Emotiva A-100
Sep 5, 2018 at 11:54 PM Post #406 of 759
Nice!
Power cleaner = power conditioner?
Please post a photo as I'd like to be prepared for any unwanted noise.
upload_2018-9-5_21-38-35.png

This is the one I am using at my home desk. I actually brought the a-100 to work to use it for the day. At work is where I noticed the hum. I had it plugged into a crappy power strip which gave a noticeable hum, and then i tried plugging directly into the wall at work and the hum went down in volume significantly, but is still there.

I will bring it home tomorrow and plug it back into my panamax power cleaner to see if there is any audible hum in absolute silence. I am sure most power cleaners will work just fine... no need to get the expensive one I have. This will also depend on the ohm of your headphone. The LCD3 is 110 ohm. The higher the ohm of the headphone should equate to less background noise on this beast of a headamp.

Edit: The hum is increased wiith the DAC plugged into dirty power too. Last night I listened to it at home for a little bit, and it does have hiss/hum with you turn the volume up all the way with nothing playing. (*this is for the headphone out... I have not tested it on speakers yet, but don't think it will be audible with speakers.)
 
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Sep 6, 2018 at 12:41 AM Post #407 of 759
Interesting....

I actually need a neat power strip that's in the form of a rack power conditioner...

I take dirty and clean power as a bit of snake oil, since I tried them previously on my big home setup as the salesman brought it as demo and heard absolutely no difference...but everyone's mileage may vary. :)
 
Sep 6, 2018 at 12:49 AM Post #408 of 759
I am interested in purchasing a unit for not just my headphones (6xx, 4xx and lcd-2) but also for a pair of bookshelf speakers, either the Elac debut 6.2 or dynaudio m20.
4. Can I order the amp with the jumpers in place and have noise floor checked and passed as acceptable Emotiva QC levels before it gets shipped to me 10,000 miles away? If additional costs are involved, I would be happy to pay.

Hope someone from Emotiva can answer some, if not all my queries. :)

@Heavyboxer I suggest that you reach out over the phone for this. They are very responsive.

1. WIthin its 50 watts of output, yes it does fine with speakers. I've drive Axiom m80 tower speakers with them and they didn't lack composure.. However note that 50 watts is 50 watts so I don't know how hard you plan to push them. But for me, since I live in a small room, I thought its power output was adequate. Most of the time one is listening at about 1 to 2 watts of power.
2. I don't know. I don't think so. The good news is that it's okay if you forget, as you'll remember because the sound is off :D
3. The best way is to stand it like it is pictured. There are vents on the side and top. However the amp produces very little heat. You have to leave at least a small gap though for air flow on the three sides.
4. I doubt it. I mean, maybe, you are going to want to call Emotiva and find out. But it's not super hard to do. All you need is a screwdriver.
@garbulky Great to see you over here.
 
Sep 7, 2018 at 3:35 AM Post #410 of 759
@Heavyboxer I suggest that you reach out over the phone for this. They are very responsive

I would, but then I'd have to stay up the night to call during their office hours.
Anywayl, ended up purchasing the R-28 from Audio-gd.

But if I purchase passive bookshelf speakers again, I will be looking into this amp once more. :)
 
Sep 7, 2018 at 5:14 AM Post #411 of 759
So, I brought the A-100 home tonight and discovered that when my home office is quite, there is still a small audible noise floor with the LCD3. This is with no source plugged in, and power plugged into the Paramax power source. :triportsad: This kinda bugs me. I have been comparing my Aune X7s back and forth with volume matching and I am having a difficult time discerning difference.... other than the A-100 gets louder much quicker. :) I am also finding myself listening to higher than usual volumes with the A-100. It does make it sound more alive, but when I swap to the Aune x7s I realize just how high of volume it is on the A-100 compared to my usual listening volume.

I think this is a obviously a better amp paired with 300 ohm + headphones(such as HD600, 650, 6xx, HD800). That ohm rating would probably eliminate any audible noise floor. I am mainly on a venture to find the right amp to pair with my LCD3... and I don't think the A-100 is the "end" amp for it.
 
Oct 3, 2018 at 4:03 PM Post #412 of 759
If I bought a splitter to connect to the headphone jack (so da wife and myself can listen together), would this work? Does anyone know how the output specs would change? Power, impedance etc? With and without the jumpers installed? I'm looking at driving 2 HE560s. Thanks
 
Oct 3, 2018 at 7:14 PM Post #413 of 759
If I bought a splitter to connect to the headphone jack (so da wife and myself can listen together), would this work? Does anyone know how the output specs would change? Power, impedance etc? With and without the jumpers installed? I'm looking at driving 2 HE560s. Thanks

I would imagine the ohm would double and output will decrease by half?
 
Oct 3, 2018 at 11:21 PM Post #415 of 759
I thought the impedance will drop by half. If you try it, try it first with the resistors engaged (jumpers disengaged)

Oh you're right, just remembered how I wired my dual subs in my car long, long ago...
 
