[listenermark]

I recently bought my first entry level headphone rig (Schitt Modi/Magni stack and Hifiman Sundaras.)  I am really enjoying the sound and would like advice on an uprgrade path.  I have a modest budget of six hundred american dollars, what should I do?  My musical diet includes a bit of everything, but contemporary electronic music is the bulk of my listening. 

[FullRangeMan]

I recently bought my first entry level headphone rig (Schitt Modi/Magni stack and Hifiman Sundaras.)  I am really enjoying the sound and would like advice on an uprgrade path.  I have a modest budget of six hundred american dollars, what should I do?  My musical diet includes a bit of everything, but contemporary electronic music is the bulk of my listening.

Best value upgrade is a balanced XLR-4 cable, it will enlarge the soundstage out of the head in my experience with the HE400, IMO.

[newzooreview]

If you just bought the setup and you are enjoying it then I would put the money aside and add to it over the next few months. Read a lot on forums and check out the videos that GoldenSound has posted on Youtube. He likes electronic music as well.

My inclination would be to replace the Mani and Magni sometime next year as an upgrade. I think the headphones will reveal the benefits of that. If you get something good, then an upgrade to the headphones as the second step would be reasonable.

[artur9]

I would argue your setup isn't entry level.  That's several hundreds of dollars of stuff.

Take your time, learn what you like and dislike about what you have and then start researching how to address the shortcomings you perceive.

Otherwise you'll be on a merry-go-round of endless upgrades, making some improvements while adversely affecting other aspects of your rig that makes it enjoyable.

There are a lot of vendors out there that will take advantage of your wallet while you go around that merry-go-round.

[FullRangeMan]

To a XLR-4 amp I would suggest a 7Watts Jotunheim.
https://www.schiit.com/products/jotunheim-1

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/hifiman/sundara-2020

[newzooreview]

Benchmark has a good blog post titled "Audio Myth - Balanced Headphone Amplifiers are Better"

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-balanced-headphone-outputs-are-better?_pos=10&_sid=8c7f41896&_ss=r

A quote from the article:

"This expectation that balanced headphone amplifiers should be superior to single-ended amplifiers, ignores some of the most basic laws of electricity. The current into and out of a two-wire network is always equal and opposite. This means that the two-wire transducers used in headphones always see fully-balanced current. It also means that the headphone drivers are completely ignorant of the difference between single-ended and balanced-drive voltages.

Let me spell this out again: Headphone transducers are balanced devices. They have two wires. The electrons that flow into one wire must flow out of the other. The current is always balanced. The headphone transducers cannot detect the difference between a single-ended drive and a voltage-balanced drive. The system is balanced with either type of voltage drive."

[AllanS]

Patience is sometimes undervalued in this hobby/passion/obsession.  You’re getting some good advice here.  You’re looking for an upgrade path - from where to where? 

Take time to figure out and articulate what characteristics you like or want in your system.  How well does your current system fulfill this?  From there you’ll have a basis for comparison.  You may find different gear sounds different.  Whether that difference is better is something only you can answer.  It’s easier if you know what you’re looking for.

Assuming you’ll be experimenting, make sure you can audition and return gear.  If necessary nominal restocking fees and return shipping costs are a reasonable cost to figure out if a piece of gear is better to your ears.  In my experience and wallet new gear depreciation isn’t reasonable.  So look used from trusted sources if you want to buy something and hang onto it for awhile.

Paraphrasing a favorite quote, a smart person learns from their mistakes.  A wise person learns from other people’s mistakes.  I can’t claim to be wise.

Best of luck!

[vtvu]

Head-fi.org is a good headphone forum with lots of headphone enthusiasts.
Vinh

[dB Cooper]

One potential plus might be increased voltage off the amplifier circuit running in balanced mode (I don’t know if current also increases in that mode; if it does, current-hungry planars like your Sundaras might benefit).


Benchmark has been around a good while and has a rep for building high quality equipment. They also ain’t cheap. Balanced connections were developed to prevent noise pickup in long cable runs on stage. If your cable lengths are reasonable, there’s probably not that much to be gained by adopting them, especially since having a balance output, does not even guarantee that the equipment has a truly balanced circuit path anyway.

[Jon L]

Head-fi.org is a good headphone forum with lots of headphone enthusiasts.
Vinh

AND nuts 

[arteom]

Might consider exploring a bit of the standards. The HD-650 has been around for many years, check it out, see what has kept it going. Or Check out some Beyers, some AKG's. My favorite cans for electronic music have been Audio Technica AD2000's, and the Ultrasone Signature Pro's. I would recommend buying secondhand, that way you can have some fun and turn around and resell for little loss.