[PointyFox]

@PointyFox So the GSX didn't reveal those "trailing edges" ?/s I've read these conclusions many times, but the gsx is more expensive so according the audophile math - its better.

Not to my ears with the Stealth.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Just back to checking this thread because i had more time to listen Stealth again today. Turns out this thread as "lively" as ever.

For a person who can not differentiate sound of A90d and GSX Mini, that wouldn't be a fault to anyone. No verbal recommendation has 100% accuracy, especially since the "ear sensitivity" to take differences of quality/character in sound is so subjective. To say two different amps with different parts, design, and production to sound exactly the same is kind of... ridiculously subjective (regardless the price).

Anyway, Stealth through Dcs Bartok is sublime. The big wide soundstage, good clean impact, and full body tone of Bartok paired really well with Stealth.

 

[ok computer]

Man this thread really is a banger. @PointyFox I commend you for buying and trying out different gear and coming to your own conclusions. Now you know for yourself what's worth it and what's not to you. I respect that infinitely more than people speculating about gear that they've never heard. Lots of people on ASR and Reddit crap on expensive gear just to justify not spending money or not making an effort to find a way to try out different set ups.

Also I'm waiting until I get an amp that I'm happy with before doing a more thorough comparison between the SR-1A and the Stealth's, but for now I can say that they are just so different it's hard to wrap my brain around it. They are opposites in a lot of ways and I think they compliment each other well.

PS. 14 years on this site and I just made my first signature lol. I joined this sit when I was 14 and didn't know anything about audio and had no money to spend. Thankful for all the info and enjoyment I've gotten out of this hobby and this forum!

 

[theveterans]

IMO if you’re looking for Raal’s airy signature out of the Stealth, definitely try the A90 D or Chrod TT2. If you want the stealth to sound more full in the lower regions, the Burson or the GSX mini would do it

 

[PointyFox]

theveterans said:
IMO if you’re looking for Raal’s airy signature out of the Stealth, definitely try the A90 D or Chrod TT2. If you want the stealth to sound more full in the lower regions, the Burson or the GSX mini would do it

Continuing this line of discussion in a different thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/validity-of-claims.964661/#post-17117354

 

[theveterans]

When someone tells you how amplifiers sound, especially on Head-fi, and especially if it conforms to the Head-fi beliefs that things that are cool or look cool sound cold (like amplifiers that run cool or silver wires) or things that are hot or look warm sound warm (like amplifiers that run warm or copper wires), you should ask yourself a few things before you consider their opinion valid.

Major factors for validity are:

• If they've heard the equipment or not.
• Whether or not they (correctly) volume matched with a meter.
• If they benefit in a major way from reaching a particular conclusion.
• How quickly they were able to switch back and forth for comparison. This type of testing requires rapid switching (within a few seconds due to acoustic memory limitations).

Minor factors for validity are:

• How experienced they are listening for differences.
• How well their hearing works. (Unless they're deaf, but odds are most of us aren't).
• Ambient noise level when they did the comparison.
• Music or noise selection for comparison.
• If they benefit in minor way from reaching a particular conclusion.
• If the meter is calibrated or not.

Most people on here are trying to do science while not having the slightest clue how.
The method is just as important as the observations themselves.
The method should be both repeatable and reproduceable.

E.g. if you give someone a room full of equipment and tell them that you think amp A had more bass impact than amp B, they may not hear it unless they are given some details such as what volume level, what music, and with what headphones the observation was made.

But it's absurd to post all this information for a simple comparison between amps, right?

Yes, but there are a few basic things we can include pretty easily, such as "I heard (observation) after volume matching to (sound pressure level) with a (headphone type) in (location) using an A/B switch". That checks off 3/4 of the major factors in one sentence and it's much more likely to be valid than a statement like "If you want more full sound a ___ would do it".

There's nothing scientific in recommendations as it is an OPINION. The phrase YMMV is implied. You take an opinion as a fact too seriously IMHO. Even if you recommend someone to have a whatever's on the blue color from ASR's SINAD chart the listening experience will still vary from listener to listener, and that's not even including component synergy (yes even the word synergy is an opinion and varies too from person to person). What my opinion is stating is a convergence to a narrower sonic spectrum of a component to have a certain sound signature (heck the Harman Curve is also just converge to a narrower sound signature and not everyone will hear the same tonality (it again varies) with of the exact Harman curve). Because of the implied YMMV, even your ASR approved blue labeled amps will sound in varying degrees and not exactly the same as you believe (that's my opinion, and feel free to believe that everything in the Blue is inaudible to you, my belief is not yours and is backed up with my own experiences that's only relavant to me). BTW if a person is asking for a sound signature, they're asking for an OPINION and not some objective graphs and other geeky curves that's claming to be "scientific"

 

[paradoxper]

Holy crap, you guys officially ruined Head-Fi.

