[ying]

You have echoed my concerns here. I am trying to see if others members at the meet have a balanced cable for the HD800. I will be happy to just audition the HD800 in general. I have been listening to the Airist Audio Heron 5 amplifier over the past week exclusively and find that ,@ 5 watts into 32 ohms capability,it is so darn musical with my 64 ohm AKG K702 65th Anniversary headphones. I can definitely see the HD800 needing all the juice it can get to sound it's best. I have been really enjoying the Alpha Dogs with the LC balanced out as it really lets the AD's sound so dynamic yet neutral with any genre of music coupled with a pitch black background. Whew!!!

I am using my HD800 with the LC on with SE input, my dac is balanced output. I think it is a huge improvement vs my Bottlehead Crack and Teac UD301's integrated amp. I use the 3x gain and the volume knob is 9 o clock. Can't wait until make my own balanced headphone cable for them. Hopefully that will surprise me even more. 

 

[Hansotek]

You have echoed my concerns here. I am trying to see if others members at the meet have a balanced cable for the HD800. I will be happy to just audition the HD800 in general. I have been listening to the Airist Audio Heron 5 amplifier over the past week exclusively and find that ,@ 5 watts into 32 ohms capability,it is so darn musical with my 64 ohm AKG K702 65th Anniversary headphones. I can definitely see the HD800 needing all the juice it can get to sound it's best. I have been really enjoying the Alpha Dogs with the LC balanced out as it really lets the AD's sound so dynamic yet neutral with any genre of music coupled with a pitch black background. Whew!!!

I am using my HD800 with the LC on with SE input, my dac is balanced output. I think it is a huge improvement vs my Bottlehead Crack and Teac UD301's integrated amp. I use the 3x gain and the volume knob is 9 o clock. Can't wait until make my own balanced headphone cable for them. Hopefully that will surprise me even more. 

Nice! I get back into town tomorrow with a fully burned-in Carbon and an HD800 balanced cable delivered in the mail and ready to go. Can't wait to give it a listen!

 

[flashcolor]

I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero.
 
It is so apparent; while it is low you can hear it between tracks.  Is it just my unit or you also hear the noise in the background in SE connection? Can anyone let me know if your unit is quiet with SE output?
 
Thanks 

 

[x RELIC x]

Very interesting experience with the Liquid Carbon and ETHER C tonight. I'm kicking back listening to music with the television on in the background (just because) and the TV volume is quite low, too low to listen to during the day. The strange part is I was wondering if I should turn down the Liquid Carbon until I realized I can still slightly hear the TV, even with the closed back ETHER C (gives an idea of how quiet I'm listening to the music). The clarity and dynamics of this pairing is phenomenal, even at low listening levels (about 8:40 on the volume dial).

 

[WNBC]

I am using SE mode with my KAM HP1 and I do not hear a hum in low or high gain.  Can try other headphones later but probably the same result.
 
Interestingly, I had to set my DAC to lower output, otherwise there was bleed through of the music even with the Carbon volume at 0 setting.
 
All in all, a pretty amazing amp.  I considered myself a tube guy until I heard this amp.
 
 
Quote:

  I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero.
 
It is so apparent; while it is low you can hear it between tracks.  Is it just my unit or you also hear the noise in the background in SE connection? Can anyone let me know if your unit is quiet with SE output?
 
Thanks 

 

[doctorjazz]

I've been using the LC single ended (Pono source, acs Encore ciem out, very sensitive), haven't noted a hum.

 

[swspiers]

I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero.

It is so apparent; while it is low you can hear it between tracks.  Is it just my unit or you also hear the noise in the background in SE connection? Can anyone let me know if your unit is quiet with SE output?

Thanks 

I did have a 60 Hz hum when I switched from XLR to SE, and listening with my HFM 400i's. The hum went away when I hooked the XLR's back in along with the SE, which tells me I probably had a simple connection loose. Trouble shooting these things can be a pain, and it doesn't help when it accidentally goes away. :rolleyes:

Now, no hum whatsoever. I'm not going to try to 'fix' it again...

 

[Dave74]

  I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero.
 
It is so apparent; while it is low you can hear it between tracks.  Is it just my unit or you also hear the noise in the background in SE connection? Can anyone let me know if your unit is quiet with SE output?
 
Thanks 

I just tried the SE with my SE856 and JVC HA-FX850 IEMs and I am getting the hum with both of them.  I can still hear the hum with the volume turned to zero as well, I don't really notice it when music is playing, but like you say I can hear it between tracks, I might even be able to hear it on a quiet part of a song (haven't tried yet).  My new Asylum power cable and RCA cables should be here today so I will see if the power cable makes a difference.  

 

[doctorjazz]

I haven't tried listening to it between tracks, certainly didn't note it during music playing. Will try it out tonight when I get home.

