[Roasty]

i'm sure a lot of people are having the same problem as me. upgraditis! i really hate this bug. big time.

currently own the headfive, LDII and a hornet. looking to upgrade my home amp and am willing to go around the US$800-1000 mark (which probably means i will have to sell some of my stuff audio and non audio related). my source will most likely be my cambridge azur 640cV2 / emu0404, yes not the best of sources but it'll have to make do for now. though i am satisfied with the headfive and LDII, thats pretty much it, satisfied. i'm thinking a much better sound awaits me with a new amp. my cd collection comprises mainly stuff like jazz, RHCP/Tool/Radiohead/massive attack, a few classical cds. i think rock and alternative make up a big chunk.

received the Singlepower price list. have narrowed it down to either the PPX3-6SN7 Slam and the MPX3. (any idea how much the slam versin of the MPX3 costs?).

on the other hand, with my budget, i can fork out for the Headamp Gilmore Lite and PSU combo (apparently great synergy with the HD650 from what i've read here). The GS1 is also below my budget at US$749 and it does look the business, a very attractive looking piece of kit (but have not seen many reviews here tho).

i know there are quite a few other brands i have left out, eg Headroom, and some of those made in China. have seen some reviews on the Heed Canamp but for some reason am not all that interested. am not too concerned with the amp being solid state or tube either.

so any advice is welcome.. thanks in advance!

 

[granodemostasa]

the glite+psu and new GS-1 dont' have the type of synergy that the PPX slam has with the HD650. i say go for that one.

 

[thrice]

Another vote for the PPX as well. A great little amp!

 

[nakedtoes]

How about same as me pairing the Azur 640C with CAyin HA-1A with tubes rolled? I have since stop the upgrade bugs and very satisfied with the above combo... except that i might upgrade the IC..

 

[wakeride74]

I love my Slam but I ended up spending more than I planned on tubes so keep that in mind when factoring price. I probably dropped another $200 on tubes.

 

[Asr]

IMO, you should pair the Azur with a tube amp. Unless you actually like an extremely solid-statey sound of course (if that's the case go with a different solid-state amp, as I'd suspect a very analytic/cold/sterile sound would result from the Azur/GL combo - and it might be a tad bright as well).

Quote:

Originally Posted by nakedtoes How about same as me pairing the Azur 640C with CAyin HA-1A with tubes rolled? I have since stop the upgrade bugs and very satisfied with the above combo... except that i might upgrade the IC..

Now there's a pairing I might end up trying. How do you like that combo, the Azur with the Cayin? I'm thinking about trying the Azur 640C V2 for something different from my Arcam. Synergistic?

 

[Roasty]

so from my understanding, the fact that many people swear by the Gilmore Lite + HD650 combo, the PPX3 Slam + HD650 is even better? has anyone tried the GS1 with the 650?

Asr: yup, some friends have told me that they too prefer their Azur with a tube amp. i also think my LDII pairs better with the azur than my headfive. i will most probably be changing my source soon after the new years, so right now i'm just concentrating on finding a good amp to pair with my cans, source aside for now. but thanks!

wakeride: yeah i had not factored in tubes.. i'm not even sure tubes are all that easy to get in Spore but i may be wrong.

was looking at the headroom amps. there is such a big leap in price between the desktop and home lines.. yikes!

 

[granodemostasa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roasty so from my understanding, the fact that many people swear by the Gilmore Lite + HD650 combo, the PPX3 Slam + HD650 is even better? has anyone tried the GS1 with the 650? Asr: yup, some friends have told me that they too prefer their Azur with a tube amp. i also think my LDII pairs better with the azur than my headfive. i will most probably be changing my source soon after the new years, so right now i'm just concentrating on finding a good amp to pair with my cans, source aside for now. but thanks! wakeride: yeah i had not factored in tubes.. i'm not even sure tubes are all that easy to get in Spore but i may be wrong. was looking at the headroom amps. there is such a big leap in price between the desktop and home lines.. yikes!

I've tried the new GS-1 from the benchmark on the HD650... i really did try to like it, it just couldn't... not after hearing the headroom millet and the PPX slam. maybe it was just the bright source piled atop a relatively bright amp.... have you considered the Lehmann black cube linear?

