[karlgerman]

To protect my rig but for my personal interest in testing too, i use a Furman IT-Reference 16Ei, the Flagship conditioner of this company. Had a smaller one first, but it produced more humming noise as all of my equipment together, how funny is this!
 
The KGSS in my Headphone system is very sensitive to W-lan or any kind of electrical influence.
Now, as the is a new BHSE in my rack, i´m surprised in a positive way, how shielded this Amp in the German electricity net operates.
 
There is no hum or high frequency chirp at all. There is no need for a power conditioner and i could use a less expesive oelbach-connector protection.
For sound quality there was no improvement with the Furman to my ears,
that now protect my Summit X Loudspeaker set.

 

[rgs9200m]

Shunyata Hydra 8 (or Triton if you can afford it and have the room).

 

[bfin3]

I put a deposit down on a blue Hawaii last September. Circumstances have changed and I don't think I'll be adding such a high end headphone setup to my audio system. If anyone is just now getting into line and wants to skip 6 months of waiting please shoot me a pm. I know Justin is open to transitioning deposits.
 
On the topic of racks and regenerators I have found that both high end regenerators and isolation racks can have a powerful effect on audio quality, especially equipment of this caliber. Putting a 200 dollar amp on a 1000 dollar rack would be ridiculous but a 5000 dollar amp easily merits such a rack. Just my 2 cents

 

[Earspeakers]

  I put a deposit down on a blue Hawaii last September. Circumstances have changed and I don't think I'll be adding such a high end headphone setup to my audio system. If anyone is just now getting into line and wants to skip 6 months of waiting please shoot me a pm. I know Justin is open to transitioning deposits.

Or just cancel and it will help everybody behind you by bumping them all forward by one

 

[wink]

Or, better still, gift it to me...   It would be very much appreciated.. 

     

 

[sfo1972]

FIrst time poster in this thread guys - was wondering if anyone has done a comparison between the Blue Hawaii and the Schiit Lyr/Lyr2? Sound signature comparisons would really be helpful.
 
I searched the thread and only got 2 hits, so I figured I will just ask.
 
Cheers

 

[arnaud]

  FIrst time poster in this thread guys - was wondering if anyone has done a comparison between the Blue Hawaii and the Schiit Lyr/Lyr2? Sound signature comparisons would really be helpful.
 
I searched the thread and only got 2 hits, so I figured I will just ask.
 
Cheers

Yeah, cause it's kinda hard to compare apple vs. oranges, car vs. a bulldozer, tennis racket vs. squash racket. You get the gist

 

[smitty1110]

  FIrst time poster in this thread guys - was wondering if anyone has done a comparison between the Blue Hawaii and the Schiit Lyr/Lyr2? Sound signature comparisons would really be helpful.
 
I searched the thread and only got 2 hits, so I figured I will just ask.
 
Cheers

That's because they are for completely different types of headphones. The Lyr/Lyr2 can't drive electrostatic headphones, and the BHSE can't drive anything that isn't and electrostatic headphone. That being said, the BHSE is considered to be one of the most neutral of all headphone amplifiers in any category, with a frequent comparison to "A wire with gain." The Lyr is subject to the tubes you have in it, and I only heard it with stock tubes, and only for about 3 minutes at a meet.

 

[sfo1972]

 

  FIrst time poster in this thread guys - was wondering if anyone has done a comparison between the Blue Hawaii and the Schiit Lyr/Lyr2? Sound signature comparisons would really be helpful.
 
I searched the thread and only got 2 hits, so I figured I will just ask.
 
Cheers

That's because they are for completely different types of headphones. The Lyr/Lyr2 can't drive electrostatic headphones, and the BHSE can't drive anything that isn't and electrostatic headphone. That being said, the BHSE is considered to be one of the most neutral of all headphone amplifiers in any category, with a frequent comparison to "A wire with gain." The Lyr is subject to the tubes you have in it, and I only heard it with stock tubes, and only for about 3 minutes at a meet.

Fair enough and thanks for the clarification. What type of headphones are used most, or at least people feel work well with this type of HA? I would like to do some reading this weekend and get educated about the Blue Hawaii.
 
FWIW, I am a die hard fan of the Lyr2 and have done significant tube rolling with music comparisons between different vintage tubes - the AMP is really awesome! The stock tubes really don't do it justice and make you go: that's not too bad! But a good pair of tubes will blow your socks off 

 
Cheers

 

[smitty1110]

 
Fair enough and thanks for the clarification. What type of headphones are used most, or at least people feel work well with this type of HA? I would like to do some reading this weekend and get educated about the Blue Hawaii.
 
