There & Back Again: A Hobbi...Headphone Lover's Tale

[George Hincapie]

Me too. Do you own one?

[George Hincapie]

It's one view, but others are available too. This comparison is of the original Pi2AES against the original Allo DigiOne.

[George Hincapie]

Me too. Do you own one?

Yes I have a SIG, currently in the office setup.

It is a marked step up from the DigiOne.

[George Hincapie]

Let me have a listen to the Pi2AES 2.0 for a few weeks and I'll send it over for you to try.

[George Hincapie]

I decided to pop the Pi2AES 2.0 together this evening after dinner.





So, I've just spent the last hour or so listening to a variety of music streamed from my local library or the internet using Roon. The Pi2AES 2.0 was powered via the Pi board with a LPSU. Ropieee was the software used, with the Pi2AES set as output via the Ropieee web interface.

The audio chain was:

Roon Nucleus > Supra Cat 8 > Ubiquiti Switch > Fibre > FMC with LPSU > Supra Cat 8 > Pi2AES 2.0 with LPSU > Blue Jeans BNC > Audial S5 > Blue Jeans RCA > Linear Tube Audio MZ3 > ZMF Atrium Open Ltd

My initial impressions are that this combination is providing the best SQ of my system to date. Absolutely beautiful, exquisitely layered music, presented on an enveloping three dimensional soundstage. Stunning. Bewitching. Beguiling. I love it!

The Allo DigiOne is itself no slouch, but it simply cannot compete in this company. I shall leave comparisons with the Signature variant to Fretless in due course. The Pi2AES 2.0 'blackground' is just black as black can be. And from that velvet night the most wonderful music springs forth, so clearly defined and visceral.

There is scope to improve this further still. An additional LPSU to power the Pi2AES 2.0 board separately from the main Pi board will deliver further benefits, and I have a spare supply to hand. I'm assured by Pedja that one of the two Pi2AES 2.0 I2S outputs are pin compatible with the Audial S5, so I may try that at some point. I have just received a trial licence for a new super high quality Pi audio OS, and I'll be trying that in the next week.

But, for the moment at least, this is just perfect.

Thanks for reading.

[George Hincapie]

Just keep that in your rig - the Rendu might be a disappointment in comparison.

[George Hincapie]

Another pair of Melz 1578 arrived today from Russia. I'm just going to pop them in the MZ3 with the GEC A2900. Supposedly the absolute best combination...

[George Hincapie]

Yes, that's the pair to go for. Simply wonderful. I've never heard better SQ from a headphone system.

I don't want anyone to die of shock, but I feel that my DAC, HPA, and source search has come to an end. I am super happy with those components and they all work beautifully together. With respect to the future, I will considering moving the Pi2AES 2.0 source output to I2S and then add a CDT to the BNC. Otherwise it'll just be a case of adding new headphones; there are three more sets of ZMF and two more from other companies which I am keen to buy.

Have any of you decided to attend CanJam next month? It'd be great to meet up.

[antonio66]

The Jays Audio is a super looking machine George, and would have been my go to if purchasing another CDT, but TEAC have recently brought out a new model which I bet will be good:- https://www.hifi.blog/teac-70th-anniver ... transport/
Also keep your eye out for any Esoteric in your price bracket that may come up for sale, a few months ago I heard one sounding fantastic through nice system.

[George Hincapie]

The Jays Audio is a super looking machine George, and would have been my go to if purchasing another CDT, but TEAC have recently brought out a new model which I bet will be good:- https://www.hifi.blog/teac-70th-anniver ... transport/
Also keep your eye out for any Esoteric in your price bracket that may come up for sale, a few months ago I heard one sounding fantastic through nice system.

Sadly no BNC out on the Teac. The Esoteric does have 4 x AKM per channel though! Amazing