[bunsco]

Hi all

I have a RSA Tomahawk which has about 750/800 + hours on it.

It has being said that the Tomahawk gets better and better with more use and that it is said that after 800 + hours one can notice improvements in SQ - especially in the bass department ( almost approaching Hornet level)

Has anyone else noticed or confirm this?

In fact is there still noticeable improvements after 1000+ hours?

I'd love to know as I'm not sure if im actually noticing improvements or if its placebo due to exposure of the above information.

Thanx to any help given.

 

[Kabeer]

Well if you dont notice it, then obviously if the changes arent placebo, they arent at all significant to your ears.

 

[String Section]

I've had mine for just over a year. I always enjoyed the Tomahawk, and could easily hear the improvement when using it with the line-outs of my vintage Sony Discman players. However, after 200+ hours of use, I could perceive no changes in the sound. So, thinking I might be missing out by not having gone through the "full burn-in" of 800 hours, I plugged the unit in to a clock radio and some inefficient headphones. I played rock and metal through them at medium-high volume 24 hours a day for 30 days.

I have a group of well-recorded CDs that I use for analyzing the sound during equipment changes. I use each track methodically to look for variations in the sound of male voices, female voices, massed chorus, massed strings, cymbals, upright bass, tympani, dreadnought guitar, mandolin, room acoustics, etc., etc. (I'm sure we all do this to some degree, though many may not be as anal about it as I!) All along the process, I used the unamped headphone-out of a particular D-33 as the controlled baseline.

I now had well over 900 hours on the unit, mostly playing at volumes that would be considered unsafe. I then spent several hours with Grado SR-80s, Sennheiser HD595s, and UE Super.fi 5 Pros trying to discern any increase in the gap between the headphone-outs of my CD players and the line-outs with the Tomahawk in the chain.

As before, the Tomahawk's sound was superior, but I cannot say that it sounded any better than when new. Notably, there was absolutely NO increased presence of bass frequencies or "warmth", which is what most comments here led me to expect.

Before anyone flames me with an adolescent attack, please keep two things in mind:

1) I DO believe in burn-in. I have experienced it myself several times, most convincingly, with a pair of ZU Cable Gede interconnects on my main stereo rig.

2) I'm not saying that burn-in of YOUR Tomahawk was not evident to YOU using YOUR headphones and source.

That said, I do have very acute hearing, with an ear for minute details. I'm confident that anyone saying they could hear a post-burn-in improvement with MY gear would have to be deluding themselves.

 

[Nuwidol]

I compared my 2000+ hour Tomahawk to a Hornet a few months back & the Hornets bass was miles ahead...

 

[BIG POPPA]

I have over 1200 hours or so it does get better and if you let it warm up for fifteen minutes or so it helps.

 

[iittoo]

i think the bass between these two was different,the tomahawk bass is more lay back compare to hornet bass which is aggressive ,so it depend on what type of bass do you want.....

 

[BIG POPPA]

Tomahawk was made for IEM's and the Hornet was made for IEM's and full size can's. This is why The Hornet has a little more bass. But in return it is bigger and will have a lot more maintenance. Drop two AAA's and forget about it in the Tommy. The Hornet is how much again in a single charge?

 

[bunsco]

thanx guys.

Im enjoying my tommy, and I personally have noticed an overall smoothness overall between 400 (the perceived watershed burn-in mark) and say 600/700 hours.

And seeing my HD-25's leaning towards the bottom end, some recordings sound very lush to me - a good compromise between full sized phone sound and portability

 

[nickyboyo]

I keep playing with the idea of selling my tomahawk and trying something else, but when you weigh up the pro's and con's i come to the conclusion that i would have to have rocks in my head to get rid of the tomahawk.

The sound it gives out, the size of the amp, the build quality and the unbelievable battery life make this amp a keeper for life. It is like a fine wine/good woman- matures nicely with age.

 

[BIG POPPA]

Ta Daaaaa........ We have a winner

 

[bunsco]

yeah, all i have to do is resist the temptation to buy a pico/predator!!

But damn - that crazy battery life keeps slapping me in the face when i even consider an alternative.

 

[Rico67]

Battery life of the predator is crazy.
More than 50 hours.
Only 2 hours for a full charge.