GS1 - Preamp Out, Loop Out (Functions and Performance Queries)

[alex_cs]

Gday all,

Ill start by prefacing that I have only very recently moved into the world of decent Hi-Fi, and that two of the items in dicussion are a week or less old, and havent been properly run in

You can see from my sig what Im running, the Zhaolu is a week old and has perhaps 50 hours on it, the DT880's the same and have perhaps 30-40 hours on them. But that is possibly not relevant for what Im curious about.

I bought the GS-1 secondhand, and it came with no manual (no idea if it had one originally) Therefore I was very curious about the two outputs in the topic. In addition to my sigs equipment, I also have an NAD C320BEE intergrated amp connected to the loop out of the GS-1 as an experiment. This amp has a headphone plug, which Ive been using for the better part of a year. Now I noticed that when listening to the GS-1 through the NAD, the bass was quite obviously enhanced, but perhaps at the loss of some fine detail. Swapping the output to the preamp out on the GS-1, I was interested to see that the output from the NAD was seemingly identical to the GS-1's jack.

Now this would lead me to believe that the loop out is not amped by the GS-1, would that be right? I am quite clearly out of my depth in all this, so was wondering what exactly these two outputs do, and which, if any pass on the signal without any type of amplification.

By the by, I am loving the GS-1 in terms of the detail, but it is quite obvious how the quality of a recording, and the compression format can affect the output of the GS-1.

Anyway, some discussion would be great, Im fascinated learning about all of this. BTW currently using the supplied optical cable form the Zhaolu to the AV710, would a Ram Electronics mini to RCA cable be a benefit, and if so is the telfon coated version worth the extra money? Is there a better option for cabling beyond Ram, that wont cost a massive amount more?

Thanks guys, appreciate any ideas.

 

[alex_cs]

Ive just done a bit more reading.

I have now used the tape in RCA's on the NAD instead of the AUX in I was using and it seems to have lost the extra bass.

Perhaps it was being amplified by the GS-1, and then the NAD and thus making it feel like a lot more bass, but less detail.

Does this make sense to people?

Thanks again

 

[Cronstead]

Hey mate,

Just to let you know, it came with no manual.

GS-1 does nothing if you're using the loop-out, it simply acts as passive bridged.

Anyway, hopefully you like it as much as I do.

 

[alex_cs]

Ok thanks for that.

So ive gotta figure out this NAD C320BEE amp. Listening to both, it seems as though the NAD boosts the bass ranges across the board, but loses the fine detail and a decent amount of the soundstage that the GS-1 produces.

The GS-1 has been reviewed as being quite neutral, perhaps a bit bright, and that seems to be what im experiencing. great detail, very little colouring.

So the question now is, beyond my equipment properly running in, what would be a good headphone to have the level of detail of the DT880, but with more bass and low midrange, without sacrificing detail?

the darth beyer keeps popping up as an option, but it ends up being quite pricey once the mods are performed (well worth it im sure)

has anyone bothered to compare a darth beyer to a simply recabled dt770-80? an australian store is offering a beyer dt770m which is advertised as 80ohm, with an inline volume control. is this the basic dt770-80 people talk of, or is it a different product. sorry from bringing phones into this amp forum, but its a bit easier with the amp talk

i think ill give this current setup a month to settle in, i dont want to jump the gun.

 

[gordolindsay]

Yeah, the pre-out connections just use the volume control of the GS-1. Say if you had a power amp that had no controls, you would use the GS-1 as a pre-amp. The Loop out section passes the signal straight through and doesn't do anything to it. So you could go from your source to the gs-1 out the Loop-Out to your NAD int. amp so you could play it on your speakers too.

 

[alex_cs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gordolindsay Yeah, the pre-out connections just use the volume control of the GS-1. Say if you had a power amp that had no controls, you would use the GS-1 as a pre-amp. The Loop out section passes the signal straight through and doesn't do anything to it. So you could go from your source to the gs-1 out the Loop-Out to your NAD int. amp so you could play it on your speakers too.

thanks, and yes this last bit is what ive been doing, but it is curious the sound differences. i would guess not many here would have had experience with the NAD in question, so it might be hard to get opinions about it. it cost i tihnk 350-400AUD a year ago, and it was meant to compete quite well with speaker amps up to 2000AUD. ive always liked it, but perhaps i liked it becuase it emphasised the bass to an unnatural degree.

 

[hanjie]

Just thought I'd borrow this thread as I have a question related to the 2 outputs in question.

I have the GS-1 as well as a Singlepower PPX3-Slam. I currently have the loop-out from the GS-1 connected to the PPX3-Slam to make amp swapping easier since my source only has a single output.

I was wondering if I should use the pre-out instead, as the additional amplification from the GS-1 would theoretically make it easier for the PPX3-Slam to drive the cans, hence providing better sonics. Besides, I read that the GS-1 serves as a pretty decent pre-amp. What do you guys think?

 

[alex_cs]

from the post a couple up, it appears the GS-1's preamp operates as a passthrough plus the use of its volume control, meaning there is no actual amplification from the gs-1 from the preamp rca's. i may have misinterpreted that though.

 

[tkam]

I do believe the pre-amp outs on the GS-1 are active not passive as you've been assuming.

 

[alex_cs]

so what does that mean? that they amp the signal prior to output through the preamp out?

 

[tkam]

Correct

 

[alex_cs]

ah ok. yes it seemed that way when i used the preamp into the NAD, it seemed to be completely similar in output from the gs-1 phone out to the nad phone out, but i wasnt sure as i dont have a lot of exp in this field

 

[hanjie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hanjie I have the GS-1 as well as a Singlepower PPX3-Slam. I currently have the loop-out from the GS-1 connected to the PPX3-Slam to make amp swapping easier since my source only has a single output. I was wondering if I should use the pre-out instead, as the additional amplification from the GS-1 would theoretically make it easier for the PPX3-Slam to drive the cans, hence providing better sonics. Besides, I read that the GS-1 serves as a pretty decent pre-amp. What do you guys think?

My question was sort of derailed, so I thought I'd ask again.

P.S. Alex, I think you are confusing the pre-out (active) and the loop-out (passive).

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex_cs So the question now is, beyond my equipment properly running in, what would be a good headphone to have the level of detail of the DT880, but with more bass and low midrange, without sacrificing detail?

The PS-1 will "get 'er done" but might not be in your price range. Might be worthwhile to mention your price range...

EDIT - Any chance you could give a set of HD-650's a listen? I find they pair well and I think they'd answer your requirements as stated though I'd listen to them first before jumping on them.

 

[alex_cs]

thanks gp, ive got larry onto a set of darth beyers for me for now, but will definitely investigate those youve mentioned.

i am very interested in getting some HD600/650's, but it seems they benefit so much from balancing i may hold off until im at the stage of going balanced. at the moment, i just want to make the most of unbalanced SS and a lot of my music isnt classical etc, so i think im going to taker this whole thing fairly slow (compared to some on here

) and try things at a slower pace.

price isnt a massive issue on its own, only if the layout yields very little improvement as in any hobby