u/Nurgelrot

I've been cycling gear and locations for a bit trying to find what works best for me. Finally landed on this quiet end-table in a not too heavily trafficked area of my house. With some gear that's not crazy expensive and doesn't take up all the space. First, what’s not seen in the photo: I have a Lyrion Music Server set up with piCorePlayer endpoints on my home network. If you don’t know what it is, go check it out. It's a very simple, free, multi-room streaming setup that can all be done using cheap Raspberry Pis or old smartphones—delivering my local FLAC library and my Spotify account to any room in the house.

The main part of the setup is the FiiO K13. If you are on a super tight budget, you could just stop there and save your money for headphones. LMS + the K13 will get you going and drive most headphones. But since the K13 has both RCA and XLR outputs that are active at the same time in Line Out or Preamp mode, you can easily add an amp or two for your own flavor. In my case, I’ve gone for the Schiit Valhalla 3 over the RCA output and an Apos Gremlin on the XLR.

The logic of this setup is:

• High-impedance dynamic headphones go to the Valhalla.
• Low-impedance planars go to the Gremlin.
• Anything else (or music that just doesn't need or sound right on tubes, i.e. audiobooks) stays with the K13 in PO mode.

In the photo, I have a FiiO M21 DAP running Squeezelite to control it all. It also holds my audiobook library—like most music players, LMS doesn't handle the extra features needed for audiobooks well, so I just use my DAP for those. This could easily be replaced with any old Android device. I could inject them into the K13 but 9/10 I just use the DAP directly for books.

The great part of this layout is how flexible it is. Pretty much any one part can be swapped for something you already have. The main DAC/Amp is the key piece—being able to function as a quality DAC as well as a solid amp, while having both single-ended and balanced outputs, makes the K13 a really good choice here. Not to mention the onboard PEQ that you can access right from the same Android device you’re using to control the music. Something like a Schiit Jotunheim with the DAC module would be an excellent choice as well, though I’m already pushing “crazy expensive” with the Valhalla 3.

Anyway though I’d just share and solicit opinions.

The best advice I can give to anybody about headphones. Build your own. Even if you massively fail and they sound horrid, you'll learn so much. I have now successfully repaired/modified three sets of fairly expensive headphones because of what I learned building these two for under $100. (Plus printers :) )

I made these Schiit medium stack (9x6) spacers mostly to give the Valhalla a little more room to radiate heat. But it woks good for the Lokius too. Print pairs in TPU and they are basically just taller feet, Hoping someone finds them useful. https://www.printables.com/model/1786020-schiit-9x6-equipment-spacer

But seriously I'm about done. I couldn't bring myself to drop the money on a Mimir for a single ended amp. So I put a FiiO K11 R2R I already had under it. Made a little adapter shelf thing. Its more open than it looks and hopefully won't get too hot. So far very happy with the Valhalla3. Got some different tubes to see if I can tell the difference (doubtful with my ears).

Well okay cheating in this photo cuz the Gremlin. But it's still all Schiity. The M21 is S/PDIF to a K13 then goes over XLR to the Lokius before being split RCA to the Midgard and XLR again to the Gremlin. For what ever sound I want or to solve whatever headphone challenge I have. Not that there ever is one with the Midgard. Thing is a beast.

The Sys makes it simple to take a Teams call then get right back to what's important. And no one walks off with my headset cuz nobody knows how to get 250ohm working with their computer 🤣

Got a chance to play with the Oak Nano from Snowsky (FiiO) today. The only thing I really have to compare them to in the single DD arena is the FD15. I'll make this short.

I can't hear a difference. I'm the first to admit that I have crap hearing and I'm no audiophile expert. But I'm not that bad :) . I do like the FiiO house tuning, so I really like my FD15s, and I'm sure I value their sound more than most of the people I've read on here—but these sound pretty much the same to me. Maybe they sound a bit wider and more open, if you're into that.

They are lighter in both the IEMs and the cable (which is a very bright white). Because of that, I can see them being a lot more comfortable for longer sessions. Passive background sound isolation is good, honestly about the same as the FD15 again.

They're very jewelry-like, which is good or bad depending on if you're into that. :)

So, IMO, are they worth $300 (+/-40) more? No way. Get the shiny steel FD15, put a lighter cable on it, and save that near $340 for a DAP.

Continuing my line of protective gear. It's more functional that good looking. I've found the leather case it comes with to be slippery and the buttons are hard to find. Don't know yet if this is much of an improvement still a bit of WIP. But sharing away. The top is pure cosmetic so it looks good stacked with my iBasso amp. Feel free to mod. https://www.printables.com/model/1747820-tpu-sleeve-for-fiio-m33

At least i'm well prepared for the day. FiiO M33, iBasso PB6 ( cuz you know overkill is fun) and Letshouer Astralis + my 3d printed overears (not shown)

Yeah needed a fix. I'm a lost cause...

For anyone that wants to protect their amp some but let it breath better than the factory "Leather" case...

https://www.printables.com/model/1725107-ibasso-pb6-macaw-sleeve

How to take a mid-range DAP and weaponize it for office combat.
FiiO M21 -> iBasso Macaw -> any headphone on the planet.
Oh and a 135W PD enabled power brick just in case... you know OT or something.