[judomaniak57]

as a owner of Focal Stelia's i was wondering if this amp is a good match. the Stelia is such a sensitive headphone at 35 ohm 106db efficiency. this is probably to much of a headphone amp for me or would it be ok

 

[RobertSM]

as a owner of Focal Stelia's i was wondering if this amp is a good match. the Stelia is such a sensitive headphone at 35 ohm 106db efficiency. this is probably to much of a headphone amp for me or would it be ok

Just use low gain. The amps speed and those fast beryllium drivers would be a great match.

 

[Musikfan]

Hi,

I have a number of NOS tubes I'm selling and I thought I would offer them here first to Rogue Audio RH-5 owners. The tubes are all NOS matched pairs, and have never been used. I'm not a tube expert, but I can provide whatever information is on the tube box and additional photos so please email me if you're interested. I've also included photos, and the list of the tubes is:

- RFT ECC82
- Radio Technique 12AU7 WAH
- Tektronix / RCA (Selected) 12AU7A
- Brimar CV4003
- Mazda Radio (1963) 12AU7
- Valve Electronic (1970) CV4034 AD
- JHS 5814A Sylvania Electric
- 1953 GE/KEN RAD 12AU7

Thanks!

 

[buson160man]

So I've heard some people change the fuse out and have reported good positive results. I looked into this for a few amps I own a year ago or so. I read up on a company in Germany called Hi-Fi Tuning that's owned by a real passionate German electrical engineer who cryos all the fuses he makes and does a few other things to make his work stand out.

I'll keep an open mind and would love to hear how this all works out.

I have HiFI tuning supreme fuse in my RH-5. It made a very noticeable difference that is for sure. I have been a proponent for fuse upgrades for a long time. I have yet come across any piece of equipment that I have changed fuses where there was not a worthwhile improvement. For one the noise floor drops noticeably, and the equipment gets quieter. The bass improves as well as sound staging improves. The effect is similar to a power cord upgrade. But a lot cheaper than a good number of aftermarket power cords. It is well worth the effort. Changing the fuse makes a much bigger difference than tube rolling as well. I use Gold Lion tubes in my Rogue and Herbies tube dampers on them. But I heard a bigger difference when I upgraded the Fuse to the HIFI tuning Supreme fuse. oh, I am using iso acoustics isolation pucks under my Rogue RH-5 that helped the sound as well. It tightened things up. All these tweaks are accumulative and definitely makes a difference if you want to get the best sound out your RH-5.

 

[Nayyte]

Hey peeps, been reading about this amp here and there for the past few weeks. I am pretty certain this is the right amp for my ZMF Auteur and LCD-3. However, I just upgraded my DAC to the Audio-GD R-1 NOS and it has an output impedance/level of <10ohm@5V. On the third page of this thread user LifeOnMercury says "low end distortion if the dac’s output level is very high" when listing some potential problems. Am I right in thinking that my DAC might have too high output? If anyone here knows the desirable/designed input sensitivity of the RH-5 vai XLR that would be most helpful. My new DAC isn't leaving and I would like to pair them together.

 

[jonathan c]

Hey peeps, been reading about this amp here and there for the past few weeks. I am pretty certain this is the right amp for my ZMF Auteur and LCD-3. However, I just upgraded my DAC to the Audio-GD R-1 NOS and it has an output impedance/level of <10ohm@5V. On the third page of this thread user LifeOnMercury says "low end distortion if the dac’s output level is very high" when listing some potential problems. Am I right in thinking that my DAC might have too high output? If anyone here knows the desirable/designed input sensitivity of the RH-5 vai XLR that would be most helpful. My new DAC isn't leaving and I would like to pair them together.

I owned RH-5 for a brief time. I experienced lower-frequency distortion in RH-5 via XLR from Mojo Audio EVO Mystique DAC whose output is 2.5V SE / 5.0V XLR. Since I was (am) absolutely loath to sell the DAC, the RH-5 departed … .

 

[Nayyte]

I owned RH-5 for a brief time. I experienced lower-frequency distortion in RH-5 via XLR from Mojo Audio EVO Mystique DAC whose output is 2.5V SE / 5.0V XLR. Since I was (am) absolutely loath to sell the DAC, the RH-5 departed … .

Hmmm sounds like I would have that same distortion then too..... Hard to say whether upgraded tubes or fuses would change it. I could email Rogue but they might just tell me what I want to hear. The only way would be to test it myself or see it my local dealer would let me audition.

Surely there is a reason for the dac to be designed with a 5V XLR output?

