C&C BH Portable Headphone Amp (80 Hours from a Single Charge!) [Buyer Review] - Page 46

In the meantime I think my E11 needs the treble taming a bit so I'm gonna go for the copper plated.

For example my Yamaha at the top end sound a bit too shrill on EQ2 using FiiO L9 LOD.

You don't need copper plated, you need pure copper

Ah ok, thanks for the clarification mate!

I assume this one would be perfect:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281053412902

H20 told me about this forum and since i am the owner of ZO2 and C&C BH i can share some thoughts with you.

 

first of all ZO2 and BH are two different beasts IMO. ZO2 is often advertised as portable subwoofer and this is exactly what it does best. i love ZO2 subwoofer mode to boost bass because it does so across the entire frequency range and you get that meaty rich sound. however... when i tried ZO2 in amp mode i was disappointed. ZO2 lacks instrument separation and is fairly lush and too laidback in amp mode. from my experience with C3 ZO2 is unable to boost clarity and add space, the whole musical presentation remains little big congested. that said IF you haven't heard anything better you will love ZO2. just remember this is more subwoofer than amp just as advertised.

 

NOW... C&C BH, for me this became a true ear opener, thanks to H20 for suggesting this little gem.

 

when i hooked BH onto my C3 i could not believe my ears... boy oh boy, i was missing so much in my music. BH immediately added space,  separation, 3D stage and highs became so silky smooth.  BH also added richer life like mid tones and increased bass immediacy and articulation. what you must remember that BH is not bass booster, so you will not gain earth shaking or head shaking bass... what you will get is air around drums, transient speed and clarity, presence effect. since i do not like woofy bass i much prefer BH handling that fine details to bass boost on ZO2.

 

that said i agree with H20 about cabling. i tried both stock cables from my ZO2 and BH and can say they are not on par with silver or silver-copper alloy cables. i bought Palic Baloong cable made of silver copper with gold plated terminations and i could not be happier with my choice. i tried this cable against BH and ZO2 stock cables and can report real audible differences particularly in mid and bass area. what a proper thick silver-copper or silver will do is add smoothness to trebles and add even more bass articulation and instrument separation. voices will also sound a bit more clear and closer to you in sense of presence or call it in your face if you want. do not forget cables make difference on this and on high-end gear... if in doubt ask any electrical engineer what high-end fuzz is all about and he will tell you about clean current and so forth. this is why cables surprisingly make sense and difference.

 

overall BH is a perfect marriage for C3 and adding good silver or silver plated cable (and a thick one) will make this combo a winner.

 

for what is worth i also note that C3 and BH love balanced armature IEMs.... while dynamic drivers are fine they are consumer sounding IEMs and lack clarity in mids and bass. i tried my Shure se215, Klipsch X10 and none could achieve clarity and detail level that i could achieve with eb50. so i would be considering only balanced armature for this combo. perhaps hybrid IEMs can be good too but i did not have experience to try them.

Edited by Gintaras - 2/12/13 at 11:33pm

surprising is that only now i found out that klipsch x10 is single balanced armature ... hm... what this tells me? from their sound i always thought that was dynamic driver :-(

^ Could you try to double amp ZO with BH? I'm very keen on that combination, ZO is a fully analog device why it works fine double amped, it's quite common practice for users to pair ZO with FiiO E11 for example as it works unexpectedly great. :) 

Edited by RPGWiZaRD - 2/13/13 at 2:21am

Hello head-fiers,

I'm about to get this amp soon. But could anyone here tell me how this little gem's sounding comparing to mini3?
And has enyone tried to pair it with yuin pk1 (yeah I'm an earbuds lovers )

RPG, i can try double amping but too tired today so may be will do and report back to weekend.
That said i can tell that ZO is prone to hissing, esp at higher volume which can eat up some detail but is not audible so during playback. So i would not like double amping idea but will do a test. Don't get me wrong, ZO is great thing for what it does and that is boosting bass across the entire range. Loving my BH i will not sell my ZO which pairs nicely with cowon and can be pretty portable solution compared to else.

C&C BH just arrived.  It took a bit longer than expected to get here based on previous reviews but it arrived in one piece and that's all that matters.  It was about 7-10 days to get here from the day I ordered and that was with spending extra for expedited shipping.

 

Initial reviews?  Wow.  This is a significant upgrade over the E7 for portable use.  I'll have the E12 here in two days to compare it against.

 

I'm very impressed with the build quality.  It's a solid little unit and pairs nicely with my Sansa Clip Zip.  I love the inputs that allow for you to fine tune the music to your liking.  I'm playing with the settings and so far I prefer SF ON, LF OFF, GC LOW, OUTPUT 1 with the M-100s but I'm still toying with it.

 

It also powers the Ultrasone Sig DJs nicely.  I was very impressed with the SQ from though I think I had to use Out 2 to get the proper power for them.   Once I find my adapter, I am going to be testing the LCDs and TH-900s with it as well.

Tokendog, congrats on your new BH, you are in for a many hours of audible pleasure. If i may ask what kind of adpater do you mean?

 

1/4 to 1/8 adapter for the TH-900 and LCDs.

 

Boy am I looking forward to this. Hoping I can stick with the BH ( rather than having to go the XO2 route ) on a pile of vintage orthos, thanks in advance for any further impressions on how well they are driven. The Fostex 900 is icing on the cake.

 

Any chance you could quickly throw on the T50's as well?

Even if it is simply a yessir! or sort-of decently ( or other ) that would help greatly also.

Edited by nick n - 2/13/13 at 8:08pm

 

No problem. :)   I should be able to pair them up starting tomorrow and I'll post impressions as I go.

Just ordered from polychen can't wait to get them. How long should I expect to wait? Also which Fiio LOD should I get with my iphone 4?

Edited by benk97 - 2/13/13 at 9:09pm

I had to wait about 12 days to get mine with expedited shipping.  Wish I had of saved the money on the shipping, I don't think it made a difference. :)

Edited by tokendog - 2/13/13 at 9:28pm