Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

Great review but why did you add it to a headphone system?

Because the output of the May is very hot and every tube amp does profit from a preamp because it does not operate at its best at 7-8 o'clock, basically the Envy has too much power and adjusting the volume dial is not ideal when the difference between silence and way too loud is only 1h on the dial. You will never use the Envy at more than 9 o'clock normally with the XLR input from a May. Also, having multiple amps connected to 1 DAC is also not ideal for the DAC (Goldensound suggests to turn both amps on even if you only listen to one, it has something to do with the resistance) and if you want to connect three amps (which i have, i have kept my Rebelamp) to 1 DAC then you need a preamp (or a switchbox).

"It massively lacks dynamics." - it's very hard to believe.

@Exekuhtor
Hello, you wrote:
and every tube amp does profit from a preamp because it does not operate at its best at 7-8 o'clock
Are you "mixing up Envy" with "every tube amp"... I doubt many tube amps are as powerful as that one!
Or in regards to a hot DAC? what's May's 9V?

Do I understand correctly? The Serene helps to control/lower the hot output of the May so you can turn up the Envy past 9? in order to have it work in a more optimal range?
Doing volume adjustments with the Serene which is "just turned up slightly"?

So would a tube amp with low(er) output power profit from a preamp in a way that it would get more powerful? Or am I limited to the output of the DAC and the preamp "only helps adjusting within the typical 4V range"?
thanks!

It was a general comment if you're feeding any tube amp with a hot DAC, so the amp is not sounding at its peak when you're only fiddling around 7-8o'clock all the time, on top of that you have a very minor adjustment window for the volume. This is a problem with most potentiometers on any amps, suddenly at 9 o'clock you get so much volume that you have no chance in even trying to use the full volume dial from 10-6 o'clock, which is a very big range. (Tube) amps typically work the best at 10+ o'clock if they have "a bit more to do". Especially with planars you might not want to reduce the gain setting from medium to low (i never use high gain, the difference is not that big on the Envy between medium and high), because you can lose dynamics, so it results in a worse sound quality. I'm not an expert in this field, if you want to read around a bit, there are comments from Goldensound about this topic.

I understood! I see... crazy that Envy drives SUS at 7-8 o clock, anyways...

but allow me to rephrase above Q
Do I understand correctly? The Serene helps to control/lower the hot output of the May so you can turn up the Envy past 9? in order to have it work in a more optimal range?
Doing volume adjustments with the Serene which is "just turned up slightly"?

When you use May - Serene - Envy... you then control Volume with pre and turn it up slightly and Envy past 9?
Envy higher as without pre?
More precise: what's your volume settings on that chain of yours (May-Serene-Envy) Serene digital value and Envy pot at what position? (let's say SUS between 75 to 80 db)
thanks!

I thought i mentioned that, i don't use the volume dial on the Envy to control the volume anynmore, i use the Serenes remote control. My Envy is stuck at a fixed 12 o'clock position. And yes, with no preamp and May -> Envy, the Susvara gets very loud at 9 o'clock at medium gain, because of the hot DAC output voltage / i use XLR connections. The Serene hovers around -25 to -35 (more or less) depending on songs or Susvara / 1266. I use the Envy on medium gain with the planars (and will with the Immanis), and on low gain with the Valkyria.
The same way i don't use the volume knob on my Mass Kobo 475, that one is at a fixed 10 o'clock. The MK sometimes crackles when adjusting the volume on it with the knob and it's also very small and again, you have a very low window to get the right volume for IEM's.
I use my volume knob on the Rebelamp though and then just set the Serene to 0db.

Thank you for the review. I love using the Serene for two purposes in one. It is a great pre for my 2 channel system using XLR 2 out. And I use XLR 1 out to a headphone amp. Which is the intended purpose of the XLR 1 out. Secondary to that some people plug their HP directly into the XLR 1. But that was not the intended purpose and Bliss of course works better for HPs connected directly.

I have the May/Envy AE combination like you and ‘suffer’ the same ‘hot’ output from the May. I was going to get the GoldPoint passive attenuator that GoldenSound used before he got the Serene. Did you ever use or consider using a passive attenuator or did you just go directly for the Serene? I suspect after buying my Stressless I might have to find another €3K for a Serene.