Audeze LCD-X
Feb 13, 2014 at 8:13 PM Post #3,061 of 12,748
Yes, the one on the left was a GemTune GP-01. The EL84 was at the far end of the room...an ultralinear PP from inside a console of some type (aka botomdweller)...I don't remember the maker. Both were run off speaker taps through a resistor box if I remember correctly. :)


Ok, you are awesome. It was the amp on the left in the photo--pretty sure it had some upgraded tubes. It looks like it's a Gemini Doctor Gemtune GP-01--does that seem right?  It sounded excellent with the LCD-X. I saw some earlier posts about 300B amps being warm, but this one was definitely not too warm. The amp on the right wasn't that great.  Which was the EL84--was that the homebrew amp at the other end of the room?  It was a mess with the LCD-2, but sounded good with the LCD-X.
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 8:21 PM Post #3,062 of 12,748
 

Roger that, please report your findings
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Has anyone tried powering the LCD-X or LCD-2/3 from a speaker amp? It's fairly common with the HE-6...

There's no need for a speaker amp, really.


Yes, there is definitely no need, but still, it 's a nice "playground"...
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 8:32 PM Post #3,063 of 12,748
Yes, for example here

No, the X is not exactly easy to drive. Also check the above link and other posts here. There is no issue with "not enough power" or whatsoever, it is about the X's mid-range if the amp doesn't match well. So you might need to play around a little before you really unleash it's full potential. But isn't that the fun part of it anyway?

Surely you are right in so far, that Feynman should first try the amps he already owns (if any). Maybe he is lucky and doesn't have to invest more...

These are my findings from my limited experimentation with the X: you can drive it as far as making it play loud, but what comes out is not exactly the best sounding result. On the NA7004 it was congested as I mentioned. On the WA6, much better. I'll post about the Mjolnir. I can only imagine how nice it would be on something better (WA5-LE maxed, I'm talking about you) or one of those $3k+ SS amps.


.. it seems we experienced similar effects here. I am looking forward to read about your coming experiments....
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 8:54 PM Post #3,064 of 12,748
 
I think those amps are all worth trying, I'd lean towards balanced discrete amps, but some of the single-ended amps I've heard have been excellent. The Master 9 seems promising. We had the DC meet right after i got the LCD-X, so I've tried a lot of modded and DIY tube amps. Some of the local guys will do custom builds. The amps that impressed me most were the Odyssey Cyclops and a Krell KSA-5 clone. There was also a modded/upgraded tube amp that runs about a thousand dollars--I can't recall the name at the moment, but it wasn't anything mainstream.
 
I'm on a search myself at the moment. and have some hoped that the Ragnarok will share many of the characteristics of the GS-X mk2--which is my reference standard for neutral dynamic SS amps that have good synergy with just about anything.

Right. So, I've never had anything balanced here, except the Central Station and it's not really a fully balanced headset amp. I did get the Mjolnir, which they'll go out of their way saying how balanced they are, blah, blah. My concern is that my chain is not balanced. I use the NA7004 for a DAC, which is not balanced and the SACD8001 from Marantz, which is also not balanced. The X's are balanced and I did manage to get the balanced cable (which is no longer included), but I'm wondering how much difference this is going to make, if my source is not balanced. What I've read about balanced so far is that the advantage is eliminating noise over long lengths of cable, which is great, except all my stuff is completely silent even though it's all single ended (or I'm completely deaf). So, I don't see much of a utility here for me. I don't run 10m cables. I don't see how balanced is going to improve quality all else being equal. The other advantage of a balanced setup from what I've read is that we get more power per channel. This is probably great for the X's being planar. That's part of the reason why I got the Mjolnir actually: to see if the balanced setup is something I should go after. I'm considering getting their balanced DAC as well (Ghunghir or something?) to see, but then it starts getting expensive.
 
Anyway, these are my unexperienced thoughts on balanced vs single-ended, so any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 9:08 PM Post #3,065 of 12,748
Thanks for your impressions!
I have a bha-1 being delivered tomorrow

 
Congratulations! I think you'll enjoy it.
I look forward to your impressions and hearing your burn-in experience, too!
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 9:13 PM Post #3,066 of 12,748
First I'll say that Tony Bennett sounds good to me thru just about anything. I've read several of your excellent headphone reviews and the fact that you consider these to be your favorite is quite an endorsement. Of the many high-end amplification sources that I'm sure you have access to which have you found pair well with the LCD-X's? Any comments on their build quality and comfort would be appreciated. Thanks.

These are definitely my favourite dynamic/ortho dynamic headphones yet. My main rig is what I use to drive them (Cambridge Audio CD Player - Bryston BDA-2 DAC - GS-X Mk2). But honestly, they sound great from my Pioneer Elite home theatre receiver's headphone jack too.
 
