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Audio Zenith PMx2 Impressions page
Nov 16, 2016 at 5:08 PM Post #181 of 393
youurayy said:
   
from Cali straight to Crete :wink:  staying in the sun!
 
It's tricky to characterize these as they so transparently show the recording, the DAC, the AMP...  it's kinda like a stethoscope for audio.
 
People say they sound great from iPhone -- imagine how they sound with high-end gear!
Click to expand...

They're at their finest balanced out of the Pono Player.
 
Nov 17, 2016 at 8:47 AM Post #182 of 393
harpo1 said:
  They're at their finest balanced out of the Pono Player.
Click to expand...

 
Some details about my system --
 
1. Aside from playing native DSD, I pre-render my PCM music into DSD512 on the PC where jitter doesn't affect the sigma-delta pre-render, then that is streamed into Amber2 Lampizator with optional Superclock for the DSD circuit:
 

http://lampizator.eu/Fikus/DAC_AMBER.html
 
 
For Schiit Lyr 2 tubes, I cover the top 4 places here:
 
 

 
Additionally there's a 200 eur power cable on the Lampi + -10dB attenuators in front of the Lyr2 -- I discovered both by chance and each pushes the sound quality significantly further.
 
I have the Pono w/ good balanced cable and while it's very respectable, w/ the PMx2 it sounds a little lifeless compared to my desktop setup. The PMx2 will do fine with a portable amp but it's still a hungry beast when it comes to sounding its best.
 
I going to compare the Pono with iFi iDSD micro soon, various headphones, curious about the results.
 
 
 
shamuuu said:
 
Gorgeous
 
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
Nov 18, 2016 at 10:18 PM Post #183 of 393
Just did some tests with my other headphones vs PMx2 - the HD600 and the Philips Fidelio X2 on the latest album from AURORA, the songs Home and Warrior.
The PMx2 not only mercilessly shows when my system has not been warmed up properly (the first 30 min) - on the song Home there is a lot of ringing in vocals (goes away completely after warm-up), and on the complex chorus in the song Warrior, on louder levels, all the other cans basically render it as garbage while the PMx2 handles it with ease.
I removed the -10dB RCA attenuators and the PMx2 handles that just fine as things come even more alive. The other cans sounded better with them.
I did the tests on the 320Kbps MP3 version of the album (DSD512 render) -- but I also own the Vinyl -- can't wait to compare these using the Judge Dredd PMx2.
 
Nov 18, 2016 at 11:39 PM Post #184 of 393
I'm about 30 hours into breaking in mine. Sound is smoothing quite a bit. Got my Mojo the same day, and they really seem to bring out the best in each other

Based on recommendation from Alex, I need to track down some reasonably priced balanced cables and dust off the Pono. Anyone have a good source of pragmatic (inexpensive but structurally sound) balanced cables for these puppies?
 
Nov 19, 2016 at 12:13 AM Post #186 of 393
ray-dude said:
I'm about 30 hours into breaking in mine. Sound is smoothing quite a bit. Got my Mojo the same day, and they really seem to bring out the best in each other

Based on recommendation from Alex, I need to track down some reasonably priced balanced cables and dust off the Pono. Anyone have a good source of pragmatic (inexpensive but structurally sound) balanced cables for these puppies?
Click to expand...

Surf Cables are really great. They do a lot of Pono cables.
https://www.surfcables.com/products/ponoplayer-cables
 
Nov 23, 2016 at 4:29 PM Post #189 of 393
sonic guild said:
  How is the sound stage compared to the PM1? 
PM1 sounds so closed and claustrophobic. 
Click to expand...

Can't compare to PM1 but I find the PMx2 soundstage to be just okay. I think a little wider would be too wide for music. Still tricks me occasionally to turn my head to check if things are okay in the room. But it won't emulate soundstage for tracks that don't exhibit it. They can sound like a tin can or like a concert hall, it's up to the track / DAC / amp.
 
Nov 23, 2016 at 4:58 PM Post #191 of 393
I just purchased a PMx2 a few weeks ago. I have the Schiit Asgard 2 with the Schiit Modi 1 (the old usb dac). I am not too crazy about my combination. What would anyone recommend changing first? The dac or the amp?
 
Nov 23, 2016 at 5:08 PM Post #193 of 393
organmonster said:
  I just purchased a PMx2 a few weeks ago. I have the Schiit Asgard 2 with the Schiit Modi 1 (the old usb dac). I am not too crazy about my combination. What would anyone recommend changing first? The dac or the amp?
Click to expand...

 
I found the DAC makes a huge difference with the PMx2.  I've used them with an Oppo HA-1, Jotunheim (with built in DS DAC), multi-bit Modi, and the Mojo.  The multi-bit and Mojo DACs worked best with it.
 
I have not yet piped the the Mojo through the Jotunheim (as an amp) to isolate the influence of the DAC.  We're having our DAC fest in a week and a half (Jotunheim, Oppo, Mojo, Bimby, Yggy, Pono, etc, feeding PMx2's and a HD 800), so hopefully will have more to share after that.
 
Nov 23, 2016 at 5:29 PM Post #194 of 393
I know this is going to cost me a Schiit load of money, but I want to do it right and I also do not want to do it over again and again. 
 
I am building a Hauptwerk organ system and I know how important the Dac is to reproducing the true sound of the pipe organ though it's software. The Hauptwerk software is pure, but it all depends on the quality of the dac to reproduce that same pure sound. The next purchase will be two fold. I want to buy a real good dac for headphones and then move this dac over to the organ project. So basically I am using this as a test bed for the huge organ. I have already berried over 20K into the organ and it is not even close to being finished. The PMx2 was bought for the feedback loop of the organ project.
 
Thanks all !!!
 
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