Audeze's The King Headphone Amp on Indiegogo for 30 Days

usaudio said:

  When are we going to start getting some reviews?  

Has "The King" even started shipping yet?  

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I was the first to order, and I don't have mine yet. 

pale rider said:

 
I was the first to order, and I don't have mine yet. 

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I thought first deliveries were supposed to be in December, what's the hold-up?  Must be tough to wait!  

December was indeed the target. As I understand it, some unsatisfactory metalwork was one of the main reasons. Don't know what else. Waiting is not so bad. It's not like I am unable to listen to the LCD-4. I am driving it with a GS-X mk2.

Love the Hybrid design!  6922 - 6n23p have killer great vintages available.
 
The Schiit Mojnir2 does do balanced  - and is MOSFET - but maybe not in this same league.
 
So now we have The King, MJ2 and the Calvalli Liquid Glass ( and the Liquid Fire) - what a great time to be a HP lover.
 
One question for Audeze - it looks like the amplifier topology uses global negative feedback - is that correct?

 Overall negative feedback is taken back to the input stage to include the input triode in the feedback loop.

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and DC Servo coupling (like the MJ2)?

The circuit is DC-coupled from input to output and a servo control circuit keeps the output DC offset to within millivolts of zero. 

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 Is the amp biased in class 'A' - at least part of the way?
 
This is from the Schiit website - it looks like they use push-pull in the MJ2

What the hell is a Circlotron, and why do I need it?
“Circlotron” was the first commercial name for a cross-shunt push-pull output stage. At the time, it used tubes. We use MOSFET outputs, so we call our topology Crossfet™.
Crossfet™? Are the FETs angry?
No. They’re thrilled. N-channel MOSFETs and P-channel MOSFETs usually don’t match too well (and that’s putting it mildly.) Crossfet allows us to use only N-Channel MOSFETs, for better matching, and for an elegantly simple output stage with great performance.
 

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Congrats on a beautiful looking amp - hope to hear one soon.
 
Cheers!

I would be very interested to hear some impressions.  Seems like a great design.

Mine arrived yesterday, with a complimentary Sine headphone. Very robust, nice feel to the volume control. Looking forward to firing it up. Still dislike the name.

Mine arrived yesterday as well. The Sine headphone was an unexpected surprise!
 
Fired it up last night and discovered a prominent buzz in the left channel. Ringing Audeze today to discuss. Otherwise, sounds like it's full of great potential.

ddanois said:

  Mine arrived yesterday as well. The Sine headphone was an unexpected surprise!
 
Fired it up last night and discovered a prominent buzz in the left channel. Ringing Audeze today to discuss. Otherwise, sounds like it's full of great potential.

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PLEASE DISREGARD MY PREVIOUS POST...
 
I came to a conclusion after simply replacing my Moon 430 HA (which was dead silent) with the King amp and experienced an electronic buzzing sound. I did switch cables and sources but the buzzing was still there...Ultimately, I moved the King into my office (direct connected to the wall) and connected my Hugo/Ak380 to test and the King was DEAD SILENT! No buzzing at all.
 
I'll continue to work at sorting out the cause of the earlier buzz but the King performed perfectly so I'm a happy audiophile.
 
More to come as I'm beginning the burn in this evening...
 
Sorry to cause any alarm and thanks again Audeze!
 
Derek 

Pictures please

I ended up connecting the King to my Lumin A1, alongside a Mjolnir KGHVSS Carbon and Stax 007 Mk1 for comparison. I connected the King unbalanced, and the Mjolnir balanced. I haven't yet connected my LCD-4 or LCD-2 to the King, because both of them are set up with balanced cables, and I haven't gotten the SE cables out of their drawer yet. But I have listened to my HD800s, and they sound quite good. The King is quite authoritative with the Senns. The picture below is a quick phone snapshot of the King just out of the box next to a Mjolnir KGHVSS Carbon Mini.
 

Sure would like to see a detailed assessment of the SQ.
Hope you guys can come up with something more specific than "quite good".
Like, are you thrilled with the sound. Would you buy again?
Was it worth the wait. Was it better than you hoped?
Is it the headphone amp equivalent of Bascom Kings Constellation amp?
Thanks in advance.

Definitely appreciate some more in-depth listening impressions from KING owners. 
 
Quote:

leotis said:

  Sure would like to see a detailed assessment of the SQ.
Hope you guys can come up with something more specific than "quite good".
Like, are you thrilled with the sound. Would you buy again?
Was it worth the wait. Was it better than you hoped?
Is it the headphone amp equivalent of Bascom Kings Constellation amp?
Thanks in advance.

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Well, I am just letting it run in for a while. Will get to some serious listening soon. 

Audeze do you know how much power (W) The King puts into the LCD-4 (both the 100/200 ohm versions)?

swjones3 said:

@Audeze do you know how much power (W) The King puts into the LCD-4 (both the 100/200 ohm versions)?

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If the rule of varying the power as a function of the load is the same as that of the transistor amplifier Luxman P-700U in unbalanced configuration (http://www.luxman.com/product.php?pid=30), the power for a given load follows this formulation: P = U² / R
 
If P = 6 Watt (at 20 Ohm load = that of the LCD-X)
then P = 1.2 Watt (at 100 Ohm load)
and then P = 0.6 watt (at 200 Ohm load = that of the last version of the LCD4).
 
Note: the gap is widening even more if we take into account the sensitivity 3 dB lower of the latest version of the LCD4 compared to the first version (97 dB / 1 mW @ 200 Ohm vs. 100 dB / 1 mW @ 100 Ohm).
 
The official sensitivity of the LCD-X (103 dB / 1 mW @ 20 Ohm) is 120 dB / 1 Vrms
That of the first version of the LCD4 (100 dB / 1 mW @ 100 Ohm) is 110 dB / 1 Vrms
That of the second version of the LCD4 (97 dB / 1 mW @200 Ohm) is 104 dB / 1 Vrms.
 
For a given position of the amplifier's volume knob, you have 6 dB less with the second version of LCD4 compared to the first version, and 16 dB less compared to LCD-X !!
 
One can conclude that the LCD4 (latest version, 200 Ohm) is more difficult to drive than the first version (100 Ohm), and much more difficult to drive than the LCD-X (20 Ohm).