GUSTARD H10 High-current Discrete Class A output Stage Headphone Amplifier
Apr 15, 2015 at 5:21 PM Post #1,216 of 5,547
  Hello to the mastermind Mr. StuartMC
 
I'm planning to get the Gustard X12 soon. First, regarding your mod with the damping material feet.
* Are you confident that this actually improved the sound quality or do you think it could have been a placebo effect? And if you think you may be able to sell me a copy of your mod, then please PM me.
 
Next a question for you or anybody, about upgrades:
* Do you think a Schiit Wyrd (USB voltage stabilizer thing) would help to further improve the sound quality of the X12?
* Also do you think a USB cable upgrade, such as with the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable, or do you think the USB cable it comes with is already optimal? 
 
Thanks everybody!

 Howdy Levi.  I think I explained fairly well in the original piece you quoted the reason why changing feet "may" change the sound characteristics for the better or for the worse.  I have lots and lots of blocks/cones/ feet at my disposal and they are sorbathane, ceramic, carbon and I think even unobtainium.  My past experiments have given me rather solid empirical evidence that they really do make the music sound different when the equipment is perched on them.  In the case of the H10 and X12, the sorbathane was awful- much too much lower midrange bloat and a de-focusing of the soundstage. The ceramics went the opposite direction - rather thin sounding and an edginess in the treble that might have been confused for hyper-focus.  The black diamond cones in the number "3" configuration sounded just right to me with the number "2's" being pretty much indistinguishable.   In my setup, the cone tips are nestled into Golden Sound's DH Squares, which again will change the overall sound characteristics slightly.  This is what it looks like -

 
As to whether there is for me a placebo effect..... I would have to say no. In some high resolution applications, I can plainly hear the differences. This setup happens to be one of them. Now, to see if you can hear the differences in your system, I would suggest a simple, expense free experiment.  Take some wood blocks, marbles, or any other disparate materials, and place them under your H10, so that it is supported by them and not the stock plastic feet. If you can hear a difference, you can now confidently play with more serious alternative feet and know that you aren't completely wasting your money.  
 
After hearing this difference many times, I came up with my own causative theory.  Every substance on earth has a unique resonance frequency (vibration), heck even sub-atomic particles do. On the macro scale, we have all kinds of parts inside the amplifiers, interconnected, resonance-wise, by a metal case and pcb board. We have an electrical signal, corresponding to a frequency response (again a form of vibration), passing through all of this and if the collective resonant signature of all these interconnected parts can add to, subtract from, or cancel out, even a minute portion of that signal, we will have changed the corresponding frequency response.
 
If you still want to give this a go, send me a PM and we can talk about getting you some black diamond cones.
 
Apr 15, 2015 at 6:26 PM Post #1,217 of 5,547
Just to make my life more difficult, Massdrop listened to my plea from the past and (re) introduced drop for CEntrance Dacmini CX, priced same as X12.
 
Now I got to choose between X12 and Dacmini. And they were both on my short list. Damn you, Massdrop. Obvious differences are size and 'free' headphone amp in the smaller one. X12 would look better with H10 (plus balanced interconnects), and Dacmini likely will have higher WAF.
 
Any comments on sound quality/differences from those fortunate to have heard both of them? Both seems to be pretty respected which makes choice rather uncertain.
 
Oh, and I think I can see HD800 in my (far) future, if that matters at all.
 
Apr 15, 2015 at 11:11 PM Post #1,218 of 5,547

Further to "Captain" Guinea Pigs' missive, I owned some nice stereo gear some years back made by an outfit called "Audio Refinement" , a less expensive version of a very expensive French manufacturers' gear. This particular gear was assembled in China with the same components but much cheaper production costs with resultant savings passed on to the consumer. Anyway, the long winded point I am trying to convey is that they mounted all of their component boards on vibration damping devices to try and eliminate some of the generated, and inherent, frequencies from propagating through the whole electronics assembly and thus causing distortion to the signals in those circuits.
I must say that this is a very well respected audio company and if they took the time, and spent the research dollars, to try and eliminate these vibrations, then I think that this is proof, at least to me, that there is something to all this business about trying to eliminate these unwanted vibrations/frequencies.
Cheers from Oz. 
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 12:34 AM Post #1,219 of 5,547
That's interesting, I've never heard of the CEntrance Dacmini CX yet. What type of DAC chip does it use, and what is a WAF?
 
