Portaphile V2 Owners Thread - Page 13

If anything, I think the sound got brighter, not warmer. I listen to mostly concert DVDs and compared to when it first came out of the box, the amp is now much closer to the sr71. The more I listen to the two, I think the sr71 is slightly unnatural with treble and sibilant at times . The p-v2 sounds more natural, but is still behind when it comes to bass (but close). But then again, I'm no musician.

Interesting! The unit I have now has more depth and impact than the hi-gain SR-71 I've got here, but when the bottom end opened up the top end was slightly overbalanced and got soft and a bit less extended (vagaries of burn in). The top seems to be getting back some of its air and detail, and it's still evolving. The overall sound of this one definitely got warmer. It was much brighter and more "crisp" out of the box when it had a rather lean bottom end.

Synergy/interaction is often at issue. Ancillary links in the sonic chain will undoubtedly affect a different sound.

Yikes. That's some crazy office rig you have going now! I can just imagine the great tunes flowing thru that right now - listen to some Alison Krauss for me!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Y'all ain't kiddin'. I finished work about 15 mins. ago and the sound is so beautiful I can't turn it off! Listening's been running the gamut, but just listened to a bunch of Enya (Lossless) -- "Watermark" tunes sound great!

Okay - Alison... "New Favorite". Oboy! Headful 'o thrumming guitars, bass, kick drum and Jerry Douglas heart-tugging dobro ... and an angel in their midst! {sorry - no SA5000 or K501smileys available yet...}

DAC1 sounds so good I thought I had the SA5ks on my head -- but it's the 501s!!!! ......sounds of hall full of cheering fans.....

.....a-a-a-and... "Atlanta".

K501s: neutral, warm and relaxed - almost invisible (sort of).
SA5ks: big, open, extended up-and-down, and kickin'!!! Now that woke me up enuf to start packin' to go home.

Man, DAC1 really has a very respectable built-in headphone amp -- open, extended, spacious, quiet, clean, and airy -- with punch.

The P-V2 attached to DAC1 is fun. It does lose some of the extension and air that the DAC1's amp has, but adds very rich mids and a "live" energy that fills the black spaces with the performers' presence.

Bye.

Well, it's either the amp or the ears. I mentioned earlier that listening to the p-v2 is like listening to music backstage. This is no longer the case, because the sound is now crisper, brighter, and the top definitely has more air. Curious that you're experiencing somewhat the reverse.

As far as depth and impact, the p-v2 has always had this advantage over the sr71 even from the beginning. Every musical note just seems to get emphasized and "amplified," whereas the sr71 doesn't really touch the notes, but changes the space surrounding the notes, having a more immediate and obvious effect on the ears, which I think is where the "wow" factor comes from when you first try the sr71.

Still shifting...

Actually my feeling with the SR-71 is more "Ahhhhh" than "wow". The open air, clarity, nuance and timbre of the SR-71 still make me smile whenever I switch back to it. Also, I think the P-V2 I have is going through some strange burn in pattern. At this moment it's got more snap again, but it's lost some of the air, ambience, fine detail and sparkle it had before. I'll have to wait and hear where it goes next. Sounds as though you were luckier with your unit's burn in.

I don't think any one amp can cover all bases. Also, at different times or with different music I like to hear different amps exactly for their different presentation. A brief aside about SR-71 & DAC1: some people love the SR-71's top end and some find it irritating. I felt that SR-71 seemed to be in some ways similar to the DAC1's built-in amp, in terms of black background, wide soundstage, big air and great extension (although DAC1 has a bigger bottom end and more slam). I was surprised that whereas DAC1 portrayed sweeter female vocals -- high notes included -- it was a bit screechier with Maxim Vengerov's high violin passages, whereas SR-71 was more sibilant with vocals and very sweet, clean and clear with Vengerov's extreme high passages, including fast, complex and subtle harmonics runs. So SR-71's extreme top extension is not always sibilant and irritating as some have commented ... it's often clear, clean and more accurate in nuance and timbre. Synergy and interactivity seem to be always at work with all audio components.

Back On Track! (not Back-in-Black) + power issues...

I'm taking a bit of a risk writing this -- because based on the last week's experiences I can't guarantee this P-V2's sonic character is settled in and stable yet. Burn in wit big caps can sometimes be a wild ride before the caps mature, and this has been the case here. I risk it anyway.

Very surprising improvements since yesterday. I was listening at work yesterday, 'til very late. Through the evening I thought more top extension was returning, but nothing else yet.

