[brokensound]

My mini-x came in today. Gave it a listen using my LCD 2.2. I'm glad to report there's no humming until 1 o'clock on the Emotiva whether a source is attached or not. Maybe I'm just lucky in getting a non-humming unit or my power is clean. 
 
So far, I'm getting good results using a Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11 as the DAC. I'm surprised more folks haven't given this pairing a spin yet. The tube output on this DAC helps me dial in the proper listening levels. With DAC direct out, the dial on the Emotiva is too crude. A small turn on the dial brought the volume from pleasant to ear shattering quickly. Testing multiple sources, I prefer the tube output to DAC direct out, SS out, and my Schiit Modi. To be fair, I usually prefer a tube sound. The other options made the treble slightly glaring in a unpleasant way. It remains to be seen if I prefer this to my Asgard 2. I'll keep my optimism in check. 
 
I plan on making some 1/4" female to speaker cables using Mogami and Canare cables. Then mixing in some tube rolling to find an ideal combination for this sytem. Fingers crossed for good results.

    

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For Sale: ​ 
For Sale: ​ 

 

[themad]

Sorry for the OT, but I couldn't find another way to do it. At least, initially.
MODS: Let me know if you prefer I open a topic for this. Following messages and discussion will be conducted by email/PMs.
 
I am willing to get in contact with Paypal and send them a list with the names of people that have paid user "brunk" for the "Robinette Box" but have not received the product nor been able to contact him. I imagine there are more than 10 people in this situation.
 
I think it would be wise to send Paypal the following information from each member:
-Paypal account;
-Amount paid;
-Date of payment;
 
What do you guys think? If you agree, please send me a PM with this info. Or let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

[kothganesh]

  Sorry for the OT, but I couldn't find another way to do it. At least, initially.
MODS: Let me know if you prefer I open a topic for this. Following messages and discussion will be conducted by email/PMs.
 
I am willing to get in contact with Paypal and send them a list with the names of people that have paid user "brunk" for the "Robinette Box" but have not received the product nor been able to contact him. I imagine there are more than 10 people in this situation.
 
I think it would be wise to send Paypal the following information from each member:
-Paypal account;
-Amount paid;
-Date of payment;
 
What do you guys think? If you agree, please send me a PM with this info. Or let me know if you have any other ideas.

You've got PM

 

[robrob]

Remember to include your paypal password in the pm.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[rocksteady65]

  Remember to include your paypal password in the pm.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

 You funny man! 
 
 

 

[Xenophon]

  Remember to include your paypal password in the pm.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

That's a classy remark, coming from someone who first pointed people in a certain direction, then practically broke the sound barrier to distance himself from everything when problems started emerging.  If you're looking for a second job I recommend politics, you have a certain knack for it.  What went wrong's obviously not your fault but no need to rub it in.

 

[kugino]

i just got a pair of he-500 and made a balanced cable for it. for kicks, i unboxed some old asl wave tube monoblock amps, which put out about 8W. they were made to power very sensitive speakers...
 
i'm listening to the he-500 out of the amps connected via a pigtail that i made. i used these to power my k1000 back in the day. anyway, i kinda like the sound out of these, except the fact that they're VERY noisy. lots of hum. when the music plays it's very lush and musical...i'll be interested to see how well the senn hd-800 does with these amps as soon as i finish my senn balanced cable.
 
any thoughts about resistors to help curb the hum from these amps? or is it just a normal part of running tubes?
 
(and sorry if i've hijacked this thread at all...)

 

[elwappo99]

  i just got a pair of he-500 and made a balanced cable for it. for kicks, i unboxed some old asl wave tube monoblock amps, which put out about 8W. they were made to power very sensitive speakers...
 
i'm listening to the he-500 out of the amps connected via a pigtail that i made. i used these to power my k1000 back in the day. anyway, i kinda like the sound out of these, except the fact that they're VERY noisy. lots of hum. when the music plays it's very lush and musical...i'll be interested to see how well the senn hd-800 does with these amps as soon as i finish my senn balanced cable.
 
any thoughts about resistors to help curb the hum from these amps? or is it just a normal part of running tubes?
 
(and sorry if i've hijacked this thread at all...)

 
 
I believe this actually can cause damage to the tube amplifiers. I'd read up on this first before running these for the long haul.
 
