not to use with Hugo. I want to have this for desktop set up.
How does it play hi-res files and can we connect an external DAC to this Amp?
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If the source is flawed, this will just make it louder.