Built quality is really top notch and they are really beautiful (and solid) headphones. Comfort wise, they are heavier than the LCD-3s, but on my head, I'd be darned if I could tell.
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 9:14 PM Post #3,067 of 12,748
Mine is a used, early model, its burned in, but I'm excited for sure
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 10:07 PM Post #3,068 of 12,748
  Right. So, I've never had anything balanced here, except the Central Station and it's not really a fully balanced headset amp. I did get the Mjolnir, which they'll go out of their way saying how balanced they are, blah, blah. My concern is that my chain is not balanced. I use the NA7004 for a DAC, which is not balanced and the SACD8001 from Marantz, which is also not balanced. The X's are balanced and I did manage to get the balanced cable (which is no longer included), but I'm wondering how much difference this is going to make, if my source is not balanced. What I've read about balanced so far is that the advantage is eliminating noise over long lengths of cable, which is great, except all my stuff is completely silent even though it's all single ended (or I'm completely deaf). So, I don't see much of a utility here for me. I don't run 10m cables. I don't see how balanced is going to improve quality all else being equal. The other advantage of a balanced setup from what I've read is that we get more power per channel. This is probably great for the X's being planar. That's part of the reason why I got the Mjolnir actually: to see if the balanced setup is something I should go after. I'm considering getting their balanced DAC as well (Ghunghir or something?) to see, but then it starts getting expensive.
 
Anyway, these are my unexperienced thoughts on balanced vs single-ended, so any advice is greatly appreciated.


I wouldn't get too hung up on balanced vs. unbalanced. Balanced amps have generally sounded better to me, but that may be because they're higher end amps. The Schiit DAC is the Gungnir--high-end DACs have balanced outputs. I haven't heard the NA7004, but I'm very familiar with the Gungnir>Mjolnir>LCD-X. If you get the Mjolnir and the LCD-X sounds very smooth, no grain, has great dynamics, a large soundstage, but a lean signature overall (mids a touch thin)--your DAC should be delivering something close to the Gungnir. If you hear any graininess or etch, especially in the treble, or a smallish soundstage--then you may benefit from a better DAC.
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 10:51 PM Post #3,070 of 12,748
 
I wouldn't get too hung up on balanced vs. unbalanced. Balanced amps have generally sounded better to me, but that may be because they're higher end amps. The Schiit DAC is the Gungnir--high-end DACs have balanced outputs. I haven't heard the NA7004, but I'm very familiar with the Gungnir>Mjolnir>LCD-X. If you get the Mjolnir and the LCD-X sounds very smooth, no grain, has great dynamics, a large soundstage, but a lean signature overall (mids a touch thin)--your DAC should be delivering something close to the Gungnir. If you hear any graininess or etch, especially in the treble, or a smallish soundstage--then you may benefit from a better DAC.

Great, great advice! Thank you very much. We shall see hear this weekend.
 
Feb 14, 2014 at 2:27 AM Post #3,071 of 12,748
Feb 14, 2014 at 7:38 AM Post #3,073 of 12,748
I've ordered one of these for my black LCD-Xs.  I think the gray will actually look better than having everything all black.  (And the red was a little too much bling.)
 
Feb 14, 2014 at 2:56 PM Post #3,075 of 12,748
 
I wouldn't get too hung up on balanced vs. unbalanced. Balanced amps have generally sounded better to me, but that may be because they're higher end amps. The Schiit DAC is the Gungnir--high-end DACs have balanced outputs. I haven't heard the NA7004, but I'm very familiar with the Gungnir>Mjolnir>LCD-X. If you get the Mjolnir and the LCD-X sounds very smooth, no grain, has great dynamics, a large soundstage, but a lean signature overall (mids a touch thin)--your DAC should be delivering something close to the Gungnir. If you hear any graininess or etch, especially in the treble, or a smallish soundstage--then you may benefit from a better DAC.

 
+1
 
Normally when people ask what to buy in a certain price bracket I just tell them to get the best SE system you can get for that money and forget about balanced until you get into the really expensive stuff.
 
The Mjolnir is kind of a special case since it's made to balanced only and hit a sweet spot in terms of price. You'd probably pay +$1000 if it had both outputs.
 
Balanced cables and ground does make a lot of sense for profesional and studio use since it's very good for noise and interference reduction. For headphone amps the biggest difference between balanced and single ended is that balanced does not share a common ground for the left and right channel.
 
So balanced drive will give you 100% separation between left and right, or at least in theory.
 
It can get a little confusing though since while it's true that "balanced amps" don't have a common ground what actually is happening i that they are push-pull configurations. So you have one part of the circuit feeding the current and another part of the circuit sucking it up (instead of just dumping to ground). So essentially most headphone amps sold as balanced are actually push-pull amps and have more or less twice the amount components inside, and also twice the amount of power compared to their single ended brethren.
 
Is it worth it? Hmmm... like i said.... a $1000 SE amp will typically beat a $1000 balanced amp simply because the SE has less parts and those parts can then be of better quality. But the Mjolnir is kind of a special case. 
 
There can be advantages to driving headphones balanced but for home use the advantages of having a balanced DAC and AMP connection are very, very few. It might even be disadvantageous in some case!
 
You'll see some very high end amps that have balanced output put only SE inputs. The DNA Stratus springs to mind but I'm sure there are many more. Donald has said that he sees no need for balanced inputs and I can see where he's coming from. I think many will be confused by the lack of balanced inputs on a balanced amp but there really is no need. It's a perfectly reasonable and good circuit design!
 
For the record: the term "fully balanced amplifier" is a term that only exists in the audiophile world I believe. The correct term for something like the mjolnir would probably be something like "dual-closed-circuit-push-pull-amplifier", or "dual-ground-isolated-differential-amp". Or something along those lines, I guess "fully balanced" just sounds sexier
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Seriously amazing headphones.. For me to get rid of these, take em from my dying clutches:wink: can't wait to amp them properly..

 
Sold! Where are you located?
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