Edit: Check out this thread 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/649107/speaker-amps-for-headphones

 

[Xenophon]

See the thread referenced above but with tubes you definitely need to make sure that there's a resistor attached so the amp 'sees' a proper load.

 

[cute]

10 ohm/10 watt wirewound!

 

[kugino]

See the thread referenced above but with tubes you definitely need to make sure that there's a resistor attached so the amp 'sees' a proper load.

Is this the case even with orthos? I thought it was mainly with dynamic phones. In any case, I don't plan on running these with my headphones since I do have balanced headphone amps but I just wanted to see how they fared.

IIRC, I never had much noticeable hum with the k1000 directly out of the speaker terminals. Thanks for the input, guys.

 

[elwappo99]

 

See the thread referenced above but with tubes you definitely need to make sure that there's a resistor attached so the amp 'sees' a proper load.

Is this the case even with orthos? I thought it was mainly with dynamic phones. In any case, I don't plan on running these with my headphones since I do have balanced headphone amps but I just wanted to see how they fared.

IIRC, I never had much noticeable hum with the k1000 directly out of the speaker terminals. Thanks for the input, guys.

 
I believe what you're referring to with orthodynamics is the impedance of the drivers. Orthodynamic's impedance curves are very flat so they aren't affected by the output impedance of the amplifier
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE6.pdf
 
Whereas a dynamic driver fluctuates based on the output impedance
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD800.pdf
 
 
What kugino and I are referring to is on the amplifier side. They expect a load from a speaker, not a headphone, so a series resistor balances the resistance so it gets a load equivalent to a speaker. I think someone mentioned it doesn't matter for SS, since the load gets balanced, but tube designs dont have the capabilities. 
 

 

[kugino]

   
I believe what you're referring to with orthodynamics is the impedance of the drivers. Orthodynamic's impedance curves are very flat so they aren't affected by the output impedance of the amplifier
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE6.pdf
 
Whereas a dynamic driver fluctuates based on the output impedance
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD800.pdf
 
 
What kugino and I are referring to is on the amplifier side. They expect a load from a speaker, not a headphone, so a series resistor balances the resistance so it gets a load equivalent to a speaker. I think someone mentioned it doesn't matter for SS, since the load gets balanced, but tube designs dont have the capabilities. 
 

got it...i was thinking about maybe building a robinette box http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-to-speaker-amp-interface-with-switched-xlr-1-4-trs-1-8-trs 
 
i think it's more versatile than the box that hifiman supplies...just have to see if i'd seriously use these amps to power any of my headphones. most likely not, as they run really warm and i don't have much desk space for the, especially since i'm most likely going to pick up a schiit ragnarok next month, and that thing is a beast.  thanks for the tips, guys.

 

[robrob]

  That's a classy remark, coming from someone who first pointed people in a certain direction, then practically broke the sound barrier to distance himself from everything when problems started emerging.  If you're looking for a second job I recommend politics, you have a certain knack for it.  What went wrong's obviously not your fault but no need to rub it in.

 
Yea, you're right. That's why I said, "I couldn't resist," but I should have because it was an insensitive remark.
 
I waited a long time to give brunk time to respond but felt it was time to recommend action to save people some money. I pm'd him March 10th and he responded that he was still waiting for parts. On April 5th I tried again with no answer. Hopefully he'll show up with an excuse and apology. I know brunk had done work for forum members before and had a spotless reputation so I'm extremely surprised at how things transpired. I do feel bad about sending people to him that asked me to build a box for them.

 

[robrob]

  i just got a pair of he-500 and made a balanced cable for it. for kicks, i unboxed some old asl wave tube monoblock amps, which put out about 8W. they were made to power very sensitive speakers...
 
i'm listening to the he-500 out of the amps connected via a pigtail that i made. i used these to power my k1000 back in the day. anyway, i kinda like the sound out of these, except the fact that they're VERY noisy. lots of hum. when the music plays it's very lush and musical...i'll be interested to see how well the senn hd-800 does with these amps as soon as i finish my senn balanced cable.
 
any thoughts about resistors to help curb the hum from these amps? or is it just a normal part of running tubes?
 
(and sorry if i've hijacked this thread at all...)

Typically adding resistors won't help as much with hum as it does with noise floor hiss. The hum may be from a ground loop. Hum is not normal for tube amps.