Hi sorry i missed which Headphones are you using ... and source of course. I mean you hear the sound out of a chain of units that is source > amp > headphones Maybe harshness is elsewhere And not considering links in between

Hi ! i am playing with some cheap tube preamps I am liking what i hear but as i use low Zin power amp the sound is a little lacking in punch in the bass I understand that this could be the effect of the too high Zout of the preamp, usually around 5kohm I have a weird idea to use a cheap...

Hi ! what a beauty indeed ... clearly a more upscale product also an op-amps roller's dream ... as i am I promise myself to dedicate me more to these little HP amps. They have a huge potential for great sound depending on the load of course. As i am also an experimenter i have a very nasty...

Hi ! in the end i have decided for this one cheaper same brand https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B07DK5Q52C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to save some little money also because i have invested also in this one for more serious listenings...

Hi ! thanks for the kind and valuable advice. I understand that the Topping NX series is a very good one ? In the Topping Audio site https://www.tpdz.net/products i see a NX1, NX3, NX4 and NX5 and i wonder which is the hiearchy sound quality wise in the meantime i have found a thread here...

Hi ! first of all a clarification ... i am only interested in a plain amp able to work on batteries .. no dac attached i am currently using this amp here...

Hi again ! i think i have to re-think to my approach entirely then. I thought designers were men of science in the end. It's marketing. Message well received. Thanks a lot ! Well i am mostly interested in audio equipment of course. Not generation but reproduction of sounds. Clearly distortion...

Hi ! thank you very much for the very helpful advice. I think i have had all the answers i needed. Yes i was worried about noise and distortion introduced by pots and i was wrong. The only doubt left is about the fake parts issue. I understand fake pots are very common. I remember the price...

Hi ! you introduce now a topic very dear to me. I was a teen in the 70s and could not afford nice hifi i can find now on the used things market for reasonable cash. Thank you very much for your valuable advice. I understand the issue of parts quality better now than in the past ... but what...

Hi i confess i did not know about Mr Gregorio CV (is he Italian ?) Sorry if i sounded unpolite. Moreover i have not any experience about digital EQ as well. Never tried ... maybe i should. No one of my friends use EQ in their system. But for sure they are not professional. I think i...

This is very interesting. I do not know what tone controls are ... no one of my preamps have them. Maybe i am loosing a lot ... i guess you refer to speakers ? because it looks tricky to me EQ headphones. I do not say that is not doable ... these days my main source is some kind of computer...

Hi ! i had the same issue with vintage gear ... the reason is that RCAs are made with too wide tolerances i guess. This sounds bad to me. I prefer more precision on such and important part. XLRs are much better of course ... they are designed and built for professionals. I understand balanced...

Hi ! i am an avid reader of interviews with the designers of famous line preamps ... like John Curl, Nelson Pass, ecc. and of reviews of TOTL preamps ... those belonging for instance to the Stereophile Class A and similar. Taking for instance John Curl for its top preamp CTC Blowtorch he has...

I can only assure you that if i had to build something DIY for myself i would think seriously to bnc cables and connectors also for analog signals They are superior by design They are cheap, actually dirty cheap ...

Hi ! of course i agree about the supremacy of the design above any other aspect. But in the consumer audio (much more often than in professional audio) strange things happen. For instance they do not use connectors already available, cheap and superior by design (BNC) in favour of RCA hugely...

Hi and thanks again. I think i am fascinated more by electronics. I cannot explain why ... maybe because they look more complicated ? actually if i had time i would like to start with some restoration project ... taking let's say a good vintage amp, cleaning it and replacing key parts with...

Hi very interesting. I can only say that the usual situation do not require to change the volume level often ... after some tests i set the volume and i listen. If i need the urge to change a volume is usually a bad sign ... like a chair not completely comfortable. Moreover the listening at...

Hi so you mean to put more effort in selecting speakers or headphones ? i do not listen to LPs anymore.

Still i prefer a bad recording played back on a great system because after all it is more true to the original, the very reason of high fidelity ... true to the recordings A lower quality playback system adds or takes/filters out information For instance i love when i can hear the noise of the...

Hi i agree completely with what you say but the bigger damage to sound is done at the beginning of the chain Just to ramble a little i have a dac that imho is quite insensitive to incoming jitter an apogee rosetta 200 It converts quite well even the sound coming from the tv optical out that i...

I usually listen YouTube and i am impressed by the difference a good playback system can do even with so so recordings Actually a great system can make them even enjoyable This is a good reason for upgrade components

Hi thanks for the valuable advice But when price is no object i guess a designer is free to use the very best and i see only Pennis and Giles as the only pots used Almost all use some kind of resistors based attenuator solution What worries me is the contact quality between wiper and the...

Hi thanks a lot for the very kind and helpful advice I should have said that I am not sure that the alps blue was original I understand fake pots are everywhere these days I opened one and i saw the plastic foil where the resistive trace are layered and did not like it I would prefer an hard...

Hi and thanks for the reply. I agree of course on the importance of all the elements in a chain. But if the volume pot is not that important why some audio designers select and use very expensive parts like precision stepped attenuators or rotary pot like Penny & Giles, TKD units ? is it...

good evening I would like to get some opinion on how much of an impact a volume potentiometer can have on the sound quality of an amplifier / preamp. To be more clear i see top quality amps using the standard Alps Blue Velvet ... is it good enough for top quality sound ? i have some doubts. I...