I just stumbled into this, knowing that it was in the works, and I'm thrilled to see how much effort you've put into describing all those combinations, logically, and articulately!
You have filled a pretty large void in the information available to those who have tried to find solid information regarding what distinguishes these three CEntrance products. Thank you!
Your conclusions are indeed surprising - especially that the DACport, feeding the DACmini's amp section, could offer better synergy with the HD800 than either the DACport LX or the DACmini's own DAC, through the DACmini's amp section. But your explanations make a lot of sense as to why this is so.
Another eyebrow-raising moment, for me, was your statement that (in the context of comparing rendered detail), the LCD-2 rev.1 could be the weakest link when used with either the DACport LX > DACmini amp, or the DACmini CX alone. That's a huge compliment to the resolving power of the LX and DACmini DACs as well as to the DACmini's amp section, despite the LCD-2 falling short of some other, notable headphones, for resolution.
My profile reveals that I can actually carry all of my headphones with two hands, but the SE530 is among them, so I've long been aware that the LCD-2 rev.1 doesn't offer the ultimate in resolution. With my recent acquisitions of the DACport LX and DACmini CX, however, that has become even more obvious, as the gap between SE530 detail and LCD-2 detail has widened using CEntrance gear.
These CEntrance machines are indeed VERY resolving and there's an odd comfort in knowing that my LCD-2 is, at last, properly nourished!
Thanks again for your time and effort to perform these comparisons, Larry.
Yep. Weak links in the chain are not that hard to identify IF you have the right gear to compare with. In your case you can use the SE-530 to pick up the slight decrease in resolution when you switch over to the LCD-2, etc. And the LCD-2 are pretty detailed on their own, and probably more so than the D7000 or HF-2, but not at the top of the dynamic food chain like the LCD-3, HE-500/HE-6, HD800, Beyer T1, K1000, HP-1000, etc.. (ignoring stats for the time being)
Someone out there could easily do a review of the DACport LX vs the DACmini and report that the LX is every bit as good as the DACmini; but we have to look at what headphones or speakers they used in the review to know if there is noticable weak link in the chain. A weak link reduces everything to the same level of performance, instead of letting the better gear stand out above the lesser piece. In my opinion, it's a lot more likely for the headphones to be the weak link than the DAC or the Amp, because the electro-to-mechanical conversion is so much harder to achieve perfection.
Basically, IF I am stuck using my LCD-2 rev1 headphones as the only way to evaluate two rigs, I just can't say that my $3000 PS Audio Perfectwave DAC + $2700 Eddie Current ZDT is any more resolving than the DACmini alone. Sure, the more expensive rig has more power with a bigger, deeper, wider soundstage and is a little more refined sounding when paired with the LCD-2, but in terms of sheer resolution and transparency the LCD-2 just don't pick up on the increased micro-details and other cues like a more resolving headphone. If I switch to the HE-500 or HD800 then the differences become more apparent, and not just to me but my son and brother-in-law have noted this too.
And then there's the whole conundrum of synergy. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't. Good synergy is a requirement in picking any gear to use for a review. The LCD-2 are very good, but not my first choice for reviewing gear unless the synergy is there. Just because the LCD-2 and HE-500 sound better with my DACmini than with my Woo WA6 doesn't mean the WA6 isn't as good an amp as the DACmini. It just means it's worse with some phones than others, and in return the WA6 beats the DACmini when using my HD600 and HD800, while with the LA7000 the two amps are pretty much equal. Likewise, just because the SR-71b amp sounds better than the WA6 with balanced LCD-2 or HE-500, it doesn't mean the SR-71b is a better amp than the WA6, because the WA6 is a bit better than the SR-71b with HD800 and Grado RS-1. Sometimes the synergy comes from voltage swing, or current delivery, or impedance matching, or power output, and other times they just balance each other out in frequency response.
Edited by HeadphoneAddict - 10/4/12 at 10:56pm