[muzic4life]

Quote:

 
But what gain setting was on the Rx Mk3 when you were driving the HD650?
 
To answer Currawong's curiosity, the new CLAS -dB is now at 1.69V whereas the original CLAS from 2 yrs back was 2V. Note that the initial release of -dB were at 1.2V however most of that should have been re-called by now (except for mine).

Hi Anak..
The gain that i always use is at high gain. The medium gain is just too low to drive my cans. Although all my cans mostly under 100ohm (except hd650) but with medium gain it does not give me enough power to light up to max performance (though at max volume). I though the clas db will give a bit of power..but sadly is not !  
 
I still can drive my shure535 or sm3v2 at medium gain with fuller sound. This because they are iems with low impedance. It is not the case with my SM64 which has 112ohm impedance and i must use the high gain to drive it to get a juicy sound. Is that mean my clas db is the one with 1.2V ??

 

[muzic4life]

Btw..thanks for the info regarding the voltage used. I think i should check with Analog Head to confirm which one is mine actually.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Hi Anak..
The gain that i always use is at high gain. The medium gain is just too low to drive my cans. Although all my cans mostly under 100ohm (except hd650) but with medium gain it does not give me enough power to light up to max performance (though at max volume). I though the clas db will give a bit of power..but sadly is not !  
 
I still can drive my shure535 or sm3v2 at medium gain with fuller sound. This because they are iems with low impedance. It is not the case with my SM64 which has 112ohm impedance and i must use the high gain to drive it to get a juicy sound. Is that mean my clas db is the one with 1.2V ??

 
That is most interesting about the gain. Someone else PMed me a few weeks ago about disappointment that it didn't drive his LCD2R2' (or LCD2R1s??) well enough. I tried the early -dB release (with 1.2V) + Rx Mk3 and the prototype LCD closed backs and they sounded loud enough.
 
I must say I didn't think the DAC power would affect the amp's output power that much (thinking that the Rx Mk3's gain is enough irrespective of the DAC's power).
 
It should be easy enough to test if you had the 1.2V CLAS -dB. If you used balanced, it would sound out-of-phase.

 

[muzic4life]

I just got reply from friend from AnalogHead (Alo products distributor in Indonesia). It seems not only me mumbling about this issue. They will find out more about this and confirm back to me. So i just have to wait until i know what happen exactly.
 
Btw..interestingly..i did try to combine HPP1 dac with RxMK3 and the result it gives me better power output. I can drive my hd650 with no problem at all and get a fuller sound (setting MK3 with high gain - volume 50% is very loud already). Does this mean HPP1 dac has more power than my CLAS-db ?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

I just got reply from friend from AnalogHead (Alo products distributor in Indonesia). It seems not only me mumbling about this issue. They will find out more about this and confirm back to me. So i just have to wait until i know what happen exactly.
 
Btw..interestingly..i did try to combine HPP1 dac with RxMK3 and the result it gives me better power output. I can drive my hd650 with no problem at all and get a fuller sound (setting MK3 with high gain - volume 50% is very loud already). Does this mean HPP1 dac has more power than my CLAS-db ?

We're probably talking to the same people .
 
It wouldn't be surprise. Even within the CLASes themselves the power changed. The original CLAS has 2V, whilst the new CLAS -dB has 1.69V.

 

[ionicle]

so, what happened? did it turn out that you got the lower powered CLAS? if so, how can I make sure I am not sent such a CLAS when ordering?

 

[muzic4life]

Yesterday they confirmed that mine is 1.69v. Seems that all the clas db available on the market right now is with 1.69V and yes it is more suitable for iems use or perhaps to drive lower impedance cans. However..as i informed by AnalogHead..there will be another version of clas db with higher voltage and that is 2.1v same to original CLAS. Now...i am not really sure whether this "newer version" is going to be very limited only just to suit the market needs required by AnalogHead in Indonesia OR Cypherlabs is going to make it as an official release version. I do not have any idea on that regards. For my self... maybe i decide just to stay with my current CLAS db (1.69v)..considering most of my cans/iem are not power hungry type. If i wanted to drive let say my HD650..i just pair my RxMK3 with my HPP1 DAC to get a fuller sound...easy 

.

 

[AJHeadfi]

Quote:

Yesterday they confirmed that mine is 1.69v. Seems that all the clas db available on the market right now is with 1.69V and yes it is more suitable for iems use or perhaps to drive lower impedance cans. However..as i informed by AnalogHead..there will be another version of clas db with higher voltage and that is 2.1v same to original CLAS. Now...i am not really sure whether this "newer version" is going to be very limited only just to suit the market needs required by AnalogHead in Indonesia OR Cypherlabs is going to make it as an official release version. I do not have any idea on that regards. For my self... maybe i decide just to stay with my current CLAS db (1.69v)..considering most of my cans/iem are not power hungry type. If i wanted to drive let say my HD650..i just pair my RxMK3 with my HPP1 DAC to get a fuller sound...easy 

.

 
I thought the CLAS -db was carefully tuned to work best with the RxMkIIIb, this might be the reason for 1.69V output.

 

[raelamb]

I'm not a great typist and intend to post a more in-depth review, but I will say the RxMkIIIb and the CLAS -db are the perfect pairing. My SR71b which worked well with the original CLAS just did not cut it

 

[ionicle]

The perfect pairing, but for which headphones? They better be perfect for HD800.... 

 

[AJHeadfi]

Quote:

The perfect pairing, but for which headphones? They better be perfect for HD800.... 

 
Could be Audeze's LCD in mind by the creators.

 

[Anthony1]

The perfect pairing, but for which headphones? They better be perfect for HD800.... 

Awesome pairing with the LCD3s

 

[AnakChan]

Awesome pairing with the LCD3s

I'm gonna have to agree with Room40 on this. Same with the closed back LCD prototypes too.

 

[Lan647]

Hey people, I've put my HD 800s up for sale because the sound does not appeal to me, and I'm gonna buy an LCD-2 or LCD-3 instead. Because I also suspect power is a problem in my chain (it sounds identical to an iphone for example) I want to disconnect from the grid and go batteries instead. Do you feel the MK3 and something like the Cypher labs algorhythm solo -dB (possibly in balanced mode) makes the LCD-2 and 3 truly shine?

As I understand it these two portable units are the top choices for portable high-end listening and there's really not much more to be done with the system after you have them. While hi-fi is about the gear, upgrading and trying different things, the portable gear obviously does not allow for the same privilege. And while that may be a bad thing, I'm really the guy who just wants things to WORK and then settle down and listen to music in all it's audiophile glory. No power-related issues, no messing around with tubes etc. 

You think I'd be happy with this? 

Thanks!

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Maybe you should hold your HD800 sale until you try the MKIII + CLASdb combo?  I'm planning the same purchase, but a little nervous about the hum reported with low impedance cans.  And Grado is a favorite can brand of mine....