Category: audio

I am not a sound engineer or music producer. I do consider myself am an audiophile because I really care about the sound qualty of the music I listen to. Unlike some audiophiles, the audio equipment is only a means to an end and not part of my audio hobby. As a result, I tend to hunt for audio equipped that delivers the sound quality I desire, and then don’t think about audio equipment for years. Eventually an external event triggers a re-evaluation my equipment such as a move into a new space, a fundamental shift in technology, or equipment dying. For me this meant I spent time evaluating equipment in 1978 (first real system), 1993 (move, switch to CD), 2006 (computer audio and kids), 2012 (lost wife), 2017 (remarried and moved). I am willing to spend hours evaluating equipment blind A-B testing, etc to find equipment which made a significant improvement in sound at what I considered a reasonable price.

Reasonable Investment?

In this age of lossy streaming audio, smartphones, earbuds and bluetooth speakers spending thousands of dollars on audio equipment would not be considered “reasonable” by many. On the other hand, I invested around $6000 + $6000 worth of music in an audio system I used for 19 years which gave me significant joy. That works out to around $1.72 / day, and less than $0.40 / hour. That is less than many people spend each day on coffee. I think it’s been a good investment.

I often tell people that they should only spend money if they hear a difference. I am sure there are experts who can tell the difference between excellent speakers which cost $10K and the ultra high-end $100K speakers, but if you don’t heard a significant different compared to a $300 speaker, there is no reason to spend the extra money.

Audio products suffer from diminishing returns. Improving sound quality of higher end products requires significantly more money. For me, “reasonable” has been components which I though delivered an excellent return on investment (e.g. before the quality to price graph is growing exponential). I generally end up with components which are classified by Stereophile as class B (or restricted class A) whose price was at the lower end of what was typically classified class-C. For most components careful selection keeps the cost under $1k, though speakers are likely to be in the $2-4k range.

Current Listening

Source Material:

I like a variety of music.

• I can hear the difference between good quality lossy (AAC 320kbps, VBR LAME) and CD quality lossless.
• I have not been able to hear a difference between 44/16 encoding and 96/24, SACD, Pogo, and other high resolution encodings, nor analog (eg vinyl).
• My media is mostly CD ripped into Apple Loseless, or loseless streams
• I do use Spotify when building/listening to playlists with/for friends and family because that is the eco system they live and that Bluesound supports.

Equipment

• KEF LS50 wireless speakers primarily driven by Bluesound Node via USB cable
• Bluesound Node streaming device. Playing lossless RIPPed CD from an SD card, driven via AirPlay via Apple Music (Lossless), or via built in streaming service end-point (Paradise Radio, Spotify, etc). Used to use Roon, but bugs led me to give up on it and using the native BlueOS system.
• Bluesound Flex 2 Wireless Speakers + Battery Pack which provides ambient / a part of a whole house music and can be used in the backyard. When traveling 2 are configured as a pair to provide stereo sound.
• Apple AirPods Pros driven by an iPhone for around town when convenience trumps sound quality

History

Starting Out (1978)

I started on my audiophile journey in the late 1970s. I wanted a good sounding stereo but I didn’t have a lot of money. There was no way I could afford a system like my dad’s: Thorens turntable with a Dynavector Rudy cartridge, a Apt Holman preamp, driving a Mcintosh amplifier into Dahlquist DQ10 speakers which later got upgraded to Conrad-Johnson preamp&amp driving Sonus Faber speakers.

I realized that a using headphones rather than speakers would be significantly less expensive. A friend’s Advent receiver driving Stax earspeakers seems equal in sound quality to my dad’s system at a much lower price point. Alas, this was still too expensive.

My starting system was Technics turntable, Orofon cartidge, NAD 3020 integrated amplifier driving a first generation AKG 240 headphone. Later I added a pair of Boston Acoustic speakers, a Marantz PMD 221 portable cassette deck and a portable CD player and finally got a pair of Stax.

Upgrade After Move (1993)

In 1992 I moved to the San Francisco bay area. I had a bit more money, and the cones on the BA speakers needed to be replaced. After much consideration I settled on a pair of Martin-Logan Aeius hybrid electro-static speakers which lead to a Classe 70 power amplifiers paired with a Classe 4 pre-amp. During the move I decided to switch exclusively to using CDs. My cassette deck and turntable were dropped and my CD player was upgraded to a Marantz 63SE CD player.  I finally picked up a pair of Stax Lambda Signatures and a amplifier for them.

Computer Audio & Second System (2006)

I purchased an iPod to replace my portable CD player. I was enjoying play lists and not having to swap CDs. It was sometimes plugged into my stereo, I used a pair of Etymotic EP4 on the train, and a Stax SR-001 in the office. I decided it was time to fully embrace computer based audio. I picked up a Squeezebox and starting RIPPING my CDs to FLAC which I later converted to Apple Lossless. Later I added a Lavry DA10 DAC.

I was motivated to build a second audio systems so when the kids were listening to music in the family room, the adults could enjoy our music in the living room, The family room system was also integrated with a TV and a Mac Mini.  During this time I tried a wide variety of component including some DIY designs. I was pretty active on gear trader and was able to borrow friend’s gear for extended trials.  Eventually we settled on a Bryston BP-60 integrated amplifier, NHT speakers, a DVD/CD player, and a DAC driven by a Macintosh Mini.

Death and Solitude (2011)

In 2011 my wife died, and the same day my Classe 70 started to malfunction. In a time of sorrow, music was critical to me. In the past I had liked Chord’s power amplifier. I stumbled on a good deal on a used amplifier, so I replaced the failing Classe without a lot of testing.

Over the following months I found that I was listening to music late at night. I didn’t want to bother the kid so I was using headphones. Alas, I had sold my Stax years earlier and I didn’t like using my in-the-ear monitoring for extended periods of time. I stopped by an audio store planning to purchase a pair of Stax, only to walk out with a pair of Sennheiser HD800 which sounded better to my ears than the mid-range Stax.

