[nephilim32]

So I’ve been enjoying the Kara pre amping my WA22. The 1X gain setting is terrific with the WA22 while using my planar magnetic headphone, the D-8000. The DAC I use the most is the Chord Qutest and I set that to 3V RMS. The sound is incredible. The Kara has really elevated my system nicely. Listening to music is now like an event. I love how incisive and clean it is. Ever since I bought the Kara I’ve been having way more fun listening to music. My system is sounding more complete.

 

[J Ottawa]

So I’ve been enjoying the Kara pre amping my WA22. The 1X gain setting is terrific with the WA22 while using my planar magnetic headphone, the D-8000. The DAC I use the most is the Chord Qutest and I set that to 3V RMS. The sound is incredible. The Kara has really elevated my system nicely. Listening to music is now like an event. I love how incisive and clean it is. Ever since I bought the Kara I’ve been having way more fun listening to music. My system is sounding more complete.

Funny thing happened today while I was listening to music: I was having fun with some tunes (new Kara owner here).

 

[nephilim32]

Funny thing happened today while I was listening to music: I was having fun with some tunes (new Kara owner here).

Yeah I’m with you. I’ve been so happy lately. I’m really starting to chill out and not analyze things too much when listening to music. The Kara has a clean sound signature. The headphone out is very decent, but I absolutely adore its pre amping capabilities. It is so complementary to other equipment including tube amps.

 

[rq1111]

So I’ve been enjoying the Kara pre amping my WA22. The 1X gain setting is terrific with the WA22 while using my planar magnetic headphone, the D-8000. The DAC I use the most is the Chord Qutest and I set that to 3V RMS. The sound is incredible. The Kara has really elevated my system nicely. Listening to music is now like an event. I love how incisive and clean it is. Ever since I bought the Kara I’ve been having way more fun listening to music. My system is sounding more complete.

What has Kara improve on your system? What is the difference between 2v and 3V from Cutest? Hope to hear your opinions.

 

[nephilim32]

What has Kara improve on your system? What is the difference between 2v and 3V from Cutest? Hope to hear your opinions.

The biggest improvement with the Kara for me is total system integration, the introduction to a quality solid state amp sound. Acting strictly as a pre amp it does best my woo audio WA22 pre amping abilities. Distortion is lower and the Kara is cleaner and more powerful. The 4X gain optionis incredible. It never sounds harsh or too bright to me. It is just clean and I’ve never owned a pre amp like this. Quality or specialized pre amps add and do things to the sound that I would describe as magical. The midrange is so magnified. Of course with pre amping there will sometimes be trade offs, but I don’t find anything to really complain about with the Kara. Maybe the bass drops or rolls off a touch, but sometimes with some other equipment namely headphones that can be a blessing. In any case. Kara is a win. Love the remote volume control as well.
As for the Qutest. The 3V setting seems to be a great synergy or RMS output with my other existing equipment. With the 3V setting the Qutest just sounds more impactful in the bass, quicker transient attack and more vivid. I just prefer it and the RMS setting really does depend on how your other amps respond to it.
Standard RMS output I think is 2V, but 3V is just better in my case. Hope i explained my rationale well.

 

[rq1111]

The biggest improvement with the Kara for me is total system integration, the introduction to a quality solid state amp sound. Acting strictly as a pre amp it does best my woo audio WA22 pre amping abilities. Distortion is lower and the Kara is cleaner and more powerful. The 4X gain optionis incredible. It never sounds harsh or too bright to me. It is just clean and I’ve never owned a pre amp like this. Quality or specialized pre amps add and do things to the sound that I would describe as magical. The midrange is so magnified. Of course with pre amping there will sometimes be trade offs, but I don’t find anything to really complain about with the Kara. Maybe the bass drops or rolls off a touch, but sometimes with some other equipment namely headphones that can be a blessing. In any case. Kara is a win. Love the remote volume control as well.
As for the Qutest. The 3V setting seems to be a great synergy or RMS output with my other existing equipment. With the 3V setting the Qutest just sounds more impactful in the bass, quicker transient attack and more vivid. I just prefer it and the RMS setting really does depend on how your other amps respond to it.
Standard RMS output I think is 2V, but 3V is just better in my case. Hope i explained my rationale well.

Thanks for sharing! Bro. I will try setting the Cutest to 3V to compare with 2V after Kara has settle down. Still waiting for my Kara.

 

[nephilim32]

Thanks for sharing! Bro. I will try setting the Cutest to 3V to compare with 2V after Kara has settle down. Still waiting for my Kara.

My pleasure, friend. Really couldn’t be much happier in this hobby of ours.
Anyhow. I’d love to hear about your findings. The Qutest and the Kara are actually a nice match with one another I find.

 

[kh6idf]

I seem to be getting some DC offset voltage from the Kara when it is not muted. When muted, I get (at speaker terminals) 8.1 / 7.6 mV of DC offset (L/R) but when I put Kara in +1 gain mode (not passive) I get 37.8 / 65.8 mV. I've disconnected / turned off the DAC on the Kara input with no difference.

Amplifier is Hypex Nilai stereo, gain is 12.3X. Using balanced (XLR) output of Kara in 1X buffered mode to amp input (balanced XLR).

Does anyone know if there is a DC offset adjustment somewhere on the Kara circuit board? The Nilai amp modules do have a DC offset adjustment trimpot, but it looks like my DC offset is coming from the preamp, and getting amplified (12.3X) by the amp (assuming the amp will amplify a DC signal).

 

[33na3rd]

I seem to be getting some DC offset voltage from the Kara when it is not muted. When muted, I get (at speaker terminals) 8.1 / 7.6 mV of DC offset (L/R) but when I put Kara in +1 gain mode (not passive) I get 37.8 / 65.8 mV. I've disconnected / turned off the DAC on the Kara input with no difference.

