burson new soloist headphone amp - Page 48

Wow and WOW!  

Sheesh!    

As we say in Texas, I feel lower than a snake's belly in a wagon wheel rut.    I'm not going to ask any more embarrassing questions.  

Moral of the story:   Leave it on Low Gain unless you're unable to achieve the SPL you desire (even with the stepped attenuator turned fully clockwise for no attenuation), then bump the Gain up to Medium...

Thanks again to both of you!

Mike

(Listening to It's Such a Happy Day, from Jackie Gleason's Return To Me)

Don't feel embarrassed: you've asked questions about things you didn't know well, which is a very good thing.

And now, you know what ?  You've just proven you've got it !  Because your "moral of the story" was perfectly right, and all you need to do about choosing your gain setting.

So let's enjoy the music !  :-)

Aye and you were hardly alone.  A lot of people equate the pot to power.  They're sitting and 9 o'clock and think they have the rest of the sweep when depending in gain and max output... they likely don't.

(Listening to Walking Wheel (live), from Bel Canto's Retrospect)

Although a very interesting discussion, I decided to see if I can hear any difference when listening with the LCD-3 and Soloist on all 3 gain settings (using the volume to reach the same levels in all 3 gain positions).

Honestly, I could not hear any difference. While there may be a slight improvement in noise floor with the gain on low, it is not perceptible, at least to me.

No change in noise because it's reduced before it's increased ;)  Plug in an IEM on high gain, pot wide open though and there is some low level white noise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude 

No change in noise because it's reduced before it's increased ;)  Plug in an IEM on high gain, pot wide open though and there is some low level white noise.

:) Surely though, its not as cut and dry as that. If you increase the gain more than you need, only to attenuate it more later in the chain, you may still have introduced more noise depending on the quality of the components that provided that gain.

The source of the noise comes into play for sure.

The LCD3 (I don't own), as the HD650 (I own) are probably not sensitive enough to hear the noise then, according to what you said, jonstatt.

The Soloist has a really low noise level and should produce a very black background even with sensitive headphones (on low gain of course then).  For the less sensitive ones, it's total blackness even with golden ears, I'm pretty sure.

Honestly, and please don't blame me for saying the following words, it's the main reason why I bought the Soloist: for its black background.  Actually, that's one of the things I can't bear: the noise which prevents you to hear the faintest details in the (rather) silent moments of your favorite tracks, let alone this hideous hissing sound between tracks !

Quote:

Originally Posted by zilch0md 

I just sent the following e-mail to Burson Audio...

 

 

Quote:

Hi!

 

I've been enjoying the Soloist with Audeze LCD-2 and Beyerdynamic T1 for a few weeks now and I'm very pleased with its performance.

 

When using the 50-Ohm LCD-2, I can achieve a desired SPL with any of the three gain settings, by adjusting the stepped attenuator appropriately.

 

Here's my question:

 

Considering the Soloist's design, which of the following three combinations of Gain and Attenuator setting would allow the Soloist to deliver the best gain-related sound quality (improved headroom, dynamics, bass control, etc.), assuming I hear no difference in blackness of noise floor?

 

Low Gain  +  Attenuator at Step 12   84.6 dB

Med Gain  +  Attenuator at Step 10   84.5 dB

Hi Gain     +  Attenuator at Step 8     84.0 dB

 

Note that all three of these combinations yield nearly the same SPL at the LCD-2 ear pads when playing a white noise file, using JL Audio's SPL Meter iPhone app and a lapel mic.

 

I have an opinion of which sounds best in terms of headroom-related traits, but I would like to know which is theoretically best, with consideration of the Soloist design.

 

Hopefully you understand the question, but to put it another way, I can boil it down to this:  For any given desired SPL, which Gain setting offers the most headroom?  Low, High, or it doesn't matter?

 

:-)

 

Thank you!

 

Mike

 

Tick, tock, tick, tock....

 

Mike

 

(Listening to Don't Let it Bring You Down, from Annie Lennox' Medusa)

Not a peep out of Burson support yet - four days and counting...

I know the answer, now - thanks to Solude and CoolBurn - but what's with Burson support?

Mike

Try asking Via pm on their facebook page. Seems pretty active. 

Bummer - I don't do Facebook.  Never have.  Never will.

But I do appreciate your suggestion - thank you!

I have an idea...  I'll send the e-mail again, and again, and again...

It seems like a fairly adequate answer from Burson.  Anyway, almost any other answer would make me doubt about them, and that would have been unfortunate after having bought the Soloist :)

Not to forget that with sensitive enough earphones you could (maybe) hear some hiss/noise when using too high a gain for them, but except for that there shouldn't be any audible difference I think as well.  Pretty reassuring that Burson, Solude and I have had the same answer to that question actually ;-)

CoolBurn,

Would the "clipping" that Solude says can kick in even with medium gain for sources outputting more than 1.2Vrms be "audible?"   Worse, when using a 2.0Vrms source with high gain, and signals demand more than Solude's estimated ceiling of 500mW into 50 Ohms (into LCD-2), would that be audible?

My question to Burson support was specifically addressing audible traits related to headroom, so I am interpreting Burson's response (theoretically there are no audible differences at any gain level) to be different than Solude's response (clipping can occur whenever more than 8Vrms (more than 500 mW into 50 Ohm) is demanded - which pretty much rules out the use of both medium and high gain with 2.0Vrms DAC output).

If Burson support and Solude are saying the same thing, is it possible that the "clipping" to which Solude is referring is actually not audible?  

If "clipping" is audible, about the only way I can reconcile Burson's statement with Solude's is via Burson's use of the word, "theoretically" - which would mean they didn't really answer the question.  Even Solude would agree that, theoretically, the Soloist can produce 1500mW into LCD-2 (into 50-Ohms), but realistically, he says it will "cap out" at 500mW.  

I'm not trying to beat up on Burson as much as I'm trying to discern first, is there a difference of opinion, and if there is, which statement is correct.  

Personally, I'm fine with achieving my desired SPL by using the 2x (Low) gain setting in combination with less attenuation than would be required at 4x or 8x gain, but I'd like to know the truth, just the same.

Thanks again for joining in to help me understand this stuff,

Mike