[songmic]

And aren't cheap which detracts a lot of users.  On Summit, they come up.

I thought that people who buy a summit-fi headphone like the LCD-3 would invest in a summit-fi amp. Besides, the 2A3 and Stratus are similarly priced or cheaper than the likes of WA22, B22, GS-X, Dark Star or Balancing Act.

 

[Solude]

BA and DS yes, the rest are all much less expensive.  2A3 tubes aren't cheap  B22 can be had for under $1000.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I'm surprised that no one here discusses Eddie Current 2A3 or DNA Stratus. Both are high-end balanced tube amps that were designed to drive power-hungry orthos.

 
 
I wasn't aware both of these amps were balanced.

 

[Solude]

Balanced through the use of transformers.  Single ended amps, balanced outputs.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Balanced through the use of transformers.  Single ended amps, balanced outputs.

 
 
Thought so

 

[Sweetmeat]

Quote:

Looking at the circuit and rail values... yes.  Burson likes to throw out the 100% distortion number, 4W, and the usable number 1W into 30ohm and let the buyer decide which one they prefer
 
They did the same thing for the HA-160.
 
That said, I think the Soloist sounds great it's just not a B22 or Mjolnir in terms of power.  The Peak is even weaker at 400mW but the difference there is really splitting hairs.  117dB will blow out your ears so 500mW is more than enough.

I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse here but the Burson power output quote is different from the distortion quote in this case. Burson is quoting the Soloist distortion as <.03% into 30 ohms at 1W. This is the exact same distortion quote as the Soloist SL with half the power as the soloist. That means the SL can do at more than 500mW of low-distortion power into an LCD3 and the Soloist can double that.
 
That being said, it would be nice if Burson published the distortion level on the same line as max output, but lots of home amps do it this way, it is not necessarily nefarious. Still, I would love to see some independent testing of the Burson Soloist.

 

[Solude]

1W at 30ohm is 500mW at 60ohm, 250mW at 120ohm and so on.  But again I own the thing, so it's just accurate, not a knock against it.  It sounds great.

 

[jtinto]

and the LCD-3 needs all of that 500mw @ 50ohm to play a 120db peak and the LCD-2 needs almost 1W @ 60ohm to do the same 120db

 

[Maxvla]

I had both. My opinion is that the BHA-1 has treble distortion and the Mjolnir doesn't. I listened to the BHA-1 for about a week and switched back and was so relieved to be able to follow the treble again. This is with the LCD-3's. The BHA-1 still might work best for your setup. Just one man's opinion....I sold the Bryston.

I've yet to listen to LCDs with the BHA-1 (getting my 2s tomorrow!), but coming at it with the HD800, the Mjolnir sounded a bit dull up top, not nearly as crisp, not as revealing. I detect no distortion in the BHA-1 at all, in fact it's the clearest I've ever heard the HD800. It was an easy decision for me about the sound. Paying nearly double the price had me deciding what to keep for quite a while though.

 

[jtinto]

BHA-1 with HD-800 is a great pairing (listening to it as I type) 

 
p.s. still trying to choose a balanced cable for the HD-800

 

[MightyChimp]

Anyone know of ANY dac that takes usb 3.0?

 

[Maxvla]

BMC Pure Dac

Not sure why you would need 3.0 though.

 

[paradoxper]

And still about 2 months out.

 

[MightyChimp]

Quote:

BMC Pure Dac

Not sure why you would need 3.0 though.

That's an all in one eh? 
 
So pretty. 

 

[Maxvla]

And affordable too at $1600. A few months from release, and more importantly, evaluation. Hopefully I'll have funds available at the time to give it a trial.