[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak Right now just straight out of my Audiophile USB headphone amp. Oh and also used at night out of the home theater receiver (Yamaha HTR-5280). It has a nice one, it can even drive the K1000 to listening levels. I would say it's on par with a cmoy. It has better bass out of the receiver. I'm thinking of getting a PA2V2 to bring out the bass even more!! Muhahaa

You are one sick puppy. Forget the PA2V2 and get a PV2^2-LT1210 Maxxed (with 2x1500uf BlackGateNX caps for no extra charge). That amp will fill in the soundstage mids and frequency mids that are normally recessed in the 770s -- and give you incredibly defined/articulated bass and midrange texture, huge dimensional soundstage, great layered imaging and max inner detail (as in "Wow -- I never heard THAT before...").

PA2V2 is great entry bang-for-buck -- really great -- but it's not close to uber-Portaphile. (...still... @ only $60 USD...... oh, waffle-waffle-waffle...)

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak Right now just straight out of my Audiophile USB headphone amp. Oh and also used at night out of the home theater receiver (Yamaha HTR-5280). It has a nice one, it can even drive the K1000 to listening levels. I would say it's on par with a cmoy. It has better bass out of the receiver. I'm thinking of getting a PA2V2 to bring out the bass even more!! Muhahaa

I use mine for movies straight out of the receiver all the time... it's not bad at all.

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee You are one sick puppy. Forget the PA2V2 and get a PV2^2-LT1210 Maxxed (with 2x1500uf BlackGateNX caps for no extra charge). That amp will fill in the soundstage mids and frequency mids that are normally recessed in the 770s -- and give you incredibly defined/articulated bass and midrange texture, huge dimensional soundstage, great layered imaging and max inner detail (as in "Wow -- I never heard THAT before..."). PA2V2 is great entry bang-for-buck -- really great -- but it's not close to uber-Portaphile. (...still... @ only $60 USD...... oh, waffle-waffle-waffle...)

I am sicko movie basshead

The Portaphile is a sweet looking amp. I'm sure it would improve the DT770 a lot but they're being used exclusively for late night movie watching and gaming. The portaphile might be a bit overkill for just that. I'm not big on the DT770 sound for music.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak I am sicko movie basshead The Portaphile is a sweet looking amp. I'm sure it would improve the DT770 a lot but they're being used exclusively for late night movie watching and gaming. The portaphile might be a bit overkill for just that. I'm not big on the DT770 sound for music.

The little PA2V2 does have lots'-o-power with 2x2200uf Panasonic output caps. Plenty of punch.

 

[Jahn]

Post Count 17,429: One Of These is Not Like the Other.

Pop Quiz: Can you guess which box came from Happy Domestic USPS Priority Shipping (my fave) and which from International Shipping (my bane)? I'll give you a hint - the international one is the one with the TUBES in it.

Fortunately it was packed like a steel trap inside, so the tubes came out nice and frosty! I can't put them in the Melos just yet since I'm babysitting, but just you wait! As you can see, the RnBAudio Blackdiamond Mini with straight gold plugs is already in the Portable rig and firing on all cylinders - man, this is definitely my fave mini to mini cable, and this derivation works better in my rig than the right angle plugs. I blasted "Take the Power Back" by Rage Against the Machine with the ipod and hornet and MS-2i and my kid heard it wailing from across the room, started laughing and jumping up and down - we have an early Headbanging adopter on our hands!

Oh, the Tubes? Valvo (Holland Amperex) PCC88/7DJ8 PINCHED WAIST Tubes! A higher heater voltage than the normal ECC88/6DJ8 tubes, which the Melos can take full advantage of, unlike other preamps. Man, I can't wait to try em out and make certain they didn't die somewhere over the Atlantic. Watch out, 7308s!

 

[Jahn]

wow.

i couldn't wait - kid crawling all over me, somehow i managed to tuberoll AND do a tube comparo!

The Pinched Waist 7DJ8s are definitely pinched - I was rolling the Herbie Hal-Os down and "boop" they rattled down to the narrower middle. Something very satisfying about that

Uh, these tubes make my 7308s sound Tubby. Amperex are known for their liquid forward mids, and the 7DJ8 has that, but there is zero flab here - it's like saying the SR60 and the PS-1 both have the Grado Mids, but hey- one is a SR60 and the other is a PS-1! The highs extend even higher and there's more PRaT from top to bottom too. One thing the 7308 has over the PW 7DJ8 is a more holographic positioning, so I'll keep these tubes for my more "soundscape" moments. Fortunately most of my music is of the "Rock your Balls off" variety, so I think the Pinched Waists are going to hold court for quite a while. They definitely are Meet tubes as well, because the "WOW" factor is very high and they'll cut right through any ambients without glare. The 7308 might smooth things over a bit like Mullards and sound sweet at home, but not a winner in a big hall.

Man, I can't believe I had to actually grab tubes directly from freaking Holland to get these Holland Amperex tubes, but it was sooooo worth it! Score another victory for the ninja mod!

 

[J-Pak]

Jahn you should probably dispose of those boxes quickly if you want to remain ninja

(especially the big obvious USPS one!)

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak Jahn you should probably dispose of those boxes quickly if you want to remain ninja (especially the big obvious USPS one!)

hehe they were gone before i tuberolled!

 

[Romanee]

How did you find and score those exotic tubes?

 

[lan]

That's great. Since you're moving, can you leave your amp with me?

I'd like to really see if it's any good

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee How did you find and score those exotic tubes?

That intro was the real kicker

 

[skudmunky]

Curses! After reading about the TBAAM, and having a hard drive die on me, while browsing newegg for a new hard drive I just couldn't resist adding the TBAAM to my cart. only 24 bucks! vacation-fi on the cheap

Sorry, this pic got bad lighting

As soon as I had it set up I started a nice A/B test with my x-fi. plugged both into my switch and amp, started 'Home' by Dream Theater and went at it. The x-fi had lossless, the tbaam had vbr mp3. The verdict? Not only could I not tell the difference between the x-fi and the tbaam, I couldn't notice much difference between .flac and .mp3 either. Keep in mind that I was using crappy cables though, I just now got back from You Do It electronics with some decent cables.

Now I just need to find myself a nice CD player and a good home amp. I spotted a good deal on a Rotel RCD 930AX at a local hi-fi store, this a good CDP for $130 used?

 

[Jahn]

Don't lie! I can read your screen, you have BASSHUNTER selected! long live DOTA!

On a more serious note, it looks like you are using your TBAAM for an analog line out. Any thoughts to making a tiny external DAC to put in an altoid tin, and run the digital optical out from the TBAAM to it?

 

[cmirza]

I loved the TBAAM when I had it. I gave one to my brother to use with his AKG K26Ps (he's a basshead of course) and he loves it. The best and cheapest option for audio on a laptop.

 

[skudmunky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Don't lie! I can read your screen, you have BASSHUNTER selected! long live DOTA! On a more serious note, it looks like you are using your TBAAM for an analog line out. Any thoughts to making a tiny external DAC to put in an altoid tin, and run the digital optical out from the TBAAM to it?

yep basshunter FTW!

I've wanted to stick a dac into a tin for a while (i mean, all my other stuff is in a tin

), but I can't find any DACs to make, since the alien dac PCBs seem to be all gone?

waidaminute, looks like the alien dac is back on the menu. gotta get me into the group buy!