tim3320070
Headphoneus Supremus
I suggest letting it warm up for 1/2 hour or more (if you can)
I suggest letting it warm up for 1/2 hour or more (if you can)
The package came with some chip (looks like a secondary chip for the remote). Please confirm, and if you got an extra too.
That and some... mini pieces of plastic? I'm not not sure what they are. They definitely go inside the SA-31. I wonder if these are the jumpers needed to change the warmth levels?
Anyone that can confirm what they are?
Jumpers, most of his products come with them which can change certain features of said amp/dac. As for the SA-31's case, I would check the manual.
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/SA/SA31/SA31EN_Use.htm
Saw that, just that there were so many, lol.
Ok, so my test for warm 1 and warm 2 have been directly vs the E9K.
The SA-31 (with no warmth jumpers) and E9K are close in tonality (this is just a tonality comparison), with the E9K being just a smidge brighter.
Warm 1: It does sound just a little bolder than no jumpers, but it's like VERY slight.
Warm 2: I honestly don't hear a diff from Warm 1.
I'll have to do more testing to hear exactly what changes.
Tube amps definitely alter the sound quite a bit more than these jumpers.
I must say though, the DT990s sound glorious off the SA-31 with the warm 2 setting (all 4 jumpers in).
One thing I notice is that the SA-31 controls the 250ohm's bass quite a bit compared to the E9K. Ironically, I prefer the looser bass on the E9K. However, on the 600ohm, it brought out the bass to where I feel it almost rivals the 250ohm's bass (both off the SA-31).
If I was keeping the E9K, I'd definitely keep the 250ohm. Off the SA-31, they're both near identical, so I'll stick to the slight refinement of the 600ohm.
edit:
To update from the last post, yes, the SA-31 with warmth jumpers all in, really add all I wanted from the DT990/600. It's not a big difference, but it's enough.
I would say the DT990/250 off the E9K has the most bass presence (but least control) out of all the combinations today (by a hair). However, the refinement and less edge in treble of the SA-31 + DT990/600 wins out.
Out of the E9K, the 250 has noticeably more bass than the 600. Out of the SA-31, that gap becomes smaller, to the point that I can't tell the bass presence apart when quick-swapping from the E9K/250 to the SA-31/600.
I'm gonna pack up the DT990/250 and E9K today. I've heard enough...
Am I gonna keep the 600ohm? Probably not, as Amazon is selling them Like New for $50 less than I paid. Since I'm within my return window, I'll save some money by getting another pair. Unless they wanna just refund me that price difference.
To identify between tthe different warmth settings of the SA-31, I basically went from no jumpers to all jumpers. The biggest difference is in the bass. The bass gets fuller with all four jumpers in compared to no jumpers. It does sound a hint darker... but it's minute.
I'd say for the sake of liking warmth in your cans, all 4 jumpers are not a BIG difference from no jumpers, so you may as well have them all pushed in for maximum warmth.
edit:
The differences between the SA-31 and E9K were more obvious on the KSC35. The SA-31 was considerably warmer.
I guess warm 2 may be a bit much for warmer sounding headphones like the KSC35. I preferred it off the E9K, and the E9K isn't technically a proper match for it due to high output impedance. I think the jumper settings are headphone by headphone basis. You'd do fine with no jumpers at all for all headphones, but some headphones can benefit from extra warmth, and some can be impacted negatively. So all in all, if you're lazy, stick to no jumpers. If you wanna tweak per headphone, leave the top unscrewed for easy jumper switching.
Can you say anything about detail, soundstage, instrument separation and so on at this point?
It's got all those in spades. Detail without fatigue.
In general, DAPs output is really weak in term of voltage level. They are way below the standard line level and you need an amp with a pretty high gain to make it work to proper volume. No matter how powerfull your amp is, if it does not have the proper gain to work with the DAP it will be a no-go.
My dad is having the same problem with his setup: cowon J3 -> m-stage -> HE-4. Even at max gain (+20dB) and both the j3 and m-stage maxed out, the volume is still slightly less than what he likes. It's just about perfect for me but then I have no headroom on quieter tracks. It's doable with the HE-500 but not the HE-4 (lower sensitivity).
The SA-31 is even lower in gain (+12dB if I remember correctly) so I would be even lower, despite its 10W power output capacity (40x that of the m-stage).
You need another gain in between if you want to use your portable source with it. Or you should ask to change the high gain to >20dB