Over the next couple of years I tried a variety of headphone, headphone amplifiers, and DACs which I was able to borrow from friends, purchase, or trade. Most of the equipment I had for more than a few months is listed on my head-fi profile.

Ultimately I found three headphone systems I considered keeping. I couldn’t justify the cost of the Stax SR-009 + BH amplifier. I found that while different, I liked  the Stax SR-007mk1 driven by a KGSSHV amplifier and a Sennheiser HD800 driven by a Headamp GS-X mk2 equality. I decided to keep the Sennheiser HD800 system and sold the Stax for two reasons. First, I could get more money for the Stax. Second, I could drive the Sennheiser HD800 using portable electronic while the Stax required me to be tethered to a wall outlet and large amplifier (e.g. more versatile).

Marriage and Simplicity (2017)

In 2015 I remarried and started using speakers for most of my listening so my wife and I could share the listening experience. I wasn’t using my headphones that much. I decided that sound quality from the Chord Mojo feeding the HD800 was sufficiently good on the rare occasions I used headphones, so I sold the rest of my headphone gear, a head-fi heresy no doubt. Later I sold the Mojo and HD800 because they weren’t getting used.

After a move, the Aerius no longer really fit in our living room. After a fair bit of soul searching I decided that I was willing to compromise a bit of sound quality for marriage harmony. I also was actively looking to simplify life.

The KEF LS50 wireless was exactly what I was looking for. The size and look appealed to my wife. The sound quality for general use was good, and excellent if I used them in a near field configuration. Since the speakers had a built in amplifier and DAC which was designed to pair with the speakers we didn’t need a lot of equipment in the living room, just a device to stream lossless audio (originally directly connected via USB to a Macintosh, later connected to a Bluesound Node). My trusty Aerius and assorted other gear was sold to a co-worker who appreciated it’s sound quality.

Hall of Fame

The following are products which I thought delivered particularly good performance given their cost at the time the product was released (great ROI). Some of them I owned, some I merely listen to in friend’s homes.

• Quad ESL-57 Electrostatic Loudspeaker
• Magnepan (pretty much any model) Speakers
• Rogers LS-3/5a speakers
• Etymotic ER-4 In the Ear Monitors
• Martin Logan Aerius
• KEF LS50 wireless Speakers
• Advent 300 Receiver
• NAD 3020 Integrated Amplifier
• GAS Ampzilla II
• Forte 4 Amplifier
• Rotel RB-980 amplifier
• Dynaco ST-70 Amplifier
• Headphone amplifiers designed by Ken Gilmore
• Dual 501 Turntable
• Marantz CD63 Mk II CD Player
• Audioquest Dragonfly DAC
• Chord Mojo DAC

Products which I found class leading (though they weren’t cheap)

• Amplifiers designed by Nelson Pass
• Apogee Stage Speakers
• Aerial 10T Speakers
• Stax SR-009 Ear speakers

Classics Desired by Me and My Friends But We Never Purchased

• KLH Model Eight FM table radio
• Thorens TD-124 Turntable

Other Peoples Lists

• TAS People Hall of Fame
• TAS the 10 most significant amplifiers of all time
• TAS The 10 most significant speakers of all time
• TAS the 50 greatest audiophile bargains of all time
• Whathifi.com Hall of Fame

The best source of information is your EARS. Form your own opinions, don’t just accept what other people say. Believe what your ears tell you when listen to music!

Remember that many people who write about audio are biased in one way or another.  Beyond that, There is often a lot of  hype to justify very expensive equipment and the perpetual upgrade switch around game. You might want to use some of the information from the community to help you narrow down what you would like to take a first listen, but you need to listen for yourself.

Purchase what sounds good to you. There is no reason to spend $15,000 on a high end system if you don’t notice significant difference between it and a $2000 system, or for some people, a $200 system.

I would suggest doing blind A-B testing (or better yet, A-B-X) whenever possible. Blind A-B is were you do back-to-back comparisons of two (or more) pieces of equipment, but have no knowledge which is which. When doing blind testing it is important to vary only one thing.  For example, when you switch amplifiers, you need to make sure the output levels are equivalent.  This is possible if someone is willing to switch equipment around, not telling you what they are doing, while keeping a record of the sequence used. This said, 30 minutes of blind AB testing in a showroom is not a sufficient.  You really need numerous hours to fully evaluate a piece of equipment. Also remember that you get used to a particular sound signature so you need to have enough time to get use to something that sounding different.

I have found that knowing what equipment I was listening always tainted my evaluation of the equipment. In particular, I tended to favor well regarded equipment (e.g. more expensive) even when I couldn’t tell a difference in blind testing. There is a nice write up about blind vs sighted testing and the bias when people know what they are listening to.

Make sure whatever you are comparing have been volume matched. Higher volume is almost always favored. There are very fancy way to attempt to volume match to components, but a good starter method is to play pink sound through the system while placing the microphone section  the ear buds that likely shipped with your smartphone in front of the speaker or inside the the headphones.  Use a sound level meter application to measure the volume of the pink noise. Adjust until volumes match.

When evaluating new equipment you should listen to music you know well. Ideally music that you have heard live. I have found that female vocalist, percussion, piano, violin, and cello solos are particularly helpful in evaluating equipment for good timbre. Choirs with a large orchestral backing can help you determine how the system renders very complex sounds. There are a number of audiophile recording companies like Chetsky have samplers which can be quite useful and companies like hdtracks which specialize in high fidelity records. Audicheck.net also has some useful audio tracks. I would suggest though, that the music you test with is primarily the music you listen to. I would also suggest have at least a couple of tracks which aren’t well recorded because you will likely have some music that you love but is poorly recorded. You will want a system that doesn’t render this music painful to listen to.

