[PhoenixG]

Quote:

Thanks for the compliment, but Im not even an engineer. Just a regular blue collar guy with a love of music, the silver faced toys of my youth, and a healthy scepticism of snake oil and pseudo science.

Did someone ask for an engineer? Haha! I hate to be non-specific, but every link in the chain counts at some level, and they each have a quantifiable effect on the sound. Will I spend a ton of money on solid gold cables? No. But a good recording, a good amp, and good speakers are important. Every link you add in the chain increases the overall distortion exponentially, and you can quickly multiply distortion to audible levels. 
Let's talk about DAC's - at their simplest, they can be very cheap and not so good for a number of build-quality related reasons. It's not too complex to build a good one and I think it's possible to find one that passes the signal with minimal distortion at a decent price. It doesn't take much power to put out a 1v line, but if you have inferior components, you can still mess up a decent DAC. 

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

I need to find a pre-owned HE-6 for it. Attractively price!

I think we all have that need !

 

[MIKELAP]

Quote:

Do not use the little dot as a preamp unless you are 100% positive that there are DC blocking caps on the input of your amp. There are no output caps for the preamp outs. Theres a chance you could blow your speakers with a big surge of DC.

Thanks for that i saw this yesterday somewhere regarding dc coupled amps but i forgot about it will seek answers
Thanks again

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
 
I think we all have that need !

 

 I want a seller to entice me. It's not like I need more headphones than sneaks. If it's a local member that's long been curious about vintage integrated amps and receivers, I'll throw 

one in! And just like that, they'll be posting here in no time. 
 
The HD650/Sansui/Pioneer has proved to be quite serviceable. So, if I'm to walk away from my bowl of tea in the afternoon, that price had better be good for the HiFiMan cans! Besides, I'll need a few extra dollars to get 'em dolled-up.

 

[palmfish]

Did someone ask for an engineer? Haha! I hate to be non-specific, but every link in the chain counts at some level, and they each have a quantifiable effect on the sound. Will I spend a ton of money on solid gold cables? No. But a good recording, a good amp, and good speakers are important. Every link you add in the chain increases the overall distortion exponentially, and you can quickly multiply distortion to audible levels. 
Let's talk about DAC's - at their simplest, they can be very cheap and not so good for a number of build-quality related reasons. It's not too complex to build a good one and I think it's possible to find one that passes the signal with minimal distortion at a decent price. It doesn't take much power to put out a 1v line, but if you have inferior components, you can still mess up a decent DAC. 

The engineer remark was in reference to a certain vocal "objectivist" who lives in the NW. It isnt me.

I agree 100% with your comments. I will only add that finding a good recording, good amp, and good speakers is easier now than ever before. Good amps and speakers are cheap and plentiful.

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

Good amps and speakers are cheap and plentiful.

Actually they always have been (at least since the rise of stereo to prominence in 1958).

 

[palmfish]

Actually they always have been (at least since the rise of stereo to prominence in 1958).

Not nearly as cheap and plentiful as they are now. Opamps and Chinese manufacturing have made the current state of the art available to anyone.

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

I need to find a pre-owned HE-6 for it. Attractively price!

 
I have a very nice he4 that I can paint a 6 in place of the 4...same thing. 

 

[gikigill]

Nice try Matt but they are very different beasts.

The 6 handily out classes a lot of headphones, I listened to the 500 and the 6 together and it was a huge difference. There was no competition between them.

 

[gikigill]

Did I mention my 6 are powered by a vintage Sherwood pushing 110W RMS/ch.

 

[Skylab]

Properly amped, the HE-6 can be the best headphone in the world. It was the HE-6 that made me buy a SX-1980, originally. I wanted to be able to deliver enough power right from the headphone jack. And the HE-6 paired with the SX-1980 is pretty special as a combo, I will tell you.

 

[MIKELAP]

Quote:

Thanks for that i saw this yesterday somewhere regarding dc coupled amps but i forgot about it will seek answers
Thanks again

 
Quote:

Do not use the little dot as a preamp unless you are 100% positive that there are DC blocking caps on the input of your amp. There are no output caps for the preamp outs. Theres a chance you could blow your speakers with a big surge of DC.

I sent an email regarding this to David zhezhe of Littledot this is his reply :

The Little Dot MK III s not recommended to be used with DC coupled power amplifiers, which sounds like your SX750 is.

Best Regards,
David
 
[size=10pt] - davidzhezhe[/size]

 

[moodyrn]

Properly amped, the HE-6 can be the best headphone in the world. It was the HE-6 that made me buy a SX-1980, originally. I wanted to be able to deliver enough power right from the headphone jack. And the HE-6 paired with the SX-1980 is pretty special as a combo, I will tell you.

Not to derail my own thread, but I completely agree. I heard the he6 a while back paired with a high end audio research tube amp, and it was at least as good as the 009/blue Hawaii combo I listened to. That headphone literally have no ceiling when it comes to upstream components.

Well maybe it's not as much as a derailment after all because that leads me to this. There are a slew of vintage amps I heard that gets you real close to the best I've heard them. And like you, Skylab one of the biggest reasons why I only look into totl vintage gear is the potential of a new he6 amp. And for me that question has pretty much ended with the 500c.

It's very reminiscent of what I heard from the audio research, while being more neutral tonal wise. Then when I want a different flavor I can take I can take it to either my office or bedroom with either the sansui or kenwood. And they sound fabulous on both.

 

[Silent One]

Y'all are leaving me hungry... 

 and I just finished breakfast! Can't wait for the HE-6/Sansui introduction...

 

[kstuart]

So it turns out that my recapped Sansui AU-417 had distortion in the right channel.  I contacted the seller, and he had me try Deoxit (and I also did a DC offset check), but no joy.  So, he had me send it back to him (it turns out that he does the recapping & glue cleanup himself as a hobby - his feedback is full of various AU-x17 amps).  
 
He received it and he reports that it was a broken solder joint.  When he re-soldered the joint, the distortion went away.  He readjusted the DC offset and bias and has shipped it back to me.
 
So, the morale(s):
 
* If you are looking to fix an audio problem in vintage electronics, be sure to look for bad or broken solder joints.
 
and
 
* Shipping of old gear is liable to shake something loose.
 
And it is cool that the guy wanted to stand behind his work...