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Portable Shootout!
(>'-')> *POW* o=('.'Q)
Here is the leaning tower of power, compiled from my stuff and Peter's (Romanee) From bottom to top: Headroom MicroAmp, 2x RSA SR71, Practical Devices XM4, 2x Portaphile V2^2 Maxxed, LDM+, 2x RSA Hornets, RSA Tomahawk, iPod.
On the right is the the amps in the shootout comparison of three biggies of the portable amp selections. MicroAmp with desktop module, SR71#6029, Portaphile v2^2 maxxed with LT1210 andBlackgateNX 1500 caps, and my iPod photo. That black case underneath is the enclosure for my yet to be built Pimeta.
Reviews of each will follow shortly, although remember it is writting right now from memory, so bear with me. All the amps were judged with and iPod Photo as source, ALO Silver Six Shooter Line Out Dock as interconnect, and all on battery power. I will focus mainly on the HD580 as those are the ones I am most familiar with, but will throw in some impressions with other cans as well.
= = = IN PROGRESS ( '-')% *scribble scribble* = = =
My Pimeta Build !
The lolmeta (>'-')>
This is basically for testing right now, a fully functional pimeta amp.
Here are the parts arriving! (the small board on the left is for the Tread power supply which I still have to finish!)
And the finished amp :D
lol.
The parts used were dale-vishay resistors (very good yet cheap), The two big (and bent) capacitors are BlackGate NX (expensive, 12.50usd each, but are just amazing in terms of sound quality), the two small box caps are WIMA, the volume control pot is the Alps RK27 "blue velvet" and is big, beefy, and very accurate in what it does. I have six buffers, two for each channel, and the opamps(the main chip responsible for amplification and thus the sound quality/flavour) are socketed, so I can play with different ones. The ones in the picture are opa134 from Burr Brown- very nice warm and robust sound. I also use the AD8620 which are more airy, detailed, and have better bass extension.
back to listening!
( '-')
Solar Wind 501 !
My masterpiece ;)
I started with Nordost Solar Wind speaker cable and cut a strip off for a total of 9 wires wide, then terminated with a Cardas quarter inch plug using Cardas Quad Eutectic solder. This was the plan:
and the result:
how does it sound? well in my opinion- and after a long listening weekend (no computer, nothing to do but stay home with my pre/post minor operation dad), I can sincerely conclude that..... whoops look at the time g2g to bed. lol. ok ok fine.
I don't like flame wars fueled by snake oil
but
If you really want to know, I love it. I took two cds that usually sounded congested with abysmal soundstage paul van dyk- the politics of dancing and a nicer acoustic self named album rie fu and used it as my references. I found layering that just wasn't there before, separation of sounds is very noticeable with little effort- it was so much that I kind of disliked it. The background was just too black and most of the tracks just sounded like a bunch of sounds popping up around me, which is good and what I was(kind of) aiming for, but the separation was just astonishing(ly annoying).
The cardas plug. Yes the plug was very important from my little experience. I had tried this hard wired(soldered) to the output of my lolmeta for a few hours, then attached a switchcraft 1/4 "heavy duty one" borrowed from my senn recable cable, and finally I bought a rat shack 1/4 inch.
Suprisingly, the switchcraft sounded worst with this, since it is all nickel over some unknown metal. Defeats the purpose of such a cable, and the sound was good soundstage but was just not much of an upgrade looking at how much i spent. The rat shack one which is another let down obviously worked, but was horrid because the slightest motion would introduce crackles even after caig deoxit. Junked that one . I then attached the cardas one which was my first choice. Since the wire is not very heavy gauge and is very precisely made, I know the rhodium/silver cardas plug was the right choice because it made the right sacrifice between durability and signal transmission. I couldn't tell between the cardas and hard wire.
all in all, I think it was worth the money all the way. it is pretty, shiny and actually improves upon the stock wire. I think it was more effort than any kind of audiophile trick. The wire is not million dollar whatchimacallit, plug is not solid gold, and it doesn't have techflex. What it does have is actual common sense construction, materials research, almost 19 hours of construction + love.
Enough stupid audiophile words .. I don't really believe in cables too much anyway. This is probably all placebo because first of all I spent way too much effort on this for it not to 'sound' good , and since I have been away at my parents place with nothing but music and lots of time, that could have been the "added resolution."
I'll leave it for you to decide.
( '-')
Gilmore Lite !
With dedicated power supply for the win.
Time to audition it!
