[Hansotek]

No worries. Have heard great things about the Tungsten from all my friends that have demoed it so far at CanJam SoCal. Cheers

Reading up on it now, but does OTL mean no balanced input typically?

Edit: I didn't realize there were that many approaches to OTL designs. To answer my own question it all depends on the design approach.

I talked to Alex about this earlier tonight. The short story is, if he made it balanced, there would have to be 8 tubes instead of 4, and the Tungsten is already pretty large. It would be unbelievably impractical from a size and tube matching standpoint, and he can do SE really, really well.

 

[x RELIC x]

I talked to Alex about this earlier tonight. The short story is, if he made it balanced, there would have to be 8 tubes instead of 4, and the Tungsten is already pretty large. It would be unbelievably impractical from a size and tube matching standpoint, and he can do SE really, really well.

That's what I ended up figuring out after digging deeper. Differential OTL amps have a lot of challenges and require a huge amount of precision from what I gather. From what I hear when listening to the SE Input of the Liquid Carbon balanced Input is not a concern of mine (if it ever was). The man knows his phase splitters.

Thank you very much for asking Alex, really appreciate it!

 

[gr8soundz]

Even Fostex's $8K HP-V8 has only SE in yet it has 6+ tubes and a balanced headphone out:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/776591/fostex-hp-v8-pure-vacuum-tube-headphone-amplifier-announced
 

 

[Allanmarcus]

My son, @Rynsin, did some blind testing with folks at the Boston mini-meet yesterday. The compared balanced in vs SE input and no one could tell the difference. Hopefully he'll write it up in the mini-meet thread. Seems like balance would not really matter between a DAC and Amp.
 
Once I get the LC from him, I'm planning on running both balanced and SE from my Oppo HA-1 and switch between them to see if I can hear any difference. 

 

[westermac]

My son, @Rynsin, did some blind testing with folks at the Boston mini-meet yesterday. The compared balanced in vs SE input and no one could tell the difference. Hopefully he'll write it up in the mini-meet thread. Seems like balance would not really matter between a DAC and Amp.

Once I get the LC from him, I'm planning on running both balanced and SE from my Oppo HA-1 and switch between them to see if I can hear any difference. 

Out of curiosity I ran both a balanced and SE feed from my Apollo interface, and after some seamless AB testing I was unable to discern any difference.

I think those with a good SE source needn't fret (unless you are dealing with RF/EMI issues)

 

[fiascogarcia]

Soon to be (relatively!) first time owner of an LC.  Could you tell me what the requirement is for a power cord in the US?  Standard 115v with a 3 prong female?

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Soon to be (relatively!) first time owner of an LC.  Could you tell me what the requirement is for a power cord in the US?  Standard 115v with a 3 prong female?

I recommend any of these to impress your friends. 
 
http://www.dracoustics.com/en/product-category/power-cables/
 
Remember, size matters!
 
(or you can just use a standard three prong cable)

 

[fiascogarcia]

 
I recommend any of these to impress your friends. 
 
http://www.dracoustics.com/en/product-category/power-cables/
 
Remember, size matters!
 
(or you can just use a standard three prong cable)

Oh yeah, I use one of those Vulcan models to power my modified shop vac at home!  

  I'm the envy of the neighborhood.

 

[tuxbass]

Anyone here paring the HD 800S with LC ?
How good is that pairing ?

 

[rocketron]

Yes I do.
Fed from Hugo or Mojo.
Very pleased.
LC balanced adds space, air, authority and a sense of control.
The LC is a great amp in balanced out put.
I can't think of anything that compares in a price/ performance ratio.

 

[fiascogarcia]

Any word on what changes are being made to the second run of LCs?

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Reading up on it now, but does OTL mean no balanced input typically?

Edit: I didn't realize there were that many approaches to OTL designs. To answer my own question it all depends on the design approach.

 
Most OTL amp use RCA inputs only.  The only way I've seen a balanced OTL is when its built in a dual mono design.  So I would ponder that Alex would have had to build is prototype with twice as many tubes as he currently uses, or even in a dual mono block design.  That would be a huge setup and and finding matched tubes extremely difficult.

 

[x RELIC x]

Lol! It's funny, I just answered someone's question about SE Input on the Tungsten, then found my own answer to the different OTL designs and implementations (which face a lot more overall challenges than I initially thought vs using transformers). I hadn't seen an OTL with balanced Input so I was simply wondering out loud. Thanks guys, I get it.

Back to the Carbon.

 

[yage]

Most OTL amp use RCA inputs only.  The only way I've seen a balanced OTL is when its built in a dual mono design.

Sorry to keep the thread even more off topic, but the Circlotron topology is another way to get a balanced OTL tube amp. Should be familiar to Schiit fans and in the speaker world I believe Atma-Sphere pioneered it's use for their designs. Tungsten looks like a push-pull design to me...

 

[Youth]

Anyone heard HD800S with Liquid Carbon?