After doing a lot of research on this site and others I purchased a Travagan's White amp and Grado 325is headphones. I have had the headphones for a week now and just got the amp in the mail today. I purchased the Travagan unit through eBay as I saw it for less than half with shipping and decided to take a chance. I am pretty sure that the unit has been used before but from a couple of hours of use seems to sound quite good. I do have 2 questions to other members who have used or owned this unit before.
1) I was under the impression that this unit could be used with just the USB power. Mine will not power up with just the USB cable. I have tried both the ports on my desktop (new in last two months), powered usb hub and laptop. I also used both the usb cable that came with it (which works fine with the power adapter) and another usb cable that I own with an additional power plug. Am I just wrong, and this amp with just headphones will not work without AC power or is there a reason that I got it for cheap?
2) When I plugged the unit into my Win 7 computer the two drivers that got installed were: "USB Composite Device" and "Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702". The other thing I worry about is that they pulled a few of the high value chips and replaced them with knock offs.
I am just hoping that I will not have to try and get a refund and sending it back
But on the plus side when I plugged in my Gardo's and turned on the White I could notice a very nice improvement in the sound quality.
Thanks for all the great reviews and advice that I have read on this site before and I hope you can help me with my questions.
Ryan
edit
Well right after posting this I started to notice a whistle in the back ground. Not sure if it was there the whole time? After isolating it I found that it is coming from the USB channel. I tried multipule USB ports and different power outlets and even just plugging in the unit into the wall and not the computer and the whistle is still there. If I switch to the RCA input it goes away. I am now sure that I was sold a dud.
Update 1
I jumped the gun on asking the powered by USB question. After checking the manufacturers page I found out for sure that it can be powered via the USB cable.
I also contacted the seller and got a full refund less the shipping charges and got to keep the unit.
I will update again when I get a new unit from the factory. I still am curious about if the drivers that were installed are generic or chip specific?
1) I was under the impression that this unit could be used with just the USB power. Mine will not power up with just the USB cable. I have tried both the ports on my desktop (new in last two months), powered usb hub and laptop. I also used both the usb cable that came with it (which works fine with the power adapter) and another usb cable that I own with an additional power plug. Am I just wrong, and this amp with just headphones will not work without AC power or is there a reason that I got it for cheap?
2) When I plugged the unit into my Win 7 computer the two drivers that got installed were: "USB Composite Device" and "Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702". The other thing I worry about is that they pulled a few of the high value chips and replaced them with knock offs.
I am just hoping that I will not have to try and get a refund and sending it back
But on the plus side when I plugged in my Gardo's and turned on the White I could notice a very nice improvement in the sound quality.
Thanks for all the great reviews and advice that I have read on this site before and I hope you can help me with my questions.
Ryan
edit
Well right after posting this I started to notice a whistle in the back ground. Not sure if it was there the whole time? After isolating it I found that it is coming from the USB channel. I tried multipule USB ports and different power outlets and even just plugging in the unit into the wall and not the computer and the whistle is still there. If I switch to the RCA input it goes away. I am now sure that I was sold a dud.
Update 1
I jumped the gun on asking the powered by USB question. After checking the manufacturers page I found out for sure that it can be powered via the USB cable.
I also contacted the seller and got a full refund less the shipping charges and got to keep the unit.
I will update again when I get a new unit from the factory. I still am curious about if the drivers that were installed are generic or chip specific?
