[radarnyc]

Hi all
Not meant to be too much of an analytical exercise but I'm wondering what everyone is (or is planning) to drive for speakers with their LIO. Any initial impressions for those that have received their LIO's yet?  Same thing on headphones.
I'm very curious what Vinnie runs at home and/or in his shop these days!
I might be a future purchaser of a LIO; so no impressions from me! I have Legacy Studio HDs and HE-6s. In the past (and maybe future), I've been with Omega and enjoyed their crossover-less sound.
Maybe we can discover new speakers from each other since Vinnie and his LIO can "take care of" everything else for us!

[jtwrace]

It's becoming increasingly harder to resist but I'd try the LIO with MrSpeakers Alpha Dogs. 

[Vinnie R.]

Hi radarnyc,

I'm very curious what Vinnie runs at home and/or in his shop these days!

I am currently running a pair of Harbeth 40.1s in a near-field arrangement with LIO.  I also have a pair of Harbeth P3ESR's
in a smaller room and also listen to them near-field. 

You can expect great results with a wide range of speakers and LIO - even speakers that have odd impedance dips (e.g. Quad ESL-57's).

For headphones, I've been switching between Audeze LCD-X, LCD-3, HiFiMan HE-560, and Senn HD-650 --- all ran in 4-pin XLR balanced mode. 

I'll be at CanJam in SoCal at the end of this month at the ALO table, and will have a LIO there and hope to listen to more headphones!

Hi jtwrace,

At the last NY Headfi meet, I was very impressed with the Alpha Dogs!  Best closed headphone I've heard so far (besides the Sony R10's that have been discontinued for years and sell used for >$6k most of the time!)

At that same meet, I heard a pair of modified Senn HD-800s... as did a member of the meet and he pre-ordered a LIO.  I hope to ship to him this week.  I never heard HD-800s sounds so good before.  Love the spaciousness of them - almost reminds me of the AKG K1000s (also long been discontinued).

Back to radarnyc,

We also powered a pair of HE-6's via the LIO's speaker outputs and I thought they sounded dynamite this way!  If you want to play them at louder levels, you'll want the gain of the speaker outputs.  It was a very good match with them!

The next NY Headfi meet is May 2nd in Babylon, NY:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/743424/official-new-york-spring-meet-sat-may-2nd-2015

I'll be there - and hopefully can as well! 

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Just as a follow-up to my last post where I mention near-field listening, you might want to check out this
link I found regarding this topic:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?886-Near-Field-Listening-Acquired-Taste-or-Proper-Paradigm

Coincidentally, the poster there is also using Harbeth 40.1s and shows a pic of his listening arrangement with the speakers.
I am similarly situated, but my speakers are pulled out into the room more than his - and I set mine up so that wall behind
the speakers is a corner of the room (the 'center' of the stage where the vocals usually come from).  On some recordings, you
are oh-so-close to 'being there' in terms of soundstage width, depth, height - and you can close your eyes (or just listen in the dark
like I tend to do at night) and reach out into the sound that does NOT even seem like it is coming from the speakers at all!  The
speakers disappear not only because of listening in the dark, but the sound does not seem to come from them - it comes from beyond them.

Just as the link above mentions, by doing so you take a large percentage of the room acoustics OUT of the equation - but not all speakers are designed to sound good listening to this way, and depending on your room and how much flexibility you have, it might not be practical.  But if you can - try it!  Make sure you precisely measure the distance from your ears to the speakers to within 0.5", as well as play with the angle that the two intersecting speakers (imaginary line) makes at your listening position.  I have to do the trig - but I think I'm between 80 - 90 degrees.   If you dial it in just right, you will be rewarded! 

NOTE:  Some may think of "desktop" listening when they hear the term near-field.  Fine, but the setup I am referring to goes well above and beyond the sound you'll get from a desktop because there is no desktop in the way, the speakers are pulled out into the room and interacting far less with it, there is a much greater sense of depth and space, etc.  It's like studio monitoring, but without the studio / console. 

This is just one way to enjoy listening, and in no way am I saying it is the "best" way - only you can find what is best for you.  And as your situation and tastes change, change with them.  Experiment.  Take notes.  Take a few days to get out of critical listening mode and just listen and enjoy.  Come back to it again later.  And have fun! 

Vinnie