[Sorrodje]

HI Purrin. In your Opinion what's the best EC for HD800. I had the chance to try the Totaldac D2 Dual + EC Balancing Act combo ( fortunately superfred21 is a friend of mine and we're neighbours

) and was extremely impressed . I can't believe there is somewhere something better . the BA smoothness and the perfectly natural tone of the totaldac seems to do marvels with HD800. 
 
I'm waiting my Sonett2 and hope my Metrum Octave and the DNA amp will be a decent combo in the same spirit ( transparency, smoothness and natural R2R tone) but the totaldac +BA seemed to my ears the "end game" combo for HD800.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

I'm not Purrin but I would take a zana duex over ba for hd800 but do not know zd vs 4-45 or the 2a3's.  Seems apparent the 4-45 should be a pretty sizeable improvement on the ba.

 

[TwoEars]

  I'm not Purrin but I would take a zana duex over ba for hd800 but do not know zd vs 4-45 or the 2a3's.  Seems apparent the 4-45 should be a pretty sizeable improvement on the ba.

 
Not necessarily, the 445 is 2x2 45 tubes in parallel. Perfect for orthos or small speakers, but the HD800 isn't really that power hungry.
 
And you can get the BA with 300b, 45 or 2A3 tubes I believe.
 
So I'm thinking that the BA, 2A3 and 445 should all be reasonable close in flavor. depending on tubes of course.
 
But the ZDSE should be a different flavor from all those. More euphonic I think the term is.
 
Please someone correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[Stapsy]

mk4 and 445 use paralleled 2A3/45s as Marv already stated.  The biggest difference besides that is the interstage transformer with the 2A3mk4 and 445 and the 5842/645pi vs 6sn7 drivers with the BA. They new topologies aren't all that similar to the BA.
 
I think you are confusing the ZDT and the ZDSE.  The ZDT is transformer coupled whereas the ZD and ZDSE are OTL.
 
And I think the 2A3mk4 is better than the BA, and I am just using relatively cheap 5842/2A3s.

 

[bmichels]

  mk4 and 445 use paralleled 2A3/45s as Marv already stated.  The biggest difference besides that is the interstage transformer with the 2A3mk4 and 445 and the 5842/645pi vs 6sn7 drivers with the BA. They new topologies aren't all that similar to the BA.
 
I think you are confusing the ZDT and the ZDSE.  The ZDT is transformer coupled whereas the ZD and ZDSE are OTL.
 
And I think the 2A3mk4 is better than the BA, and I am just using relatively cheap 5842/2A3s.

 
2A3mk4 better than the BA !!

   could you please elaborate ?  and what about 2A3mk4 v/s the 4-45 ? 

 

[TwoEars]

And there we have it, if anyone is ready to sell their POS BA yet they are welcome to pm me.
 
Obviously it's no good anymore.

 
(I'm serious btw, considering BA, ZDSE and Stratus at the moment...)

 

[ericfarrell85]

  And there we have it, if anyone is ready to sell their POS BA yet they are welcome to pm me.
 
Obviously it's no good anymore.

 
(I'm serious btw, considering BA, ZDSE and Stratus at the moment...)

Yeah, FOTM always stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors (though admittedly I usually find Purrins ears to be reference ears). I don't doubt that some of these amps are superior to the BA in certain applications, but synergy still reigns supreme I think. I find nothing wrong with the Lampi > Offramp > BA > HD800. It's right there with the SR009 for my own tastes. Much as I love the Zana Deux and its magical euphony, for the HD800 I prefer a little more weight and texture, which the BA kindly provides. 

 

[Stapsy]

2A3mk4 has better detail, imaging, soundstage than the BA that I have heard.  The BA is a warmer/lusher/more forward sound.  2A3mk4 also works far better with Orthos like the LCD3, HE5, Code-X.  Keep in mind that this is very relative.  They are all in the same ballpark.  Do I like the mk4 better than the BA? Yes.  Would I sell a BA to buy a mk4? No.
 
In the end I wanted something that would drive speakers as well so I went with the 2A3mk4.  Plus 2A3s seem to be more readily available than 45s.

 

[bmichels]

  2A3mk4 has better detail, imaging, soundstage than the BA that I have heard.  The BA is a warmer/lusher/more forward sound.  2A3mk4 also works far better with Orthos like the LCD3, HE5, Code-X.  Keep in mind that this is very relative.  They are all in the same ballpark.  Do I like the mk4 better than the BA? Yes.  Would I sell a BA to buy a mk4? No.
 
In the end I wanted something that would drive speakers as well so I went with the 2A3mk4.  Plus 2A3s seem to be more readily available than 45s.

 
Thanks,
 
so now I need to decide between the 2A3mk4 and the 4-45 that also drive speakers (but only 3 watts) and IMO looks even more stunning (this is totally personnal). 
 
QUESTION: is the 2A3mk4 really a viable solution for Speakers ? 6w seems very low compared to a dedicated speakers amp ? isn't a Headphone + speaker Amp more a gimic than a real solution ? What speakers do you use with your 2A3mk4 ?  do you need to crank the volume control all the way up when you use speakers ?  no distortions ? good sound from the speakers ? 
 
 
 
The 2nd run of production of the 4-45 should indeed look something like this (4 tubes in a BA case)
 

 

[G600]

Depends on the speaker's sensitivity... but from a tube amp, 6W per channel can prove more than enough...
"Assez pour décoller le papier peint", like we say in French.

 

[bmichels]

Depends on the speaker's sensitivity... but from a tube amp, 6W per channel can prove more than enough...
"Assez pour décoller le papier peint", like we say in French.

OH your are FRANÇAIS ! Me too . From où ?

 

[G600]

Amiens.

 

[bebop86]

How would the ba be with the oppo pm-1. Thks

 

[Mr.Sneis]

   
Thanks,
 
so now I need to decide between the 2A3mk4 and the 4-45 that also drive speakers (but only 3 watts) and IMO looks even more stunning (this is totally personnal). 
 
QUESTION: is the 2A3mk4 really a viable solution for Speakers ? 6w seems very low compared to a dedicated speakers amp ? isn't a Headphone + speaker Amp more a gimic than a real solution ? What speakers do you use with your 2A3mk4 ?  do you need to crank the volume control all the way up when you use speakers ?  no distortions ? good sound from the speakers ? 
 
 
 
The 2nd run of production of the 4-45 should indeed look something like this (4 tubes in a BA case)
 

 
If you go with high efficiency speakers and don't care for dedicated sub channel...  I never fell in that category so never used an EC amp for speaker duty with any success

 

[Sorrodje]

OH your are FRANÇAIS ! Me too . From où ?

We're many french people around there.