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Originally Posted by dsmudger
 Did some listening yesterday/here's some first impressions..
 To be perfectly honest (and this seems to go against what most are saying on here..) I didn't like the stock sound very much at all.. maybe it's that I'm playing into Grados (RS1), unlike I think many on here who have Sennheisers (HD650)? Couldn't help myself and started swapping opamps (sorry penchum, I know you say this isn't recommended but surely I can let it burn in with some better opamps? +does it really make that much of a difference?? )Tried a bunch of combinations, but haven't found one yet that beats my Headroom Total Bithead (tell the truth, I've found some new respect for it after comparing with the stock Zero and some of the less-good opamp combos..), however LM4562 in the mainboard and LME49720 in the headamp makes it sing quite nicely for my taste and comes pretty close - this amount of difference, I could believe will improve with burn in.... (might leave it like this for a bit now/not sure yet..) Some notes on some of the combos I tried (remember this is without burn in and it's playing into Grado RS1 which are quite bright revealing phones compared to Sennheiser HD600 for example.. though not sure how they might compare to HD650?) (notes kept short, so prob. a bit exagerated/might sound a bit harsh!) Stock amp in headamp, changed main to DY2000: more musical, but still didn't like the sound much... Changed to LT1364 in the headamp stock amp in main: muddy overall, raspy/sandpaper-y highs changed to DY2000 in main: still a bit raspy, but more open and more musical changed to LM4562 in main: "aha! hello, this is a bit better..." better clarity, much better 'pace', still a bit raspy Changed back to stock amp in headamp (keeping LM4562 in the main): still muddy overall but some of the better clarity definitely remained compared to stock, upper mid + v. low bass now very recessed, pace ok - better than stock, but worse than with the LT1364 in the headamp Changed to LME49720 in headamp (still the LM4562 in main): "oh wow, now it sings nice!" Bithead prob. still sounds a little better, but I'm listening through entire tracks now, not skipping around straining to hear differences/things I know should be there/switching between sources all the time.Oh, at some point in the proceedings I tried LT1028 in the headamp - they didn't work; just got really hot and the sound came out of only the right channel at low volume, + turning the volume control knob had no effect on the volume level even down at zero! Was a bit worried, but swapping to something else sorted the problem.. (they were the right way round and pretty sure they were seated in the socket ok..). Sure I was being a complete idiot in one way or another doing that - does anyone know what the actual issue was there? From the rest of the thread, have I inferred correctly that you can put a dual in a single socket and it'll work as a single? (or was that the problem?) Might try swapping the mainboard amp around a bit tonight, maybe see how I get on with the DY2000 as comparing back to back with the Bithead it's this/'musical' quality that's what's slightly lacking with my current amp combo, though they're now on par in terms of pace and detail... (By the way/for reference, I was using just about the most challenging music I have - it's banging hard house, but different to the usual/what you might expect, in that the guys who made it use a lot of real/live instruments (full drum kit/trombone/electric guitars) and they're classically trained musicians so you get an awful lot of nuance/subtlety/structure in there.. (not just fast synths over the top of BANG BANG BANG BANG  ). I've listened to it a lot/know the material well, so I hear immediately if something's missing and it's also a great test of this 'pace' thing I keep referring to... anyway, thought I should mention as I'm sure the type of music makes a difference with this sort of thing.../i.e. some of the combos I listed as didn't-like-it might well be awesome for less detail+pace-orientated music..) |
Good luck!!
(so if I'm right in thinking single=single channel/mono, dual=dual channel/stereo - do they use two duals so they can link the two channels of each so they can get higher gain out of fewer components/smaller PCB?)
