[UntilThen]

I've only been into headphones for a couple years, as most of my audio life was with full size 2-channel systems. With some job and residence changes I took about a 10 year hiatus (remission?) from the craziness. When I left, $2k power cords were all the rage. When I came back, power cords were passe' and $200 fuses were the talk of the town . Seems the insanity remains somewhat consistent and only changes direction every now and then.

So you're no ordinary elf. I underestimated you. My apologies. We could talk 2 channel now but then I'll miss my sleep and I have to drive 4 hours to get back to Sydney tomorrow.

 

[JKDJedi]

I've only been into headphones for a couple years, as most of my audio life was with full size 2-channel systems. With some job and residence changes I took about a 10 year hiatus (remission?) from the craziness. When I left, $2k power cords were all the rage. When I came back, power cords were passe' and $200 fuses were the talk of the town . Seems the insanity remains somewhat consistent and only changes direction every now and then.

My finger was hovering over that two channel system (Two of you here know about it) for an hour last night, I fell asleep. . I just couldn't do it... but .. today is a new day!!

 

[bcowen]

So you're no ordinary elf. I underestimated you. My apologies. We could talk 2 channel now but then I'll miss my sleep and I have to drive 4 hours to get back to Sydney tomorrow.

LOL! There's always tomorrow.

 

[DeweyCH]

Try again, but listen.. my first pot install was a 100k alps straight to a pcb board that I made. I remember having similar issues with one channel being always on. I played with the solder and pins too much to get a “good solder” and damaged the pot. This is when I stopped playing around with those cheap $5 soldering irons. I reinstalled a new 100k to a little pcb with minimal contact to the soldering iron and it went well. Sounded fine too. Noise floor was a little on the high side though.

So then I installed a 50k shunted and I may have even toasted one of those trying to remove it from a pcb that was too big? This is when I stopped playing around with those cheap solder suckers, however the alps is hard to desolder and probably best leaving it in a board. It was a lesson learned. It doesn’t feel good tossing a $15 pot.

In your case, I think it’s likely that the pot was damaged, try it again with cleaner connections, less solder or maybe scrap the shunt and wire it regularly. I have a 10k wired up normal and it sounds very good.

Next, I’m going for one of these pots at 10k value.

Yeah, that sounds about right, hah. I've ordered a 20k Alps that should arrive Thursday. Don't like that I (likely) toasted a nice pot, but them's the breaks sometimes. I'll be skipping the shunt mod for the time being once it arrives.

Any reason you want to put a stepped attenuator in place of the pot?

 

[JKDJedi]

Don't know yet. Giving them about 10 hours of play time before I listen. From the GM readings I got they appear to be genuinely new (as in unused). Have you received yours yet?

No and will give them 2 hours before commenting about them if and when they get here .. who am I kidding...soon as I unpack them... look at my newbies guys!!!

 

[JKDJedi]

LOL! There's always tomorrow.

I told them about ya.... They wouldn't listen!...
#TheDude

 

[therremans]

Yeah, that sounds about right, hah. I've ordered a 20k Alps that should arrive Thursday. Don't like that I (likely) toasted a nice pot, but them's the breaks sometimes. I'll be skipping the shunt mod for the time being once it arrives.

Any reason you want to put a stepped attenuator in place of the pot?

I want to hear if offers any improvements over the alps. I’ve heard very good things about them and that they sound as good as the goldpoint it copies. I’ve read that the Noble pot from England is an upgrade from the Alps but it costs a good amount more. Many have said that they think this stepped attenuator bests the Noble. Most attenuators won’t fit in the DV.

 

[DeweyCH]

IT WORKS!

 

[JKDJedi]

IT WORKS!

And the fix was... ??

 

[DeweyCH]

OK, so I was right - the connection from the pots to ground was broken, and the ground from the HP jack had come off the PCB (which wasn't an issue elsewhere because I had set up that hydra of short cables to connect to it and the bus bar ground). A touch of resoldering and voila, I actually did a thing. A thing that worked. A thing that sounds nice.

Thank you all so very much for your help in this, I can't believe how good your advice has been.

 

[DeweyCH]

Early findings with the Alps 50k pot + 47k resistor shunt mod (also pre-out removal, but hard to say what audible changes came from which):

- Balance is as spot-on as I could hope for
- It doesn't go from zero to twelve thousand decibels with the slightest nudge anymore
- Smoooooth turning
- Great sound
- Seriously zero noise floor

I ended up cancelling my order for the 20k Alps pot, but I did put in an order for that stepped attenuator @therremans linked. It'll arrive in February. Meantime this is fantastic to listen to and just straight-up enjoy.

 

[DeweyCH]

HUGE props to @therremans , @bcowen and @Paladin79 for the patient help and @JKDJedi for the moral support.

 

[therremans]

Great to hear that you figured it out and the pot wasn’t toast. This good energy will give you the confidence to redo it eventually. Yeah the shunt will give you complete silence even at max volume. I wasn’t really able to A/B mine so I can’t really comment on sonic qualities and sound differences. I would expect the balancing to be better on a shunted too however I never noticed mine being off at any volume without one. A slight channel imbalance would seem impossible to tell to me, unless you were using measuring gear. But maybe that’s just me. When I install the DACT type knock off, I’ll post my thoughts.

 

[HeatFan12]

Wow UT, beautiful!!! Long ways from us rolling tubes here years ago. Great job!!

I will gracefully bow out knowing this thread is in great hands. Proud of having started it years ago. We have come a long way. You guys are not even rolling tubes anymore. You are rolling spaceships, UFOs and F-16s. Very proud. The DV has really become a monster.

My third wife used to tell me “ you love those tubes all over the house more than you love me.” I would always reply “ no baby, I love you, but it’s just that these tubes get better with time. “.
We have been divorced eight years now. Oh well. Still have my tubes and we remain friends.

I’m still old skooool with my setups.
Cheers!!

 

[jonathan c]

I have two simple questions about the Darkvoice 336: Does the DV have any air slots? How, other than with a fan, does the DV not overheat?