I encourage people to consider that what sounds good at first might not be a sound you want to live with. A powerful bass may seem rockin for a few minutes but but very well may sound boomy if you have to listen to it for hours. Better quality audio equipment is neutral, allowing each piece of music to sound as it was recorded without adding or subtracting anything. 

While you need to form your own opinions, it can be helpful to learn from others, both to prioritize what equipment to listen to, and to discover equipment which you might not have known about.  A technique that I have found to be useful is to read reviews about equipment I have listened to myself.  My goal is to find reviewers whose opinions are well correlated against mine.  When I find a reviewer that seems to have similar opinions, I prioritize the list of equipment I want to listen to based on their opinions.  The reviewers have listened to a lot more equipment than me, so why not use their experience to prioritize my list.  For example, if I have listened to a particular headphone I thought was really good, I will look for reviewers who agree with me.  Then I will see what other components they liked.  The components they liked (which are in my price range 🙂 would go to the top of my “try it” list.

In this era of streaming services, an important question is what is the encoding quality of your source. Is a lossy source like Spotify or Apple Music sufficient, or do you need a lossless source like Tidal or purchased track. It would be useful to know can you hear the difference between lossy and lossless audio? There are a number of ABX tests to help determine this. If you can’t hear the difference it gives you a larger number of options which are typically cheaper and more manageable. I will note when doing these ABX tests, your should be using the best quality audio gear that you might using in the foreseeable future.

BTW: Something that might be useful as you read reviews is know that is the audio community there are a variety of descriptive words that have specific meanigs to that community. There is a brief sound description glossary which was assembled at head-fi.

You should always chose your speakers first, and then select components which work well with the speakers you have selected. All speakers have flaws which you must choose between so speaker preference will be extremely personal. This is often demonstrated by people who agree about the relative merits of a amplifiers or DAC but disagree about speakers.  It’s also useful to identify what speakers you will be using because speakers vary in what they require from an amplifier depending on their efficiency and impedance.

The cheapest way to get truly excellent speakers is to purchase great headphones.  Often you can build headphone based systems which will be one fifth the cost of a similar quality speaker based system.

Electrostatic & Planners

I have found that the speakers that I generally favor electrostatic speakers made by Martin-Logan, SoundLab, Audiostatic, and older Quad. I also to like panel speakers that use ribbons such as the original Apogee and the reborn Apogee Accoustics. While I don’t like  Magnepan speakers as much as pure electrostatic speakers, I think they deliver an excellent value, providing sound quality that rivals speakers nearly twice their cost with the MG1.7 providing the their best price/performance.

Planner speakers are particularly well suited to the sort of music I like: “small” and intimate. Vocalists, chamber music, folk, blues, and small jazz combos. I want clear and tight bass, but it doesn’t need to shake my bones. I want something that gives me a lot of detail, and has exceptionally smooth vocals. Most panel speakers, once properly place give superior soundstage, and are particularly good in the mid-range and higher frequencies. Weakness of most panel speakers is that the absolute dynamic range is less than a conventional design, they tend to be large and touchy about placement, and may have a weaker bass end. Sometimes panel speakers will be paired with a dynamic woofer, since the real-estate required for a good panel woofer is quite large such as in the Martin-Logan Aerius which I used for many years.

Horns

Horns were theoretically a very cost effective way to get audiophile level sound quality, but it was very challenging to get the built and set up right. With modern 3D printing and software modeling it’s much easier to do effective horns. I am sure a bit of searching on the web would produce a mound of useful information.

Dynamic Speakers

For people on a tight budget I generally recommend the NHT super line.  I would also recommend the Wharfedale Diamond 225 and KEF Q350. Other lower priced speaker which have gotten good reviews include the Elac Debut B6, Aperion 422-LR, Axiom Audio Millennia M3Ti SE.

There were a lot of well regarded speakers $2000-4000 range which didn’t impress me. Yet, there are a lot of people who seem to like them. If you don’t like panel speakers, I would suggest checking out the somewhat bright Thiel,  warm Vandersteen, or the fairly neutral speakers from KEF or B&W.  I would also recommend checking out GoldenEar speakers even though I haven’t listened to them because people I trust rate them very highly. My favorite dynamic speaker made by Aerial (particularly the Model 10T, now 20T) and Sonus Faber (Electa Amator and up).

Powered Speakers

In 2017 I moved to a new home and my Martin-Logan Aerius just didn’t fit in.  After a bit of searching we found that the KEF LS50 wireless monitor speakers were the only speakers under $10k was there visually acceptable to my wife, and sonically acceptable to me. The LS50 wireless are a mini monitor with a built in DAC and amplifier designed for the speakers. Good quality sound that fills a room, and excellent sound quality for near field use. Can take TOSlink, USB, Bluetooth, analog, and several IP based streaming protocols inputs over ethernet or WiFi. Roon can stream directly to it over the network, but it’s not Roon-Ready so can’t be synchronized with other Roon-Ready systems.  The iOS remote application is poor.  I drive the LS50W via USB on a computer running Roon which remove the need for the KEF remote and the speakers can be synchronized with other Roon Ready end-points giving me whole house music. I still prefer the sound quality of electrostatic speakers driven by separate audiophile grade electronics, but I am happy that I downsized my audio system so I could focus on other things.  KEF has released the LSX which is around 1/2 the price of the LS50W which are smaller and have a lower sound quality.

Less expensive is the Roon-Ready Pulse Flex 2i which allows me to have synchronized whole house music. It also supports inputs via USB, Bluetooth, AUX, Airplay2, and a number of streaming services like Spotify and Tidal.  Has a decent iOS and Android remote control app. Controls on the top let you select one of 5 user-defined “channels” without using the remote. I have the optional battery pack so it can be used in our backyard. It can be used away from it’s home, but you have to reconfigure it’s WiFi settlings which is a pain. Sound quality is significantly less than KEF LS50 but cheaper and much more portable. For people who aren’t using Roon, I would recommend Sonos: for it’s lower price point, better streaming options, and slightly more processed sound quality which everyone but audio purists like me typically prefer. If you are really trying to keep the price down consider products from Audio Pro, or use one of the small smart speakers from Amazon or Google.

