[NewMexiCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by agile_one Hope to get a Chaintech 710 up and running tomorrow in main PC, and can then directly a-b optical vs USB from same source. NewMexiCat may beat me to it.

No such luck, agile one! Hooked everything up last night--Pioneer to the unbalanced analog in, PC via SPDIF, powered everything up, plugged in the HD650's, started a DVD-A on the Pioneer, and . . . nuthin! Switched over to the PC, which was already playing an APE file, and . . . nuthin again! I got no sound out of either headphone jack from either an analog or digital source. For the digitial source, I did get an indication of the sample rate on the display and s-lock did kick in, so the signal seemed to be flowing, but I couldn't hear a thing. Talk about frustrating!

I went through all the options to make sure I wasn't missing anything. As it was getting late last night, I didn't try USB or line-out.

Unless anyone has any ideas, I'm guessing I have a defective unit.

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewMexiCat No such luck, agile one! Hooked everything up last night--Pioneer to the unbalanced analog in, PC via SPDIF, powered everything up, plugged in the HD650's, started a DVD-A on the Pioneer, and . . . nuthin! Switched over to the PC, which was already playing an APE file, and . . . nuthin again! I got no sound out of either headphone jack from either an analog or digital source. For the digitial source, I did get an indication of the sample rate on the display and s-lock did kick in, so the signal seemed to be flowing, but I couldn't hear a thing. Talk about frustrating! I went through all the options to make sure I wasn't missing anything. As it was getting late last night, I didn't try USB or line-out. Unless anyone has any ideas, I'm guessing I have a defective unit.

I'm stretchin' a bit here, 'cause I feel sure you've done this, but here goes anyway.

Are you positive you have the headphone output selected? Power down the unit, power it back up, then if the "phones" lamp isn't lit and the "line" light is lit, quickly press and release the Volume knob to select the "phones" as output.

As I say, you probably have already done that many times, but don't want to overlook anything. The only other suggestion would be to see if anything is active at the line output by using as a preamp, if that is possible.

My final thought is that for me it takes at least a setting of 20 - 30 (on a scale of 00 - 99) in the display before I hear output at the LO gain setting.

Good luck, it would be a true bummer if your's is DOA.

 

[NewMexiCat]

Thanks, agile one.

Yes, I kept toggling back and forth last night to make sure I was on the phone output and not line output.

I haven't gone back to re-check things today (partially due to depression over the probable DOA condition of the unit, and partially due to needing to shovel piles of snowfall out of my driveway (happily done with my UE5cs!)). I'll give it another go and try the rest of the inputs/outputs.

Between all the positive reports and the _p_r_o_n_ on this thread, I'm tearing my hair out trying to get mine to work!

 

[gerG]

omg, awesome pictures of the innards, Gene. I am guessing that it will not be offered in kit form any time soon

One more shot before you put the lid on. Hook one side of the lid to the edge with the screws, and prop the other side up like a little grand piano. Great sight gag.

I am still amazed by this little wonderbox. It is very handy to leave a pair of headphones plugged in, and just switch the output back and forthe depending on whether I am an a speaker mood or headphone mood.


gerG

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG omg, awesome pictures of the innards, Gene. I am guessing that it will not be offered in kit form any time soon One more shot before you put the lid on. Hook one side of the lid to the edge with the screws, and prop the other side up like a little grand piano. Great sight gag. I am still amazed by this little wonderbox. It is very handy to leave a pair of headphones plugged in, and just switch the output back and forthe depending on whether I am an a speaker mood or headphone mood. gerG

Thanks, gerG.

Great suggestion for the baby grand effect, but, alas, all put back together. I'll leave it to you (or Edwood) to pull that one off, and knowing the two of you, there'll be a little pianist on a stool right in front of it. Wish I'd thought of it.

Yes, the intelligent use of options to control the output is very convenient in all respects. Last night I was careful to use Output Lock so if I bumped the control at 2:00 AM while listening to cans, it wouldn't jump to Line Out. Conversely, the ability to leave cans plugged in, and switch back and forth from cans to speakers at the push of a button (with separate, remembered volume settings) is a joy.

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by isp Simply ravishing! How does this affect the 901's cost? or are they just not going to make the 901 anymore?

Good questions ... I believe the 901 has been dropped, as it is no longer show up on the "products" drop down at the Grace site,

I would think that dealers with stock may be more willing to haggle, and owners wanting to sell may take a tad less for the 901 now.

 

[ephemere]

The 901 is no longer being manufactured. Someone at Grace emailed me to say they have a few left.

 

[gerG]

fwiw I still have 2 901s, and I intend to keep them both! They are incredible sounding amps, and not half bad as DACs. The 902 adds many capabilities, but uses the same headphone amp section. It depends on your needs, but if you only need the head-amp section, try to find a deal on a 901. If you need a DAC/preamp/headamp, the 902 is the dogs danglies!


gerG

 

[NewMexiCat]

My m902 is not DOA after all; however, my brain may well be.

When taking another run at it this afternoon, I remembered agile's comments about no discernable volume until the 20-30 mark and I realized I simply didn't turn the damn thing up enough!

