[Daniel Pumphrey]

Yes, I was Really Floored and Disgusted with finally seeing the board for the GRADO Amp which had been hidden from view for a reason!
I remember my first amps Cmoy and Szekeres blowing the grado away at my brother's, now I know why, I certainly had my suspicions from the really loud POP on power-up and down.
Now even my little amp is a Grado KILLER!
Dan

 

[ppl]

Dan great to hear from you again It has been awhile since We have heard from you. Hope this finds you Well and in Good cheer.

 

[jude]

Yeah, Daniel, good to see you!

Off topic here, but your CD is a beautiful listen, man. That's some fantastic guitar talent you've got there, buddy.

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

Thanks Guys. Hope all is well PPL! I really need to get back into DIY and Headphones. Every now and then I get blown away and wish to get back into things.
I'll take a trip down the mountain and carry the ER4-P and my Sony Minidisc and it sounds just fantastic in my old sports car which is SO LOUD. The engine is back right behind my head and the ER4 gives me just pure music without hearing all those valves and engine noise.
Anyway, I finally developed photos of some of my boards and had them put on a disc, now I want to post them with articles here. The first problem is compressing these images because of the data and high resolution. I am in the process of trying some compression software which will cost around 25 or 30 dollars.
Once they are compressed, I need a place to put them. I need to know where to post photos. I am working on a website but that will take time.
Dan

 

[rickcr42]

CD ? You play Dan ?

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

Sorry guys. I did not mean to post a new thread. I thought I was replying to a thread about the 627 and Elantic buffer. Maybe Jude can fix this. DUH!
I do want to finally at long last post some photos of some of my amps and boards.
I tried to take photos at different stages of building. I like macro photography like about 10X with a bellows so can't find a digital camera that works like my trusty Nikon FM. I had the last roll put on a CD and am excited about the resolution. Data this intensive cannot be sent by modems easily so I need to compress.
Dan

 

[jude]

Daniel, I merged the two threads into one.

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

Thanks Jude. I just kept hitting the new thread button instead of reply. DUH.
Yeah I used to play but 8-12 hours a day for 35 years did my neck and back in. I am now a retired on disability classical and jazz guitar professor.
I have not actually played guitar in 4 months. I'll pick it up and play a while, and then the old obsession returns and I will not be able to put it down. My neck has 10 Titanium screws and two plates holding my brain on top of my head, well sort of anyway.
At this point of my life I am doing ALL the things I never had time for during the Guitar obsessed years. Like learning Electronics, Studying Metallurgy, Collecting Gold coins and coins in general.
I mostly played acoustic (Classical type) guitar as my way of earning a living, but also played electric. I now only play electric when I do play because it's easier on my neck. I only have a Steinberger graphite guitar now because of it's ergonomics. i just got a Snake Skin Boogie amp whic has only been on once since I got it.
Dan

 

[rickcr42]

Well Dan I must tell ya man , the Rickmonster is very impressed

.Another question,how do I get to listen to your music

And damn good to have you back in the loop dude

Rick-a brak

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

I was Really Floored and Disgusted with finally seeing the board for the GRADO Amp which had been hidden from view for a reason

Joe Grados amp was the same design, and also potted. Sid Smith helped with the design? Most people thought the HPA-1 aounded wonderful and those who own both can't tell the difference. I thought it was the sound that mattered? Less is more, when it comes to circuitry? Some amps sound worse than the RA-1 but cost twice as much. The RA-1 sounds great with Grado phones. That is what matters most to Grado, no? To me, Grado has always provided great sound for a bargain. Witness the SR60 headphones.

You still really hate Grado eh?

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

Hi Beagle, Here we go again. This is my opinion. I did not like the RA-1 and now have a visual reference as to Why. It is simply Inferior especially for it's cost. I remember the older posts where I criticized the Grado amp and now my suspicion has been proven with photos.
Beagle, Yes I am a believer in simplicity, but not a believer in Cheap parts. The Grado is filled with about 4.00 at most retail of parts on the board. I consider this a supreme ripoff.
#1 The caps are the cheapest I've seen even in Mid-Fi gear. Then there are the metal film resistors again the cheapest available. I'd love to check the matching of these parts also.
One opamp! Noise City. Of course you would never know unless you compared this amp to a well built Cmoy. The transparency of the Cmoy simply blows the Grado away.
I would not be critical if I saw some evidence of superior design in this amp. IMO to drive the most expensive Grado phones with such as this amp is like putting a GEO 3 Cylinder engine in a Ferrari!
I also feel that I should apologise to Headroom for being critical of the Airhead amp in the past. After seeing the design of the expensive Grado amp and comparing this to the beautiful design and circuitry of the Airhead which costs Far less to the consumer, I am immediately impressed with the Headroom design and the perfection of it's circuit board. They did not cut any corners in their around 100.00 design. Sure they did not use the most expensive opamps, but simply the parts count and complexity is inspiring for the cost.
They never tried to deceive anyone by hiding behind a pile of epoxy. It would be better to remove the board from the Grado and replace it with a Cmoy when it comes to sound.
It is not my intention to belittle The Grado name but I cannot justify the cost of this amp compared with it's component reality. I remember someone contacting Grado about the possibility of fixing the loud POP on power-up and down and Grado's response was that changing Anything would "Compromise the design and sound of the Amp"!!!!!
That is absolute BS as the pops are the result of an inadequate power supply or even a non existant power supply. I am fairly new to electronics design and yet can see many places to improve the performance of this amp drastically beginning with the Opamp while keeping to the simplicity of design. There would be no additional parts, just better, more appropriate Modern parts.
Dan