Smart Speakers

I have yet to use a smart speaker that I thought had reasonable sound quality. The Apple speaker is the best sounding I have heard, but is a far distance from “audiophile” speakers, and the voice recognition is still a distant third to Google and Amazon.

Headphone amplifiers were almost un-heard of until the 1990s, though many receivers and integrated amplifiers had fairly good quality headphone jacks. As headphones have grown in popularity, and fewer people are purchasing classic stereos, headphone amplifiers have emerged as a product category.

The “headphone jack” on smart phones and laptops tends to have mediocre sound quality and doesn’t have enough power to drive audiophile grade headphones. For headphones with modest power requirements, I typically recommend upgrading the “headphone jack” with a good DAC that has an integrated headphone amplifier.

Headphone amplifiers make good sense when a headphone’s power requirement are more than what the source device is capable of producing, or when you are using a device which  only does line-level outputs.

The very best amplifiers are nuetral when it comes to tone, low distortion and very responsive which typically means class A amplification with very little use of feedback circuits.

My Choice

Today, I don’t have a dedicated headphone amplifier. Until 2020 I used a portable Chord Mojo DAC/amplifier to drive my Sennheiser HD800. There are better DACs and amplifiers, but I found the Mojo enjoyable to meet my needs. Most of the headphone amplifiers I have used are solid state because I don’t like the hassles of tubes and the temptation to constantly tinker by tube rolling. Today, the only “headphone amplifier” I use is an EarStudio ES100 to drive my Westtone 5ES IEM via bluetooth from my phone.

Solid State

I am a big fan of headphone amplifiers that are based on Kevin Gilmore’s designs which are free to people who build Gilmore amplifier. Headamp is the premium manufacturer of amplifiers based on Kevin’s designs. For several years I owned and used the Headamp GS-X mk2. I think it’s one of the finest amplifiers currently made. Headamp’s prices are high, but seem to reflect the actual cost of manufacturing rather than the typical audiophile profit margins. Headamp also sells the more reasonably priced Gilmore Lite Mk2. It’s also possible to find amplifiers such as the Headamp GS-1 and GS Lite which use Gilmore’s DynaLo circuit on head-fi.org for-sale forum.

There are a fair number of people who like the DIY (or professionally built) headphone amplifiers from amb.org which includes the M^3 which is a competitor to the GS Lite (dynalo), and the beta22 which is a competitor to the higher end/power Gilmore amplifiers. I commonly hear people say Gilmore designs are a bit more transparent and fast, while the AMB designs are a bit more forgiving and “fun”.

Commercially produced solid state amplifiers I would recommend checking out which generally increase in cost and sound quality: JDS Labs Objective2 amplifier which can often be found on MassDrop for less than $100, Schiit Magni, Matrix M-Stage, Schiit Asgard 2,  Headamp Gilmore Lite Mk2, a variety of amplifiers made by Audio-GF, Bryston, and Auralic.

The Schiit Ragnarok is quite good. I liked Headamp GS-X mk2 more, but it was close. If the Ragnarok was able to drive my Martin Logan Aerius speakers I would have made the switch to simplify my electronic rack, but I found it wasn’t up to that job.

I have heard good things from people I trust about amplifiers from ECP Audio and but have no personal experience with them. I have read mixed reviews of the Questyle CMA800R, some people think it’s a very good value, and others like the Schiit Magni better. Cavalli Audio made a number of well regarded amplifiers, but the company has stopped making headphone amplifiers for consumers.

Tubes

There are many people who like to use tube based amplifiers, especially with brighter or more forward headphones to tame the sound. Fairly inexpensive tube amplifiers which are a good value are made by Bottlehead, Little Dot, and Schiit. The top end tube amplifiers I would recommend are made by Eddie Current. I really enjoyed both the Super 7 and Balancing Act driving HD800. The amplifier I would love to hear is the discontinued ECP L-2 which has gone rave reviews from people who tend not to rave. Other manufacturers that have gotten good reviews, though I haven’t listened to them enough to have a strong opinion include Donald North Audio, Apex, Cavalli, and Woo Audio.

“Speaker” Amplifiers

Some headphones perform best when paired with an abundance of power. Some people achieve this by using class A amplifiers designed for speakers such as those made by First Watt.

Portable

There are a number of good quality battery powered headphone amplifiers which let you use full size headphones with portable players. My favorite for sound quality is the Headamp Pico Power. Meier and Ray Samuels Audio make several good sounding portable amplifiers. FiiO and iBasso seems to make some of the best lower priced amplifiers. Generally I don’t think portable headphone amplifiers make a lot of sense. Rather I recommend people to use a decent quality portable DAC/player which has sufficiently powerful audio out for your headphones.

Today, most music content is digital. This content might be stored locally in a computer file system, on CD/DVD media, or is streamed from some service such as Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, etc over the Internet. To play this digital content you need a device which as able to read or receive the digital content (a player or receiver).

Ultimately digital content needs to be sent through a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) to drive speakers. In many products like the headphone jack on most laptops and cell phones the DAC is very low quality. In these cases, using an external DAC can significantly improve the sound quality. DACs might provide line-level analog outputs designed to be fed to traditional stereo equipment or might have a built in amplifier designed drive headphones. Smart speakers and wireless headphones have built in DACs.

There are devices that are just dedicated players/stream-receivers, dedicated DACs, or contain both functions.

Streaming Devices

Today the most common “streaming devices” are computers, cell phones, and the all-in-one self powered wireless speakers. A common approach for audiophiles who have a significant amount of locally stored media is to have a computer which holds their content and runs software like Roon, Apple Music, etc and sends a signal via USB or TOSlink to a DAC and into traditional audio components.