Anyway, now that my stupidity has been established, I am officially loving this amp. I'm still comparing sources, inputs, etc. (there are so many permutations), but I can tell already that this is a very high-quality product. Amazing detail right out of the box.

Couple of questions while I test out all the options:

1. With HD-650's, am I better off with the Hi or Lo gain setting?
2. Anyone have any thoughts on the crossfeed? Having never had an amp with crossfeed, I don't have anything to compare it to.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Great thread, Gene. What an interesting little bugger.

NewMexiCat, I'd guess that high gain will be needed to justice to the HD650's. Other than the K1000's, they need about as much juice as any pair of headphones I know of, especially if the first 30% of the dial is useless when set at low gain.

 

[gerG]

Newmexicat, big sigh of relief! Don't feel bad, that volume control is not intuitive at first. I have been running mine on high for both cans and speakers. I don't run out of volume control in the low range, I just get tired of winding the thing like a big wristwatch. Right now I am using a laptop plugged in through the USB port. In hi range I am around 50 on the dial with the HD600s. Unfortunately it resets to zero whenever I shut it off, so more winding.

Using the usb, I do get occasional dropouts if I do anything else with the PC (Netscape in this case). I am sure that it is a function of the PC and software. I should just quit goofing around on the web and listen to music.


gerG

 

[agile_one]

NewMexiCat: WooHoo! Glad to learn you finally cranked it up, and all is ok. Yes, I would think that HI gain setting would be best for 600/650's. I've been listening mostly with R10 and L3000, and can get by at LO gain as they are 40 and 47 ohms - highest I've gone while listening is 55.

I think there was an earlier post querying for how the 902 did with Senn's, so I'm sure there will be much interest in your impressions. I am currently "between" Senn's. so can not answer.

As to crossfeed, I have not found it necessary for the material I've auditioned yet. Turned it on a few times, and the diff was so subtle I rarely noticed. In the past with other amps (MAX & Prehead), I found it useful for older recordings, particularly live jazz or other close miked recordings - crossfeed would remove some of the awkward separation of piano in one ear, bass in the other. I expect it will be the same with the 902, but I've not gotten to that part of the ol' CD stash yet.

Thrilled that you are in business, and able to enjoy your new amp.

 

[NewMexiCat]

Thanks guys for seeing me through my painful period of silence.

All is well now and I am continuing to gather my thoughts on this amp. I'm sure I will focus solely on the sound eventually, but right now I'm still engulfed in the techno factor--switching inputs on the fly, going from phone amp to pre-amp at will, and playing with xfeed and gain levels.

One very cool aspect of this amp is the ability to A/B test different sources. I was playing around with my SACD and DVD-A collection and comparing them to duplicate redbook titles. Cue up the same titles, maybe 30 seconds apart, listen to the redbook version and switch on the fly to the high rez version for the same passage. Now, I know, this isn't a pure A/B comparison because two different DACs are involved, but still it is a pretty cool way to do a side-by-side comparison without having to rely on a lot of aural memory.

As to the pairing of the m902 and the HD650's, I'm going to reserve judgment for a bit. Understand that I am transitioning from a Perreaux SXH-1, an amp I found to be forward and aggressive, successfully piercing the "veil" of the HD650's. My early impression of the m902 is that it is a bit more "polite" than the SXH-1, with the focus on accuracy and detail, delivering very well defined highs and extremely tight bass. As a result, I think I'm tending to crank the m902 up to higher volume levels than I ordinarily would. Even on the Hi Gain setting, I'm hovering around the 70 mark with the HD650's.

Don't get me wrong. I really like what I'm hearing from the m902, but it is a different sound than what I'm used to.

Tonight I may try the SR-225's and see what that combination brings me. I could never tolerate the SR-225's with the SXH-1. The combination was overbloated with muddy, messy bass. But the SR-225/m902 combo could be promising. Oh God, don't start me down this path . . . I may feel the need to headphone shop again!

 

[agile_one]

Well, thanks to Edwood building me this great AKG 4 pin XLR to 1/4" cable,

I am now happily listening to Ricky Lee Jones "Pop Pop" out of the m902 on my k1000's, and they sound terrific. As with the other remarks in this thread so far, these are just first impressions, but so far, definitely so good.

The k1000's definitely require the HI gain setting (no surprise), but once there I'm getting plenty of volume at attenuator setting of 73.5. I do find that Crossfeed ON is helpful, where it made hardly any difference with L3000 or R10. The resulting experience is pure k1000 - open, airy, detailed and clean, but definitely not lean - plenty of punch and excitement whan called for.

Lots more listening to do, including comparisons to some references, but early indications are that the m902 can handle the k1000's quite nicely.

 

[gsferrari]

Gene - can you give me some kind of appraisal of the Grace headphone out compared to the :-

* Maestro
* Stealth

Basically what I want to know is :-

* What areas does it fall behind
* Are these "deficiencies" enough to stop you from considering the Grace as a headphone amp...

This might just be the one-stop solution that I am looking for...the Grace 901 was nice enough but I didnt have enough cash for it at that point of time...this looks and does a LOT more than the 901 and is affordable if I get rid of some other stuff...

Aah!! Decisions decisions...