Hi Tom,
Some earlier post mention hum with sensitive cans. Should I worry about picking the Studio 6 for my Utopia?
Thanks.
Hello sdwong,
I personally have not yet heard the Utopia with The ST-6, but I look forward to doing so soon.
I can, however, say this: I know that a fair number or experienced/seasoned enthusiasts have tried the Utopia with ST-6, and so far the comments
I've encountered have all been very positive. I have heard no user complaints or remarks about problems with excessive hum.
In fact, I do know of at least two veteran head-fiers in this thread who have spent a fair amount of time with the ST-6/ Utopia pairing: goldendarko and
Currawong. I suggest you take a look at their postings to gain more insight into what sort of performance you might expect with such a combo.
On the issue of hum in general: As with most vacuum tube amplifiers which use large output transformers, the ST-6 does have some *very* low-level
hum which tends to only be heard/noticed sometimes when one is using more sensitive than normal headphones in very quiet rooms and there is no
music playing on the system.
So yes, the good news is that even with sensitive headphones the low-level hum is insignificant enough that even discriminating listeners tend to not
notice it at all under normal listening circumstances.
Also: there are occasional times when excessive hum can be detected, such as when a piece of source gear connected to the ST-6 is improperly
grounded or when a vacuum tube is faulty. Otherwise, hum has not generally been found to be problem with the ST-6.
I hope that helps.
