[Poimandres]

Quote:

 
 
I have a chance to A/B testing these 2 for a week and honestly I will definitely vote to the Glacier.
Note: The UHA-6s is using OPA627AP
 
- DAC section Glacier by far better than UHA
- Amp section: Glacier has better treble extend, sparkle and decay. For the bass, I found out UHA-6s has more punchy and it makes me get tired easily, even I prefer more bass than normal. Glacier also has smoother mid and brings me more mood in every song.
- Battery Glacier > UHA (not really sure on this. I did not to the specific test on battery)
- Design Glacier > UHA (IMO)

How does the Glacier compare with your Fostex?

 

[midnightwalker]

Quote:

How does the Glacier compare with your Fostex?

 
Fostex has better sound stage and dead quite background but its design and battery are killing me. Still prefer the Glacier in overall.

 

[Poimandres]

I received the Glacier today and I am very impressed with the build quality it truly is a masterpiece.  It is exceptionally well built and it is very slim as well, from the photos I thought that it was going to be larger in thickness and also in width.  Truth be told I believe that it is almost the exact same dimensions as an iPhone 4s (my phone is in an otterbox so it is slightly longer and wider and a lot thicker than the glacier. 
 
After it finally finished charging I decided to give it a whirl by using my EACE lod and my 4s, the sound is exceptional right out of the box and with adequate burn in I am certain that it will only get better.  TTVJ and Pete have done a great job on this amp, the led's also change color depending on the volume setting it starts off all the way down with red and the color will slowly change into orange then into yellow then into green into blue and finally magenta at the 32 step.  It is really a nice little light show to see my 3 year old son noticed the led's almost instantly. 
 
The same led will blink white will charging and then stop when charging is complete.  You can also change the gain from the default of 10db to 20db and then to 0db (what I am using with my Heir Audio 8a's) the same led mentioned previously will give a blink in between the volume color to green for 10db, blue for 20 and red for 0. 
 
A lot of thought certainly went into this amp and I am certain most people will enjoy the little subtleties that sets this amp apart from others.  I did not realize that the click wheel had to be pushed in in order to turn the Glacier on and off as I assumed that once you reached the lowest volume that the wheel would click and lock in the off position.  The Glacier not only goes one step further by remembering where the volume was when you de-energized it and will automatically go back to that position when power is re-enabled (simply turn the click wheel slightly up or down and this feature will disable), it also turns the volume completely down before it powers off.
 
With all of the good there is also some things that are not as good.  Even with the beautiful stainless steel exterior the Glacier is prone to RFI, while listening with my iPhone 4S sitting directly on top of the Glacier I would receive all sorts of wonderful RFI when email was received, this seems to hold true whether I am using the wifi in my house or the Verizon network, this issue can be fixed by putting your phone into airplane mode.  It is really noticeable with the volume at lower levels and hard to hear when the volume is louder.  With the Glacier muted and music player paused there is a slight audible hiss with my 8a's.  And as others have pointed out there is a thump when powering the Glacier on or off.
 
 As the Glacier comes with a 30 day trial period I will continue to evaluate it and I will have to decide if all of the plus's outweigh the few minus's.

 

[Poimandres]

I will test the Glacier tomorrow to determine if the hiss is coming from my iPhone or from the amp itself.

 

[turokrocks]

Quote:

I will test the Glacier tomorrow to determine if the hiss is coming from my iPhone or from the amp itself.

...from the Glacier, I have this, but its SQ and form factor, makes me forgive it, as while in the music mood (myself), I like to be uninterrupted, so I use the airplane mode with my Note2.
You can't have it all...Remember "If its too good to be true....then it is"

 

[Staal]

Quote:

I will test the Glacier tomorrow to determine if the hiss is coming from my iPhone or from the amp itself.

 
Please do! I'm currently in the proces of buying a Glacier from the classifieds, but if there is any hiss with an iPhone I don't really think the Glacier is the right solution for me.

 

[Poimandres]

Update:
 I have been listening to the Glacier playing flacs through foobar on my desktop and I feel that the dac is definitely much better quality than the iphone 4s, or classic 7g to my ears.  It is hard to tell although I believe that I am getting a slight hiss when utilizing the dac it is almost not noticeable and seems to disappear after 2 clicks on the wheel.  I still get some mild rfi if my iphone is using data within 10 inches or so to the Glacier and the closer it gets the more noticeable it is.  The good thing is that the thud when turning the Glacier on and off while using the dac is not present.  It seems to only be present when using the in jack.

 

[Sid-Fi]

Can anyone share how the Glacier pairs with HD 650? A lot of amps seem to drive HD 650 to decent listening levels, but I am wondering if it actually has good synergy with the HD 650? In particular, does it tighten the bass, bring out the treble region, speed things up, etc.

 

[Poimandres]

Ok so there is a thud when you use the dac if your IEM's are plugged in while you connect the usb to the computer.  It doesnt give a thud when you turn the amp power on only when plugging in the usb.  I have let the amp burn in overnight and will try to spend some more time listening to it in the next couple of days.

 

[daniel_hokkaido]

Quote:

Can anyone share how the Glacier pairs with HD 650? A lot of amps seem to drive HD 650 to decent listening levels, but I am wondering if it actually has good synergy with the HD 650? In particular, does it tighten the bass, bring out the treble region, speed things up, etc.

