Am I audiophile tone deaf?

[Things change I've changed]

I recently received an mdac+, this is a highly reviewed headphone amp/dac combo, I would say mid to high end, barely anyone has anything bad to say about it, I received mine this morning, and have been testing it all day with my AKG K612's K712's, and Grado SR225e's, I volume matched it my M-Stage HPA-1 using my PC's X-fi as the DAC, and the Gods honest truth I'm struggling to hear a difference, now when I upgraded to the HPA-1 from an old mixing amp I certainly heard an upgrade, but I am shocked that I can't hear the same with the MDAC+, now either I just don't have an audiophile's ear or perhaps the M-Stage really is a good amp for the money? but then that doesn't explain the DAC?, maybe I was expecting too much but I've spent the best part of the day comparing them I really think in a blind test I wouldn't know which was which!

 

[Things change I've changed]

Yeah before I hit the 'return to sender' button I think I will let it burn in for a couple of days and mess about with the filters for a bit, I'm definitely glad I got because at the very least like rids57 said it really does show how good the M-Stage is for the money, I guess it was very popular for a reason.

 

[Things change I've changed]

I've sent it back today,

A few issues, it honestly didn't sound a lot different from the M-Stage, and I think that says a lot about how good that little amp is, like I said in the OP, when I upgraded to the M-Stage from a mediocre mixing amp it blew me away, it made my K612's sing and they are not easy to drive at all.

On quieter sources like classical music I really had to push the volume up to nearly max, really didn't feel like I had any headroom left which was disconcerting.

Fixed lineout is ridiculously loud, I couldn't really move the volume dial on my amp past 9pm, so was a pain to adjust the volume accurately, the only solution to that really is to use in-line attenuators.

No headphone out gain settings, this was unexpected to for me as they are very common on headphone amps these days.

Another small niggle was having to unplug the headphones all the time to activate the lineout, I think that is ridiculous for any desktop amp with a fixed lineout.

The lasting impression I got from the M-DAC+ was that it was a hi-fi dac first and headphone amp second.

I have a Marantz HD-DAC1 coming next week, as long as it powers the cans well I think that will be it for me, look forward to auditioning it.

 

[Things change I've changed]

Finally,

Sorry for the delay, I've had a couple of stressful months with work, I canceled my Marantz order as had a few extra expenses come up, I had to buy a new TV which was annoying as was trying to eek out my old one until OLED came down in price, anyway first world problems aside,

This landed on my doorstep today, an Audeze Deckard,

You might of seen it for sale in MM, was quite surprised nobody else grabbed it as it had been on there a while dropping in price, in the end I it got for £350, I've only been auditioning it for a couple of hours but first impressions are very good, I can actually notice a marked improvement over M-Stage HPA-1, unlike the mdac+ which I was very unimpressed with, although I do think I came to the conclusion that the mdac+ was a DAC first and foremost and a headphone amp second.

The Deckard sounds a lot more neutral compared to the M-Stage, much better control over the bass, the bass actually slams now, I would say the treble is a little on the hot side with the Grado's but pairs really well with the K712's, a lot of people seem to describe this amp as warm sounding, but perhaps I'm used the M-Stage as this doesn't sound very warm to me, it sounds very clear and detailed with maybe just a hint of warmth on the midrange, I wouldn't want to use HD800's with this amp, I would imagine it would be too fatiguing, I have a feeling the HD650's would sound really nice on this amp, being an Audeze amp I'm guessing this might be tuned a little towards their darker planers.