Oct 15, 2018 at 3:28 PM Post #416 of 759
When you connect two identical headphones to the same output with a passive splitter (y-cable).....
The LOAD IMPEDANCE will be halved.

How this affects the output of the amp will depend on whether you have the jumpers in or not.

IF YOU HAVE THE JUMPERS IN....
There will be virtually no effect on the power that reaches each pair of headphones.
The HiFiMan HE560 is 45 ohms.....
So two pairs in parallel will be 22.5 Ohms......
WITH THE JUMPERS IN, the A-100 will easily drive several pairs in parallel, and each will receive the same amount of power as it would if connected individually.
In this configuration, the frequency response will also be identical in both situations.

IF YOU HAVE THE JUMPERS OUT.... then the output is being driven through the 220 Ohm dropping resistors.
In that situation, with two pairs of headphones connected at once, the power reaching each pair FOR A GIVEN VOLUME SETTING will be somewhat less than half of what would reach a single pair.
(Because the load impedance is halved, more power will be stopped by the dropping resistor, so the total reaching both pairs will be less; and that total will then be divided between the two pairs.)
For a given volume setting, each pair will play about 5 dB quieter when connected that way...... or, to look at it differently, if you unplug either pair, the volume of the other will jump up about 5 dB.
This should still be perfectly safe for both pairs of headphones.
In this configuration, you may also notice a slight difference in frequency response depending on whether one or two pairs is connected.
(The exact difference will depend on the specific impedance characteristics of that particular model, but should be relatively minimal....)

If I bought a splitter to connect to the headphone jack (so da wife and myself can listen together), would this work? Does anyone know how the output specs would change? Power, impedance etc? With and without the jumpers installed? I'm looking at driving 2 HE560s. Thanks
 
Nov 7, 2018 at 2:02 PM Post #417 of 759
So as of yesterday, I am a proud owner of Emotiva BasX A-100 amp. Just connected it today and all is well in HiFiRebel land. However, I have question.

My sound goes via USB from my PC (Foobar2k playing FLACs) to my DAC (FX-Audio DAC X6) then to A-100 amp and to my headphones (Philips Fidelio X2) (no speakers connected). Question is, does the DAC just acts as a pass-through, or it also have a say in sound quality?

The reason I ask is, I have Argon Mk3 headphones on order and they are meant to be extremely hard to drive. I still have a long wait for them to actually arrive, but I want to squeeze every bit of goodiness out of them when they arrive. Hence the purchase of A-100 and plan to install the jumpers (once I actually get them, Emotiva UK didn't include them in the box).

So the question is, should I upgrade my DAC too since it is not the most high end DAC possible?

iSgofst.jpg
 
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Nov 7, 2018 at 3:13 PM Post #418 of 759
The reason I ask is, I have Argon Mk3 headphones on order and they are meant to be extremely hard to drive. I still have a long wait for them to actually arrive, but I want to squeeze every bit of goodiness out of them when they arrive. Hence the purchase of A-100 and plan to install the jumpers (once I actually get them, Emotiva UK didn't include them in the box).

So the question is, should I upgrade my DAC too since it is not the most high end DAC possible?

FWIW, you definitely don't need to upgrade the DAC specifically for the sake of the Argons. That's not to say you won't see benefits from upgrading to a nicer DAC, just that those headphones don't particularly require it.

Oh! But does your existing DAC have variable volume on its RCA out? If not, then a DAC that does have variable volume may be beneficial since you're planning on running the A-100 with the jumpers in.
 
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Nov 7, 2018 at 3:14 PM Post #419 of 759
So as of yesterday, I am a proud owner of Emotiva BasX A-100 amp. Just connected it today and all is well in HiFiRebel land. However, I have question.

My sound goes via USB from my PC (Foobar2k playing FLACs) to my DAC (FX-Audio DAC X6) then to A-100 amp and to my headphones (Philips Fidelio X2) (no speakers connected). Question is, does the DAC just acts as a pass-through, or it also have a say in sound quality?

The reason I ask is, I have Argon Mk3 headphones on order and they are meant to be extremely hard to drive. I still have a long wait for them to actually arrive, but I want to squeeze every bit of goodiness out of them when they arrive. Hence the purchase of A-100 and plan to install the jumpers (once I actually get them, Emotiva UK didn't include them in the box).

So the question is, should I upgrade my DAC too since it is not the most high end DAC possible?

iSgofst.jpg
Your DAC will impact audio quality because it is the thing converting digital audio into an analog signal. Your A-100 amplifies the analog signal. It is not a dac.

Make sure that you connect the RCA outputs of your DAC to the A-100.
I would see what you think with your current DAC. You may be fine with what you've got.
If you install the jumpers - your Argon and fidelio are low impedance headphones around 30 ohms. This would allow your A-100 to push humungous levels of power into your headphones of 12000 milliwatts (see direct drive mode). 1 watt is a 1000 milliwatts.

