[stryker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myoung A friend with much more experience than I have with headphone amps (and high-end audio in general) came over one day with his EarMax with upgraded tubes and his Senn 600s for a little shootout with the Dodd. He gave it a listen with both the Grados and the Senns and said there was no point in even trying the EarMax -- the Dodd beat it in every way. He also said he'd never heard the Grados sound that good. A month or two earlier, the Head Room guys came through town with their amps and some stuff from ASL and I think the 300 SEIs from Cary. Anyway, my friend spent the afternoon there, liked the ASL stuff and loved the Cary. The Dodd didn't beat the Cary, he said, but it may have bettered everything else he heard.

If this is the case, it's worth every penny. We need to get a unit to Hirsch for an offical evaluation. Perhaps someone can score a loaner (unless I buy one first!) for the next meet.

 

[VanTheMan]

****! I was convinced on getting one of those PPX3 amps with the 6NS7 tubes ....

Now im confussed again

 

[raif]

This sounds like a great deal.

Unfortunately that means one of two things are about to happen.

a) It will become FOTM(gasp!)

b) Dr G. will come on and rip the build quality apart starting another holy war with its supporters.

 

[utep10]

I appreciate myoung's input but what does it mean. What ASL product did it sound better then? Head OTL mkIII? OTL 32? The MG Head OTL mkIII is a nice sounding amp for ~$350. For the price, it shouldn't surprise us that the Dodd sounds better. How did it sound better? I have not heard the Earmax so can't comment.

I think putting the Dodd in between a ASL amp and the Cary SEI 300 is logical , and depending on which ASL amp it is, that is quite a hole between them.

 

[loveheadphones]

do you like your senn hd-650's better with the Dodd or the Blockhead?

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Thanks for sharing your experience Smokey, this seems like an exciting new headphone amp to pine over (just what we all need

). If only there were some comparisons between this and the PPX/MPX....

BTW- I'd LOVE to see some pr0n if u don't mind Smokey.

 

[smokey]

The pron I'd have wouldn't be any different than that already on the Dodd site. Mine looks exactly the same as the one in the picture.

It really isn't much of a contest between the Blockhead and the Dodd with the Senn 650s. The Blockhead is a purpose built amp, at a much higher price tag. The BH goes deeper, with a lot more authority. It also has more of a you are in the hall kind of perspective with the crossfeed activated.

IMHO You get more for your money with the Dodd, but if you're looking for the last couple of degrees of performance you'll need to pay the higher entrance fee.

Now, on a full disclosure note. I have an outstanding interest check for my Blockhead posted on the amp for sale forum. I'm thinking of selling it, mainly because it just doesn't make financial sense to have that much money locked up in an amp I don't use that often anymore. As wonderful as I think the BH, I find that I use my R-10s and Omega IIs more. I want to start concentrating my amp budget toward maximizing these phones. So, take whatever I say into advisement with that caveat.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Pr0n means pics of the inside!

 

[smokey]

O.K. I'll admit it, I'm a coward when it comes to opening up tubed audio equipment.

I've posted this story before, but this seems an appropriate time to do it again. When I was a kid I bought a strobe light kit from Rat Shack. I soldered, and drilled, and screwed, and finally got it together without too many left over parts. Unfortunately, the only thing it ever did was smoke. Never did strobe. Ever since then I've let other people do my building for me. So no, I have no confidence I'd ever get the thing back together if I did take it apart.

Maybe the Dodd folks would post a picture, if we asked real nice.

 

[stryker]

Maybe this will at least give everyone a touch more info. The following is taken from an email by Gary Dodd. Yes, it is a private exchange, but, according to my wife the law student, there is an expectation/assumption that email is really not confidential speech. So...I'm posting it here. Anyway here it is without his permission:

Sorry for the delay, I've been in Canada for the last week almost. I design my own transformers, that info is proprietory and I will not give it out.I use the highest grade of steel lams and good copper internal wire. The magic is in the way I wind them, very different than the other guys making transformers, and eventually someone else will figure it out, then everybody will do it. What I can say is that the amp has only 3 componets in the audio path, the tube , the transformer, and a single resistor. And It is a really wonderful sounding amp.

 

[Snoodge]

I hate to sound patronizing but, the low level hum/buzz, did you try using a 3 to 2 pin power converter to lift the ground?

I had the same problem with a pair of Parasound THX Monobloc's and it took me a couple of weeks until it finally dawned on me to try lifting the ground with a 3 to 2 pin plug adapter.

 

[skullguise]

Floating the ground is a valid question. I also would ask about or otherwise suggest some power conditioning. Maybe the Humbuster from PS Audio, or some other conditioner?

Worth a try. Sounds like a great amp, smokey, thanks for the write-ups.

 

[Snoodge]

in my experience, trying to use expensive power conditioning to fix a ground loop hum that can be fixed by floating the ground with a simple adapter plug would be just a lot of extra work and money.