Today the sound is dramatically back on track. I'll have to do some tests at home late tonite. It definitely took a sideways trip during burnin, but in addition to that -- the past few days I've been listening exclusively using the ELPAC WM080-1950-760 24VDC PS. I had no problems with it when I had P-V2 beta1. However, I suspect that AC power at work is suspect at best, and probably horrrible. It's a large ad agency studio with tons of equipment, network and power lines, many users and really inferior power strips (not serious power regulation of any kind).

I changed to 9V only today and the amp breathes again. The differences between ELPAC and 9V with beta1 (even at work) were minor compared to this.

Clarity, sparkle, top end, air and dimension are back. It now gives the DAC1's amp a run for its money -- and actually excels in some characteristics. The P-V2 may be the best portable amp for the AKG K501s, which can present an incredibly wide soundstage (+ depth & height with good amps) -- but can be hollow in the center with mostly far L & R emphasized. The DAC1 does just that with the 501s!

With Alison Krauss+Union Station Live: DAC1 headphone out > K501s -- Audience ambient sounds, applause & cheers, scattered voices are very pronounced at the extreme L & R only, with the entire center drastically receded (not just a little recessed), hollow and artificial-sounding -- like a video special effect -- as though almost the entire audience was missing a virtual electronic audience was dubbed in. Even the on-stage performers, who seem to be in pretty much in the correct positions, have empty air between them.

The P-V2 fills in the entire house full of live audience members and when they applaud and cheer there's palpable energy in the air, whereas thru the DAC1's amp the audience sounds are finely detailed but they don't sound alive as they do with the P-V2. The P-V2 paints (sculpts?) the on-stage performers as a live, connected band with instrument sounds moving around between them as would happen in a live venue.

So, it's very likely that cruddy AC power can have a much more drastic effect than I would have believed. It hard to be certain without more experimenting (I don't have test equipment).

An interesting note about the ELPAC: it's often recommended as one of the better "wall warts" around, and it has generally worked well for me. However, a friend referred me to a site that showed graphs of various types of noise measured from a handful of readily available portable power supplies, and the venerable ELPAC WM080-1950-760 rated second from worst -- just above one of the Radio Shack units! The graph was wildly noisy. Not that the noise shown is necessarily audible, but it's interesting nonetheless. One of the best was a dirt cheap DIY PS board (about $13), requiring minor soldering + a separate transformer & case. After this experience I'll probably try it as soon as I find some time (Hah!).

I now have to compare it again to the SR-71, since this P-V2 now has extended, detailed and very clean highs ("Vengerov Virtuoso" -- ultra high violin harmonic runs and loud, muscular (powerful) playing with huge dynamics swings -- sound great!

Whew! The amp sounded hefty but muddy for a litttle while..... I haven't kept careful tabs on burn in time after 120 hours, but it should be right around 200 hours now. I've got to hear it through more transports and with a wider range of phones. I'll listen SA5000s again tonite with both DAC1 and Sonica USB (BlackGates) and maybe compare to CIAudio VHP-1, SR-71 and A.N.T. Amber (and also hear which has the best synergy with DAC1 (calibrated & variable outputs).

Machead felt the P-V2 specialized in macrodynamics and couldn't match SR-71's microdynamics. Unfortunately he could not manage to put in enough burn in time to get over the "hump". Perhaps he'll get a chance to hear a fully matured P-V2 sometime, though there's still no guarantee it will suit his tastes -- he loves the SR-71, which is a wonderful amp. At this time I feel the amp does very well with microdynamics as well as macrodynamics -- at least compared to the DAC1's amp (which is a very nice sound...).

If you like big, open, 3D sound illusion and grand, sweeping, lush orchestrals, rich-deep Jazz with weight, Rock w/snap & punch..... -- a few good recordings to hear (many more available, obviously) : Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" (2-disc set featuring June Anderson. I don't have the discs here so I'll add details tonite.) -- I have Redbook CD and it's wonderful; of course Alison Krauss+Union Station Live (hybrid/SACD); Johann Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben"; Brahms "Song of Destiny" ("Schicksalslied"); "Diana Krall Live in Paris"; Steely Dan "Gaucho" (hybrid/SACD); Donald Fagen "Kamakiriad" (sparkle & snap); Stevie Ray Vaughan "Couldn't Stand The Weather" (Gold Disc or hybrid/SACD); "Jazz at The Pawnshop" (hybrid/SACD -- classic jazz, but great live ambience (jazz club) with up close live band sound; Mickey Hart "Planet Drum" -- if you like African & Latin American percussion, it's a huge/deep sound... ; "Rite of Strings" (Al DiMeola, Jean Luc Ponty, Stanley Clark) -- rich, stringy guitar / great violin / super acoustic bass; spectaular virtuosic violin fireworks: Maxim Vengerov "Virtuoso Vengerov" (brilliant encore pieces with well-balanced piano accompaniment).