In comparison most headphones do well with between one and 30 milliwatts. So you are going to want to use caution as you could burn out your headphones easily. When using direct drive mode (jumpers engaged) I would reduce the volume upstream using the volume control of your DAC and then increase the volume knob on the A-100 from zero SLOWLY. One advantage of engaging the jumpers is to bypass the resistor. With the resistor bypassed the output impedance drops to very low - something like 0.5 ohms or less - a good thing. In stock mode the resistor is in the circuit so it increases the output impedance to 220 ohms - not as good. So a low impedance headphones will be subject to certain variations of signal because it's lower than the output impedance.

  • Power Output (headphone output; normal mode):
    8 Ohms: 60 mW / channel
    33 Ohms: 200 mW / channel
    47 Ohms: 250 mW / channel
    150 Ohms: 430 mW / channel
    300 Ohms: 440 mW / channel
    600 Ohms: 350 mW / channel

  • Power Output (headphone output; direct drive mode) (JUMPERS ENGAGED MODE)
    (requires internal jumper; USE WITH CAUTION):
    8 Ohms: 50 watts / channel
    33 Ohms: 12 watts / channel
    47 Ohms: 8.5 watts / channel
    150 Ohms: 2.6 watts / channel
    300 Ohms: 1.3 watts / channel
    600 Ohms: 0.6 watts / channel
 
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Nov 7, 2018 at 3:35 PM Post #420 of 759
FWIW, you definitely don't need to upgrade the DAC specifically for the sake of the Argons. That's not to say you won't see benefits from upgrading to a nicer DAC, just that those headphones don't particularly require it.

Oh! But does your existing DAC have variable volume on its RCA out? If not, then a DAC that does have variable volume may be beneficial since you're planning on running the A-100 with the jumpers in.

My DAC does not have variable volume on RCA out, just a straight pass through. Volume know does nothing when working with Emotiva. I know it would be beneficial to cut the power to Emotive with the jumpers in, but is this worth spending money on alone?

Your DAC will impact audio quality because it is the thing converting digital audio into an analog signal. Your A-100 amplifies the analog signal. It is not a dac.

Make sure that you connect the RCA outputs of your DAC to the A-100.
I would see what you think with your current DAC. You may be fine with what you've got.
If you install the jumpers - your Argon and fidelio are low impedance headphones around 30 ohms. This would allow your A-100 to push humungous levels of power into your headphones of 12000 milliwatts (see direct drive mode). 1 watt is a 1000 milliwatts.

In comparison most headphones do well with between one and 30 milliwatts. So you are going to want to use caution as you could burn out your headphones easily. When using direct drive mode (jumpers engaged) I would reduce the volume upstream using the volume control of your DAC and then increase the volume knob on the A-100 from zero SLOWLY. One advantage of engaging the jumpers is to bypass the resistor. With the resistor bypassed the output impedance drops to very low - something like 0.5 ohms or less - a good thing. In stock mode the resistor is in the circuit so it increases the output impedance to 220 ohms - not as good. So a low impedance headphones will be subject to certain variations of signal because it's lower than the output impedance.

  • Power Output (headphone output; normal mode):
    8 Ohms: 60 mW / channel
    33 Ohms: 200 mW / channel
    47 Ohms: 250 mW / channel
    150 Ohms: 430 mW / channel
    300 Ohms: 440 mW / channel
    600 Ohms: 350 mW / channel

  • Power Output (headphone output; direct drive mode) (JUMPERS ENGAGED MODE)
    (requires internal jumper; USE WITH CAUTION):
    8 Ohms: 50 watts / channel
    33 Ohms: 12 watts / channel
    47 Ohms: 8.5 watts / channel
    150 Ohms: 2.6 watts / channel
    300 Ohms: 1.3 watts / channel
    600 Ohms: 0.6 watts / channel
I don't plan to drive my Fidelio X2 with the Emotiva once I install the jumpers in. They will be used directly from the DAC since they are so easy to drive. On my DAC quarter of power (volume knob) is already quite loud with X2. For the time being, until I get Argons and install the jumpers, I use Emotiva with X2, but that will change.

If I'm not mistaken Fostex T50RP Mk3, which Argon Mk3 is based on, are around 50 Ohm, plus there might be some changes to the specs after all the mods are done, so I'm not 100% sure what's the true specs of Argons. I've heard that they are extremely hard to drive, hence the Emotiva purchase.

When it comes to DAC, in my head I see DACs as all equal. I mean it's a analogue to digital converter. Can signal be converted in a different way? I understand that a poor quality converter can loose data (quality), but above a certain price point, all DACs should be equal... or am I talking rubbish?

The way I see it is as with HDMI, the signal is either there or not. It doesn't matter if the cable is a £5 cable or £500, they are all the same - it is a digital signal, 1s and 0s. I see DACs in a same way, they either work or they don't. They can't "colour" a sound, like an amp does... right?

In my case the DAC X6 just acts as a pass through, it converts the signal and sends it away to Emotiva. Would a different DAC actually make any difference?
 
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