(>'-')>
REVIEW: AKG K501
Amplification is required based on common sense- the sensitivity and impudence calls for high quality amp. I've auditioned with the following amplifiers extensively:
3 Channel Beta22 with stepped attenuator
Gilmore Lite/DPS
Home Pimeta/Toroid+treads @ 24v AD8620, 6xBUF634
Portaphile v2^2 Maxxed (LT1210, BG1500) all switches on
LDII+ (Mullard M8161)
Headroom Microamp
Xin Supermini IV
RSA SR-71 (High Gain)
Source: Entech Number Cruncher 203.2 with LM4562 or 2xOPA627 opamps, Elna Cerafine and Wima caps.
I found that the particularities of this sound signature suits live acoustic, progressive trance, female vocals, and particularly big orchestral works.
The bass is very neutral in the sense that it will extend as required by the source- nothing significantly emphasized- and lacks particularly the slam common to most headphones and especially the Grados'.With ample amplification, the low end can actually become very textural and you can almost reach out and grab it.
The midrange is laid out in a way that layering is easily perceived as well as a soundstage that is by default very expansive both depth-wise and vertically/sideways. Voices retain the sheer texture you would expect from listening at close range to a singer, yet with woodwinds the liquidity is preserved and reproduced more or less with the same magic as real life.
Highs are very detailed and airy without the slightest hint of being sibilant or having thinness. There is a sweetness that accompanies these headphones that I can only describe as atmospheric in presentation. The texture still extends to the highs too when listening to strings, in particular violas- where some headphones may mask it's charm- these cans let you easily differentiate from violins in some of the most difficult compositions. With well recorded and mastered live music, the sense of microdetail, layering and decay is uncanny- the truest sense of the word "live"
__________________
Revisiting the K501 with the Beta22 amplifier
Telarc's fine recording of Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque's performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos(CD-80368) elicited a very rare response from me- one of sheer stupor as the dynamics of the beta22 and the absolute bass control revealed a side of this disc I haven't yet heard with any headphone/amp combination. The beta22 amplifier especially brings out the slam- and tightens the bass considerably so there is a very transparent window to the music that contain complex and subtle bass details. This new low end information, combined with the already spectacular spatial capabilities of the K501's confirmed that AKG's former flagship scales just like the HD580s that I still have as a reference.
The depth perception also rises a notch as the amp's higher resolution lets my system fully reproduce the fine acoustics of that recording location. Overall, I unconditionally recommend these headphones for baroque, and they fare much better than RS-2's even for string quartets from a high end system.
There does exist a major caveat with these headphones- a slight error in tonal accuracy within the viola-cello range: a problem that is more apparent on lower end systems especially with fast layered and large scale string movements. This small problem, which could be a major turnoff for those not willing to fully invest in a system that corrects the issue, would miss the realistic tonal balance and accuracy of the HD580s in particularly stressful classical pieces.
hYdrociTy
( '-')
They banned me. Fuckers.
(>T^T)>
lol look at the hug! TAKE THAT EVIL PPLS!!11!!1ein
love on teh interclouds. you cant take away love..
. . .(>'-')c('-'c) . . .
Nordost Solar Wind Koss KSC35!
World's best KSC35.
Rewired with Nordost Solar Wind, terminated in Cryogenically treated Canare F12 connector with Cardas Solder!
It is a sucess and landmark in Koss Stereophone history. This is not some kind of gimmick like the balanced KSC75's on that other forum but instead is an acutal and practical upgrade that can be used daily, not some kind of show off one time deal. For the information, this actually is a testbed. Ill be desodlering the cable and sending it to phergus_25 as a gift. Because I'm nice like that. Unlike the facist moderators over there.
( '-')
ZOMG MD PLAYERS FINALLY HERE
Nostalgia Attack...
Pink Floyd- Live at Pulse!
Time to listen ^^
Sony Discman D-35
Nostalgia Attack Pt. 2
So I got a vintage portable cd player for like 13 bucks. These usually go for way more money (~100 bucks) for a working one, and I'm just glad mine works. These old portables really have no anti-skip system AT ALL. Tap the side and the disc skips. Whats worse, there is no error correction either- which means any disc that is even remotely scratched anywhere will throw the player off on a tangent. But enough negatives.
The sound quality is imaculate. The sound is big, involving, and powerful out of the headphone out, and this is driving the HD580s. Overall flavor is on the warm side, though detail is there and not missing at all. Unlike some portable headphone amps- especially the low end ones- the high frequencies are there, don't overpower, and are presented in a very coherent way. There are no obvious faults from the powerful lows to the present and never harsh highs.
Thats right. Oversampling. iwin.
^('o')^