For people who are just using streaming services, or want to separate their computer(s) from their audio equipment there is a wide range or devices. I think one of the best values based on the article wiim mini successor to chromecast puck is the WiiMPro which is $149 and supports hi-rez audio with connections via ApplePlay2, Google Chromecast, Spotify, TIDAL, Amazon Music, and a number of other streaming services. A higher end but reasonably priced alternative is the Bluesound Node. This device supports lossless streaming via Roon, Airplay2, and TIDAL. It also has built in Spotify Connect and supports BlueTooth connections. Additionally, it can accept data via TOSlink and HDMI Arc. The signals it receives can send digital out via TOSlink which bypasses it’s DAC, or via RCA jacks through a decent built-in DAC. It can be configured to automatically select whatever source has most recenting started streaming data.

Desktop DAC

There is an amazing price range for desktop DACs. They can range in price from less than $100, to $42k?! Like most high end audio, there is a law of diminishing returns. It’s often possible to find less expensive DACs which sound better that moe expensive DACs. I would recommend the following DACs which I have generally arrange in increasing sound quality (and typically increasing price)

• JDS O2+ODac, $279 for most headphones, or the Matrix m-stage HPA-2 w/ USB, $289 for HD800.
• Massdrop Liquid Carbon X-Sdac, $349 combines a good quality headphone amplifier with a budget Grace designed DAC into a very nice desktop unit.
• Schiit Bifrost, $350-500 depending on options. The Bifrost is an amazing value and I think stands up well to the Gungnir and the DA11 if the rest of your signal chain is single ended.
• Audio GD makes a range of products which tend to deliver good value at a variety of price points. Several of their DACs are paired with very respectable headphone amplifiers making them an excellent all-in-one solution for headphone users.
• Schiit Gungnir very solid DAC which doesn’t do anything wrong. This would be my under $1000 choice for a DAC.
• Lavry DA11 is a very solid DAC. With some high end DACs there is something I will notice and think, wow, this DAC is letting me hear something I haven’t been able to hear with lesser DACs. There is nothing about the DA11 that makes me go “wow”… but there is also nothing that I heard and think “that is wrong”. The DA11 is a very balanced, neutral DAC which does everything well and nothing wrong. It has a respectable built in headphone amplifier that I found drove my HD800 and the LCD-2 adequately, though not as well as high end headphone amplifiers.
• Grace m903. I think of the Grace as being very similar to the DA11, slightly better sound quality, with a much better user interface and more features.
• Chord Hugo (not desktop.. but this is where I place it)
• NAD m51, PS Audio PWD2, Audio GD Master 7, Auralic Vega, and the Metrum Hex are all quite good… I have a slight preference for the GD Master 7.
• Schiit Yggdrasil
• Chord DAVE

At the modest end, less expensive DACs made by Centrance and HRT are a good value whose performance in somewhere between the oDac and the Bitfrost. The Musical Fidelity V90 has gotten mixed reviews, with some people claiming it’s amazing, good as any $2K DAC, while others say it just ok. I have read several reviews of Questyle Q192 which suggest it might be worth a look.

Based on reviews other DACs which are worth considering, which I expect would be in the same league (maybe better, maybe worse) than the Lavy DA11 in sound quality would include Benchmark DAC2 HGC, Anedio D2, M2Tech Young DAC, yulong a18, matrix-x. In past years the original Benchmark DAC1 often got good reviews. I don’t understand, I never liked the DAC1.

There are a number of DACs that others might be interested in that should be in the same league (or maybe better) as the PWD2 / M51 / GD M7. They aren’t on my list because of my perceived ROI. This includes the Ayre QB9, Lampizator, Resonessence Labs Invicta, Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha Series 2, Lynx Hilo, and DACs from MSB Tech

Some reviews you might find interesting include 21 DACs compared and 20013 mid-level DAC comparison.

One other thing to mention is a sound processor system called the Realiser A8 which gives the experience of listened to speakers or 8-channel surround sound using headphones. They are very cool, but also price ($3k+), but for someone who doesn’t want the music in the middle of the head sense and can’t use speakers for some reason, these are worth giving a listen to.

Portable DACs

Nearly all the Portable DACs on the market accept USB input. Some also support Coax or TOSlink. Most of the portable DACs have built in headphone amplifiers. Some DACs are powered from the USB bus which keeps things simple if you are using a laptop of desktop (no batteries to charge or extra power cable) but limits it’s use with phones and tablets that don’t have enough power to run the DAC. Portable DACs I would recommend in order of sound quality:

FiiO E17k ($139) is a decent sounding DAC / amplifier with lots of features and supports both USB and Coax digital in.

EarStudio ES100 is a decent sounding bluetooth reciever combined with a DAC and headphone amplifier. It can also function as a USB DAC. Decent, but not exceptional audio quality, but enables using wired headphones with modern smart phones which no longer have headphone jacks. The amplifier was surprisingly powerful, able to adequately drive Sennheiser HD800.

AQ Dragonfly is perfect for the “road warrior” who needs to travel light. It’s the size of a thumb drive and powered by the USB bus. Absolutely amazing sound quality for the size and price when driving IEM or efficent headphones. I used mine with a USB right angle adapter so the Dragonfly sat flush against my laptop rather than sticking out. The rest of the DACs I list here are better, but not night and day better. When focused on listening your would notice the units below are better, but if music was playing in the background, the Dragonfly’s sound quality wasn’t a distraction. I found combining the Dragonfly with a Headamp Pico Power was a very nice solution for full size headphones such as the HD800.

