I wonder why STAX ever stopped making transformer boxes. Seems to be a bad business decision to block out the entire market of people who don't want to buy a new amp just to use only with their headphones. (Which is most people)

Low 30s here. There are a handful of us trying to keep the hobby going in spite of being the Beats by Dre and AirPod generation :smile_phones:

I unfortunately just had to DIY the non-DIY transformer in my old Sansui AU-X11 amp when it blew a thermal fuse. Not fun :sweat_smile: Miraculously somehow closed back up cleanly.

I've said it before but I continue to feel that "air of an estat with the impact of a dynamic" is a great way to describe ribbons. My favorite driver type.

I use 300wpc monoblocks with my transformers no problem. You can digitally attenuate it first if you want but then the issue there is if you accidentally turn that off, boom. So I just run it normal and make sure I always turn the volume down on the pre-amp first.

Regarding amps, I was most surprised with how great it sounded off of the $300 Jotunheim R. Feels weird hooking a $9k headphone up to it but I really think more people who are avoiding the Immanis/Magna because of price should consider that. If I had a $10k budget, I think I'd rather the $9k...

If you all want to sign a petition for me to get my Immanis sooner I'll happily review it vs Susvara and X9000 for the good of everyone :smile:

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Cyan 2 uses something called a "vector step resistor network" to get better performance out of less resistors. I'm not familiar with the details of how that works, I just know the name. Also I haven't seen it mentioned here yet but HQPlayer added a new "correction" feature with custom...

Awesome, thanks. Didn't know that. Will post my results here when I get them.

No prob. When you say resonance peak, you mean the one at 50Hz? Also I think X9000 sounds great with just a simple bass shelf. Like 6dB or so tapering off to nothing by 50Hz. Consider giving that a try if you still have an X9000 on hand. Btw, I bought these so I can do some on head...

Novem for X9000. Bliss for Susvara.

Regarding the Susvara vs X9000 commentary earlier, I just did a sweep on both with my MiniDSP EARS. More bass on X9000 everywhere above 35Hz. So really only the lowest of bass is lacking on X9000. Oh and ignore the spike around 4-5k, that's the ear gain from the rubber ear. I'm just using a raw...

I think we both agree, I also said that it doesn't remove anything from the signal, even noise. I'm only saying it blocks DC hum, which is something all transformers do, whether they're isolation transformers or not. As for output transformers, sometimes they are the source of the noise, they...

Can you explain why at all? And why does my amp hum go away when I use transformers with RAAL or STAX but none of my other headphones? Here's a wiki segment to back up my point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_transformer

Right, that's why I mentioned it will pass noise in the form of distortions in the signal. It won't pass any DC hum though and that's often what a noise floor is. Similar concept to galvanic isolation that DACs have on USB ports. To put it another way, if you have noise coming from your amp...

I hear the noise on Susvara too. RAAL via transformer and my STAX via transformer are the only times the noise is completely gone.

Yes, but 32Ohm is on the low side of what those amps want to see. Ideally most OTL amps want to see like 64 Ohm or more. Also you're kind of defeating the point putting a transformer on the output of an Output Transformer Less amp. But it would work. This is just because HPA4 has no noise to...

@Hiker816 @MokhaMark Would you guys be interested in borrowing my MiniDSP EARS so you can measure Magna vs Immanis? I think everyone would love to see how they compare. Of course EARS doesn't give the best absolute measurement but it would be great to figure out the relative differences between...

Also one benefit a lot of people overlook about the transformer is it completely removes the noise floor of your amp. Since transformers are air gapped there's actually no physical connection between your amp and RAAL headphone so no electrical noise can pass through. Completely isolated. If...

If you want to have fun playing with the Immanis soundstage, please download the SteelSeries GG app. I'm always suggesting it to people because it's crazy how well it works for a free app. Push everything forward like I have and it'll sound like you're listening to speakers in front of you. It's...

Maybe try this, worth a shot for "only" $99 https://ifi-audio.com/products/gnd-defender/ Also grab a $15 multimeter from your local auto parts store or Walmart/Target and check if there's any DC voltage on your outlet. IFI makes a DC blocker as well if this is the case. If you haven't already...

Congrats and can't wait to hear your impressions. Especially curious where Nova Signature stands.

You do know I was the first person in this whole thread to report that the Magna is more punchy, right? I just wanted to hear more of Thanatos' thoughts. We're all here just waiting for our orders to show up and going in circles discussing it. Maybe I should stop wasting time here until my order...

Curious to hear more about "way better bass". That's pretty much the one area I felt Magna did better, in terms of impact at least, and was the main thing leaving me still considering Magna. Also I listened to Immanis/Magna and then 15 minutes later listened to HE-1 and yeah, it was close...