Desktop Audio Upgrade Extraordinaire 11Nov17

Mud season is dangerous. I've nearly cleared the shelves of old audiophile gear from my last 20 years. While I thought I did due dil on pricing pretty thoroughly, tonight an item I set up for auction on eBay sold for the Buy-It-Now price of ~$200 in 2 minutes. That's kind of the definition of "leaving $ on the table." It was my Sony MDS-JB940 MiniDisc deck from the early 2000s. Mini-Disc (MD) was a cool and really tiny removable format for mobile audio after cassette was eclipsed and before flash memory crushed optical and rotating magnetics for good, and Apple released iPod, revolutionizing end-to-end ecosystems with iTunes (now a bane of most folks' existences). I had both a Walkman recorder/player and an MD changer for the car in addition to the deck - most discs though were prepared from CD rips using this deck.

To fund my next steps, I did sell off the stunning Shure 846 IEMs with a custom made balance cable set... a loss for sure (heh heh) but I preferred the roundness of the Sony dynamic IEMs coming from my very high quality DAP anyway. An experiment where I lost some $$ but NP as I stoked about the new inbounds (see below).

That's not the main point of this entry however. I just placed all the orders needed to assemble what's perhaps my end game headphone setup. It may seem like my WooAudio Fireflies DAC/AMP driving a set of Audeze LCD planar magnetics, which some readers have audited, is that - but its not. I've been exposed to some new cans which are much more refined, and quieter for nearby friends. While I won't go all the way to Focal Utopia @ ~$4K, I will make a step up. And I've learned and heard the significant benefits of running a fully balanced system (see prior posts on balanced systems and cabling if interested). The good news, for the home budget, is that all the selling activity should cover the cost of the new system, though that is significant. The keen WA7 + LCD-2 setup will be moved to Silverthorne and my Schiit Vali 2 + Modi 2 Uber there now (along with a bevy of cool lamps) will be shipped to a lucky buyer or anchor my server Win7 machine (rarely used directly these days). Note the Audeze cans while sporting balanced cabling needed to be unbalanced from the Fireflies amp. I will test the LCD-2s balanced with the new AMP when it arrives...

So, what have I done? I've scored MrSpeakers Ether C Flow headphones (C=closed) with a 4 pin XLR balanced termination cable set and I'll drive them with a Schiit Mjolinar 2 hybrid tube AMP and I'll use a Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC to turn bits to tunes. I know the tubes to acquire but they run $200-$600/pair so I may approach slowly. Interestingly, I bought LISST for the sockets initially - these are solid state "tubes." They are novel but I expect to quickly move to early 60's Telefunken, Phillips and Reflektor tubes for most listening. Balanced systems need to be so end-to-end, and the DAC has balanced outputs so I will run very short XLR interconnects between the DAC and the AMP. And, I can do a righteous compare of the Audeze and MrSpeakers planar magnetics with both driven fully balanced from the AMP to each ear of the headphones.

Ok, so patience and consservatism aren't my strong suit. I've got the first three pairs of new old stock (NOS) premium dual triode tubes coming too. I'm starting with  the German Telefunken E88CC, the Dutch Phillips E88CC D-Getter, and the Czech Tesla E88CC... all from the early 60's - but unused, except testing and matching. Show below is also the LISST solid state "tubes" coming stock with the AMP. These four may do it but I'd like to add pairs of Russian Reflektors, British Mullards, and US Amperexs just to see how they perform. I also bought some "socket savers" in order to facilitate rolling tubes through the amp more easily and without wear & tear on the AMP's sockets. They'll also allow the keen tubes to sit more proudly from atop the AMP.