Audio-gd Phoenix balanced headphone amp. - Page 132

Thread too big... Anyone compare it to like a balanced M3 or CKKIII or Dynalo yet?

You must be a little more sensitive than the rest of us, might be a California thing

I have 2 Phoenix in my possession presently. They both run the same temp, on the bottom of the case at it's hottest point it is 117F. The top is 107F. This is in a house with the ambient temp about 78F. I just put my hand under the power supply and left it there for a minute. Actually felt pretty good! Hot tubs go around 104-110F. I know you guys got hot tubs out there in Cali!

I don't suppose you have an infrared thermometer?

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2 Phoenix...but why?

Well, I didn't reset or restart the RE1, so while it's similar result, but not the same I believe.

I can attest to this. RE1 temperature is cold compared to PSU temperature off of Phoenix. The temperature bothers me a bit, but it's okay as long as it doesn't hinder the longevity of the product,

The temperature on the bottom of PSU is not as hot as the temperature on the top. I wonder why you observed different results. The ambient temperature of my house is around 80F however. Sometimes, go little above up to 82. But, I do not think that makes up such a drastic difference.

I can tell you that if I keep touching the top of PSU for more than 10 sec, it becomes very uncomfortable. Not WARM. It's not burning degree, but definitely not comfortable to touch either.

Tosehee, are you sure you haven't placed your Phoenix PSU upside down??..

I don't have a Phoenix (yet..) but by looking at the design, it looks like the power regulators are heat sinked at the bottom of the PSU chassis (same as REF1).. so that is where the heat should be more.. (correct me if I am wrong).

I got the selector on the left and volume on the right. So, it's definitely not upside down. It's exactly as pictured in the audio-gd website.

I do not know where the heat sink is, but if you are right. I guess the bottom could be even hotter than the top.. lol.

Sorry, I meant the power regulators are bolted/screwed at the bottom of the chassis with thermal compound and there is no heat sink as such.

Anyway, what are your initial impressions about REF1/Phoenix combo, even though you are listening through RCA and not CAST?

Well, like you said, it's too early to give any kinda objective impression on it since I just got it.

I can tell you about other things though.

The packaging was superb. I was little worried with several of you informing some incidents. None of that happened to me. It was well packaged with no loose parts.

There are some scratches on top of both RE1 and Phoenix. Since it's black, I think it's more apparent to notice. But, it doesn't bother me whole lot.

As for sound, let's just say that I am not complaining too much at this point. There are a few things that bother me (temperature/heat, power issue (but that's my issue, not audio-gd), but the sound and everything else seems to make up for it. Again, I will reserve my impression until I get a CAST and with some 100+ hours of burn-in period.

Regards

Everybody needs One in Silver and One in Black!

Actually I have Bob's, Kingwa asked me to look over it for issues. I'm letting it burn in presently. I'll go over what I found with PIX next week.

You are incorrect here. I have shot every square inch of the inside and outside of the Boxes with an IR thermometer. If yours is hotter on the top of the PSU than the bottom, there is something seriously wrong with it, I'm not kidding. That would mean that the chimney heat sink would be burning the board up for that much convective heat to pile up on the top plate making it hotter than the bottom. Please don't post guesses or incorrect info. It causes these threads to go crazy sometimes on a Tangent that is untrue.

These scratches and what happened to Bob's Phoenix shows Kingwa still has MAJOR QC issues. When I post the PIX of Bob's Phoenix, you'll see what I'm talking about.

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I wouldn't call it untrue, but you are right. I do not have a IR thermometer. I am only checking with my hands. So, it may not be as accurate as you'd want it to be. But, I can definitely tell what's hotter and what's not.

I will have to investigate and ask Kingwa what he thinks of it. If there really is an issue with the way the heat should dissipate on my box, It needs to be looked at.

Also, I believe everyone has their own version of what's considered 'hot' and 'warm'. I think the heat/temperature on the Phoenix is in hot region while you could consider that little above warm. In any rate, it isn't my concern as long as it doesn't cause the product to malfunction or break, and I got that from previous threads.

I have a small, quiet fan trained on my Ref1/DAC8. It never gets too hot. Also, use your house's airconditioning. It does matter.

Wouldn't it just be nice for once if we could receive an Audio-gd product and say "It's perfect in every way!" No scratches, no stickers, no faulty switches, no defects, no loose screws, shipping when he says he will, etc. etc. etc.

^

Kingwa could have easily addressed those issued if he wanted to. Apparently, he doesn't want to.

There are a lot of minor imperfections in my Audio-GD DAC. His product sounds good, that's the main reason why I bought his product.

I'll be traveling China in Jan '10, I'm going to ask him if I could visit his company.

what I have been told is that the new factory of A-GD will have a couple of rooms where International customers can stay overnight free of charge !!.. maybe audition all night !!..

I agree A-GD needs to tighten up minor (can be irritating to customers though) QC problems - hopefully Kingwa will look into it more seriously in the new setup. I am sure these issues would have hurt him much if his gears weren't very good and aggressively priced.