FWIW, I am a die hard fan of the Lyr2 and have done significant tube rolling with music comparisons between different vintage tubes - the AMP is really awesome! The stock tubes really don't do it justice and make you go: that's not too bad! But a good pair of tubes will blow your socks off 

 
Cheers

The BHSE can be configured to work with Stax Electrostatic Earspeakers, though with an adapter you can also make it work with the discontinued Sennheiser HE-90 and HE-60. And I totally agree about tube rolling, I have some very nice NOS tubes for my project ember, they make a huge difference.

 

[sfo1972]

 

 
Fair enough and thanks for the clarification. What type of headphones are used most, or at least people feel work well with this type of HA? I would like to do some reading this weekend and get educated about the Blue Hawaii.
 
FWIW, I am a die hard fan of the Lyr2 and have done significant tube rolling with music comparisons between different vintage tubes - the AMP is really awesome! The stock tubes really don't do it justice and make you go: that's not too bad! But a good pair of tubes will blow your socks off 

 
Cheers

The BHSE can be configured to work with Stax Electrostatic Earspeakers, though with an adapter you can also make it work with the discontinued Sennheiser HE-90 and HE-60. And I totally agree about tube rolling, I have some very nice NOS tubes for my project ember, they make a huge difference.

+1 many thanks bro.

 

[n3rdling]

 
Fair enough and thanks for the clarification. What type of headphones are used most, or at least people feel work well with this type of HA? I would like to do some reading this weekend and get educated about the Blue Hawaii.
 
FWIW, I am a die hard fan of the Lyr2 and have done significant tube rolling with music comparisons between different vintage tubes - the AMP is really awesome! The stock tubes really don't do it justice and make you go: that's not too bad! But a good pair of tubes will blow your socks off 

 
Cheers

 
The BHSE is used to drive electrostatic headphones, which have completely different power requirements than dynamic/planar headphones.  You can't use an electrostatic amp to drive dynamic headphones and you can't use a dynamic amp to drive electrostatic headphones (ok, for the most part).  This is because these headphones work by driving the diaphragm via electrostatic force.  Doing so requires amps able to swing hundreds of volts...some estat amps can even put out close to 2,000 V.  By comparison, I think your typical dynamic amp might be able to put out something like 24 V, and you probably don't need more than ~2V for most normal dynamic headphones to reach ear bleeding levels.

 

[sfo1972]

 


Fair enough and thanks for the clarification. What type of headphones are used most, or at least people feel work well with this type of HA? I would like to do some reading this weekend and get educated about the Blue Hawaii.

FWIW, I am a die hard fan of the Lyr2 and have done significant tube rolling with music comparisons between different vintage tubes - the AMP is really awesome! The stock tubes really don't do it justice and make you go: that's not too bad! But a good pair of tubes will blow your socks off 

Cheers

The BHSE is used to drive electrostatic headphones, which have completely different power requirements than dynamic/planar headphones.  You can't use an electrostatic amp to drive dynamic headphones and you can't use a dynamic amp to drive electrostatic headphones (ok, for the most part).  This is because these headphones work by driving the diaphragm via electrostatic force.  Doing so requires amps able to swing hundreds of volts...some estat amps can even put out close to 2,000 V.  By comparison, I think your typical dynamic amp might be able to put out something like 24 V, and you probably don't need more than ~2V for most normal dynamic headphones to reach ear bleeding levels.

Thank you for the intro. At least I have an idea now of where to start my research. I currently use lcd3s, planar magnetic, headphones with my Amp. Just out of curiosity, have you ever had the chance to compare sound signatures of the bh against amps for dynamic/planar? Or is it that people on one camp don't bother trying the other?

 

[sfo1972]

Ok guys - I am beginning to get the point after basic research on the BHSE 

 
Its really intriguing and I appreciate Kevin's principles - I am a designer and absolutely committed to 'form follows function' and packaging 'understatement' to focus on the essence of the product.
 
But correct me if I am wrong, you are looking at dropping a whopping $8k to $10k to get setup with BHSE and HPs? Or am I mistaken here?

 

[n3rdling]

I don't think there's a good way to fairly compare electrostatic amps to dynamic amps.  I like to be able to use the same headphone/source when comparing amps so that I know the changes I hear are in the amps themselves instead of the headphones or source.