Review Purity Audio Caliente Headphone Amplifier - Page 4

Maybe it is the weak recording or DAC? I have no need to turn over 11 o'clock with my V-DAC and K702 for all my CD ripped FLAC. Music range from classical, soundtrack, new age, or vocal (no jazz at all, sorry).

Here's something that I've done when faced with low volume material leaving me wanting for gain (this has not happened to me with the Caliente, FWIW) is: boost the volume level of the audio file using a wave editor (the Nero wave editor is one which does this).
Open the .wav or .mp3 file using the editor.
Select the entire track for gain adjust.
Select how many dB to either boost or attenuate the level of the selected track material.
Perform the gain adjust.
Save the gain-adjusted track back out to file.

This can be done without loss of audio quality with low level files which just do not use the entire sample bitdepth range.

Actually, for .mp3 files, the program mp3gain is even easier to use for adjusting the gain of, not only entire tracks, but entire albums of tracks, ensuring over the entire track set that a particular boost in gain will not cause clipping in any of the tracks.

Try a wave file editor or mp3gain on your lowest volume audio files and see if it gives you enough signal strength going into your amp to keep your ears happy with your K701. It's likely a good bit less pricey than a pre-amp between the sound card and the headphone amp.

It's worked for me in the past when I've needed some additional signal strength for low level material.

If it turns out, for some material, that you need to boost the gain so much that you're making noise audible too, you may need to re-rip that material at a higher recorded volume (snr, actually). Your ears will tell you.

Well, I never need to max out my caliente really. I just get pretty near to doing so, at 2-4 pm.

It's just me being obssesive really. It has enough gain for the k701, but I do pass the 1pm a lot.

If you decide that you'd like to try adjusting the gain in your low level .mp3 files to increase their signal strength, mp3gain is available here:
MP3Gain

I use Nero Wave Editor for my .wav files.

Best wishes figuring out how best to be really happy with your rig.

Thanks Sbulack (:

If it ever is really a problem I'll use nero. But it's okay for now, I never really run out of gain. Just need to adjust the amp on a high setting often.

I bought a K.I.C.A.S. regular during this winter's "Beat the Blues" sale.  I'm using it with my new V-DAC (mostly sourced from a DVD player) and vintage Sennheiser HD 560 headphones, the old flagship when they optimized their headphones for classical music (much prized on Germany Ebay; I got mine on American Ebay).  And with my ears, which are recovering from a diet of sweetened bass-boosted consumer audio. For the first time, I have wild fresh berries. Some are riper than others.  A very few recordings I used to enjoy are actually unpleasant (where the treble was simply too bright).  Nathan Milstein's performance of Bach's Violin Partitas, as recorded by DG twenty-five years ago, sounds a bit sharp; Isabelle Faust's performance of the same works, recorded recently, sounds lovely.  Fischer-Dieskau and Moore's Schubert Lieder and Maria Pires's Chopin, for example, are warm and beautiful.   Other recordings are a complete revelation.  I hear for the first time the humor in abrupt passages.  The detail and dynamics are astonishing. So is the soundstage, certainly compared with the consumer Onkyo amp I have in the other room.  In complex passages, I marvel at the texture of music.  Perhaps in the best of all possible worlds, it would be possible to have both the clarity of the K.I.C.A.S. and the warmth of the Caliente, but while they both are very good in both departments, I suppose you have to set priorities.  Based on the reviews and descriptions, I thought the K.I.C.A.S. would be even better than the Caliente for classical music, at least with my headphones, and Oriel seconded that view.  Though I haven't heard the Caliente and am sure it's a great amp too, I think the bet is proving to be correct.  The K.I.C.A.S. is remarkable, the more so at its price level.  

Edited by wyki - 1/6/11 at 5:08am