Geek Out V2 (GOV2) is the most powerful amplifier I have tried that is powered via the USB bus. Had no problem driving full size headphones. Single ended it’s a bit better than the HiFi-M8, but trailing the Chord Mojo. When running balanced, the GOV2 gets very close to the Mojo. Compared to the Mojo, the GOV2 has better dynamics (especially in the lower registers) and slightly better high frequency extension. In every other areas, I found the Mojo better including sense of space, separation, as well as smoother and less fatiguing without giving up too much detail. The GOV2 packaging feels cheap, but doesn’t hinder function. Another review had Geek Out V2 close to the Mojo performance. Geek Out V2 measurements look good. I prefer the Mojo to the GOV2, but the GOV2 is an great value, being just slightly behind the Mojo in terms of sound quality at 1/2 the price. Alas, I believe the crowdsourced company that makes GOV2 might has ceased to exist.

Chord Mojo ($599) is the best sounding portable DAC/amp I have personally heard exept for the Hugo which is 4x it’s cost. The Mojo is also one of the best sounding DAC & amp (portable or desktop, integrated or seperate) I have heard at it’s $600 price point driving my HD800 and Westone 5ES. That said, it is also one of the most over hyped products. It’s good, but it doesn’t compare to top end DACs and amplfiers.

Chord Hugo2 ($2500) is an amazing unit, but it had better be for the money. The Hugo can compete against desktop size units even though it’s small enough to slip into a coat pocket, battery powered, take almost any input or output you could imagine, except no balance output. I would characterize the DAC a bit like my Lavry DA-11… that it didn’t do anything that bothered me (everything was good), but it didn’t blow me away. There are top DACs which I think are better, and several of them are cheaper than the Hugo. The amplifier is decent, but at the Hugo’s price point I would have expected something better. I found the adding a Headamp Pico Power didn’t improve the sounds of the HD800, but it didn’t make it worse. The Sennheiser HDVD600 improved the sound quality, and the Hugo was noticeably behind the Headamp GS-X mk2.

Over the last several years I demo-ed, borrowed, or owned a rather large number of portable DAC/amps. Below are a few portable DACs which I thought were particularly noteworthy. In general, I believe the above units will provide better price performance than these, but others might prefer them to what I listed above:

• Ray Samuels Audio Predator and Intruder were noteworthy at one time because they were some of the only DAC/amps which had enough power to drive full size headphone.
• Headamp Pico DAC/Amp was one of the first battery powered DAC/Amp capable of driving full size headphone. I found it had a neutral (almost to the point of cold) sound signature in a nice package. I prefered the Dragonfly driving the Pico Power amplifier.
• CEnterence HiFi-M8 ($699) is a portable, do everything unit available in a number of configuration, powered by internal batteries, and has an amplifier that is powerful enough to handle even difficult to drive full size headphones and was available with a balance plugs, though the amplifier was single ended. While extremely versatile, I think nearly all the portable DACs I have listed provide superior sound quality.
• Resonessence Labs Concero HP ($850) is one of the most expensive USB bus powered DAC. It’s as simple as the HiFi-M8 and Hugo are feature rich. I have not heard one myself, but reports from people I trust say that it is the best sounding USB powered DAC they have heard. I would love to compare it to the Chord Mojo… not sure which would be more pleasing to me.
• DACs from iFi have a good reputation. I listened to one of their early models years ago and it was decent but not great. Newer models are likely worth a listen.

I wrote up a bit about comparing the Chord Hugo vs The HiFi-M8 vs my Desktop Lavy DA-11 + GS-X mk2 and Chord Hugo vs Geek Out V2. There is a nice table showing portable DAC with the HD800. 

Portable Players

Smart phones have nearly killed the portable audio player marketplace. Why carry two devices when one works just fine? the headphone jack on almost all smart phones, if it exists, tends to be fairly low quality, and the Bluetooth implementations are even worse. For people who want good quality audio out of their smart phones or other portable computing devices  I suggest using one of portable DACs listed above.

There are a few reasons people choice to use a dedicate portable player. The first reason is that its possible to carry more multiple at a significantly lower price point. The second reason is that the better quality portable players headphone jacks that provide high quality sound.

Fiio is the low price leader while Astell&Kern is unmatched at the high end. Sony, who defined this marketplace continues to make products in this space. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes flawed. I have gotten tired of their uneven execution and stopped considering their products.

Other Devices

The Brennan B2 is versatile CD ripping, audio serving device which can stream to Sonos speakers, drive highly efficient bookshelf speakers with it’s built in 15 watt amplifier, send digital audio streams via TOPSlink or HDMI.

Audio Communities

• Audio Asylum
• Audio Circle
• Audioholics
• avforums
• diyaudio
• Hydrogen Audio
• Steve Hoffman music forums

Headphone Community Sites

• head-fi.org
• super best audio friends
• head-case.org
• headphone.guru

“Magazines”

• Stereophile
• The Absolute Sound (TAS)
• What HI*FI?
• Enjoy the Music
• Positive Feedback
• tnt-audio – old school website
• Audiophile Style – Podcasts and articles
• Sound on Sound
• 6moons – site UI painful, into audiophile snake oil

Reviews

• The Master Switch – don’t always agree, but typically solid analysis / recommendations
• AudioReview.com

Individuals

• high-endaudio.com
• theaudiophileman.com

Used Gear

• AudioClassics
• Audiogon

Commercial

• Audio Advisor

Headphones are becoming the dominant way people listen to music as people shift from using records and CDs played through a stereo to streaming services played through a smart phone. Unfortunately, many people are using the earbuds provided with their smart phone, tablet, or laptop which has a significantly lower sound quality than most of the starter stereos from past years.

Using earbuds or headphones doesn’t  need to be a sonic step backwards. There are numerous, high quality headphones that can provide superior sound quality at a fraction of the cost of a high-end stereo while preserving convenience and portability.

It’s worth noting that the sound quality of the average smart phone audio jack is poor. I generally recommend using a good quality DAC/player. and in some cases a headphone amplifier might be useful.

