AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => Headphone Mania => Topic started by: adydula on 30 Jun 2019, 12:10 pm
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Hello!
Here is a discussion thread where you can opine about your favorite SS gear.
As usual please keep it friendly and positive.
Thanks
Alex
My favorites in SS are many!
I have built many DIY SS amps and all are great, but some stand out better than others in my useage and headphones.
The Mark Johnson T2 Class A Diy amp is absolutley on top of the list so far...over many others I have heard.
I describe this amp in detail in an other thread on the circle.
Others I have liked over time are the Objective O2 stock and with many mods, Schitt Asgard, Pete Millets Butte, Burson Fun, AGDR's ODA
(a diy design of a possible O2).
Alex
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I had one of the first run Asgard's and didn't feel it paired well with my then new HD650's.
I confess to a leaning toward tubes, but I still enjoy my iFi iCan SE and my Burson soloist.
The Burson is to my ears more linear, but I love the slight warmth and the 4w output of the
iCan SE.
ymmw,
Hibuck...
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Interesting,
I to had a first generation Asgard, ran hot....but sold it after a few months...in search of something that at that time
would work better with my then LCD2's.
Alex
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For quite a few years I've been using a Nuforce HDP which I love. Since committing to it I have tried a Bottlehead Crack as well as a Bottlehead S.E.X. and neither of them bettered it. At this point I'll probably keep using it until it dies. It pairs really well with my non-pro Beyerdynamic DT-990s.
Although the kit Adydula just built is intriguing.
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The T2 kit I just built is a keeper...Its one of the amps I would never aprt with, willingly!!
So inexpensive and easy to build...
Alex
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Sure, rub it in. :drool:
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Ha!
Did you send Mark a note?
Alex
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Ha!
Did you send Mark a note?
Alex
No, I haven't yet, but will do. This amp seems like a great counterpoint to the 2 tube amps I currently have.
John
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Solid State Stack
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=198017)
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Solid State Stack
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=198017)
Something tells me there will be another SS amp to try - perhaps in December..... 8)
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Oh Gosh!!
I cant wait!!
:D :D :D
Alex
PS: I have a few others that arent in this picture...afraid of toppling the pile!! :o
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Deleted. :D
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I got the itch to get a newer solid state amp than what I had, something with more power and flexibility.
One of the amps that peeked my interest was the Auralic Taurus Mk ll headphone amp. A few recently
popped up for sale on the used market so I thought I would give it a shot, the reviews looked pretty good.
I particularly wanted something with a pre out just in case I decided to get speakers again.
I’ve now listened to this amp with three different headphones.. Hifiman Ananda’s, Beyer T1.2’s and the
Senn 800S. My first impressions was, this is a really nice amp, I noticed right away this amp has got some
balls. It drove all my headphones without any problems, each one sounding wonderful in their own right,
with renewed listening interest.
The amp has balanced and single ended connections so I’m able to use the balanced cable with the 800s.
That connection had more power than the single ended one. The amp has plenty of detail and the sound
stage opened up even wider than with my older Graham Slee.
This amp is quiet, words that come to mind are clear, detailed, powerful, musical and dynamic.. It also
seems to pair well with the Chord Qutest Dac.
I’m still doing some comparisons with my headphones but I really like what I’m hearing so far and I’m
very happy with the Taurus.
Jerry
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=199730)
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=199732)
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Jerry!!
Thats a really nice piece of gear!
Its been around for awhile....you must have snagged this one in a great deal...I went and read the review that John Grandberg did back in
Feb of 2014.
There is a nice pix on the interior and it looks very well built.
Enjoy!
Alex
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I bought a used Rudistor RPX-33mk2 about nine years ago. IT is a very nice headamp. (for my Sennheiser HD800 phones)
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So after 9 years its still working well?
Thats awesome!
Have you ever compared it to any other more recent amplifiers?
Its a nice Class A amp!
Alex
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That Taurus is a fun little amp. I had one for a few years. It was great with a variety of phones.
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Eaisly fooled am I ? :duh: :D :lol:
This am I am listening with the Clears with my desktop DIY ODA designed by AGDR....a wonderful powerful little amp that
is really complex from the DIY angle..but the results are nothing more than spectacular...its my SS reference amp..
So I connected the ODA and the new Schitt Magni 3 to my Bifrost MB dac, both are getting the same dac output at the same time (y- splitter).
Before I did this I was powering one up, then the other taking 30-40 seconds changing out wall worts...this adds the memory "loss" in between
changes and listening...and the song your listening too has moved to another possibly different section of the material. This makes it harder to be
objective when trying to compare two different amps with your human brain! At least it is to me!
So with both the ODA and the Magni3 powered up. level set with a test tone, and both connected to the same DAC source its only 1-2 seconds to pull out the
phone plug from one and into another....
The results are as usual astounding...or not.
