Maverick Audio DAC/Amp - Page 67

1. Yes, but not much. Don't except any more change after the first day or so of burn in.
2. Yes, I highly recommend upgrading the OPAMPs to the ones already specified.
3. Its just the way the amp was designed, so it could work high higher ohm headphones. There is a mod in this thread described to lower it if needed.
4. How does it sound with your HD650s? I've been thinking of upgrading to a pair of those, wonder what the Maverick synergy is like, I think it would be a good choice, as its still too up front with my Grados.

so at what point is a pair of headphones too low impedence for the gain on this amp? I have some ultrasone pro 750's that are 40 ohm and high sensitivity. This amp looks lovely but I'm concerned it might be a bad match due to the gain.

<32 ohm may require an attenuator, as is the case with my 16 ohm Custom IEM's

The other option is to lower the source volume but then you run into low signal problems such as low volume hiss if the source is too low. The Amp can only amp what it's given

The best resistor!

Hi,

has anybody found a good resistor to use a 600 Ohm headphone. 4,7 KOhm not a good choice. I can always hear with full volume and it is not enough. If you listen a low level disc like Brothers in arm from Dire Straits it is very sad. I use a K 701 and it is not loud enough to.

THX

Ursus

I'm one question away from buying this:

I just got the Shure 840's and the impedence is 44 ohms.

Occasionally I will want to listen at lower volumes but posts above mine seem to suggest that the lowest volume might still be very loud, would I be okay? And if I do need to purchase an attenuator, would this noticeably degrade the sound?

EDIT: Double post sorry

Hey guys, according to Ryan in this thread, the current batch shipping has gone through 2 gain lowerings and should be better. I don't know what it's spec'd at now, I may contact Ryan about this.

Thanks for your answer. I'll look into getting some opamps then.

I'm afraid I'm not qualified to judge how it sounds with the HD650 as I've only heard the HD650 seriously only on this amp. I've heard it briefly on a darkvoice 337 but if I recall correctly that didn't work as it was a very warm tube amp. I still do think the HD650s could improve in soundstage though. Vocals are somewhat forward with the maverick. Dunno what the HD650 is "supposed" to sound like otherwise.

It's quite listenable on my HD555 without hissing at very low volumes. I dunno what impedance it is. There are apparently two versions or something like that: either 55 Ohm or 120 Ohm.

question answered by Ryan~

70mW should be safe on Line-In in case anyone has a similar question in the future.

I have a silly interoperability question:

I am considering (upon Mysteek's recommendation) to purchase a pair of AT A700s. However, I also have my PC speakers, Swan M10's. In addition to driving the A700's, would there be any foreseeable issues with hooking up the Swans to either the tube preamp or the regular output?

I apologize for my ignorance, I am new to the audio space and I am very tired of keeping my speakers on my onboard realtek chip. I already ordered the Maverick, did it last night! Before the cut-off I hope. I do believe it was on-time (12AM EST), I think Ryan mentioned that the time was in PST, which is a few hours earlier.

Anyone how this would compare to a Nuforce uDAC/Littledot I+ combo for headphone use only?

Currently they will be powering my PC 350's with 600's coming in the next couple of months.

@Swan M10 They are self powered they should do fine on either output far as I am concerned. Unless someone says otherwise. I have a cheap $7 pair of passive unpowered speakers for emergency use(and they sound decent as well) and I actually use the headphone amplifier to power them.

Just personal preference I think they sound best via Digital Output on a bit-perfect sound card. With USB and Dsound vista will use shared mode sample rate and bit depth. With non-bit perfect digital out on sound card with streaming plugins either your sound card will change it to its master sample rate or Vista will via the same issue with USB. I can't confirm this under USB of course but with my sound card since I enable bit-matched playback minute I use dsound it sets the master sample rate to the maximum I have set in Vista. Where with WASAPI it sets the master sample rate to match the output(or song in this case).

In the following image shows the same song(16-bit 44.1khz). The right is when I am playing it in Foobar under WASAPI, and the left is when I am playing it using Direct Sound. Basically Vista is doing something to it since my sound card is bit perfect it is just changing based on what it is receiving so it doesn't modify the output in any way. That way it doesn't matter what song I am listening to, doesn't matter what the sample rate is it will always be bit-perfect. If all your files are 16-bit 44.1khz though you should get bit-perfect via USB.

I suspect your set up will be a bit better for the HD600s. The only reason I picked up the D1 over the uDAC was the uDAC's supposedly warm and forward tone which is extremely unnecessary with the HD650s.

Nope, you won't have any issues with this. I'm using the tube out to a pair of Audioengine A2's. If you push down the "Direct" button on the front it will make the analog line outs fixed and you control the volume via your speakers. If you leave the "Direct" button out, then you can control the volume on the D1 volume dial, which is my preference since the volume knob for the A2's are on the back of the main speaker.

This question has been asked here a few times, so I did a little unscientific measurement this weekend with the D1.

It's been said that the tube and regular pre-outs run hot. So, I hooked up some of level equipment and did a little math on the back of a napkin to determine just how hot.

Most hi-end gear sends a line-level output of 2.0v, and is the norm in Europe. In the U.S.A, a lot of mid and low end gear send a line-level output of ~0.5v. 2.0v is still within specs of most gear.

I took my "loudest CD", which is a new release and is a perfect example of the "loudness war" going in the audio world these days. This cd melts my cans even at low volumes. Anyway, onto the RCA jack line level output---

When I measured the output of the D1, using a combo if the "direct button" and then maxing out the volume pot, I got these measurements:

Tube pre-out in direct mode maxes out at 2.2v. Using the volume pot, 3:00 maxes out at 2.2v as well.

Non-tube out is slightly cooler. It still maxes out above 2.0v, but doesn't hit the 2.2v as often as the tube pre-out.

I hope these unscientific calculations help someone interested in the voltage output. It appears that it is even a little hot compared to European standards, but certainly within the range of tolerance. It's just a lot higher than most gear in the U.S.A., which is why we say it is really hot.