FINAL IMPRESSIONS: HORNET AFTER 500 HOURS
Feb 14, 2007 at 5:45 PM Post #16 of 159
Uh-oh... I have the HD580 and on high gain 11 or 12 seems to be appropiate for me.. is that not good? On low or medium,I'm at 2 or 3 on the dial for it to even be audible. I haven't tried the amp with IEMs yet. Even with the high gain setting and volume at 12 there is NO BACKGROUND HISS!
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Feb 14, 2007 at 6:08 PM Post #17 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by Morph201 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Uh-oh... I have the HD580 and on high gain 11 or 12 seems to be appropiate for me.. is that not good? On low or medium,I'm at 2 or 3 on the dial for it to even be audible. I haven't tried the amp with IEMs yet. Even with the high gain setting and volume at 12 there is NO BACKGROUND HISS!
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Let me also say that, adding Micro DAC to my rig had the effect of an increase in the volume (along with all the clarity and black background), so I changed the gain setting of my Hornet to low when using with HD650s. IMO, Micro DAC is a very good source. However, this does not change the fact that I used to use the lowest gain setting with my E500s before this change as well, I just decreased the volume by an hour or so after adding Micro DAC. I think the high gain with 1200 hours is too much. I just tried my rig again with HD650s and with the lowest gain, I cannot listen to more than 2 o'clock because of the very high volume...
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 6:11 PM Post #18 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by Morph201 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Uh-oh... I have the HD580 and on high gain 11 or 12 seems to be appropiate for me.. is that not good? On low or medium,I'm at 2 or 3 on the dial for it to even be audible. I haven't tried the amp with IEMs yet. Even with the high gain setting and volume at 12 there is NO BACKGROUND HISS!
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yep, the RSA stuff i've owned is always dead quiet, good stuff.
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 6:33 PM Post #19 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by artears /img/forum/go_quote.gif
There must be something wrong, high gain at 1200 hours?? I have a Hornet too and with my E500s, I cannot go beyond 9 o'clock or so with the lowest gain setting. I even listen to my HD650s with the lowest gain setting at around 1 o'clock or 2. I would suggest you let someone else listen at that volume level just to understand if the problem is with your hearing or the amp itself. The high gain is really high on Hornet. The low one is meant for IEMs and the high one for Senns actually.

The gain is basically the amount of increase of output level to the input. So, with higher gain settings you increase the volume of the background hiss as well.


Mmm... I know what it was.

I only had the iAudio output set at half volume.

The ER4S is about as hard to drive as my Senns. I found that with the bithead, it started to distort and peak when I had the output set at anything over 60%. I don't think the Hornet has that problem.
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 6:39 PM Post #20 of 159
For other IEM owners who haven't owned or listened to the 4S, I think you are underestimating just how hard it is to drive these damn things.

I have a set of ER4P's and I did a comparisom.

I could listen to the 4P at 1100 hours at the low gain setting and to achieve the same volume on the 4S, I needed to push the gain all the way to high!!
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Feb 14, 2007 at 6:41 PM Post #21 of 159
So once again, (my hearing is pretty good, btw).. Should the volume set at 12:00, with HIGH gain selected using Senn's blow my eardrums out?? At that volume it's very tolerable and sounds good... but I want to be sure I'm getting the same results with that setup as everyone else with Senns. I've had a couple of other people say that the volume at 12 with high gain should be extremely loud... (???).. I hope there isn't something with this batch of hornets. Also, I discovered that the volume adjustment on my mp3s, in iTunes, was set to 50%, I've since set them all to 100% (and updated the iPod) and the volume is still comfortable at 11 with high gain... is it also because the HD580s are 300 ohm phones???


CORRECTION: I just noticed that at 11 or 10 its LOUD! 9 or even 8 is fine right now.... It wasn't like that the other day, break in?? Or maybe I'm just insane!
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 6:57 PM Post #22 of 159
Congrats....I too have the bithead and also now the Hornet and I love it and I am about 250 hours into the burn in process and it sounds better today then when it came out of the box and it sounded incredible when I first listened but it sounds better today. I also invested in a Jumbo Cryo Dock from ALO together with my Shure E5c's and my 60Gig I-Pod its a fabulous portable music system. Looking for advice on a carry bag for these....any suggestions would be terrific.....Good Luck
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 7:14 PM Post #23 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by "Trose49
300-365hr WOW!!!!!! The Hornet sucker punches you in the head with the best overall sound IMO I have ever head in a package this small or maybe ever.(combined w/hd600's). The Bass comes out of no where and is now very tight, very low and very impressive, the mids have now shaped very nicely and high freqs have a crystal clear resolution that can only be described as liquid. I never thought I could use a term like liquid to decribe the sound of anything but thats what is sounds and feels like. Cool Liquid running through your headphone cables


I'm at approximately 320ish hours and I have to admit that my findings are somewhat similiar... the mid is CRYSTAL clear, I hear sounds in the background I NEVER heard before on tracks that I've played numerous times... Currently, I'm listening to Miles Davis\Cannonball Adderley and the music just seems to come alive! haha, I swear it sounds like the piano is behind me! Very impressive!
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 8:20 PM Post #24 of 159
HUH??? What am Idoing wrong here? I set my Ipod to full volume, run the Hornet thru a Jena Cryodock and I can only crank my IEMs to about the eight o'clock position on the Hornet--Vibes and Ety 4p. This is low gain

Put the Hornet on hi gain and my Beyer 880s are the same--highest I can go is the 9 o'clock position. Listening to classical, jazz (miles, Coltrane, Corea) and big Mahler symphonies. So wide range of diversity.

I find the Hornet incredibly efficient, much more so than my previously-owned SUpermacro IV which I thought waas pretty good until this Hornet
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 9:26 PM Post #25 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by tnmike1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
HUH??? What am Idoing wrong here? I set my Ipod to full volume, run the Hornet thru a Jena Cryodock and I can only crank my IEMs to about the eight o'clock position on the Hornet--Vibes and Ety 4p. This is low gain

Put the Hornet on hi gain and my Beyer 880s are the same--highest I can go is the 9 o'clock position. Listening to classical, jazz (miles, Coltrane, Corea) and big Mahler symphonies. So wide range of diversity.


I don't know man, but welcome to my club. I use RS-1s and K701s on low gain and average around 9:00 on the pot. I can get upwards of 11:00 on older recordings but for modern or hot albums, 9:00 is as loud as I can tolerate for extended listening.
 
Feb 14, 2007 at 9:46 PM Post #26 of 159
Quote:

Originally Posted by GlendaleViper /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I don't know man, but welcome to my club. I use RS-1s and K701s on low gain and average around 9:00 on the pot. I can get upwards of 11:00 on older recordings but for modern or hot albums, 9:00 is as loud as I can tolerate for extended listening.


You need a line outdock to really make the hornet shine. Think of it you are amplifiying the good and bad of the IPOD amp.

It helps to turn the volume control on the IPOD to about 70% this way there is less distortion entered in the signal but Line out Dock is the way to go.

www.audiolineout.com is my suggestion!
 
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