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

Holy crap, you guys officially ruined Head-Fi.

Some people get very angry when I say that all amps don't sound the same.

 

[TheRunningIr0n]

If someone who has committed to subjective comparative analysis the way you're supposed to (by accounting for the extremely short duration of echoic memory) states that two amplifiers can drive the stealth equally, it's not the place of others to trivialize that member's observations by making accusations. It's a much better idea to not reply at all.

Currawong already created a duplicate Stealth thread specifically so that you guys can continue playing Plato's cave simulator if negative or neutral impressions cause you to become emotionally compromised.

Anyway, I've been playing around with the idea that people's controversial opinions about the presentation of the Stealth in most cases have little or nothing to do with amplifier output. It may have more to do with whatever damping system is used in the rear of the cup to absorb the back wave and influence the mechanical impedance of the 'v-planar' diaphragm to achieve low distortion. Along with the pads, an aggressive enough treatment could give people the impression that they're listening to a pair of speakers in an anechoic room.

If a similar system is used in both the Noir and Stealth it would explain the perceived similarities between the two as reported by members and reviewers. Hopefully we'll eventually find owners brave enough to crack them open and deliver the goods.

 

[elira]

I think a better approach with the Stealth is to use EQ or some DSP to adjust the sound.

The Stealth are very transparent and the source material has a huge effect on how the sound is presented. Trying to adjust the sound with expensive amps doesn’t seem to be the best approach.

I don’t see much sense on adding a heavily colored amp to compensate for the transparency of the headphones.

 

[DarginMahkum]

Has been moved to here.

 

[joe]

MOD NOTE: I removed some personal attacks in this thread. Let's drop it, folks. Move along.

 

[Currawong]

If someone who has committed to subjective comparative analysis the way you're supposed to (by accounting for the extremely short duration of echoic memory) states that two amplifiers can drive the stealth equally, it's not the place of others to trivialize that member's observations by making accusations. It's a much better idea to not reply at all.

Casual listening impressions are not scientific experiments. There is no "proper way". If you want to do things a manner that makes you feel superior because the word "science" is in the title, there is a forum for that.

Currawong already created a duplicate Stealth thread specifically so that you guys can continue playing Plato's cave simulator if negative or neutral impressions cause you to become emotionally compromised.

It is not your place to "trivialise" other members' observations because they don't meet your standards either, let alone make veiled attacks suggesting that people who do so are deluded. The purpose of an impressions thread is to ... post impressions, good or bad. Appreciation threads, which were only positive, were abolished more than half a decade ago. Since the purpose of listening to music is enjoyment, reading about whether or not people enjoyed using a product, and with what other products and to what music helps people decide if purchasing it is a good idea or not.

The whole 15+ years I've been here, fanatical objectivists have tried to force out subjective listening impressions entirely from the forums, questioning the sanity of anyone who posts them in every way possible. It's deeply ironic that you use a religious/philosophical analogy against me to question the sanity of people who post subjective impressions. It really is deeply hypocritical.

 

[PointyFox]

Casual listening impressions are not scientific experiments. There is no "proper way". If you want to do things a manner that makes you feel superior because the word "science" is in the title, there is a forum for that.

It is not your place to "trivialise" other members' observations because they don't meet your standards either, let alone make veiled attacks suggesting that people who do so are deluded.

The whole 15+ years I've been here, fanatical objectivists have tried to force out subjective listening impressions entirely from the forums, questioning the sanity of anyone who posts them in every way possible. It's deeply ironic that you use a religious/philosophical analogy against me to question the sanity of people who post subjective impressions. It really is deeply hypocritical.

Let me get this straight.

You trivialize a scientific approach to testing and tell us we just do it so we can "feel superior".
Then you tell US not to trivialize other member's observations??
You literally just did that to us.
Then you call us "fanatical", then close by saying we're "deeply hypocritical" when you just demonstrated that you are yourself?

Amazing.

 

[ubs28]

Let me get this straight.

You trivialize a scientific approach to testing and tell us we just do it so we can "feel superior".
Then you tell US not to trivialize other member's observations??
You literally just did that to us.
Then you call us "fanatical", then close by saying we're "deeply hypocritical" when you just demonstrated that you are yourself?

Amazing.

We don't believe in science here. We believe the earth is flat because that is how we observe the world with our own eyes.