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A Full Review: Ray Samuels Audio - The Protector - Page 3

post #31 of 81
4/6/10 at 7:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by immtbiker View Post

Question? How do you take a portable, semi-small rectangular box that weighs less than eight ounces, stores and outputs music of various types of file extensions, and then, takes the music and makes it sound superior than just using the built-in headphone jack?
Answer: A brand new innovation from Ray Samuels Audio....
Wonderfully written review!
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post #32 of 81
4/6/10 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
My only criticism of the review would be the "state of the art opamps" bit, which sounds like marketing copy.
According to RSA, these chips are brand new, and they are unlike anything previously available. They are what give it the power, the low noise, and the good battery consumption. I have a degree in electronics, but that was from the early 80's and don't really understand what's going on in them besides the basics.

Something has to be different to be able to use them and achieve these results.
Ray can't really participate in this thread because he is an MOT, unless someone directly asks him a specific question.
I know the chips are pretty expensive, but then again, so is anything that is new.
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post #33 of 81
4/6/10 at 3:15pm
How do you know they are expensive - Ray has sanded off the markings on them.
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post #34 of 81
4/6/10 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rasmushorn View Post
My iQube and P-51 also drives the HD6X0 greatly (But neither of them can handle the T1's) - and are JH13 and UE11 difficult to drive??

I am still looking for impressions from people who can tell me if the Protector can really drive full size cans in the 300-600 Ohms league. I would not be dissapointed if the Protector does not drive full size cans and I have no expectations of it being able to drive them - so I am only hoping
The Protector drives the HD600 better than P-51, which sounds good but is not loud enough and lacks impact. In balanced mode it is the best portable for HD600 that I have tried. Prior to that, the 3MOVE and Vivid V1 were the best portables I've tried for HD600. (never tried a LISA)
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post #35 of 81
4/6/10 at 4:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mesasone View Post
How do you know they are expensive - Ray has sanded off the markings on them.
Whenever I do a review, I always interview the designer or a manufacturer's representative who seems to be worth their salt.
And in this case, Ray went into detail how these chips are a whole new ball game, and that they are pricey.
In other things that I've reviewed, the representative didn't know squat about their own products (these are sales people, not designers).
I get very disappointed that someone could sell something that they don't know anything about it.

When I sold retail/wholesale, I used to take the manual home from each product that we had on the shelves, and keep them in the bathroom,
and during my daily ritual, I enlightened myself to the specs and options of everything that I sold.
When I sold, I could tell you anything about what you were going to plunk your hard earned cash, on. Then came the invasion of
The Wiz and Circuit City/Best Buy, and I found that instead of being masters of one department, they walked around with a clipboard
and a book that had minor info about every product in the store and were jacks of all trades.

Not only was I educating them (did my homework before going into their store) but when they told me that I was wrong,
I took them over to the laptops with internet in the store, and "edumacated" them!
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post #36 of 81
4/7/10 at 12:42am

Ray Samuels Audio & Whiplash

I have a serious complaint, which I will discuss in a moment but first, a little background. I have always been in search of great sounding music and have been willing to spend the money necessary to provide me with the best that I can get (within reason). I was once accused of merely wanting a sonic massage by an audio dealer back in 1977 when comparing Polk to ADS (I took that as a compliment, I know what I like).

I recently met two outstanding gents through pure luck, Ray Samuels and Craig Sanborn. These two very talented, passionate and great guys outfitted me with the Protector with a LOD and the Whiplash Twag to go with my UE18 IEMs sourced by my iTouch.

I travel a lot. I spend a lot of time on planes where I am frequently forced to be around strangers who think that their conversations are interesting to others and who make sure that everyone around them can hear their meaningless and annoying noise. Either they are totally unaware or they have egos larger than mine! Thank goodness for PPSS (Personal Portable Stereos Systems)! I always have at least one iPod and UE IEM’s to help shield me from the intrusions of these loud people, plus I love music.

I spend most of my travel time on working as there are no telephone interruptions. Great quiet personal time for me. I listen to my music while creating and catching up on my computer or reading my Kindle (another great well thought out invention. I think iPad will have a lot of catching up to do after all of the biased hype dies away).

