[Zennheiser]

I appreciate everybody's input. I'm relatively new to Massdrop myself. I'm happy with the relatively few things purchased from them so far. I've had more trouble out of sellers on Aliexpress than Massdrop. My experience with purchases from Shenzhen has earned them my first place "go to" when it comes to having to shop outside traditional domestic platforms. (ePay, Amazon, etc.) In the space of relatively few transactions, I discovered that Aliexpress's buyer protection isn't all that robust. You FEEL like you're doing business with the opposite side of the planet when it comes to them. Messages are ignored. Ship times are glacially slow. Price transparency is sometimes a bit suspect. (Coupons serially appear and disappear. Prices and shipping change on the fly. Prices fluctuate according to-I presume-exchange rates.) I'm (so far) happy with Massdrop and Shenzhen, but Aliexpress is on the bottom "only if I have to go through them to obtain something" rung of purchasing platforms. Live and learn. YMMV...

 

[lugnut]

From the massdrop thread on this amp, it looks like Gustard WILL take care of any warranty issues, very good ! Now if massdrop would get that kind of service out of all vendors for warranties, that would be a step in the right direction.

 

[Alcophone]

Aaand there were five. Awesomesauce!

 

[Alcophone]

What is that little platform it's sitting on for, is that a riser or is it just there to protect the pins during transport? Or did you keep it on (hard to tell from the picture)? Is it included with the SS3602? I don't see it on the Sparkos website.

I contacted Sparko and he confirmed that the socket is mainly there to protect the legs during shipping.

He currently has a discount available for first time customers, so I got two SS3602s for $70 each, plus $5 for shipping.

 

[jazzk]

Certainly, my pleasure

As for why I chose them, a discrete OPAMP whose components are matched 'generally' will sound better than run off the mill mass produced OPAMPs in DIP-8 or SoIC packages. I read enough good reviews of this part.
While I was expecting things to be mostly 'different' as is with switching from one packaged opamp to another, I was grossly wrong.
If one thing that stands out is this OPAMP (SS3602) has a very very high SNR which lets you hear tiniest of the details from your DAC. To give you some idea - previously when changing PCM resampling filters, I had to listen for a while and switch back and forth from linear phase fast roll off to slow roll off. These kind of differences are so easily enunciated by SS3602. Or for that matter noise in USB data lines vs TOSLINK SPDIF. Which is why I said this part tests your DACs resolution limits.

The other thing is 49720 has a slight (ever so slightly to put it that way) warmth in mids in a very pleasing way though. SS3602 is what neutral is. And with Sparkos OPAMPs, H20 really approaches DC limits in low end. Was listening to some track of Ellie Goulding - Beating Heart, I think, whose opening passage a sub-bass rumble. It's funny how my K712 Pro wobbled at 8'o clock position with this opamp
Anyways, I will say you will be investing in a very well made part for those 150 dollars should you go this route. It's not a subtle change! It's another thing you will find it difficult to switch back to your lesser amps after this mod or go back to 49720 even with H20.

Do drop Andrew Sparks a mail, he responds fast and is very helpful.

 

[jazzk]

Just put in the Sparkos in my h20. Wow ur were right ! Makes a great amp that much better. Thanks for the tip.

 

[jazzk]

you were also right about Sparkos customer service. Super quick and retroly gave me first time discount. Great op amp for the h20. Stunning improvement in an already great amp.

 

[wesxf]

Hi all,

I am a first time head-fier and lurker on this board. I got my Gustard H20 from the Massdrop sale earlier this week.

My first impression: what a splendid amp! It really packs a lot of punch, I'm very impressed by how crisp and detailed music sounds relative to my previous amps (a Darkvoice 336SE and Massdrop CTH). The bass response, in particular, is extremely impressive -- on rap and r&b songs the low end is really punchy. I've been listening with a modded HD800 and Beyer T1.2 through the SE output, both sound really great.

On the advice of the board I've purchased the Sparkos Op-Amps, I'll post again once I've installed them. Looking forward to hearing other folks' impressions! I'm wondering if I should splurge on a balanced DAC in order to have a fully balanced setup? If anyone has a recommendation, I'd love to hear it.

 

[NinjaMilez]

I'm wondering if I should splurge on a balanced DAC in order to have a fully balanced setup? If anyone has a recommendation, I'd love to hear it.

If you are looking for a new DAC then I imagine that Gustard's X20Pro would pair very well with the H20. I have an X20Pro and it's great. Balanced too. I don't own a H20 so can't give any impressions on how they sound together.

Saying that, if anyone has heard the X20 with the H20 then I'd love to know how they pair!

 

[Alcophone]

I'm wondering if I should splurge on a balanced DAC in order to have a fully balanced setup? If anyone has a recommendation, I'd love to hear it.

My H20 should arrive today, and I'll try it with the Schiit Yggdrasil. I also joined the Topping DX7s drop. And as part of the discussions around the THX AAA 789 amp, CEE TEE hinted at having a balanced DAC coming.

 

[soumya.banerjee]

My H20 should arrive today, and I'll try it with the Schiit Yggdrasil. I also joined the Topping DX7s drop. And as part of the discussions around the THX AAA 789 amp, CEE TEE hinted at having a balanced DAC coming.

Curious to know your impressions of the stack.

I know R2R DACs have a charm of their own. I have a Holo Spring Level 2 (Deluxe) and when paired with H20, the combo sounds phenomenal. I am yet to hear a chain that sounds anything like this - being completely honest and devoid of any ownership bias here.

 

[soumya.banerjee]

If you are looking for a new DAC then I imagine that Gustard's X20Pro would pair very well with the H20. I have an X20Pro and it's great. Balanced too. I don't own a H20 so can't give any impressions on how they sound together.

Saying that, if anyone has heard the X20 with the H20 then I'd love to know how they pair!

It's recommended to have the DAC do the balanced conversion / phase splitting. Though H20 does have that feature too.
So if you have a single ended DAC, and balanced headphones, you are still good.

 

[wesxf]

Great success!!! I cannot A/B test what it sounds like versus the original op-amp configuration, especially since I bent the crap out of the original op-amps when I was wedging them out of the housing. But I CAN say that the amp sounds really great with them installed. It was not super hard to do. Listening to Jobim's Wave right now, so much punch and detail.

for the life of me, I cannot get the images to post here but here is a link to the imgur album:

https://imgur.com/a/aTMwAkg

 

[Zennheiser]

Great success!!! I cannot A/B test what it sounds like versus the original op-amp configuration, especially since I bent the **** out of the original op-amps when I was wedging them out of the housing. But I CAN say that the amp sounds really great with them installed. It was not super hard to do. Listening to Jobim's Wave right now, so much punch and detail.

for the life of me, I cannot get the images to post here but here is a link to the imgur album:

https://imgur.com/a/aTMwAkg

I'm continuing to follow this thread for the op-amp comparisons. Considering the deal offered, I might start rolling my first op-amps if it doesn't violate Gustard's Warranty. (If it does, I'll wait. Better to preserve the warranty as is. And it sounds GREAT out of the box.) Best to all! Hope Spring's treating everyone well!

 

[Alcophone]

That thing is huge!