My Choice

Updated in 2023

I generally prefer using speakers (currently KEF LS50wireless) but have gone through several seasons of life went the majority of my listening was with headphones. I am currently using three different sets of headphones, actually IEM in addition to our speakers:

• Apple AirPod Pros for their convenience. Mostly used when exercising to listen to podcasts and take phone calls.
• Etymotic HF3. Used when I want sound isolation, often when on airplanes or trains. Provide ~40db passive noise blocking while being comfortable enough to wear non-stop on 14 hours flights. More sound blocking any of the active noise cancelation headphones I have tried.
• HiFiman RE800 Silver. Purchased on sales for $100. Only moderately sound isolating with a fairly neutral and open sound. Use when around home so my music doesn’t bother others but I have some awareness of what’s going on around me.

You can see the headphones I have used / owned in the past on head-fi profile. I would end up with a pair of Stax headphones and using them for several years. Then life circumstances would change and I would be primarily using speakers. I would sell the Stax because I wasn’t using them only to repeat the cycle in the future. I sometimes wonder if I should just store my Stax away because they will come out sometime in the future. The last time I was primarily using headphones I briefly had three summit headphone systems:

• Stax SR-009 + BH amplifier. On loan from a friend who was traveling for a year. Favorite but couldn’t justify the cost.
• Sennheiser HD800 driven by a Headamp GS-X mk2
• Stax SR-007mk1 driven by a KGSSHV amplifier.

I couldn’t see holding onto two high end systems. I decided to sell the Stax for two reasons. First, I could get more money for the Stax. Second, I could drive the Sennheiser HD800 using portable electronic while the Stax required me to be tethered to a wall outlet and large amplifier. After I got married I mostly switched from headphones to speakers to share the listening experience with my wife. I sold the GS-X and continued to occasionally use the HD800 driven by a Chord Mojo. In 2020 I realized I hadn’t used the headphones for more than a year, so I sold them and the Mojo DAC.

“Starter” Headphones

Most people aren’t audiophiles. They don’t want to spend a bunch of time comparing different headphones to find the one that is “best”. For people looking to upgrade their earbuds to something with decent sound quality  I typically recommend the following:

• HIFIMAN RE-400, $99–>$19 one of the most neutral (accurate) in-the-ear monitors for less than $100 and a steal at $19.
• Sennheiser HD 2.30, $54 are fairly comfortable, on the ear headphones with decent sound quality
• Etymotic HF3, $79 are in-the-ear monitors which provide excellent sound isolation, excellent sound quality other than slightly weak bass, with microphone if your cell phone still has a headphone jack. The ES2SE is another good option if you don’t need the microphone.

Massdrop is a great place to purchase excellent headphones for budget prices. They might have the headphones listen above for less money. For a set above the headphones listed above I would suggest versions HIFIMAN HE4xx. These headphones are typically around $150 and compare favorably to anything less than $400.

“Audiophile” Headphones

It always best to evaluate audio equipment with the goal to select equipment that you will enjoy. Don’t worry about what other people think.

I think the HIFIMAN HE400S which can often be found for less than $200 might be the best headphone made when considering price / performance. There are certainly better sounding headphones, but you will paying increasingly larger amounts for smaller and smaller sound improvements.

The Sennheiser HE1060/HEV106 is arguably the best headphone system in the world. $55K!? gets you an integrated DAC, amplifier, and a pair of headphones. It’s too pricy for me, so I haven’t bothered to listen to it.

Stax

The best headphones I have personally listened to were Stax SR-009 ear speakers driven by Headamp Blue Hawaii (BHSE) amplifier. This is almost $10K, so I would hope it sounded good. I thought using a Kevin Gilmore Solid State High Voltage (KGSSHV) amplifier was almost as good.  The sound quality of the Stax SRM-727 trailed the KGSSHV by a bit but doesn’t require assembly.

I think the Stax SR-007 mk1 driven by either a BHSE or KGSSHV is also excellent. The SR-007 is a bit more laid back than the SR-009 or HD800, though still very detailed, with a warmer, more intimate tone. I know several people who think the SR-007 mk1 is the best headphone on the planet and was not surpassed by the SR-009, except in cost. I don’t share this view, but I can understand it for people who want a different tonal balance.

Sennheiser HD800(S)

Sennheiser HD800 (and the updated version the HD800S) are the very best dynamic headphones made today, and my second favorite headphones after the SR-009. The HD800 are the most comfortable headphones I have used. The HD800 midranges are as good as I have heard from any headphones except the SR-009. The HD800 has the best soundstage I have heard in a pair of headphones, and is more detailed, neutral, and transparent to my ears than any headphone other than the SR-009. Their bass is not “powerful”, but it’s tight and well controlled. They have a bit of artifical “air” / “seperation” which can take away a sense of integration in complex music but makes it easier to analyze what you are listening if that is a desire. 

Sometimes the HD800 can be slightly too energetic in the treble, but this is normally more due to a bright DAC and/or amplifier though they do have a spike around 6k. People often suggest using a tube amp. I don’t find tube based amplifier necessary, and my experience a number of tube amplifers round off the HD800 too much. Likewise, some people try to tone down what they perceive as excessive brightness using equalization. In my experience this results in the HD800 sounding flat. Doing EQ is challenging. Some people think the HD800 is too analytical… I don’t think so, but different people have different preferences. I think the come of the best amplifier for them is the Headamp GS-X mk2.

People often talk about how “picky” the HD800 is with the upstream electronics. Often people ask, can HD800 be enjoyed without spending huge amounts of money? My experience is that the HD800 scales well. That is to say that even with $300 electronics (low end Schiit, Matrix m-stage HPA-2, etc) the HD800 can be quite enjoyable. Higher end gear is required to get maximum performance from the HD800.

IEMs

There are a number of CIEM which provide audiophile quality sound  including Heir Audio 8.A, Ultimate Ears Custom Reference, or one of the other CIEM covered in Inner Fidelity’s CIEM Hall of Fame. A fairly comprehensive list of IEM can be found at In-Ear Fidelity.

Other Top Tier Headphones

Focus Utopia. I haven’t listened to these expensive headphones myself, but several people I know and trust rank them as some of the very best headphones on the market today.  While I am sure they are excellent, nothing makes me believe that I would like them more that the HD800 or Stax -007/009.