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

I also feel that I should apologise to Headroom for being critical of the Airhead amp in the past. After seeing the design of the expensive Grado amp and comparing this to the beautiful design and circuitry of the Airhead which costs Far less to the consumer, I am immediately impressed with the Headroom design and the perfection of it's circuit board. They did not cut any corners in their around 100.00 design. Sure they did not use the most expensive opamps, but simply the parts count and complexity is inspiring for the cost. They never tried to deceive anyone by hiding behind a pile of epoxy. It would be better to remove the board from the Grado and replace it with a Cmoy when it comes to sound

I can understand a negative reaction from a parts count/price perspective, but to me that is not the point. My X-Cans has about two storeys and ten times the parts and circuitry that my RA-1 has, but the RA-1 blows away the X-Cans with respect to transparency and frequency range response. If this (parts count/price) factors in TOO strongly and biases our opinion, that is neither accurate nor fair.

You have never strayed from your opinion Daniel, but I just find it absurd that others badmouth the Grado because of it's simple circuitry and parts, practically ignoring or disavowing the positive reaction the unit has received from both owners and high-end magazine reviews.

A large parts/price differential is nothing new in audio, or anything for that matter. A 75 cent bag of potato chips has .2 cents worth of potato. You could probably purchase $300 worth of parts and built a $5000 amplifier. Look at the cost of replacement parts for Sennheiser phones. $140 for a driver? Of course, if they charged what the parts are worth, you could build your own HD600 for $75 and sales would stop. Same with cars.

My point is that the general consensus is that Grado phones sound great with the RA-1, and they sound great with a $750 MacCormick MID. So if a cmoy amp kills the RA-1, perhaps the designer should go into full time business and sell them for $30.

 

[Tomo]

Hey,

What I don't like about RA-1 is that it completely hides what are actually in there. I as a consumer want to know what exactly I am buying. I do not like to spend 350 USD on something I have NO STINKING CLUE. On top of that Mr. Grado does NOT show us specs on his amps. I don't even know its THD or BandWidth. All he showed me is the a nice wood brick. This makes it sooooo hard for me to appreciate RA-1 no matter how good it may be.

This sound a lot like Bose. Bose does now show any specs. Bose say specs don't say much. So I went to audition Bose. They say they won't allow me to audition unless I buy it. I simply stated how unfriendly they are and left the store. How dumb do they think I am?

HeadRoom is more friendly. They tell you the mechanisms of the amps and their crossfeed circuit. They show specs and actual board/parts. On top of that, Todd and other people down there are extremely friendly and give very subjective advices. As a consumer, I feel more comfortable with HeadRoom.

350 USD is a lot of money for me. I can pay my rent with that with change. For me to spend that much money, I must be very certain of what I am getting. You might think otherwize and burn away money. I ain't gonna stop ya. But just remember one day some HeadWizers will find out what RA-1 really is and when they do, you might be kicking yourself really hard.

Some audio companies feed off of people's innocence. I hate that. I thought they want to sell good products. I was dead wrong. They want to sell what makes them rich. I am fine with that. I do not like people who hides and openly deceive consumers. So many people are like that. Naturally, I get very picky. If you sound like those guys, I simply won't buy your products. Mr Grado should not deserve it. But he sounds like hiding something from me so I did not buy RA-1.

What is curious is that Mr Grado do show specs and mechanisms for his headphones. He seems very sincere in his headphone section. I wonder why he has to be so oblivious in RA-1 section.

Tomo

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

I do not like to spend 350 USD on something I have NO STINKING CLUE. On top of that Mr. Grado does NOT show us specs on his amps. I don't even know its THD or BandWidth. All he showed me is the a nice wood brick. This makes it sooooo hard for me to appreciate RA-1 no matter how good it may be

I think it's great that there are no specs and the parts are hidden. It makes you have to use your ears to decide whether or not it's good.

Quote:

But just remember one day some HeadWizers will find out what RA-1 really is and when they do, you might be kicking yourself really hard

I 'm sure it will still be sounding great like it is now. I have had it for nearly 3 years with nary a problem, no noise, no static, just consistently good sound.

Quote:

HeadRoom is more friendly. They tell you the mechanisms of the amps and their crossfeed circuit. They show specs and actual board/parts. On top of that, Todd and other people down there are extremely friendly and give very subjective advices. As a consumer, I feel more comfortable with HeadRoom

They are salespeople, like car dealers. After all that care and personal attention, it won't matter if the product "sounds" good; you can "see" that it will

The power of suggestion. I prefer to listen. If it sounds great and sounds better that other available options, I'll buy it.

 

[pboser]

So can someone help Daniel with posting the schematic?