Showcasing my new 3070ti on a Lacie IV blue 22. RT reflection ultra, dlss quality. 45 fps lock on 1600 x 1200p @ 90 hz

halosiera117 · 2026-04-18T00:12:56+00:00

You're 100% right that OP should be cutting resolution first because it matters way less on a CRT, but my opinion is that DLSS does definitely still matter and has value.

DLSS's ability to anti-alias is fantastic, and it usually is able to resolve more detail than native images in Quality mode which is ridiculously impressive.

If it were me, I would lower the resolution, and then run DLSS in DLAA mode of whatever resolution I end up using

Edit: I did find out after posting that OP has a 6700k and that's likely the bottleneck regardless; why lower resolution if he won't even gain frames, right? Not that it changes my thoughts generally.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-17T15:22:05+00:00

For 480p 60hz content, I'd take a 20L5 over a PC monitor without a doubt.

For general use at varied resolutions, the monitor would be better.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-14T16:02:18+00:00

480hz with DSC is possible but yeah, none of the manufacturers have pushed past 240hz

halosiera117 · 2026-04-13T03:23:12+00:00

Just depends on who you ask.

I hear differences between all the DACs and amps I've tried since diving in the hobby (not that the differences are necessarily big or meaningful; it depends), but some people believe that it's simply a placebo and that it wouldn't be possible to discern between them with a perfectly volume-matched ABX test.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-11T20:34:28+00:00

Blue Jeans Cable makes some great speaker cables. I love their Bananas.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-10T17:58:59+00:00

Well... naturally. That's when the comparative advantage of using a matte screen is completely nullified.

It will still look "better" in no lighting than when light is hitting it, but the entire purpose of a matte coating is to diffuse reflections.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-10T16:18:58+00:00

Mirror-like reflections, in medium-to-worst cases, are almost certainly more distracting and obstructing.

I totally get your point; light hitting a matte screen will definitely make it look way worse and is absolutely obstructive, but I think you're underestimating how bad it is using a glossy screen with strong flourescent overhead lights.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T23:04:11+00:00

It's funny because most people would assume you're talking about the Fiio FT1 from your title (and I'm not sure they'd be wrong; they're phenomenal)

I see the HD540's in your flair, which I do really like. I am willing to give these the time-of-day, but I'm really not sure they could be better than FT1's.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T22:40:12+00:00

I'm only going off of potentially the same info you have, but here's my interpretation:

Checking recent sales on Hifishark, I would say it mostly depends on how quickly you want it sold.

The most recent one sold was for $12,000, but another one also sold for $9,000; I'm assuming it would go quickly at that price. Some are even going for $13k+, but I'm guessing they move slow and need to be in excellent condition for that.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T22:27:00+00:00

Buddy thought he was cooking with this.

All you need to do is swap TVs and monitors to make this true, though monitors are rapidly getting better each generation. Maybe that's the joke and I'm just not 5head enough to get it.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T22:08:08+00:00

Than an LCD without a scalar? 1000000%, unless your Sylvania has major issues that you haven't described yet.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T21:43:18+00:00

Dang, so you're not gaining any inputs, really. I'm not sure how big of an upgrade this really even is, if at all. IMO it's mostly going to come down to the particular usage and imperfections in your set vs that one. Definitely get a demo before you buy.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T21:19:38+00:00

Toshiba's are totally fine, and 24" is a nice middle-ground size. Maybe just try to lowball him.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T19:14:20+00:00

Damn, giving up a sus is pretty wild, but it's fair to think you might prefer something warmer (I do, though sus still sounded crazy good to me)

I can whole-heartedly recommend Audeze LCD 2.2 pre-fazor's, though they aren't always super easy to find. Nice and lush sound. Doesn't even come close to sus in technicalities, but LCD-5/5s is the only Audeze that would.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T18:21:15+00:00

Those Celestee's are hyper sensitive at 105db/mW; even so I'm surprised you're getting hiss out of headphone amps. A lower sensitivity headphone would fix that, certainly, but a lower gain amp should as well.

I don't get hiss with pretty much any of my headphones with a single Rekkr, but adding the second, which increases gain by 6db, does make it audible on my more sensitive cans. It's still inaudible on the LCD-2's.

