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- Users: tomb
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Transparent or Warm amps?
One person's "clean" can be another's "veil" or "fog." The other possibility is that the output on the Weiss DAC is substandard. There maybe DC blocking capacitors (fog, veil) on the line-outs so to be compatible with all the unknown equipment out there that might be connected to it. The...- tomb
- Post #15
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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D-22 Discman FF/Stop Buttons not working
Of course, you can always try. Unfortunately, what you describe can very well be a mechanical issue. That makes it impossible to find replacements parts unless you buy another one and steal the parts from it. Mechanical buttons are the worst, because in most cases they were all custom made...- tomb
- Post #4
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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D-22 Discman FF/Stop Buttons not working
No chance. I'd pursue damages due to the shipping - either to the seller or the shipping services. If there wasn't any shipping insurance, lesson learned, I guess. Even Sony would just have replaced entire assemblies back in the day, not troubleshoot the insides of a small disc player. If...- tomb
- Post #2
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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How much difference does "balanced" really make?
Just as a further example, I've sold several products at Beezar Audio that involve conversions between fully-differential and single-ended. The PupDAC uses a TI/Burr-Brown DAC chip that TI/Burr-Brown has manufactured for almost two decades now. The PCM1794 is fully-differential with four...- tomb
- Post #53
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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How much difference does "balanced" really make?
He answered sufficiently that his post was a rebuttal to Whazzzup's claim that an SE to Balanced adapter didn't exist ... they (plural) most certainly do. Perhaps if he had quoted Whazzup's post along with his, it would've been easier to understand the context. I understand the possible...- tomb
- Post #52
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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the Pimeta-V2 thread
Saw this late, but you need to clarify that statement above. What exactly would you consider better and at the price? IMHO, the TREAD hits the sweet-spot between audible power supply noise removal and price. It's true that Jameco offers linear-regulated walwarts that perform at nearly the...- tomb
- Post #651
- Forum: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions
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Should I be using USB Audio Player Pro to get the best audio on my Android phone?
I apologize, but I'm not sure how streaming is going to work outside of the streaming app itself. For that matter, that would include USB Audio Pro. I don't see how you can use that app for a streaming service. Maybe I'm missing something, but if the media player app is looking for all sort...- tomb
- Post #4
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Headphones to complement HD650, Momentum 3, and WH-1000XM4
IMHO, the perfect complement to the HD650 is the HD800.- tomb
- Post #3
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Should I be using USB Audio Player Pro to get the best audio on my Android phone?
JMHO, but I prefer Poweramp. It's slightly cheaper, too. Your sub-50 GBP IEMs may benefit from an outstanding equalizer and sound enhancements that are available in Poweramp. I've used it for years and with FLAC files exclusively when I was running. It's tough to get full bandwidth sound...- tomb
- Post #2
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Suggest a good planar magnetic headphone...
The Audeze LCD 2 is probably the historic planar game changer and the one you should get, if you are interested in "official" milestone headphones for the last ~20 years. Similarly, the Sennheiser HD800 is that for dynamics, with the Focal Utopia or Focal Clear close seconds, IMHO. Be...- tomb
- Post #8
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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I like the sound of tube amp, transformer output, the high sensitivity of In-Ear Monitors makes it difficult to control noise. Plan to make it yourself, hoping to succeed.
JMHO, but I don't think a switching power supply is the way to go for 200V in a tube amp. Anyway, good luck!- tomb
- Post #6
- Forum: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions
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Cabling balanced drive headphones...
The issue is in combining the outputs of a fully differential amplifier into a combined-ground TRS jack of any size. If the amp is truly fully differential*, you will be shorting the outputs with the common ground in a TRS jack. * There is a big misconception in audio that is unfortunately...- tomb
- Post #5
- Forum: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions
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I like the sound of tube amp, transformer output, the high sensitivity of In-Ear Monitors makes it difficult to control noise. Plan to make it yourself, hoping to succeed.