 
I tried it with my 650s and found it worked really well. Very happy. I then tried them with the SPL auditor amp and of course it was better..but for a tiny amp like glacier it packs a hell
of a whallop. im using it with er4s iems mostly. the SPL just brought more weight to the music and more presence. 

 

[pmillett]

Quote:

 Mine isn't burned in yet so I don't want to say anything other than it drives HE400 VERY well.  Personally, I only really believe in extended burn in when it comes to speakers that actually have a diaphragm, but I burn in everything before talking about it anyway just to be sure and so others don't have to ask me about it.  I do have a couple questions for other owners.  Do the internals of your Glaciers feel kind of loose inside the case?  Mine is a little.  Do you ever have to use the reset?  I've had to a couple times and am trying to isolate what causes it, ie plugging into wall, plugging power into computer, plugging into DAC, etc.  Just curious, although if the reset has to be used regularly I will be annoyed.

There is some variation in the mechanics... but there can be up to ~0.3mm of a gap between the PCB and the end panels.  This may be what you are referring to.  Mechanical tolerances require that there be some space so that the PCB does not get stressed. 
 
An ESD hit (static zap) is the most common event that I see that can cause or require a reset.  You should not have to reset the amp often - if you do, return it and we'll fix it.
 
Pete

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

I received the Glacier today and I am very impressed with the build quality it truly is a masterpiece.  It is exceptionally well built and it is very slim as well, from the photos I thought that it was going to be larger in thickness and also in width.  Truth be told I believe that it is almost the exact same dimensions as an iPhone 4s (my phone is in an otterbox so it is slightly longer and wider and a lot thicker than the glacier. 
 
After it finally finished charging I decided to give it a whirl by using my EACE lod and my 4s, the sound is exceptional right out of the box and with adequate burn in I am certain that it will only get better.  TTVJ and Pete have done a great job on this amp, the led's also change color depending on the volume setting it starts off all the way down with red and the color will slowly change into orange then into yellow then into green into blue and finally magenta at the 32 step.  It is really a nice little light show to see my 3 year old son noticed the led's almost instantly. 
 
The same led will blink white will charging and then stop when charging is complete.  You can also change the gain from the default of 10db to 20db and then to 0db (what I am using with my Heir Audio 8a's) the same led mentioned previously will give a blink in between the volume color to green for 10db, blue for 20 and red for 0. 
 
A lot of thought certainly went into this amp and I am certain most people will enjoy the little subtleties that sets this amp apart from others.  I did not realize that the click wheel had to be pushed in in order to turn the Glacier on and off as I assumed that once you reached the lowest volume that the wheel would click and lock in the off position.  The Glacier not only goes one step further by remembering where the volume was when you de-energized it and will automatically go back to that position when power is re-enabled (simply turn the click wheel slightly up or down and this feature will disable), it also turns the volume completely down before it powers off.
 
With all of the good there is also some things that are not as good.  Even with the beautiful stainless steel exterior the Glacier is prone to RFI, while listening with my iPhone 4S sitting directly on top of the Glacier I would receive all sorts of wonderful RFI when email was received, this seems to hold true whether I am using the wifi in my house or the Verizon network, this issue can be fixed by putting your phone into airplane mode.  It is really noticeable with the volume at lower levels and hard to hear when the volume is louder.  With the Glacier muted and music player paused there is a slight audible hiss with my 8a's.  And as others have pointed out there is a thump when powering the Glacier on or off.
 
 As the Glacier comes with a 30 day trial period I will continue to evaluate it and I will have to decide if all of the plus's outweigh the few minus's.

It's likely steel to allow it's thinness with enough strength but steel is meh for RF. Aluminium is much better. Of course, if you're serious, your phone will sound better in airplane mode anyway.

 

[esuhgb]

Hi, i am after a new amp and dac. My options are the leckerton uha6 mk2 and the dacport lx or the glacier for my amp and dac needs. Has anyone compared the dac of the glacier to the dacport? If there's not a big difference in performance the glacier will be the way to go. And how does the glacier pair with the original CLAS? Thanks.

 

[Poimandres]

I believe Mike from Headphonia did in his review. The link is about a page or so back.

 

[basementdweller]

Quote:

There is some variation in the mechanics... but there can be up to ~0.3mm of a gap between the PCB and the end panels.  This may be what you are referring to.  Mechanical tolerances require that there be some space so that the PCB does not get stressed. 
 
An ESD hit (static zap) is the most common event that I see that can cause or require a reset.  You should not have to reset the amp often - if you do, return it and we'll fix it.
 
Pete

 
Thanks for the reply Pete.  Actually, wanted to let everyone know that I stopped having to use the reset as soon as I settled into normal use with the amp.  When I first get things I tend to use them often in short burst.  Basically, I would power the amp off and go back to use it very soon, sometimes less than a minute, later; this is when the reset became an issue.  Perhaps it wasn't fully powered down when I was trying to turn it on.  Now that I turn it on once or twice a day to just listen to music, usually several hours apart, I have not had to reset it even once.  I have also used it successfully with an iPhone, but probably experienced zero RFI issues due to a lack of incoming calls  No hiss at all with UM Miracles, at least as far as I can detect.  Really, this one is better than I thought it would be.  The Glacier also has a signature that is fairly different from most of my other amps.  Slightly forward and very fast.  I think someone else mentioned the amp's great emphasis with guitar work.  I don't know that I have ever heard a better presentation for strings.  This one is probably going to go on my personal list of items that I hold onto for a while along with the ALO Continental simply because both of them seem to have redefined what I thought was possible from a portable device.