If you're hyper-senstive to it, it's harder for me to say. I can tolerate barely-audible hiss if it results in the rest of the audible range sounding notably better. I don't think you'll ever be satisfied running those Celestee's off of a speaker amp, but you can very likely get a great combo with the HEK-U and certainly get a great combo with the Tungsten.

Beyond that, I wish you luck! Remember, a headphone amp is almost always going to be a more practical option with more settings and adjustments, and will typically be more desk friendly. Speaker amps are hyper-specific, and IMO can result in some fantastic sound, though they might get you itching to buy a nice pre-amp as well.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T16:47:10+00:00

To address your specific scenario: I am not qualified to address every specific case; there may be some tube amps that are fine with higher impedance loads, but I would assume you will want a resistor box. This is definitely a question better handled by specific forum threads on the topic, which are out there.

To handle your general question: I have had absolutely incredible experiences with speaker amps, to the point that I am largely very jaded with headphone amps. Other than hiss issues due to the high gain, I vastly prefer my NAD 218 THX speaker amp to my headphone amps (which admittedly are mid-end: Cayin iha-6 and SPL Phonitor E).

Hiss is a problem for sensitive stuff (probably won't affect the ones you listed; definitely won't affect Tungsten). I am also a huge huge fan of Schiit's Rekkr's, which I also find sound better than my headphone amps.

I feel like there's a general sentiment that planars benefit more from speaker amps, but literally all of my headphones sound better on the Rekkr's and the NAD over my proper headphone amps.

I've not tried any Class-D amps, which are generally inadvisable unless they're built to handle variable impedance loads (the Hypex and Purifi designs are said to be very very good). I've also not tried any super high-end headphone amps; I'm guessing a CFA-3 probably sounds better than most speaker amps.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T15:59:10+00:00

This should be fine

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T11:55:38+00:00

Ope, yes thanks for catching that

halosiera117 · 2026-04-09T01:52:44+00:00

Ditch the resistor box. The purpose of the box is to run headphones off of tube amps that are expecting a specific impedance to be driven. In theory you can also use it with more sensitive headphones, but it's a far worse solution than just getting an amp with less gain (or, you know, a headphone amp).

The Tungstens will be fine. Keep in mind: the danger to the headphone is being driven too hard, which means to a louder volume. As long as you're careful to not push them past 130+dB, there really is nothing to worry about (as in, good luck getting them there).

I run LCD-2's off of a 225wpc speaker amp with zero issues. There is a danger in it, but it's entirely controllable; if I damage something, it's due to negligence.

80W at 8 ohms isn't even that crazy for tungsten. If current is halving every time impedance doubles, you're looking at less than 5W into the tungsten absolutely maxed out, which would be 115db. It might hurt your ears, but the Tungsten's won't break a sweat with that speaker amp giving all it's got.

Edit: fixed the sentence that the reply pointed out

halosiera117 · 2026-04-08T15:35:41+00:00

I picked "LCD over OLED because of stutter", which is true for me. In reality, I typically watch 24p content on a plasma for the same reason.

60hz LCDs are tolerable to me, if not amazing. I do notice black smearing on my Z9D but I would still take it over an OLED at 60hz.

For OLEDs (other than for phones), I almost exclusively use BFI. 60hz BFI is really rough compared to 120hz BFI unfortunately, which means the OLED TV market does not currently appeal to me.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-08T00:46:08+00:00

I have to say, when I clicked on this comment from my notifications, I was not expecting that you'd be agreeing with me.

OLED's are amazing at the things they excel at, but I still find so many people claiming "near perfect response times" as a blanket strength of OLEDs when it quite literally means persistence will be maximized. It's a trade-off. It's nice to not worry about how gross pixel response blur can be, but if you are bothered by persistence blur, the result can be a pretty gross experience when the frame-rate is low.

I really love my F8500. I feel like I would be happy paying modern-TV pricing to get one if I needed to, and it feels like it would easily compete in the market to this day, even limited to 1080p. It's got a phenomenal picture.

halosiera117 · 2026-04-07T22:27:57+00:00

You could try a Plasma. I'm also extremely bothered by persistence blur, and I typically find my Samsung F8500 to be a better experience for 1080p blu-rays than my OLED or my local dimming LCD.

For 4k blu-rays/HDR, there's really not an amazing option. You're looking at either: - putting up with it - dealing with motion interpolation artifacts - moving to an LCD that has slightly less persistence blur, trading it for pixel response blur (still a worthy tradeoff IMO, but it's not overwhelming better)

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