GoVibe V6 announced! - Page 13

Nice! The blue LED looks really nice. Maybe I could replace my green one...

I assume you're addressing me. I know what these IEMs sound like when they're running well, what they sound like when they are clogged, and what they do sound like with home and other portable amps. They do not need replacing.

I stand by my earlier report.

I agree, it is curious. I have an 8620 Pimeta which does exhibit the high-end overemphasis commonly attributed to that opamp (I heard it as a sort of "splashiness," especially on cymbals). But in the GV6, it sounds utterly controlled; just really great.

Interestingly, the GV5 similarly defied my experience (and hence expectations) of the LM6171. Norm's doing something in his circuit designs that's keeping them sounding really tight and clean in comparison to the other designs I've heard.

Well then I would suggest most definately NOT using a silver cable with your ER4S. If you already think the 8620 ops have sparkling highs, you won't believe what a good silver cable adds to the sonics. In fact, my dinky little copper Cardas 6" LOD fairs better on certain tracks, as the treble isn't so crisp and sharp. However, the silver is a purer conductor, and thus will get your signal from your source to your amp less impeded than a not-as-pure cable. The soundstage and spatial imaging of the silver cable is second to none and Hans' winding method (well, it's not his but he borrowed the idea from someone else) of the solid silver twisted in parallel at equal lengths apart around a PE dielectric with a 0.4mm solid silver core works wonders.

The reason I mention this is that with a really good set of IEMs, a quality silver cable may be TOO crisp with the V6M. Eventually I will purchase a Jumbo Cryo to see if this changes things, but I doubt it will share some of the properties that ultra-pure silver has vs. ultra-pure copper.... but copper definately doesn't seem to transmit those ultra-sharp highs like pure silver can.

By the way, which LOD are you using?

Dex,

I'm not sure about the caps, maybe you want to ask Norm directly?

As far as my idea for an "On-The-Go-Vibe 24V" Battery Pack (oh, did you not know about it?), it isn't going to happen. I thought it would be a great idea, but apparently he has other ideas and thinks the voltage fluctuation could be dangerous. Also, he was concerned about people mixing up the polarity (which, per my plan, would be impossible to screw up). Also, he feels as if those high voltages should be left up to low ripple and linear regulated devices like the Elpac.

And, this is all heresay, and may never happen, but I am trying to work out with Norm the possibilities of a future V7 model. Norm knows best, and I agree with his low gain/high gain fixed method (non-user switchable), so that wouldn't be one of the features I would even consider asking him. Perhaps resorting back to the original front panel layout of the V5, as it seems a little easier to manipulate the volume pot. My biggest DESIRE for a V7 to have is a built in DAC. More and more, computers are being used as source players, and I think a V7 with a built in DAC + a 24V Elpac would be a phenomenal combination. As far as I'm concerned, the 8620/8610 combo works for me, unless something better comes out. And I don't particularly care if the V7 would have an optical output. The Go-Vibe line has always been a price-conscious line of headphone amps. Therefore, if there were to be a high quality DAC chip built in (oh please oh please Norm, make it so), I'm sure it would only have a USB connection. And truthfully, USB connections nowdays are almost just as clean as optical ones. And since it's not going to be a thousand dollar Go-Vibe (if it ever exists at all), USB sounds like the winner.

I don't really know enough about DAC/Amp combos, but do the ones with the USB connections actually charge the amp through the USB? My guess would be no, as I don't think USB puts out that kind of voltage. But if it did, I'm sure we would have the same dilemma as the V6. You would have a V7 (chargeable by USB and 12V adaptor) and a V7M (non-chargeable circuitry and 24V Elpac optional).

Please don't quote me on any of this, as none of this is even remotely close to happening. I'm just throwing out the "what ifs" and having a good time doing so. But the more we cheer Norm on for the idea, the better the odds of it being produced one day.

Of course, Phil, I've thought about it (Norm's always been helpful), but I just feel awkward asking him to divulge what he might consider a "trade secret". Is there no lettering or numerical value on the cap in your V6? If you eventually find it could you shoot me a PM?

Fortunately, these are easy enough to make, even with my limited skills.



It cost me about $5 in parts and took only about a half hour's time. With my 2x 9.6V Maha pack, I'm getting 22V on a full charge, according to Norm. So I just couldn't be happier!

I got a question to ask. using v6m, if there is a 9v batt inside the amp and i run another 9v batt from the psu socket, will the total rating be 18v or just 9v from the psu socket batt?

When the DC jack is in use, the internal battery is disengaged, so yes, the amp would only receive 9v.