Amplifier is Hypex Nilai stereo, gain is 12.3X. Using balanced (XLR) output of Kara in 1X buffered mode to amp input (balanced XLR).

Does anyone know if there is a DC offset adjustment somewhere on the Kara circuit board? The Nilai amp modules do have a DC offset adjustment trimpot, but it looks like my DC offset is coming from the preamp, and getting amplified (12.3X) by the amp (assuming the amp will amplify a DC signal).

I would contact Schiit and see what they say.
I can tell you that 37.8 / 65.8 mV will not harm your speakers.

 

[Adam Balm]

I would contact Schiit and see what they say.
I can tell you that 37.8 / 65.8 mV will not harm your speakers.

If your amp isn't going into protection, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[kh6idf]

If your amp isn't going into protection, I wouldn't worry about it.

I traded emails with Schiit, and they said there is no DC offset adjustment for Kara. The actual DC voltages I measured out of the Kara XLR outputs were 9.2 and 5.8 mV (L/R). Waiting to hear from Schiit if these are within their manufacturing tolerances.

I found these DC values were nearly the same whether the preamp was in 1X or 4X gain mode. Passive mode had ZERO DC offset. So what I did was to lower my amp gain on the Hypex Nilai500DIY stereo amp to 3.9X (lowest gain) and am using the 4X gain on the Kara. So now I get 25.2 / 14.8 mV at the speaker terminals (a little better).

The Nilai amp won't go into protection until DC voltage on the outputs is something like 12 Volts. At this value, speakers would be demagnetized after a certain amount of playing time. Plus I have to imagine there would be tremendous audible distortion at anything approaching 12VDC.

 

[rq1111]

I traded emails with Schiit, and they said there is no DC offset adjustment for Kara. The actual DC voltages I measured out of the Kara XLR outputs were 9.2 and 5.8 mV (L/R). Waiting to hear from Schiit if these are within their manufacturing tolerances.

I found these DC values were nearly the same whether the preamp was in 1X or 4X gain mode. Passive mode had ZERO DC offset. So what I did was to lower my amp gain on the Hypex Nilai500DIY stereo amp to 3.9X (lowest gain) and am using the 4X gain on the Kara. So now I get 25.2 / 14.8 mV at the speaker terminals (a little better).

The Nilai amp won't go into protection until DC voltage on the outputs is something like 12 Volts. At this value, speakers would be demagnetized after a certain amount of playing time. Plus I have to imagine there would be tremendous audible distortion at anything approaching 12VDC.

Hi! Bro, does this affect the Nilai500DIY and also the sound quality when playing? Still waiting for my Kara but quite concern about this issue too.

 

[kh6idf]

Hi! Bro, does this affect the Nilai500DIY and also the sound quality when playing? Still waiting for my Kara but quite concern about this issue too.

I received a reply from a Schiit technician this morning that 9mV dc offset is within their specifications (he did not reveal what those specifications are).

It doesn't affect the sound quality as far as I can tell. The only affect on the Nilai500DIY is that the amplifier will amplify any DC Voltage present on the input so if you have it set to medium gain (12.3X), a 9mV DC Voltage on the input results in 110.7 mV DC on the speaker output.

I lowered the gain on the Nilai500DIY to 3.9 and am using the Kara at the 4X gain setting. Now I am seeing a maximum of 25 mV DC on the speaker terminals. I did adjust the DC offset trimpot on the Nilai amp modules to get 0.00 mV when all inputs/outputs were 'floating' (not connected). I was seeing around 7mV on both channels prior to that, still perfectly acceptable. Hypex says it should be less than 10 mV so the amp was within spec, I just made it more in spec .

 

[rq1111]

I received a reply from a Schiit technician this morning that 9mV dc offset is within their specifications (he did not reveal what those specifications are).

It doesn't affect the sound quality as far as I can tell. The only affect on the Nilai500DIY is that the amplifier will amplify any DC Voltage present on the input so if you have it set to medium gain (12.3X), a 9mV DC Voltage on the input results in 110.7 mV DC on the speaker output.

I lowered the gain on the Nilai500DIY to 3.9 and am using the Kara at the 4X gain setting. Now I am seeing a maximum of 25 mV DC on the speaker terminals. I did adjust the DC offset trimpot on the Nilai amp modules to get 0.00 mV when all inputs/outputs were 'floating' (not connected). I was seeing around 7mV on both channels prior to that, still perfectly acceptable. Hypex says it should be less than 10 mV so the amp was within spec, I just made it more in spec .

What will happen if I don't adjust the trim pot of Nilai500DIY and maintain everything as it is? Even if I adjust the gain to minimum, will the dc voltage of 25mV damage the Nilai500DIY or Speaker?

 

[kh6idf]

The 25 mV was mainly due to my Kara preamp, not the Nilai amp. The Nilai amp by itself had 7 mV of DC offset when I first got it, which is low enough that it won't damage anything, and that was with the gain set to medium (12.3X) and nothing hooked up to the inputs.

I think the Nilai specs say DC offset should be less than 10 mV (should be at any gain setting), which mine was. So if you don't adjust anything it should be fine. I managed to adjust it down to zero mV, but I still had the 9 mV coming from the preamp when it was reconnected, and with the low gain setting on the Nilai this got turned into 25 mV DC at the speaker (the other speaker had about half that).

I sent an email to Hypex asking what their specs for DC offset were for their Nilai preamp kit, and if there was an adjustment or maybe some circuit to keep it low (servo, capacitor, etc). I haven't heard back from them yet.