Dan Clarke Audio (used to be called Mr. Speakers Headphones). They have a number of headphones at a variety price-point. If I was looking for new headphones they would be on my short list.

Audeze makes a number of headphones. I think they are a bit heavy: in they way they feel on my head and in their tonal balance. I found the models I tried were uncomfortable after extended listening. When it comes to sound quality, I found Audeze headphones had great bass, but I they are missing crystal clear midrange, and open treble, and speed / detail I desire. There are many people who love these headphones.

For someone elses take of the very best, check out the Big Sound 2015 hosted by Innerfidelity, David Mahler’s Battle of the Flagship Headphones, Inner Fidelity Comparing World Class Headphones and their interaction with Sanji Watsuki on the  State of Flagship Headphones.

Next Tier / Collector Headphones

There are a number of other excellent headphones that I have tried that I don’t recommend because the headphones listed above provide superior sound quality at an equal or cheaper price point.  For example: Abys, Beyerdynamics T1, Fostex TH-900, Grado xx-1000, Koss ESP-950, Oppo PM-1, less expensive Stax. The pricy Shure KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System would be interesting to someone with $3k who is looking for a highly portable headphone system.

Further Information

You might want to read the article the art and science of measuring headphones and learn to read waterfall plots.

I think the very best amplifiers are like wire with gain. That is, they add or take away nothing from the sound quality. They just boast the signal enough to drive the speakers. An amplifier that does this requires the source and speakers to be well matched. Often times, people will choice an amplifier that will “color” the sound to componsate for their speakers characteristics. For example, speakers which are known to be “bright” are often paired with a tube amplifier.

One of the first question with amplification is whether you are going to use an integrated amplifier or separate components. The advantage with integrated amplifiers are they they tend to be less expensive and offer more value than equivalent separates. If you are spending less that $3000 on a system and don’t plan on playing the upgrade game, you should strongly consider using an integrated amplifier. The advantage of separates is that you have more flexibility and are able to update one piece at as time.

If you aren’t familiar with electronic design, you might want to read the wikipedia article about electronic amplifiers. Most high quality pre-amps use a class A circuit design. Most power amplifiers are class A/B, the better ones are designed to be pure class A through normal listening levels and switch to class B when there is a need for a lot of power. Most companies don’t make class A amplifiers because they are less efficient (run hotter, use more electricity) and will be more expensive to build than an A/B amplifier of similar output power. On the other hand, it’s easier to design a clean class A amplifier. Most class A integrated or power amplifiers are expensive. It is possible to build low to moderate class A power amplifiers (say less than 20 watts) which are reasonably priced.

The wikipedia article mentioned that there is something called a class D amplifiers. Class D amplifiers are more efficient than class A or A/B amplifiers. Until recently nearly all class D amplifiers were designed for efficiency and not for high fidelity. In recent years a number of decent class D amplifiers have hit the market. I predict that as more people figure out how to build high quality class D amplifiers, that we will see class A/B largely disappear from the mass market. Why?  The class D amplifiers don’t sound as good, but they are close enough while being cheaper, more compact and more power efficient. Welcome to the iPod generation where people don’t seem to care as much as audio fidelity. I expect that class A and A/B will only be found audiophile orient products in ten years.

Now back (mostly) to conventional A and A/B designs. Amplifiers that I like

• Exposure 2010S, – simple, minimal features, but you would have to spend at least twice this much to get as well rounded and good sounding amplifier.
• Peachtree Integrated Amplifier. Lots of features, well though out. I think of this as the modern NAD 3020… a really good starter system.
• Bluecircle I have heard good things about their integrated amps, but not listened to it myself.

For less performant / expensive options I would suggest looking at  Rotel and NAD.  I would also recommend look at the used market. My favorite older amplifiers are the Classe’ CAP 80/100, Bryston B-60 SST (slightly updated Bryston B-60 is still made but overpriced), YBA Integre, Acurus DIA-100, and Krell KAV 300 (updated as the 400 and overpriced). Each of these integrated amps with extremely well built and provides extremely good sound quality. You could also look for one of the  for one of the The Ten Most Significant Amplifiers of All Time as selected by the TAS staff.

It used to be that there were four good choices for moderately priced seperates at the high end of consumer electronics, or low end of audiophole: Rotel, Parasound with NAD and Adcom trailing slightly behind. Adcom seems to be history now. A newer company getting very good reviews is Emotiva. Their combination of some good designs, Chinese manufacturing, and direct marketing has produced some excellent products for the money. Several of the engineers at Martin Logan recommend them as a modestly priced amplfier.

I was surprised how much of a difference the preamp can make. I found a great deal of difference between comparably priced preamps when doing blind A-B testing. I did not find that similarly priced power amplifiers varied as much as the preamps did. Ultimately, I discovered that the superior pre-amps where all discrete components using class A amplifier circuits. In recent years I have experimented with not using a pre-amp. Since my music is coming from a single source I have wondered if simplifying the signal path could result in better source. Not surprisingly, the answer depends on the source. In most cases, I found a good preamp significantly improved the sound quality when placed between a source and a power amplifier. One notable exception was the Lavry Black DA11 DAC. I found that I couldn’t tell the difference between the Lavry driving my power amplifier directly, or passing through a high quality pre-amp.

Most of the power amps I tried sounded good.  There were only minor differences.  In 1993 I ended up selecting the Classe’ 70 because it sounded slightly better to me than the other amps with the Aerius, and because Classe’ has a reputation  for standing behind their product, it was one of the amps Martin Logan used in the lab with the Aerius, and I got a good deal on it.  After 19 years I had some problems with my Classe and ended up switching to a more powerful Chord SPM-1200 (the original version) which can deliver 250watts/channel @8ohms, 512watts @2ohms continuously, and can do more during peaks without distortion.