mirkot
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2002
- Posts
- 32
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- 11
I was prompted to start this thread after few days of auditioning 40 years old headphone amplifier.
I recently acquired SHURE Solo-Phone amplifier through eBay and when it arrived I did not have much expectations. Unit looked very good, cursory check inside revealed that all parts are original (or at least very old). After overcoming initial small problem with selector switch, I was, well, lets say shocked, how the thing sounded.
I expected some level of noise, scratchy volume pot, no reproduction of low and high frequency extremes, etc. You know, it is 40 years old, at that time technology was not good as today (it is solid state amp) etc. But, what a surprise! This thing sounds quite lovely and attractive. Plenty of bass, smooth midrange, nice highs.
I was comparing it to X-Cans using X-supply (only other amp I had at hand). Headphones were Grado SR60 and Senn HD600, some custom interconnects and CEC cd player. Direct comparison showed lot of difference and you would say that X-Cans have more dynamics and control, and they would impress you more. But! That impression lasts only shortly. After couple of minutes you realize that SHURE is more pleasant overall and I spent rest of the evening using it instead. I did not have urge to stop listening after couple of CDs like I have with X-cans.
So, back to the title. Is it possible that after 40 years audio industry did not evolve much? I am not talking about digital domain or fancy materials for speakers. SHURE circuitry is so simple that even I can follow it. No sophisticated mains filtering, no separate power supply. Decades old condensers and funny looking power transistors. (Though it looks like it has some kind of crude crossfeed.) This is not resurrected low noise triodes but solid state in its dawn. I think that we are just spending large sums of money looking for solutions which are not coming. Are we only sophisticated consumers? Where are 40 years wasted?
I recently acquired SHURE Solo-Phone amplifier through eBay and when it arrived I did not have much expectations. Unit looked very good, cursory check inside revealed that all parts are original (or at least very old). After overcoming initial small problem with selector switch, I was, well, lets say shocked, how the thing sounded.
I expected some level of noise, scratchy volume pot, no reproduction of low and high frequency extremes, etc. You know, it is 40 years old, at that time technology was not good as today (it is solid state amp) etc. But, what a surprise! This thing sounds quite lovely and attractive. Plenty of bass, smooth midrange, nice highs.
I was comparing it to X-Cans using X-supply (only other amp I had at hand). Headphones were Grado SR60 and Senn HD600, some custom interconnects and CEC cd player. Direct comparison showed lot of difference and you would say that X-Cans have more dynamics and control, and they would impress you more. But! That impression lasts only shortly. After couple of minutes you realize that SHURE is more pleasant overall and I spent rest of the evening using it instead. I did not have urge to stop listening after couple of CDs like I have with X-cans.
So, back to the title. Is it possible that after 40 years audio industry did not evolve much? I am not talking about digital domain or fancy materials for speakers. SHURE circuitry is so simple that even I can follow it. No sophisticated mains filtering, no separate power supply. Decades old condensers and funny looking power transistors. (Though it looks like it has some kind of crude crossfeed.) This is not resurrected low noise triodes but solid state in its dawn. I think that we are just spending large sums of money looking for solutions which are not coming. Are we only sophisticated consumers? Where are 40 years wasted?