 

[jonathan c]

Hmmm sounds like I would have that same distortion then too..... Hard to say whether upgraded tubes or fuses would change it. I could email Rogue but they might just tell me what I want to hear. The only way would be to test it myself or see it my local dealer would let me audition.

Surely there is a reason for the dac to be designed with a 5V XLR output?

The only ‘solutions’ that I can think of is to place a voltage attenuator between the DAC and h/p/a or to have a DAC with a volume control. Both ‘solutions’ go against signal ‘purity’ plus you want to keep the present DAC. Also, I do not believe that tube rolling would remedy the situation since the overload is due to voltage at point of entry to the h/p/a.

 

[Nayyte]

The only ‘solutions’ that I can think of is to place a voltage attenuator between the DAC and h/p/a or to have a DAC with a volume control. Both ‘solutions’ go against signal ‘purity’ plus you want to keep the present DAC. Also, I do not believe that tube rolling would remedy the situation since the overload is due to voltage at point of entry to the h/p/a.

The plot thickens....
To me it seems silly that a Amp/pre of this price range, with three gain levels and awesome volume control, can't be completely quiet when fed a higher than average signal.

 

[Nayyte]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-rh-5-preamplifier-headphone-amplifier-measurements

I've done some research here and I've decided that whether or not I would have noticeable distortion running my Audio-GD R-1 NOS is hard to tell. I will have to try it out for myself to know for sure. From my findings, when matching dacs and amp/pre's, the lower the output impedance of the dac the better. I guess it's possible that the users that experienced low level distortion in their pairings might have been using dac's with too high output impedance. The R-1 NOS output impedance is less than 10ohms at 5V so it could be not even close to an issue for me. I was browsing through Schiit's dac range specs and almost all of them have a 75 ohm output impedance. Reading through the measurements and impressions on this stereophile review, it definitely looks like its still a really worth while amp especially good at driving plannars.

I'm also considering the new Schiit MJOLNIR 3

 

[Musikfan]

Hi, FWIW, i used the Rogue RH-5 with both Chord Dave and Holo May Dacs and never experienced any distortion or clipping. I tried running the Dave as a pre-amp with -6db which worked, but ultimately wasn't necessary. If you're using Roon you could set headroom management in Muse at -3db or lower. The RH-5 is a great hp amp that will drive most headphones. It won't disappoint.

 

[jonathan c]

Hi, FWIW, i used the Rogue RH-5 with both Chord Dave and Holo May Dacs and never experienced any distortion or clipping. I tried running the Dave as a pre-amp with -6db which worked, but ultimately wasn't necessary. If you're using Roon you could set headroom management in Muse at -3db or lower. The RH-5 is a great hp amp that will drive most headphones. It won't disappoint.

I can see how both Dave and May would work with RH-5 without overload. Dave has a digital volume control and May has an XLR output of 2.9 Vrms.

 

[jonathan c]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-rh-5-preamplifier-headphone-amplifier-measurements

I've done some research here and I've decided that whether or not I would have noticeable distortion running my Audio-GD R-1 NOS is hard to tell. I will have to try it out for myself to know for sure. From my findings, when matching dacs and amp/pre's, the lower the output impedance of the dac the better. I guess it's possible that the users that experienced low level distortion in their pairings might have been using dac's with too high output impedance. The R-1 NOS output impedance is less than 10ohms at 5V so it could be not even close to an issue for me. I was browsing through Schiit's dac range specs and almost all of them have a 75 ohm output impedance. Reading through the measurements and impressions on this stereophile review, it definitely looks like its still a really worth while amp especially good at driving plannars.

I'm also considering the new Schiit MJOLNIR 3

I think that output voltage is more a factor than output impedance in potential / actual RH-5 overload .

 

[Nayyte]

I think that output voltage is more a factor than output impedance in potential / actual RH-5 overload .

exactly, really have no clue

 

[jonathan c]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-rh-5-preamplifier-headphone-amplifier-measurements

I've done some research here and I've decided that whether or not I would have noticeable distortion running my Audio-GD R-1 NOS is hard to tell. I will have to try it out for myself to know for sure. From my findings, when matching dacs and amp/pre's, the lower the output impedance of the dac the better. I guess it's possible that the users that experienced low level distortion in their pairings might have been using dac's with too high output impedance. The R-1 NOS output impedance is less than 10ohms at 5V so it could be not even close to an issue for me. I was browsing through Schiit's dac range specs and almost all of them have a 75 ohm output impedance**. Reading through the measurements and impressions on this stereophile review, it definitely looks like its still a really worth while amp especially good at driving plannars.

I'm also considering the new Schiit MJOLNIR 3

** The Schiit DACs also have XLR output of 4.0 Vrms versus the R-1 5.0 Vrms.