Also is there anybody here, or possible @stuartmc, who knows if USB stabilizers such as Wyrd, or upgraded USB cables would help further rfine the sound quality of the X12? (I have mine on order and need to know which if any upgrades I should get to add on). Thanks guys 
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 1:20 AM Post #1,220 of 5,547
So will the new balanced Gustard amp be 'dual-mono' topology ? Are there different topology routes to being classed as balanced and 'true' balanced.. ?
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 1:26 AM Post #1,221 of 5,547
That's interesting, I've never heard of the CEntrance Dacmini CX yet. What type of DAC chip does it use, and what is a WAF?

Also is there anybody here, or possible @stuartmc
, who knows if USB stabilizers such as Wyrd, or upgraded USB cables would help further rfine the sound quality of the X12? (I have mine on order and need to know which if any upgrades I should get to add on). Thanks guys 


It might help if your usb sucks. I use one.
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 3:24 AM Post #1,222 of 5,547

I also use one, the Gustard U12 and it definitely cleaned up my USB input and it also gives you a lot of connection options if you are using other gear as well as your Gustard stuff. Good value for money in my opinion.
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 3:44 AM Post #1,224 of 5,547
 
New Gustard amp?? Please provide a link if you have one. Thanks.


There is a balanced amp based off of H10 in the works as far as I know.
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 3:45 AM Post #1,225 of 5,547
Apr 16, 2015 at 9:49 AM Post #1,227 of 5,547
  That's interesting, I've never heard of the CEntrance Dacmini CX yet. What type of DAC chip does it use, and what is a WAF?

 
Chip - AK4396, close relative of what is inside Schiit Bifrost (AK4399). Implementation is quite interesting as well, with supplied power being 're-manufactured' inside the box.
 
WAF - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor
 
Sorry for pulling that trick on you, using it in a context where it looked like a legitimate buzzword
wink_face.gif

But concept itself is very real. Got kicked out of bedroom with H10 + Bifrost yesterday - combination of angular big black box and large silver soapbox has extremely low WAF, apparently.
smile_phones.gif

 
Apr 16, 2015 at 9:54 AM Post #1,228 of 5,547
  Ahoy gentlemen, I've got a little play in the volume knob of the H10. 
 
1. Is this normal?
 
2. Can I tighten it up with an allen wrench?
 
Thanks in advance!


No, that is not normal. For all my woes with volume knob, it never had any wobble or play.
You can try to tighten the knob (gently!) with an allen wrench. Other place that might get you this trouble is inside the case, where 'volume shaft' is connected to the potentiometer with aluminium 'connector tube' that has screws on both sides, one for shaft, other for potentiometer. If one of those screws loosens, you could potentially get some slop in the knob too.
 
Apr 16, 2015 at 10:36 AM Post #1,230 of 5,547
  I have a question guys. Do I keep the amp always on? Or do I turn it off after use? Will it get damaged if I keep it running permanently? 

 
Quote:
Leaving it on does not damage it. Turning it on and off does more harm. But as it's class A amp it draws a lot of power even when it's not outputting any sound

 
I'd think about this and decide for yourself, for your own listening circumstances; leaving your hifi switched on may well cause damage.
 
I used to be in the always leaving hifi on (if there's no standby) camp. As many notice, usually always, the equipment will sound better after it's been on for a while; some say a DAC needs weeks to fully 'warm up'!!
But my mind was changed by the guy who modified (built) my music player. He said his 'bread and butter' work was changing capacitors in equipment that people had left 'always on'; particularly the Arcam range of CD players that had their DACs permanently connected, bypassing the on/off switch.
 
So, I'd think about how much you want to leave your stuff switched on, when you're not actually listening. I personally just give some warm up time by preempting my listening. When I forget to do this, yes I usually do notice a change in the sound (I've yet to get a H10); the first 5 mins can be pretty rough!
 
Regarding class A operation: it uses maximum power at zero output; the bigger the output signal, the less the power requirements and the cooler it will run, strangely enough.
 

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