I take it there are no one with both the SM V3 and the Portaphile V2 as of yet right?

(My quest for an amp is temporary delayed for a bit as I am still absorbing my recent expenses - so i got lots of time to check out impressions on the various options)

The SM V3 isn't a realistic alternative since it costs almost twice as much as the Portaphile. Even if you make the assumption that the SM V3 is noticeably superior, at almost twice the price (with switches), you'd expect nothing less.

Compared with the sr71 though, the portaphile gives you more bang for the buck, and I definitely wouldn't say that the portaphile is inferior to the sr71 since there are some things that the portaphile does better (depth and impact, as Romanee previously noted). I enjoy both amps just about equally, so this may say something more about the P-V2.

If those switches on the SM V3 is what's keeping your interest, then you might as well get the SM because it will haunt you even if you get a different amp. If you like bass boost, it's almost definitely the way to go since you can ask Xin to customize the bass settings, which you won't get with other amps.

Just to muddy the waters, and slightly off topic...

In the next couple of months, there will be another hat in the ring when Headamp releases its AE-1. With a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery promising as much as 150 hours use between charges, this model will be of interest to long-distance travellers (and those who, like me, find the Portaphile's battery life a bit disappointing). If it sounds anything like the Gilmore Lite, this will be a very promising alternative to the current crop of high-end portable amps.

Life

Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery! It's about time! Hot dog!

Time for all manufacturers to get in line. Let's first see what happens, though. I'm automatically skeptical about "150 hours use...". Portaphile got about 35 hours from a disposable Lithium 9V (...loved it, but can't spend that much cash for batteries). How efficient is that amp to get 150 hours from a rechargeable LI battery?

BTW - it's not really that much off-topic. Battery life/expenditure is a vital concern for all portable amp users (and mfrs).

New Portaphile V2 Owner

Just ordered it. Caesar sent me an email promptly and will email me again when it is shipped.

Quality seems very good and the price seems to beat out the competition (well - until Dr. Xin releases his new super mini, I guess).

I read briefly through the entire thread - anything anyone wants to re-emphasize for a new owner? Kind of a Portaphile for dummies? My memory ain't what it used to be.

(I have ER4-P and converter and Senn HD280-Pros).

1) The amp needs to burn in and will sound different during the process.
2) Stock up on 9volt batteries
3) ?

Here is a question

I have the ER4-P to S adapter cable - I think it would fit in the portaphile very nicely.

But, to save money I just ordered the Xin 75 ohm adapter (and plan to return the cable for refund).

Assuming they will sound about the same, is the ety cable adapter more convenient (doen't interfere with knob)? Or would the Xin adapter that sticks out a bit past the knob be fine as well?

Dr. Xin's adapter http://www.fixup.net/tips/ety/ety.htm

Ety adapter cable http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-acc.asp

And, does it matter if one puts the 75 ohm resistor before the amp or after the amp?

Sorry for the fairly stupid questions. I haven't seen the amp yet.

I personally prefer adapter cables, since they impose less stress & strain on the amp's jack(s) when the amp is on a horizontal surface, if they're at least long enough to bend and rest on a surface so as not to hang down with weight (of IC or other objects) pulling on the plug/jack. Rigid adapters tend to present a lot more leveraged stress and can shorten the life of the jack's mount on the front panel and on the board, as well as internal contacts. If you're carrying your gear in a portable bag or case it may not be as much of an issue as when sitting on a stationary surface.

I'd suggest that you contact Cesar and present to him this question and the issue of placement of the 75ohm resistor.

With burn in, keep the amp connected to a pair of phones (even a cheap one) and playing music 24/7. At around 120 hours the bass should begin to blossom, and -- in my experience at least -- just before 200 hours everything opened up dramatically. Others seem to have reached that sound earlier, but that's how my amp behaved. My amp also took a weird turn between 160-200 hours, but I haven't read of this happening to anyone else: it sounded really closed, congested, compressed for a couple of days and I first thought it was due to the wall wart or local power, but it now sounds fine with the same ELPAC and power source, so it was just burn in weirdness.

It sure does! The resistor (actually two of them -- one for each channel) must be inserted between the amplifier output and the ER4P to have any effect. It is the electrical interaction between the added resistance and the ER4P's own impedance that causes the change in sound quality. If you put the resistors at the amplifier input, the amplifier isolates the two from each other and no interaction can occur.

According to Etymotic, the ER4S is a more accurate transducer, while the ER4P is more efficient (and therefore easier to drive from the unamplified output of a portable music player). The mechanical parts are the same for both models. In the ER4S, the resistors are permanently encapsulated in the connecting cable; with the ER4P plus an adapter (Xin or cable), you can have it both ways.