So here is my complaint: I have been working on planes for years, music in the background, allowing me to concentrate on my other activities. Now for the first time, I actually cannot concentrate on my work as I am now hearing music with such definition, frequency response, dynamic range and spacial presence that I am forced to listen to the music. It is a total distraction. I now actually hate landing.

Thanks Ray and Craig for your fantastic products. I am your best walking commercial.
RL
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post #37 of 81
4/7/10 at 1:08am
Thread Starter 
Psych!
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post #38 of 81
4/7/10 at 1:52am
newbie question, what's the difference between balanced and normal cables/ amps?
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post #39 of 81
4/7/10 at 3:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by immtbiker View Post
According to RSA, these chips are brand new, and they are unlike anything previously available. They are what give it the power, the low noise, and the good battery consumption. I have a degree in electronics, but that was from the early 80's and don't really understand what's going on in them besides the basics.

Something has to be different to be able to use them and achieve these results.
Ray can't really participate in this thread because he is an MOT, unless someone directly asks him a specific question.
I know the chips are pretty expensive, but then again, so is anything that is new.
Fair enough then. I know that people have been asking for years about someone making a portable balanced amp. I imagine the improvements in battery technology are also somewhat responsible for the Protector's capabilities.

Another thing, before I forget: How well does it perform with single-ended headphones? Though I imagine owners will mostly avoid using it this way, there are times where we might want to, such as with headphones we can't or don't want to re-cable.
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post #40 of 81
4/7/10 at 6:20am
Single ended it is still a respectable amp but I'm pretty sure that there is better value for money out there if single ended is the sole concern (in other words some cheaper amps can provide the same level of quality for less money)
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post #41 of 81
4/7/10 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
I agree with nc8000. There's a lot of competition in the single ended world, especially at that price.
As I stated in my review, I spent very little time with the single-ended output, since I have more
SE portables than I can shake a stick at. It really did not hold any interest for me. I was focusing
on the balanced output.

I still have the amp, so i can try it with my JH13's, in a single ended termination. One thing that I
can say with absolute certainty, is that this amp, and the chips used, will not give you the RSA house sound.
It's totally different. If that is what you are looking for, then Ray offers a plethora of amps to accomplish that feat.
This is the first balanced amp by Ray and that is where I put 100% of my attention towards. I listened to the
single ended port with my JH-13's in single mode for grins and giggles, but my thought on the subject, is,
that if they are not running balanced, why not buy any of his other offerings that doesn't have the balanced
circuit built in and save some money.
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post #42 of 81
4/7/10 at 9:31pm
My reason for asking is that sometimes I borrow headphones or try them in the store. I used to take a Corda Move along with an iPod for this, as headphones are demoed here from headphone distribution amps, which is far from ideal. In both cases, of course, they are only single-ended. I've had the same thing come up with the Phoenix as my main amp and have compared it single-ended to other amps so that when I do borrow headphones, I know what I'm missing, or not. There is the possibility I might want/need a readily portable headphone rig soon so I'm just being curious.

Oomingmak: A normal amp amplifies the singnal, which is sent through the headphones/speakers, then, because electrical currents travel in a loop, returns from both left and right through the common ground (which is just a wire, essentially). In a balanced amp, the signal return is amplified as well, so you get double the voltage swing. There are other benefits, such as the separate signal returns instead of one common ground. For example, imagine a single person with a saw versus two people using a large 2-man saw, one pushing while the other pulls.
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post #43 of 81
4/8/10 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by immtbiker View Post
I listened to the
single ended port with my JH-13's in single mode for grins and giggles, but my thought on the subject, is,
that if they are not running balanced, why not buy any of his other offerings that doesn't have the balanced
circuit built in and save some money.

If someone wants a good SE portable...but thinks they may move into balanced someday...than this would be the amp to get. It allows you to grow/upgrade in the future.

Also, it isn't that much more than his other high end offerings...so if someone is worried about cost, they're probably looking outside the Ray Samuels line anyways.
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post #44 of 81
4/11/10 at 5:36pm
I had Xin Ref to compare Ray's Protector in "Single Ended" mode.
I love Xin Ref - it is the best portable headphone amp I have heard (thankfully, I have not heard too many . During brief listening session - I thought that Ray's Protector surpassed Xin Ref. It is hard to compare in show conditions ... so take it with grain of salt.
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post #45 of 81
4/11/10 at 6:15pm
saisunil, which version of the Reference do you have? Thanks.
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