Thinking the Magni 3 was a lesser amp by listening this am, I had to do my keep me honest test.
Pretty much both amps sound tonally pretty much the same. Hard to really tell any difference.
The only thing that might be different, might be the soundstage seems wider or more open and wide with the ODA.
To me this is like comparing a $99 amp to one the would cost north of $600 - $1K IMO.
You can easily do this at home....a pair of very low cost Y splitters for your dac and another set of interconnects you too can see if you can
hear any real world difference in your amps or dacs etc...
Just remember to level set with a test tone and a SPL meter....(I made a small adapter that rests on an earpad with a small precise hole cut out that I stick the sensor of the old Radio
Shack SPL meter into). The material I used for this was some low cost mount board for photographs from a local craft store)..
Ok so both of these amps are pretty much the same?
So which one to use??
Maybe the red one today and the silver one tomorrow!!
Ah!
Life is good..
Good Morning!
Alex
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I used to have a Burson Conductor dac/amp that I couldn’t really warm up to.
Now I have a Burson Soloist and a Mojo dac that I really enjoy together. My
iFi stack is also a keeper for me. Love the touch of warmth and the power
of the iFi.
Hibuck....
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Hibuck,
Do you have the MKII?
This amp is built like a tank!
Very nice...
Alex
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Good Morning!
Today I am comparing the DIY "Noir" I completed several weeks ago with the Schitt Magni 3.
I spent the morning level setting the volume pots and both set to 75dB which to my ears is a bit loud at times!
The Noir from Mark Johnson is a class A amp and the Magni3 is a Class AB amp.
The Magni3 is direct coupled, no caps in the output path. while the Noir has a big ole 3300 uf cap in the output.
The Magni 3 has a whopping 2 watts available at 32 ohms and the ATH M50s I used are 32 ohms and the Clears are 55 ohms...so the Magni3 has the power
to make these both sing very well.....
The Noir has plenty enough power to drive most cans with the exception of those HiFiMan HE-4, HiFiMan HE-6, HiFiMan H3-500's.
It will drive them but not to 110dB spl.
So the end result this am is both amps are so very close that its hard to tell if one is better than another!
So this tells me for $79 for the Magni3 B-stock and approx $200 DIY you can have a great affordable experience!
I can be happy with either of them, and I am fortunate to have both.
Many folks will spend more ( me included) but you dont have to spend mega bucks for great sound.
Life is good!
Alex
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Alex,
From my recollection both the T2 and subsequently Noir are not direct coupled, they have input and output capacitors right?
Best,
Anand.
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Yes!!
Your correct!! There is a big old 3300uf output cap in the Noir!!
My bad, I will update my recent post...
Alex
:>)
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OK so the Tuba has left the stage and is winging its way back to Hawaii, it surely will be missed.
But the little Magni 3 is performing admirably and I am just listening with it with the clears and am just amazed how good it is...
Non-fatiguing with all kinds of music and quality of recordings...
There is a very nice synergy with the Focal Clears, with bright music things are toned down just a bit and this takes the edge off of these types of recordings..
With some female vocal recordings the combination makes them pop abit when they have been recorded with a little less of the higher registers.....thinking of Madeleine Peyroux and Corrine Bailey....these are helped with this combination....
Live recording are wonderful like Eva Cassidy and Bill Withers live performances...two folks that arent around anymore but they still live on in spirit and lovely tunes...
Just lovely sound....
Alex
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Alex,
Thanks, again, for your reviews!
From your impressions of the Magni 3, I can’t help but wonder if it makes sense to spend ~$500 on SS headphone amps?
Michael
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Well,
I've been doing this a long time, and I do like "stuff" and gear, especially audio stuff....so its a pleasure to build, buy and test stuff....for a long time I could only read someone else's reviews and hope they were accurate and honest.
The old adage if its costs more, it has to be better and if it measures better it has to be better.....
Well over the years these two things just dont always add up to an exact accurate answer.
What I have learned reading thousands of reviews and thousands of posts on other websites is that there are so many experts and folks that think they are experts that spend many, many hours, thousands of posts and bloviate with glittering adjectives about how one item is better or worse than another.
This includes me as well, but its really gotten much simpler for me at my age and experience.
There are lots of gear out there that works very well at $99 and at $999 +.
But if you think that the $999 item is going to be sonically better than the $99 one all the time, I think your wrong...IMO.
So why would you spend more if less can deliver about the same sonic experience?
Well, just because you can, and most often the more costly item has more bells and whistles that might be important to you.
So it all depends on what you want out of the hobby or pastime and in many of our cases what we can afford.
IMO the perfectly measuring amp down to .0000XXX will work very well, but will it outshine the $99 well designed amp sonically....only having the two
side by side and doing an honest AB comparison will show YOU what if any the sonic differences are.
So there is more to just the cost....for alot of us.
Life is good!!
Alex
:D :D