I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an audiophile. I do, however, appreciate good music well played. When I’m listening, I want to enjoy it. I’ve owned semi-audiophile gear in the past, a lovely NAD amplifier and I can’t recall the brand of bookshelf speakers. The result sounded beautiful and it only set me back around $1,500 in the mid-1980s. "Only..."
That system is long-gone, and in retirement I wanted to improve my listening enjoyment. I’ve tried various speakers, such as Sonos, Bose, and even the Harmon Kardon Invoke. All nice, but I came to recognize I was missing true stereo. As good as any of those speakers are, they only truly come alive when you can assemble a stereo pair.
I do most of my listening at my computer and things being as they are, a stereo pair would have been difficult to arrange. Headphones seemed the obvious answer and my old Sony PS3 headphones were a nice start. They were joined by a set of Microsoft Surface Headphones and while they were nice, it was clear I was running into the limitations of Bluetooth.
A little research led me to a set of HarmonicDyne Zeus headphones. The review on YouTube by DMS summed it up perfectly, a concert hall on your head. This was exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t need studio monitor capability, I wasn’t (and still am not) interested in reference grade. I wanted something pleasant to listen to and the Zeus seemed to fit the bill.
For best results, though, you have to drive these things. Simply plugging into the 3.5mm jack on my desktop speakers would not do. This led the world of USB external DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters). Your modern digital devices all contain a DAC of wildly variable quality. An external DAC gives you better quality output and more control over your options. There is a simply staggering number of choices.
Which led me to Schiit Audio, a little company out of southern California that makes a variety of audio gear, including the marvelous, little Modi 3+ external DAC. I added a Magni headphone amp and preamp, and, ultimately, a Loki Mini+ “high fidelity tone control,” i.e., an equalizer. Audiophiles loathe equalizers; your system should be balanced and awesome all by itself. I’m inclined to agree, and wanted to Loki anyway.
The end result was a little more pricey than I originally intended to spend but by Klono’s brass claws, the results sound great. I want to one of my go-to tracks, Finale from John Williams’ soundtrack for The Empire Strikes Back. I was sitting in front of the orchestra. Oboes were over there, violins over there, and other instruments all over the orchestra pit. Glorious!
It only got better when I flipped the Magni from low to high output. For my powered desktop speakers, the low setting is fine. The Zeus headphones, which sound perfectly fine at that setting, simply came to life at the high setting. Even adjusting for volume, the Zeus seemed fuller, richer. Listening to Ludwig Goransson’s music for Tenet was a wonderful experience, and when I’m listening to Dress it’s as though PJ Harvey is there, performing just for me.
All of this set me back around $700 but the enjoyment is priceless. Even my Bose Companion desktop speakers sound better. Playing games, such as Hitman 3 or Cyberpunk 2077, the Zeus continue to be impressive. It’s just a beautiful setup.
My little stack of Schiit will also, if I’m so inclined, allow me to expand my headphone collection. They have enough sound quality and oomph to power true audiophile headphones if I ever decide to head that way. In the meanwhile, I’m re-ripping my CD collection to FLAC, stream lossless via Amazon Music HD, and am looking forward to what Spotify HiFi will offer. (And let's just not get into the debate whether you can actually hear the difference between 320kbps lossy MP3 and lossless FLAC.)
If you enjoy listening to music, I can’t recommend this setup highly enough. You can save some cash with lower cost headphones. I continue to look into things and there are excellent options that start under $100, still others that are under $200. Even my little stack of Schiit would have been cheaper if I hadn’t wanted to play with the equalizer. The Modi DAC and Magni amp combo is $200 ($100 each).
Give it a try, your ears will thank you.
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