Recent content by SilverTrumpet999
  1. SilverTrumpet999

    AKG K340 Electrostatic Phones

    With very minor EQ (-3dB at 2.5 kHz) these K340s are now eclipsing both my HE-500 and Ether CX on the THX 789 amp... I never really EQ'd the others, looking into that to see if they can be made to compete.
  2. SilverTrumpet999

    AKG K340 Electrostatic Phones

    Dusted off an old pair of K340s today and figured what the heck, might as well try them with a THX 789 amp with the AAA circuitry before I maybe let them go. I'm honestly blown away. I have the bass 'heavy' variant and remember these being somewhat muddy in the lower octaves. The 789 takes...
  3. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    Fully balanced is 2 amps in one, with half the signal inverted and treated the exact same way. The primary benefit is having any inconsistencies or interference cancelled out due to the paired but half inverted signal path. This is why balanced is the standard for professional audio with...
  4. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    I don't want to veer too far off topic, but suffice to say I learned a lot doing a complete refurbishment of my MC60s. They performed sluggish stock, but the transformers were intact so I brought them fully into the 21st century with highest quality components throughout. I replaced every...
  5. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    MA352 is tube preamp but direct driven. It doesn't have autoformers for the headphone output, nor the speaker output. I am really not that familiar with McIntosh designs without autoformers. I have no idea how the MA352's headphone output operates. The MHA200's more appropriate speaker amp...
  6. SilverTrumpet999

    New Mcintosh MHA200

    Agree, this is definitely the "mini-MC75" they needed to step into the headphone world. Assuming it's built to their traditional spec and quality, and it's fully balanced with a novel tube circuit and unity coupled output transformers, it's pretty interesting to say the least. I very much want...
  7. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    The secret here isn't a secret nor is it snake oil. McIntosh amps - well, the "true McIntosh" ones (there are some cheaper modes which do not, but disregard those for now) - use a technology nobody else anywhere uses: Unity-Coupled Output Transformers. These are very difficult to wind and the...
  8. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    Mildly amusing: McIntosh's own site for the MHA200 says "A custom, high-performance, and highly efficient toroidal power transformer with low mechanical hum and a low magnetic field, which helps reduce electrical noise, provides clean power to the amplifier" (emphasis mine). So they either...
  9. SilverTrumpet999

    New McIntosh MHA200 Headphone amp

    While McIntosh has had headphone jacks on certain components before, I think this is truly the first time they've custom wound unity coupled transformers for headphone output impedance ranges. I somewhat suspect the previous products with headphone jacks may not even have used their legendary...
  10. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

      The Mimby takes at least a couple hours to hit maximal thermal stability after a significant change.  So this would only matter if the amp is both one which produces a notable amount of heat and the heat varies significantly either with the musical program or via power cycling. 
  11. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

    It should be noted that, like all multibit/R2R ladder DACs, the very last thing you want to do with this is cool it.  Or really, deliberately do anything to significantly change the temperature of the DAC.  Stabililty is the name of the game.   The heat is part of the design.  It will get...
  12. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

    In my humble (but firm) opinion, the modi multibit is a better mousetrap.  Generally speaking, I'd always recommend getting the best base DAC you can, and then if you want to experiment with some of the other vodoo like USB -> SPDIF or USB reclocking, doing that later.  Because you may well find...
  13. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

    It's a thermal thing for stability in the R2R resistor ladder, nothing to do with audio playing through. Just keep it on.
  14. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

    Dither is something you do in ADC. The quote tells you exactly when and why. DACs do not need to do this, nor should they. If you pass extra information, the most significant 16-20 bits get used. It's not more complicated than that. Discussing truncation vs. rounding (IEEE correct or not)...
  15. SilverTrumpet999

    Happy as a Pig in Schiit: Introducing Modi Multibit

    Regarding the comparison between a self-ripped vinyl recording vs. actual analog vinyl posted a couple pages back:   This may seem standardized but it's important to note that analog -> digital (ADC) is at least as hard to do well as digital -> analog (DAC). It wasn't stated exactly how the...
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