05-24-2009, 11:18 PM
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Headphoneus Supremus
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
Posts: 16,016
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Vinnie, any chance the output of the DAC section can be sent to two places simultaneously. First to a pair of RCA in the back to feed an amp or whatever, and the second to feed the Amphora headphone module.
It would be great if you could use the silver wires and the dact volume currently in use with the Amphora.
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05-25-2009, 03:35 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 445
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie R.
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Those IEMs are just too sensitive and their sensitivity is in the noise floor of the headphone amp (and dac), so I don't think they will be the best match.
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Hi Vinnie,
If the sensitivity of the IEM is in the noise floor of the dac, does it means that even if I use the output of the Isabellina DAC to a hypothetically absolute quite amp, my IEM will still hiss?
Regards,
GreenLeo
__________________
Travel Rig: 4G iMod -> RAL mini-2-mini -> D10 -> ES3X
Office Rig:cheap USB-> iRoc->RSAD Poiema V3 RCA->Lisa->ES3X/ALO780 18G Jena/K701 RAL recabled
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]
Home Rigs: PC ->Foobar (with ASIO4ALL) ->
RSAD Poiema USB-> Isabellina>rapture
1. ->amp -> speaker
2. Isabellina -> Apuresound impedance adapter + ES3X/K701 RAL recabled
DAC:D10, AudioSector dac, iRoc, Isabellina
Headphone Amp: Xtra 1(gone), C & C V2, Tomahawk(gone), Move, Lisa III XP(gone), Lisa III std, D10
IEM: Ety ER6, Shure E500(gone), UE TF10, W3, ES3X
USB Cable: RSAD Digital Master
IC: ALO Jumbo Cyro mini-to-mini, BlackMax mini-toRCA, RAL mini-2-mini, RSAD Poiema !!! R-V3 RCA
Feedback:http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f12/gr...3/#post4471219
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05-25-2009, 09:18 PM
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Member of the Trade
Red Wine Audio
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Meriden, CT
Posts: 448
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrarroyo
Vinnie, any chance the output of the DAC section can be sent to two places simultaneously. First to a pair of RCA in the back to feed an amp or whatever, and the second to feed the Amphora headphone module.
It would be great if you could use the silver wires and the dact volume currently in use with the Amphora.
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Hi Miguel,
The output of the Isabellina dac is going to be fed to a remote volume control, and then to the Isabella headphone module (which is what is used in the Amphora). The output of the dac must first pass through the volume control, otherwise you will have no control of the volume level feeding your headphones 
I am also going to feed the output of the volume control to a set of RCA jacks on the back panel. This way, you can also connect your Isabellina HPA to another amplifier (e.g. a home audio power amp). If one prefers to connect the output of the dac board directly to the RCA outputs (with no volume control in the signal path), we can do that as well. The customer can choose which they prefer for the RCA outputs (direct from dac, or remote volume-controlled).
Hi GreenLeo,
Good question, and I'm not sure yet. I would need to compare the noise floor of each. The thing is that I'm not a fan of IEM headphones, so I don't have any to do testing with.
Anyone know of a pair of very high sensitivity IEMs that are not too expensive?
Thanks,
Vinnie
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05-25-2009, 11:32 PM
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Headphoneus Supremus
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
Posts: 16,016
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Nice very nice. If a customer chooses to have a fixed output to the RCA's what kind of volume control will the headphone amp have? The same one as the Amphora? Will the headphone amp module also have the V-Caps as in the amphora?
Very exciting if you ask me.
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05-26-2009, 02:08 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Washington
Posts: 609
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Any time frame on when the first batch might be available?
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05-26-2009, 02:38 AM
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Headphoneus Supremus
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
Posts: 16,016
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I hope it is at least two months away, so I time to save and sell stuff.
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05-26-2009, 03:15 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Washington
Posts: 609
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I was wondering because I just bought an isabillina and if he is going to be done in a couple of weeks, it would be better for Vinny to keep it and wait for the combo dac/amp rather than him sending it out tuesday just to turn around and trade up in a couple of weeks. It will save me in shipping atleast. If it is going to be a couple of months than it will be nice to have isabillina now.
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05-26-2009, 03:46 AM
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Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrarroyo
I hope it is at least two months away, so I time to save and sell stuff. |
x2...gonna save up a little bit... 
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05-26-2009, 08:05 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 445
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Quote:
Originally Posted by winzzz
x2...gonna save up a little bit... |
I need to save up a large BYTE (vs a little bit  )
__________________
Travel Rig: 4G iMod -> RAL mini-2-mini -> D10 -> ES3X
Office Rig:cheap USB-> iRoc->RSAD Poiema V3 RCA->Lisa->ES3X/ALO780 18G Jena/K701 RAL recabled
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]
Home Rigs: PC ->Foobar (with ASIO4ALL) ->
RSAD Poiema USB-> Isabellina>rapture
1. ->amp -> speaker
2. Isabellina -> Apuresound impedance adapter + ES3X/K701 RAL recabled
DAC:D10, AudioSector dac, iRoc, Isabellina
Headphone Amp: Xtra 1(gone), C & C V2, Tomahawk(gone), Move, Lisa III XP(gone), Lisa III std, D10
IEM: Ety ER6, Shure E500(gone), UE TF10, W3, ES3X
USB Cable: RSAD Digital Master
IC: ALO Jumbo Cyro mini-to-mini, BlackMax mini-toRCA, RAL mini-2-mini, RSAD Poiema !!! R-V3 RCA
Feedback:http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f12/gr...3/#post4471219
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05-26-2009, 08:13 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 445
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie R.