Dexdexter, thanks alot. i will wait till my local store stock it before deciding to splash $ on it. i didn't like the way v5 sound.

Dex,

I'm not willing to risk taking my amp apart to find out what the cap is, but I can ask Norm for you if you really don't want to ask him yourself... I can't see why you wouldn't want to, though.

Also, I created logos for all these amp models and submitted them to Norm. Let's see what he thinks. Hopefully he will use them.

I also proposed an idea for a V7 and V7m, in the future, which would be similar to the V6 and V6m, but would include an onboard high quality (yet budget conscious) DAC with a computer USB connection. Of course there would have to be some kind of EPROM so that the Macs and PCs would recognize it as an audio device, but I'm not the engineer, so I don't know about such things really.
Again, let's see what he thinks. Perhaps it might happen. If not, I will be purchasing a DAC since I use my computer a lot and would love to use it as a high quality source.

Nooooooo, I was just wondering if the labeling was plainly visible, I certainly wouldn't be asking you to tear into it, Phil!

I'll drop an e-mail to Norm.

He's probably getting sick of me making all these suggestions anyway.

Man, DACs are expensive. Even for a MicroDAC, it's still $299, but I was surprised to see that my headphone out on my iMac is also an optical out. It's written right below it. That's cool, at least.

I wonder how much of a difference the sound would be with a DAC from the iMac than just the iPod rig. Is there any kind of converter that converts an optical signal to an analog signal? Oh yeah, I guess that would be a DAC..

Damn, hobby is getting too expensive for me.

Here, check these out ---- for some reason PictureTrail is reducing the size of the images, so you can't see all the fine detail.

If you want a really good little DAC for your iMAC, try the Firestone Audio FUBARII. $179, and sounds great.

Thanks Skylab... Actually, that's some Chinese company right?
I just looked at the page, and they are selling it for $120, so even better...
The only thing is 1) it doesn't take optical inputs, and 2) it only has RCA outputs so I will have to use an RCA-to-Mini cable, which is perfectly fine, except that for a good high quality one, I could spend several hundred dollars on one. And yeah, cables do make a difference.. I was pretty surprised myself when I went from a little ALO custom dinky Cardas LOD (maybe worth $20) to a Qables 15" Silvercab LOD ($83). And the good quality copper or silver RCA-to-Mini cables are over $200.

So it might be better just to spend the money on a MicroDAC and which would only need a relatively inexpensive optical link, which is better or equal to a USB connection anyway. On the Apogee Mini Dac, they were saying something about how the USB can only support 44.1 and 48kHz sampling rates, but optical can go up to 192kHz, which I don't really understand, because digital is digital, whether it's transmitted as light or electrons.

Now why can't a cable company make some high-end replacement cables for Ultimate Ears Super.Fi and Triple.Fi? I've suggested this to Hans at Qables. If you're going to spend the money on a good quality iPod LOD, shouldn't the connection between your amp and your headphones be just as good? I mean, it only stands to reason that one should be as good as the other. But it seems this is only done for high end cans in balanced configurations. With all the people that own Super.Fis, it seems like one could carve a great niche in the marketplace by doing this.

Just more food from my thought...

Just to save you some more money...

Digital cables, if they were lossy like audio cables might be, would be losing actual data. So, your wires connecting your hard drive to your motherboard (28 gauge very possibly in a ribbon cable), your USB cables, your network cables, every wire and trace in your computer that passes digital info, your PCI bus, etc. etc. etc. would all be faulty following this reasoning if they weren't very expensive interconnects. Fortunately, digital data is not lost very easily to capacitance issues, impedances, and all that kind of stuff like analog audio signal quality seems to be. So, any piece of copper wire will do just nicely! (I hope that doesn't cross the line into the prohibited cables A/B wars - digital is simply clearly a different animal. The ones and zeros either get there accurately, or they don't! I think they'd better!!! Or corrupted data would be everywhere! All over the place!)

Terry

Right, but I'm not referring to the USB cable or optical cable connecting to the DAC... I'm talking about the cables connecting the DAC to the amp, which IS passing analog signals. That's why a good silver cable costs $80 from Qables, or $200 from ALO.

But be on the lookout.... (and I wasn't told not to say anything so I will)..
Hans (Qables) tells me that there will soon be a Goldcab line of interconnects coming out. Of course it will be pricier than the silver, but then again, it is a better conductor when annealed well, it doesn't oxidize like silver or copper.... and the best part is that gold isn't susceptible to breakage like copper or even worse, silver. Gold stretches, as it's very maliable.