I never had any trouble with noise on IEMs with ECP Audio tube amps. All of the tube amps are transformer-coupled (Torpedo, T2, T3, T4, etc.) and do well with IEMs. I still have a pair of Ety ER4 MicroPros that sound great on my T4. BTW, the power stage is most important in controlling noise...- tomb
- Post #4
- Forum: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions
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What's new after 20 years?
Want to know what's changed in the world, btw? Check out this thread right here in the Introductions, Help, and Recommendations section: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/best-strains-to-smoke-while-enjoying-music.971907/ I'm not implying the referenced use is new, but a forum post about it and...- tomb
- Post #25
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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What's new after 20 years?
The single biggest change is not really in headphones, per se, but in the overwhelming move to digital audio in terms of compressed (mp3) and uncompressed (FLAC) digital audio files. Meaning, a DAC and PC, along with the mobile equivalent smartphone, have become the audio source standard for...- tomb
- Post #13
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Should I spend the money to "balance" my Sennheiser HD6xx headphones?
Actually, the term should be Fully Differential, not Balanced. In the pro audio world, a device is fully balanced if balanced connections are available on the inputs and outputs. This can be confusing, even purposefully misleading, where some mfrs try to claim "fully balanced," knowing that...- tomb
- Post #12
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Headphone balance
It's called tonal balance, which is quite different from output balance or channel balance, which is why I curiously clicked on this thread. ;-)- tomb
- Post #7
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Should I spend the money to "balance" my Sennheiser HD6xx headphones?
Yes, I think going to balanced cables and balanced drive amplification (fully differential) will be an audible difference with your Senns, all other things being equal. BTW, the grounding superiority is in non-connected cabling from the headphone drivers to an XLR connector (IOW, not using a...- tomb
- Post #9
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Looking for my first headphone amp for use with my turntable.
I'm not sure this will end up working like you want. As you noted, you can't pull the phono output out of your receiver without it going through the pre-amp section. If you then connect one of the receiver's line outputs to your headphone amplifier, you're double-amping, with all its...- tomb
- Post #6
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz good enough?
ANY frequency response quoted without a dB variance is USELESS. You could say 20-20kHz, but the device might be down -80dB at 20Hz. You would never hear it. Any source or amplifier should respond with 20-20kHz with no more than a few tenths of dB variance over that range. When it comes to...- tomb
- Post #22
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Should I spend the money to "balance" my Sennheiser HD6xx headphones?
There are two primary features for going balanced, especially with 300 ohm Senns: 1. XLR and balanced connections are superior for grounding. You gain several dB in noise advantage with balanced connections. 2. The voltage gradient is doubled with balanced amplifier drives (also the slew rate)...- tomb
- Post #6
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Music on the Ethernet
With 7TB (I have close to 5TB), the only realistic solution is a NAS (Network Attached Storage). Look up NAS and you'll find many options. They're usually easy enough to connect and setup file sharing. Once you share your music to your home network, every device will be able to see your...- tomb
- Post #8
- Forum: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions
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Hello everyone. Yesterday I entered the "midrange" with my "new" HD580, but I have some questions.
Just an FIY, but you'll enjoy the eventual upgrade to the HD600 and then HD650. There is a decreasing amount of high-midrange distortion as you go up in the headphone model# from 580 to 600 to 650. The big break was between the 580 and the 600, as the first prototype was the 580 Jubilee and...- tomb
- Post #7
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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HD600 VS HD650
Unfortunately, Sennheiser made the 580 first, the 600 second, and the 650 last. The 650 is simply more refined, period. You may find people who prefer the 600 because it has a treble spike that may make it sound more detailed*, but put it on very, very good equipment and you will hear the...- tomb
- Post #10
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations
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Linsoul asked me to commit a crime.
Solid first? It happens to me all the time. I always say NO, but it pains me that customers feel compelled to ask. The problem is these governments (not singling out one or the other) have no idea of the effect of those customs charges and VATs. They only think it increases the money going...- tomb
- Post #27
- Forum: Introductions, Help and Recommendations