[size=xx-small]Or...How I will never be blown away by an audio upgrade again. [/size]
Well, I left my new AKG 501's burning in while I was away for the weekend. After arriving back home Sunday evening, I opened the package from Headroom which contained the TA(4.5) & Ault PS. First impressions were not, well...impressive. The Total Airhead was wrapped in some bubblewrap with the mini-to-mini cable taped on top. No box of its own, just placed in the larger shipping box amongst the peanut filler. The Ault power supply comes inside its own box. The bottom of the larger shipping box also had a simple owners manual for the TA and a return shipping form from HR.
Construction-wise the TA feels cheap. The plastic case is extremely lightweight. The battery door cover feels flimsy and does not fit completely flush, nor does it "snap" in with any authority. The black plastic shows variances in its color tones with lighter and darker shades intermixed all around the casing. The plastic surrounding the mini-jack input shows definite scratches, presummably from the manufacturing process (or possibly from a prior owner?). While these things may be cosmetic and not necessarily impact on sound quality, it does not speak of something worth $200+. My old Boostaroo (sound quality aside) has a case that seems far more sturdy and capable of taking a few knocks and drops while under portable use.
What does speak to sound quality is the volume dial on the TA. Turning the dial gives off pops and scratchy sounds that are quite disconcerting especially when no music is being played. It is not noticable while listening to music. Is this normal?
With further regard to sound quality, the TA seems to be very taxed by the AKG 501's (I am sure this comes as no suprise to many here). Volume increases over my plain old PCDP (20mW/2) are not noticable until the TA volume dial is turned up to around the "7/8" position (out of 10). The dial has no such number designations, I am just guestimating.
Listening to a very wide variety of music styles - classical (small & large groups), rock, pop, jazz, vocal, instrumental, etc. - gives varying results. The TA does provide a small, but noticable improvement. While the AKG's don't provide much bass compared to other cans, it is there. It depends on the recording too. The midrange is where they seem to excel, and it is sweet. The female human voice, piano, and violin all seem to sound as my mind believes they would sound if they were heard live in the same room. Since recordings can vary widely in quality and their production emphasis, these are the things that I can use to judge my interpretation of accuracy. My feeling is that there is more to be heard on the low end, but I wonder if I would be willing to pay the tradeoff price in the midrange.
So I am left with the big question of whether I keep the TA or not. I am relatively happy with the sound coming out of the AKG's, but I am concerned that the TA is being taxed too much. Maybe I should be content with the small degree of improvement with this amp. I just seem to judge any new hi-fi purchase by the amount of improvement I got when I bought my first SportaPro's . As my new audio "baseline", nothing since has shown me that degree of audio improvement from my baseline. Does the TA need to "burn-in" too? Would a more powerfull power supply help the TA? What is the most powerful PS I can use with the TA? Or should I try the Creek desktop amp for the same price? Would it give any improvement over the TA or not? Portability is not a concern and the HR crossfeed does not seem to cause a consistantly noticable effect either.
Am I talking out of my butt or what? Any thoughts or recommendations?
Well, I left my new AKG 501's burning in while I was away for the weekend. After arriving back home Sunday evening, I opened the package from Headroom which contained the TA(4.5) & Ault PS. First impressions were not, well...impressive. The Total Airhead was wrapped in some bubblewrap with the mini-to-mini cable taped on top. No box of its own, just placed in the larger shipping box amongst the peanut filler. The Ault power supply comes inside its own box. The bottom of the larger shipping box also had a simple owners manual for the TA and a return shipping form from HR.
Construction-wise the TA feels cheap. The plastic case is extremely lightweight. The battery door cover feels flimsy and does not fit completely flush, nor does it "snap" in with any authority. The black plastic shows variances in its color tones with lighter and darker shades intermixed all around the casing. The plastic surrounding the mini-jack input shows definite scratches, presummably from the manufacturing process (or possibly from a prior owner?). While these things may be cosmetic and not necessarily impact on sound quality, it does not speak of something worth $200+. My old Boostaroo (sound quality aside) has a case that seems far more sturdy and capable of taking a few knocks and drops while under portable use.
What does speak to sound quality is the volume dial on the TA. Turning the dial gives off pops and scratchy sounds that are quite disconcerting especially when no music is being played. It is not noticable while listening to music. Is this normal?
With further regard to sound quality, the TA seems to be very taxed by the AKG 501's (I am sure this comes as no suprise to many here). Volume increases over my plain old PCDP (20mW/2) are not noticable until the TA volume dial is turned up to around the "7/8" position (out of 10). The dial has no such number designations, I am just guestimating.
Listening to a very wide variety of music styles - classical (small & large groups), rock, pop, jazz, vocal, instrumental, etc. - gives varying results. The TA does provide a small, but noticable improvement. While the AKG's don't provide much bass compared to other cans, it is there. It depends on the recording too. The midrange is where they seem to excel, and it is sweet. The female human voice, piano, and violin all seem to sound as my mind believes they would sound if they were heard live in the same room. Since recordings can vary widely in quality and their production emphasis, these are the things that I can use to judge my interpretation of accuracy. My feeling is that there is more to be heard on the low end, but I wonder if I would be willing to pay the tradeoff price in the midrange.
So I am left with the big question of whether I keep the TA or not. I am relatively happy with the sound coming out of the AKG's, but I am concerned that the TA is being taxed too much. Maybe I should be content with the small degree of improvement with this amp. I just seem to judge any new hi-fi purchase by the amount of improvement I got when I bought my first SportaPro's . As my new audio "baseline", nothing since has shown me that degree of audio improvement from my baseline. Does the TA need to "burn-in" too? Would a more powerfull power supply help the TA? What is the most powerful PS I can use with the TA? Or should I try the Creek desktop amp for the same price? Would it give any improvement over the TA or not? Portability is not a concern and the HR crossfeed does not seem to cause a consistantly noticable effect either.
Am I talking out of my butt or what? Any thoughts or recommendations?
