Darkvoice 336 arrived in 110 voltage.
Dec 13, 2006 at 12:26 AM Post #721 of 823
Meh! Mine has been "inbound to customs" since Saturday...I imagine they have a big of a backup with the holidays and lots of shipping to people abroad. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm not thinking "Way to name it something that sounds like a terrorist plot...'Operation Darkvoice'...they've probably destroyed my amp with a controlled explosion by now."

EDIT: When any of you ordered from Jian Liu, how did he ship it? He's sending it to me via EMS, as opposed to DHL which seems to be the choice of the ebay sellers. I'm wondering if there may be a customs duty issue that has arisen...so has anyone gotten an amp from him via EMS successfully?

Thanks!
600smile.gif
 
Dec 13, 2006 at 2:21 AM Post #722 of 823
EMS shipping is used to the USA,then DHL takes over and does the USA delivery.I believe the same thing happens the other way but opposite,EMS takes over when a shipment arrives in China from DHL.
 
Dec 13, 2006 at 3:23 AM Post #723 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by echo1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
EMS shipping is used to the USA,then DHL takes over and does the USA delivery.I believe the same thing happens the other way but opposite,EMS takes over when a shipment arrives in China from DHL.


That's what I was thinking, but then I checked usps.com and was able to track my package there. I'll go check out the DHL site again...maybe something has changed? I just hope it comes soon, as I'll be heading back home to CT for break soon
frown.gif
 
Dec 13, 2006 at 3:36 AM Post #724 of 823
I can't track the package on the DHL website at all. I was reading about customs and public vs. private couriers, and it said one of the reasons using a private courier is more expensive than using the regular mail system is because private couriers (like DHL) often include in their price customs brokering which helps facilitate the process. If Jian Liu used EMS -> USPS, then there was probably money saved on shipping at the expense of speed.

Well...he sent it last Tuesday, and it reached the US on Saturday...and even though NYC isn't far from Boston, maybe it's just taking more time. If I don't hear from the Post Office tomorrow, I'll just go in and check to see if maybe they forgot to leave the note in my box to go pick it up...
 
Dec 20, 2006 at 7:59 AM Post #727 of 823
after a long day of working two jobs, i come home to big box from china. this is what was inside, and i couldn't have been happier.
darkvoice.jpg

darkvoice-dark.jpg


so far, i'm loving it - straight out of the box. anyone here pairing them with some grados? for those who are are any of you using impedance cables? do they make a noticeable difference?
 
Dec 21, 2006 at 5:57 PM Post #728 of 823
hey, i'm pretty interested in this and am wondering where and who you guys are contacting to buy this amp. and also, how much are you guys paying shipped to conus?

and has anyone paired the darkvoice with a musiland md10 dac?
 
Dec 21, 2006 at 7:07 PM Post #729 of 823
the very first post in this thread by the op includes the contact information on how to get your hands on one. Mr liu was who i kept in contact with and he was very helpful and quick with responses up until i got the amp in the mail. make sure you specify what voltage you want yours to come as. the price for mine was $310 shipped to the u.s.
 
Jan 5, 2007 at 5:30 AM Post #730 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Holy crap, you did it! How's it sound?
biggrin.gif




For me...

Strengths:

1. It uses readily available tubes and doesn't require matching pairs or quads, so rolling has a lot of options and is very easy.

2. It can drive most low Z phones reasonably well in its stock form.

3. The sound is neither slow and mushy (too warm/"tubey") or dry and harsh (too bright/"SS-like"), and has amazing clarity, dynamics, and tonal balance. Soundstage isn't the biggest around though, which can be bad or good depending on one's preferences.

3.5 Even way past sane volume levels the sound doesn't distort or otherwise fall apart, without fatigue even at those levels either.


Changes:

1. The volume pot is completely wrong, and has a severely restricted usable range. Any normal audio pot would do better. (For me I had ~15 degrees of soft-loud range of usable volumes, and after modding got ~180 degrees of usable range)

2. Output caps form a high-pass filter on deep bass frequencies with very low Z phones, although changing to bigger caps pretty much necessitates electrolytics due to size constraints.

3-174. See the link in my sig.


What do you think of the Darkvoice with extremely "high Z" headphones, such as the K340?

What exactly is this volume pot problem that you speak of? Has anybody else experienced this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Well they did upgrade the Darkvoices slightly to accomodate the majority of other low Z phones better, but it just isn't quite enough to do everything on Grados. It can still sound great with them, but it just isn't operating at 100%, and is even worse of a problem for somebody who really digs TEH BASS.
basshead.gif


Bass is a funny thing though, it took me a while to even notice that my amp was rolling off the bass a tad when it was still stock (40 ohm W5000s) and I've typically preferred headphones with less overall bass, but yet I use bookshelf speakers that can make the entire room shake at sub-bass frequencies.
basshead.gif
basshead.gif



So, the Darkvoice is a bit bass-shy?

Has anybody compared the Darkvoice to an M3? Which sounds warmer in the highs?
 
Jan 5, 2007 at 3:32 PM Post #731 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure /img/forum/go_quote.gif
What do you think of the Darkvoice with extremely "high Z" headphones, such as the K340?

What exactly is this volume pot problem that you speak of? Has anybody else experienced this?

So, the Darkvoice is a bit bass-shy?

Has anybody compared the Darkvoice to an M3? Which sounds warmer in the highs?



I have no issues with the volume pot, though I understand what Fitz is saying. It's not really a SQ issue IMO. But yeah a better volume pot would be a nice upgrade.

NO! That's the beauty of tubes. Find the right tube for the sound you're after. The Kenrad Black glass VT231 puts out mucho bass!
340smile.gif


The Darkvoice is much better suited to K340's than the M3 IMO. The M3 doesn't have the power of the Darkvoice, and the DV is much more neutral (yeah I know neutral isn't what you think of with a tube amp).
 
Jan 5, 2007 at 9:49 PM Post #732 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The M3 doesn't have the power of the Darkvoice


Really? I thought the M3 was one of the more powerful SS amps, almost up there with the Dynahi? From some searching I did a lot of people seemed to agree that the M3 is a power amp and can easily drive the K340s.
 
Jan 6, 2007 at 3:52 AM Post #733 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Really? I thought the M3 was one of the more powerful SS amps, almost up there with the Dynahi? From some searching I did a lot of people seemed to agree that the M3 is a power amp and can easily drive the K340s.


Sorry. I confused it with the Millet hybrid, never mind. I have not heard the M3.
 
Jan 8, 2007 at 1:55 AM Post #734 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Has anybody compared the Darkvoice to an M3? Which sounds warmer in the highs?


I remember what happened the last time a certain somebody asked me to compare the Darkvoice and M3...
 
Jan 8, 2007 at 2:10 AM Post #735 of 823
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I remember what happened the last time a certain somebody asked me to compare the Darkvoice and M3...


Huh? Was that certain "somebody" me (I'm honestly not quite sure...)? Are you referring to the second biggest disappointment thread?
 
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