 

[Roasty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa I've tried the new GS-1 from the benchmark on the HD650... i really did try to like it, it just couldn't... not after hearing the headroom millet and the PPX slam. maybe it was just the bright source piled atop a relatively bright amp.... have you considered the Lehmann black cube linear?

i was just having a look at it on the web. have u auditioned it before? how does it compare with the other amps you've mentioned? it is in my budget range.

i do however find myself going back to the singlepower website over and over. question: would the PPX3-6SN7 slam sound better than the stock MPX3? they are around the same price.

 

[EdipisReks]

i think the PPX3 Slam is significantly better than the stock MPX3. i prefer great dynamics over absolute refinement, though, so ymmv. the 5687 output tubes on the Slam has a lot more oomph than the 6SN7 outputs on the stock MPX3, and i find the 5687 does a great job of waking the senns up. 5687s aren't terribly expensive, to boot.

if you don't want to spend a ton of primo 6SN7s, i would suggest getting a couple pairs of yellow label sylvania 6SN7GTBs for gain ($10-20 a piece, usually). this should get you most of the way to the best possible sound out of the Slam. i admit that i've spent quite a lot on tubes lately, but i was very happy with the Sylvania yellow label 6SN7GTBs for a long time. tung-sol tall bottle 6SN7GTBs are another good sounding, relatively cheap tube. sure, i love my raytheon VT-231s and sylvania "bad boy" 6SN7GTs, but you just don't have to buy the "storied" tubes to get very solid 6SN7 sound.

the tung-sol d-getter is pretty much the best 5687, and are quite cheap ($15-20 a piece). the JAN sylvania 5687Ws are nearly as good for about the same price. the sylvania gold pin 5687s are the only tube that might be better than the tung-sols, in my opinion, but they are $80-100 a piece, which is why i only own one of them

keep an eye out on ebay, as you can get great deals if you are patient.

last time i checked Mikhail was shipping the Slams with RCA 5687s, which are pretty good output tubes. i'm not sure what 6SN7 he includes with the amp, but my guess is that it is an Electro-Harmonix tube, which should actually be fairly good. i would suggest just listening with the stock tubes before you spend more money, as you may be completely satisfied with the sound.

 

[nakedtoes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr IMO, you should pair the Azur with a tube amp. Unless you actually like an extremely solid-statey sound of course (if that's the case go with a different solid-state amp, as I'd suspect a very analytic/cold/sterile sound would result from the Azur/GL combo - and it might be a tad bright as well). Now there's a pairing I might end up trying. How do you like that combo, the Azur with the Cayin? I'm thinking about trying the Azur 640C V2 for something different from my Arcam. Synergistic?

The cayin pair very well with the Azur...Azur been a detail and a very dynamic CD player pairs well with something warm but not very slow and laid back... I tried my Azur with Govibe V5 it sound pretty harsh at first... it slowly settle down due to burning in of the amp and new IC

 

[Romanee]

Has anyone done a serious comparison between PPX3 Slam and the Balanced PPX3? The Balanced PPX3 was truly impressive with balanced HD650 and HD600, as I heard them at our Spring NYC meet - with great detail, speed, dimension, depth, definition and impact/slam.

Hopefully Mikhail will be at our next meet with these amps.

 

[Roasty]

emailed singlepower twice over the last 2 days.. no reply..

is anyone else having trouble emailing them? i did receive an email from them about 3 days ago saying they were having troble with their email server.. has anyone else gotten thru?

 

[socrates63]

In my dealings with Singlepower, I never found email to be the best method of communication. I can appreciate how busy Mikhail and his staff are so I didn't worry much about it.

I see you're in Singapore but the best way is telephone. Someone always answers and I can usually get a hold of Mikhail. I once talked to Mikhail while he was headed to the airport. I later found out by reading a meets impressions thread that I got a hold of him while he was on his way to a meet in Atlanta. The man is running all over the place with gear in tow.

 

[909]

Another suggestion...

The Eddie Current Solid State (EC-SS) is a great sounding amp that you might want to consider.