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New headphone amplifier from Bryston - Page 50

post #736 of 1074
12/19/12 at 9:48am

Hi Folks,

 

Have 3 superb reviews coming over the next week - here is one in Polish and the next two will be English.

 

 

1000

 

1000

 

1000

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post #737 of 1074
12/19/12 at 11:33am

I have the HD800 and it sounds fantastic with the BHA-1.  That being said, I prefer listening to the HD-800 with the WA-22 a little.  I do use my HD-800 balanced with a Cardas copper cable.  I have also listened to it single ended with the stock cable, and find that it is a bit harsher in the top end like people say.  I am not sure whether this has more to do with the silver plated copper cable or the single end part.  I did order some silver wire (Neotech & Mundorf) off of ebay to build some more cables with to determine whether silver sounds good with the HD800 or if it doesn't make any difference at all (which is my baseline bias, but I am going to remain open minded about it).  My suspicion is that the difference has more to do with the balanced output than the actual wire.  

 

With my HE-6, the difference between the balanced and SE is more dramatic using the same cable with or w/o 1/4" adaptor.

 

It by no means sounds bad with the stock cable and 1/4" adaptor.  But when you do a comparison, the balanced definitely makes a noticeable improvement.  I think the reason people say the SE sounds "bad" is because they are comparing it to the balanced.  IMHO, a better way to say it is the 1/4" sounds "good", the balanced sounds "better".  

 

All of the above is based upon using a balanced source.  I am not sure how using a non-balanced source would affect it.  If you look at what Bruno Putzey's has to say though, even if you are using a balanced source, you can get most of the benefit of the balanced input by using a RCA-XLR cable converter.  Again, I haven't tried that and don't plan to, as I have noted a significant improvement between balanced and unbalanced on everything I have compared side by side.

 

You can easily change the stock cable to balanced if you want for about $8 by taking off the stock 1/4" TRS plug and putting a 4 pin balanced XLR on it.  

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post #738 of 1074
12/19/12 at 11:43am

My guess is that those aren't HD800 fans to begin with, and might be sensitive to the HD800's piercing way of presentation.. (  I couldnt live with the HD800 ). Since it is a balanced amp, there must be some sort of conversion to make the SE output - maybe that conversion is extra bad with the HD800 specifically, or maybe the HD800 is more sensitive to crosstalk tor  whatever , maybe it is a cable issue (??) - but I am not the person to ask neither advanced questions on amp topology nor the issues of "balanced" headphones - actually I find balanced audio annoying, just makes life more complicated. 

 

I did, however, enjoy the HD650 immensly single ended with the BHA-1. So much, in fact, I thought I'd might buy it just for the HD650 - single ended :P

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Namkung View Post


Great. Thank you for your input. Yes, I have read from this very thread a lot of positive comments regarding the BHA-1 with the HD800s. I just hope they were listening with the SE output haha.
Can't wait to get my hands on one of these..

Edited by ardilla - 12/19/12 at 1:31pm
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post #739 of 1074
12/19/12 at 1:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardilla View Post

I did, however, enjoy the HD650 immensly single ended with the BHA-1. So much, in fact, I thought I'd might buy it just for the HD650 - single ended :P

 

Really? I did not enjoy the HD650's I owned going through single ended at all. I found it to be better with my 4 pin cable, but it was also a better cable.

 

I also do not enjoy the HD650 that much, but do love the BHA-1

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post #740 of 1074
12/19/12 at 1:48pm

I didn't try it with 4 pin cable. I am a HD650 fanboy, though. If it sounds even better with 4 pin: Terrific!

 

Do you use the HE-6 with the BHA? It's very counter.intuitive, since the BHA is rated that low in wattage..

Quote:
Originally Posted by dleblanc343 View Post

Really? I did not enjoy the HD650's I owned going through single ended at all. I found it to be better with my 4 pin cable, but it was also a better cable.

 

I also do not enjoy the HD650 that much, but do love the BHA-1

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post #741 of 1074
12/19/12 at 2:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dleblanc343 View Post

I also do not enjoy the HD650 that much, but do love the BHA-1

 

There is a reason old HD650 fans are now LCD-2 fans...

 

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post #742 of 1074
12/19/12 at 3:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solude View Post

There is a reason old HD650 fans are now LCD-2 fans...



Yeah, those extra dB's below 40hz cool.gif
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post #743 of 1074
12/19/12 at 3:40pm

I didn't get enough time with it to make any comments about the sound.  I hope to get one to review and compare to my reference Lehmann Audio Black Cube Linear.

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post #744 of 1074
12/19/12 at 9:20pm
James,

I am still using my PS1000 Grado's unbalanced. Do you think I should have my dealer put a balanced connector on there?
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post #745 of 1074
12/19/12 at 9:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528 View Post

I didn't get enough time with it to make any comments about the sound.  I hope to get one to review and compare to my reference Lehmann Audio Black Cube Linear.

I found it was like a Linear with more guts. The linear had more sparkle but it was a little thin sounding compared to the Bryston.
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post #746 of 1074
12/19/12 at 9:24pm
Fr you guys wo feel theHd800 is piercing, what do you think of the PS1000 Grado?
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post #747 of 1074
12/20/12 at 2:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Tanner View Post

Hi Folks,

Have 3 superb reviews coming over the next week - here is one in Polish

Care to offer us the english translation James? biggrin.gif
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post #748 of 1074
12/20/12 at 3:22am

Even worse..

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackstoneJD View Post

Fr you guys wo feel theHd800 is piercing, what do you think of the PS1000 Grado?
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post #749 of 1074
12/20/12 at 6:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardilla View Post

I didn't try it with 4 pin cable. I am a HD650 fanboy, though. If it sounds even better with 4 pin: Terrific!

Do you use the HE-6 with the BHA? It's very counter.intuitive, since the BHA is rated that low in wattage..
No i do not. It does get any head amp time at all really.

Sometimes I'll plug it in the mojo for a easy half hour listen though
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post #750 of 1074
12/20/12 at 4:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardilla View Post

My guess is that those aren't HD800 fans to begin with, and might be sensitive to the HD800's piercing way of presentation.. (  I couldnt live with the HD800 ). Since it is a balanced amp, there must be some sort of conversion to make the SE output - maybe that conversion is extra bad with the HD800 specifically, or maybe the HD800 is more sensitive to crosstalk tor  whatever , maybe it is a cable issue (??) - but I am not the person to ask neither advanced questions on amp topology nor the issues of "balanced" headphones - actually I find balanced audio annoying, just makes life more complicated. 

 

I did, however, enjoy the HD650 immensly single ended with the BHA-1. So much, in fact, I thought I'd might buy it just for the HD650 - single ended :P

 

 

The SE output is simply one half of the balanced output.

The BHA- 1 is designed to drive headphones either SE or balanced witout any special tricks or compromise.

Got this right off the schematic.

If people prefer this amp with balanced output, what can I say? They like what they like! biggrin.gif

 

 

BTW, the manual states that this amp outputs 6 Watts per channel into 32 Ohms.


Edited by Chris J - 12/20/12 at 4:58pm
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