[won ton on]

DaveNote-------the graham slee solo ultralinear headphone amp is ss not tube based.if you go to the website it explains that he made a circut to sound like tubes,hence the ultralinear name.reading the forum on his site it looks like it takes about 1000 hrs to fully burn in

[won ton on]

DaveNote----------me again it's www.gspaudio.co.uk

[DaveNote]

DaveNote----------me again it's www.gspaudio.co.uk

Thanks won ton on for the follow up. I checked it out, and there is a local dealer. Have to see if they have a demo.

Dave

[James Tanner]

Hi folks

Got the HE 500 phones in and tried them on the BHA-1 - really like the phone   I only heard the HE 6 on the previous version of the BHA but I think I like the 500 better

James

[MellowVelo]

Hi folks

Got the HE 500 phones in and tried them on the BHA-1 - really like the phone   I only heard the HE 6 on the previous version of the BHA but I think I like the 500 better

James

Hi James,

Thanks for following up on this. So does that mean that the BHA-1 has enough power to drive the HE-500? What gain setting did you use? Did you use single-ended or balanced connection? At what position was the volume pot for comfortable listening level?

Thanks!

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

Thanks for following up on this. So does that mean that the BHA-1 has enough power to drive the HE-500? What gain setting did you use? Did you use single-ended or balanced connection? At what position was the volume pot for comfortable listening level?

Thanks!

Single ended about 11 oclock.  The BHA-1 runs pure Class A so even at full rotation of the volume control would not be an issue.

james

[DaveNote]

Single ended about 11 oclock.  The BHA-1 runs pure Class A so even at full rotation of the volume control would not be an issue.

james

For what it is worth, by comparison, I run my Schiit Lyr amp, which has 6 watts of power, at 9:00 o'clock and the headphone jack of my BP26 at 10, using my LCD-2 headphones. In each case, higher volumes would be close to being dangerously high.

LCD-2s are 50 ohms, and HE500s are 38 ohms. So my guess is that the BHA-1 power might be closer to that of my preamp jack than to my Lyr.

Dave

[James Tanner]

BHA-1 at CES

[James Tanner]

Hey James,

While the LCD's can handle up to 15 watts they can also play 90dB with 1mw.
We usually recommend 1 watt although from the specs of your BHA-1 you should be more than fine.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,


Alexander Rosson
www.audeze.com

[DaveNote]

Hey James,

While the LCD's can handle up to 15 watts they can also play 90dB with 1mw.
We usually recommend 1 watt although from the specs of your BHA-1 you should be more than fine.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,


Alexander Rosson
www.audeze.com

Many thanks, James, for getting this information from Audeze. As an LCD user, I found this to be one of the most useful pieces of information about the BHA-1 to date.

Dave

[myview]

Hi James,

Will you kindly pose a similar question to Hifiman/Head-Direct regarding the HE-6 please?

Thank you very much

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

Will you kindly pose a similar question to Hifiman/Head-Direct regarding the HE-6 please?

Thank you very much

I did many moons ago - no answer

James

[James Tanner]

Well I have 4 different headphones now and I thought speakers sounded different

James

[DaveNote]

I did many moons ago - no answer

James

Maybe HiFiMan, which builds headphone amps as well as headphones, may be a little reluctant to help a competitor, especially since it, too, is introducing a new SS amp in a few weeks at about the same price as the BHA-1. BTW, its new EF-6 will produce 5 watts of power.

Dave

[MellowVelo]

Well I have 4 different headphones now and I thought speakers sounded different

James

Yeah, it's kinda crazy just how radically different some headphones can sound from each other, but that's also why headphone listening can be such a fun hobby. It's much easier to swap out headphones than speakers; you can easily build up an arsenal of headphones for various types of listening.

[MellowVelo]

Hey James,

While the LCD's can handle up to 15 watts they can also play 90dB with 1mw.
We usually recommend 1 watt although from the specs of your BHA-1 you should be more than fine.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,


Alexander Rosson
www.audeze.com

This is really helpful to know. Thanks, Alexander and James.

[MellowVelo]

HI-Z load: 20 Volts into 600 ohms (667mW) at 001% THD + N at 20-20K

Low-Z load: 4 volts into 32 ohms (500 mW) at 001% THD + N at 20-20K

Hi James,

I'm curious as to why the power output drops as the impedance of the headphone decreases. I thought that power output is supposed to increase as impedance decreases. Are headphones different than speakers in this regard?

[srb]

I thought that power output is supposed to increase as impedance decreases. Are headphones different than speakers in this regard?

The thing different about headphones is the extremely wide variation in impedances between them, that is much narrower with speakers.  If the amplifier voltage was constant, then the lower impedance would have more power, but my guess is that a design that can accommodate the wide variation between 32 ohms and 600 ohms impedance might require two different circuits that could explain the difference in voltage output.
 
Is there a low/high impedance switch on the BHA-1?
 
Steve

[James Tanner]

The thing different about headphones is the extremely wide variation in impedances between them, that is much narrower with speakers.  If the amplifier voltage was constant, then the lower impedance would have more power, but my guess is that a design that can accommodate the wide variation between 32 ohms and 600 ohms impedance might require two different circuits that could explain the difference in voltage output.
 
Is there a low/high impedance switch on the BHA-1?
 
Steve

Hi Steve - yes there is a high/low impedance switch.

james

[SoundGame]

A useful article on how headphone listening differs from listening to speakers:

http://audiophilereview.com/headphones/how-headphone-listening-is-different.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AudiophileReview+%28Audiophile+Review%29

Dave

Dave, read this and found it interesting.  Though I have a decent pair of cans i.e. Grado SR80's, they would only be mid-head-fi level, at best.  This has always left me wondering how much more could be got by moving to something twice the price or so?  For me, stereo imaging, both depth and bredth is an essential part of my attraction to critical listening through in-room speakers...I've never had a realistic / believeable room space from my headphones and wondered if that was primarily limited by my cans and/or headphone amp.  This article suggests that there are clear limits based on the inherent nature of headphones.  Interesting.