 

[Peridot]

When I took delivery of mine, I tried it briefly on SE output to my Beyerdynamic TP51s and noticed a lot of hum.
 
I didn't have time to investigate further and left the amp burning in on balanced phones while I was away over Christmas.
 
I'll be having a play with it this evening and will investigate whether the hum returns in SE mode.

 

[coastal1]

From all the initial impressions and recommendations from Cavalli, sounds like balanced headphone out is definitely the way to go. As mentioned previously, I burned in with balanced HD650 and listened for a bit about 24 hours into burn in and also thought that even at that point the LC was noticeably better than the Crack, though I didn't have the two amps in the same place much less A/B them.

At that time, I briefly tried the HD650 with SE simply out of curiosity and was impressed that the difference was not as drastic as I was expecting (obviously had to turn gain/volume up using SE output, but still had plenty of power to spare; no hum or hiss or blatant degradation in SQ). That said, I didn't listen to SE output very long as I got the balanced amp and balanced cable for a reason, so would assume that the detail/soundstage/imaging etc using balanced output is as superior as everyone says.

Looking forward to some time over New Years to do more dedicated listening now that the amp is fully burned in.

I am using my HD800 with the LC on with SE input, my dac is balanced output. I think it is a huge improvement vs my Bottlehead Crack and Teac UD301's integrated amp. I use the 3x gain and the volume knob is 9 o clock. Can't wait until make my own balanced headphone cable for them. Hopefully that will surprise me even more. 

 

[Stillhart]

  I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero.
 
It is so apparent; while it is low you can hear it between tracks.  Is it just my unit or you also hear the noise in the background in SE connection? Can anyone let me know if your unit is quiet with SE output?
 
Thanks 

 
Sounds like a ground loop.  Have you tried the Hugo both plugged into to power and unplugged from power?  Have you tried a different source than the Hugo (even if its just your phone via 3.5mm cable)?
 

From all the initial impressions and recommendations from Cavalli, sounds like balanced headphone out is definitely the way to go. As mentioned previously, I burned in with balanced HD650 and listened for a bit about 24 hours into burn in and also thought that even at that point the LC was noticeably better than the Crack, though I didn't have the two amps in the same place much less A/B them.

At that time, I briefly tried the HD650 with SE simply out of curiosity and was impressed that the difference was not as drastic as I was expecting (obviously had to turn gain/volume up using SE output, but still had plenty of power to spare; no hum or hiss or blatant degradation in SQ). That said, I didn't listen to SE output very long as I got the balanced amp and balanced cable for a reason, so would assume that the detail/soundstage/imaging etc using balanced output is as superior as everyone says.

Looking forward to some time over New Years to do more dedicated listening now that the amp is fully burned in.

 
Yes, definitely listen more.  When I went from SE to Balanced on the HD650/LC combo, I thought the difference was a noticeable improvement, well worth the investment in a balanced cable.  I'm curious what @warrenpchi will have to say about it when he finally gets around to his promised testing.

 

[sheldaze]

  I have my LC for about two weeks.  Using MacBook Air (Bootcamp windows, JRiver MC21) to Chord Hugo to LC.  When connected with Audeze LCD 3 via balanced, the sound is awesome and background is quiet.  However, when I use the LC's SE output (using other headphones), I can hear a noise  (hum) with both high and low gain.  The noise is still there without the Hugo connected and volume turned to zero. 

 
Sounds like a ground loop.  Have you tried the Hugo both plugged into to power and unplugged from power?  Have you tried a different source than the Hugo (even if its just your phone via 3.5mm cable)?

I was more curious what he meant by "other headphones" because I hear a hum too - but only with a low impedance headphone. I tried the TH-X00 because someone was having issues with their Fostex TH-900 headphone. HD650 through single-ended and balanced caused no issues. Other headphones of various impedance characteristics also caused no issues through the balanced output.

 

[Mattyhew]

  I was more curious what he meant by "other headphones" because I hear a hum too - but only with a low impedance headphone. I tried the TH-X00 because someone was having issues with their Fostex TH-900 headphone. HD650 through single-ended and balanced caused no issues. Other headphones of various impedance characteristics also caused no issues through the balanced output.

 
I feel like i should add to this, when using my Titanium HD as a Source/DAC there is no hum all the way to 2 o'clock (anything above 11 o'clock is deafeningly loud) with my TH900s. It seems like the SE output is more than quiet enough if your source is dead silent. That being said with the TH900s )(i assume the same is true for TH-X00) you just need to change the connector at the end of the cable so it seems totally worth it.

 

[Stillhart]

Hearing background noise (hiss) from the SE connection isn't surprising if you've got very sensitive headphones or IEM's.  Hearing a hum is a different story...