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Hi GreenLeo,
Good question, and I'm not sure yet. I would need to compare the noise floor of each. The thing is that I'm not a fan of IEM headphones, so I don't have any to do testing with.
Anyone know of a pair of very high sensitivity IEMs that are not too expensive?
Thanks,
Vinnie
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How about the UE4, the poor man's UE10 according to the title of one of the Jude's recent threads? The cost is $399. Not sure about its sensitivity though.
Regards,
__________________
Travel Rig: 4G iMod -> RAL mini-2-mini -> D10 -> ES3X
Office Rig:cheap USB-> iRoc->RSAD Poiema V3 RCA->Lisa->ES3X/ALO780 18G Jena/K701 RAL recabled
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]
Home Rigs: PC ->Foobar (with ASIO4ALL) ->
RSAD Poiema USB-> Isabellina>rapture
1. ->amp -> speaker
2. Isabellina -> Apuresound impedance adapter + ES3X/K701 RAL recabled
DAC:D10, AudioSector dac, iRoc, Isabellina
Headphone Amp: Xtra 1(gone), C & C V2, Tomahawk(gone), Move, Lisa III XP(gone), Lisa III std, D10
IEM: Ety ER6, Shure E500(gone), UE TF10, W3, ES3X
USB Cable: RSAD Digital Master
IC: ALO Jumbo Cyro mini-to-mini, BlackMax mini-toRCA, RAL mini-2-mini, RSAD Poiema !!! R-V3 RCA
Feedback:http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f12/gr...3/#post4471219
Last edited by GreenLeo; 05-26-2009 at 08:14 AM.
Reason: wrong grammar
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05-26-2009, 09:37 PM
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Member of the Trade
Red Wine Audio
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Meriden, CT
Posts: 448
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Quote:
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Any time frame on when the first batch might be available?
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All,
I do not believe the Isabellina HPA would be ready for another 6 to 8 weeks.
Parts are on order, and it'll take a few weeks to receive them and a few more to do final evaluation, build and test...
Quote:
If a customer chooses to have a fixed output to the RCA's what kind of volume control will the headphone amp have? The same one as the Amphora? Will the headphone amp module also have the V-Caps as in the amphora?
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We plan on using the same remote volume control as used in the Isabella preamp. The Isabellina HPA will have a fixed gain, so the use of a continuous volume control (vs. stepped attenuator) will give more control of the volume level, and it will come with a remote control.
Regarding the input caps, I have not decided yet. Vcaps are definitely on my list, but I am also going to try some paper-in-oil caps (as used in the Isabella preamp) and make comparisons (along with trying that silver in cotton wire that Ken has ).
Quote:
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How about the UE4, the poor man's UE10 according to the title of one of the Jude's recent threads? The cost is $399. Not sure about its sensitivity though.
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Hi GreenLeo,
Thanks. Anything cheaper? I don't care so much about the sound quality of them - I just need them to be very sensitive so I can test the noise performance...
Best regards,
Vinnie
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05-26-2009, 11:15 PM
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Headphoneus Supremus
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Rocky Mountains, CO
Posts: 11,663
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie R.
All,
I do not believe the Isabellina HPA would be ready for another 6 to 8 weeks.
Parts are on order, and it'll take a few weeks to receive them and a few more to do final evaluation, build and test...
We plan on using the same remote volume control as used in the Isabella preamp. The Isabellina HPA will have a fixed gain, so the use of a continuous volume control (vs. stepped attenuator) will give more control of the volume level, and it will come with a remote control.
Regarding the input caps, I have not decided yet. Vcaps are definitely on my list, but I am also going to try some paper-in-oil caps (as used in the Isabella preamp) and make comparisons (along with trying that silver in cotton wire that Ken has ).
Hi GreenLeo,
Thanks. Anything cheaper? I don't care so much about the sound quality of them - I just need them to be very sensitive so I can test the noise performance...
Best regards,
Vinnie |
For lower cost super high sensitivity you'll find the $250 Livewires customs to be very good at revealing hiss, and they'll sound similar to a Grado RS-1 to let you enjoy the sound as well. They are a bit more sensitiive than my Westone 3 which you borrowed recently. But the Shure SE530 would also help reveal hiss and the SE530 might be easier to find cheap - because someone may have a set with an old cracked cable shielding that they are afraid to use now once the warrantee is up.
I just cannot remember how much hiss I had with my Etymotic ER6i, Altec Lansing IM716, UE Super.fi 5 Pro, Shure SE310, Shure E4c, Image X10 which I have sold off. I know my Phonak Audeo and Nuforce NE-7M have almost no hiss at all, and my expensive Senn IE8 also have less hiss than my Westone 3. If I recall my Denon C700 also have less hiss than most others.
So, now you are down to $250 plus impressions (free at CanJam). A new B-stock SE-530 would be close to that price, and hiss at least as much as the Westone 3, but not as much as the Livewires. They sound pretty good too.
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05-29-2009, 02:57 AM
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Member of the Trade
Red Wine Audio
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Meriden, CT
Posts: 448
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Thanks, Larry!
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05-29-2009, 07:06 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Washington
Posts: 609
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I would want my outputs wired before the pot. I wouldnt want the volume controlling any other amp that I would want to add on in the future.
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06-01-2009, 03:08 PM
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Member of the Trade
Red Wine Audio
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Meriden, CT
Posts: 448
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KingStyles
I would want my outputs wired before the pot. I wouldnt want the volume controlling any other amp that I would want to add on in the future.
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I would think that this would be the case for most of you, but in case you wanted the RCA outputs to be volume controlled, we can do that for you as well 
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