[El Cucuy]

Hi Graham and welcome!

You might want to check out the distributor in the UK. They will tell you where your closest dealer is located and I'm sure, if there is no one within a reasonable drive, one of them will gladly ship one to your doorstep. Check here:

United Kingdom

TSOURCE
the loft studio
9 knowles hill road
newton abbot
devon
TQ12 2PH
eMail: robert@tsource.co.uk
Web: www.tsource.co.uk

Contact: Robert Hay

Good luck with that!

Dan

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallen dragon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Total new guy here but I've read about a squillion pages about this amp, I'm in the UK, where can I actually get one? (rather then ringing named dealers and getting the 'what?' or 'you've got to be joking, how about X?' which is all I have got so far) Mail order would be good too, as I'm a lazy so and so and cant be bothered to drive a couple of hundred miles... Cans would be AKG K340's Either that or I buy a Rega... Best Graham

 

[El Cucuy]

Rega builds some nice electronics as well. Hard to loose either way!

Dan

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallen dragon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Total new guy here but I've read about a squillion pages about this amp, I'm in the UK, where can I actually get one? (rather then ringing named dealers and getting the 'what?' or 'you've got to be joking, how about X?' which is all I have got so far) Mail order would be good too, as I'm a lazy so and so and cant be bothered to drive a couple of hundred miles... Cans would be AKG K340's Either that or I buy a Rega... Best Graham

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hi-Finthen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whats up, up So, you did all that research on the internet on the trivial and didn't look into my profile to find out which DAC I'm using? Ask Jude why he writes, "I keed, I keed", although I believe it's phonetically obvious in line with being humorous ... Zhao D2... Upgraded or are you running it stock? Didn't they have problems with that piece? Glad you like it. Why did you buy the MHDT?

Hi-ho Hi

Should have checked out your profile..... lol ...

The Zhao was modified by Eddie Woo before the big ruckus about useless components ... he changed some op amps, upgraded the caps to blackgates and added the discrete headphone amp. It was part of his standard web site upgrade. Never was aware of any problems with it though, and chose it over my DAC-AH. Did you hear anything negative about the D2 model?

I don't know if you've been to many meets, but going to a meet is an extremely dangerous thing to do. I ordered the Constantine right after the NY meet because of a comment Jahn made... that the Zhao was all full of air and space and sparkle and bass, just like an upsampling DAC and that he preferred his more earthy NOS DAC. I already knew what a stock DAC-AH sounded like, and felt the Zhao sounded better, so I picked up a Constantine to check out another version of the NOS sound.

At the same meet, I listened to Towert7's computer>Constantine>GS-1 rig with my DT880s and liked what I heard, so I had a pretty good idea what the Constantine was going to sound like from my computer when my GS-1 arrived. The GS-1 purchase came about after I mentioned that I had to turn Towert7's amp up around 3:00 to hear it. Justin sent me a PM explaining how he sets the gain and that it was set that way to get a more usable range on the volume control. He also said that the backlog on GS-1s would be over in one week..... and Bamm, one week later I had a new GS-1 to play with.

Now more bad news.... When I first set up the GS-1 it was connected via a loop out of my M^3 and sounded lousy... not at all how I remembered it from the meet. I discussed it with a few people, among whom was Asr who directed me to a post about "loop outs" by JustinW himself. The GS-1 is apparently extremely sensitive to its source and even though they should be, not all loop outs are the same and the M^3 loop out was somehow either diminishing the signal enough to be detected by the GS-1and throw off its sound signature, or the Constantine didn't have enough oomph left on the third split to power all 3 amps. A direct connection to the DAC and everything was back the way it should have been. But that's not the bad news. While I was discussing the sound signature problem with some fellow headfiers, it was suggested that I might like the sound signature of an HR-2 better. That was a real bummer, because I had listened to Ray's HR-2 at three meets and liked it alot but wanted to try a GS-1 first...... the bad news is that I transfered the funds to my paypal account and as soon as I'm done fiddling around with this set up, an HR-2 will be on its way for some serious comparison testing.

What made you decide to get a Constantine?

I Keed, is I'm kidding???

USG

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Still confused? I suppose humor just doesn't transpose well, however the post and context it was used in assumes the tone of humor is understood... Reread that post maybe, but maybe you just won't "get it"...

Lots of material here to digest. It makes my head spin with questions, but it would be all WAAY OT for this thread for us to persue and of unlikely relativity to the readers.

Let me just conclude, that outboard DACs (in general) will add a great deal to the presentation of the music heard in both quality and quanity of the lowest freq especially, as well as resolution throughout the freq. spectrum with the 701s and Heed which speaks well to their scaling up with better signals from better sources.

That seems like an obvious statement but the degree and intensity of difference was remarkable in my experience, and I thought it was important for readers to appreciate. Again, the increase in dynamic swings and this effect on creating a 3D soundstage speaks to the potential of both the CanAmp and the k701s lying untaped if less than "Better" sources are downstream. No kidding

Quote:

Originally Posted by upstateguy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi-ho Hi Should have checked out your profile..... lol ... The Zhao was modified by Eddie Woo before the big ruckus about useless components ... he changed some op amps, upgraded the caps to blackgates and added the discrete headphone amp. It was part of his standard web site upgrade. Never was aware of any problems with it though, and chose it over my DAC-AH. Did you hear anything negative about the D2 model? I don't know if you've been to many meets, but going to a meet is an extremely dangerous thing to do. I ordered the Constantine right after the NY meet because of a comment Jahn made... that the Zhao was all full of air and space and sparkle and bass, just like an upsampling DAC and that he preferred his more earthy NOS DAC. I already knew what a stock DAC-AH sounded like, and felt the Zhao sounded better, so I picked up a Constantine to check out another version of the NOS sound. At the same meet, I listened to Towert7's computer>Constantine>GS-1 rig with my DT880s and liked what I heard, so I had a pretty good idea what the Constantine was going to sound like from my computer when my GS-1 arrived. The GS-1 purchase came about after I mentioned that I had to turn Towert7's amp up around 3:00 to hear it. Justin sent me a PM explaining how he sets the gain and that it was set that way to get a more usable range on the volume control. He also said that the backlog on GS-1s would be over in one week..... and Bamm, one week later I had a new GS-1 to play with. Now more bad news.... When I first set up the GS-1 it was connected via a loop out of my M^3 and sounded lousy... not at all how I remembered it from the meet. I discussed it with a few people, among whom was Asr who directed me to a post about "loop outs" by JustinW himself. The GS-1 is apparently extremely sensitive to its source and even though they should be, not all loop outs are the same and the M^3 loop out was somehow either diminishing the signal enough to be detected by the GS-1and throw off its sound signature, or the Constantine didn't have enough oomph left on the third split to power all 3 amps. A direct connection to the DAC and everything was back the way it should have been. But that's not the bad news. While I was discussing the sound signature problem with some fellow headfiers, it was suggested that I might like the sound signature of an HR-2 better. That was a real bummer, because I had listened to Ray's HR-2 at three meets and liked it alot but wanted to try a GS-1 first...... the bad news is that I transfered the funds to my paypal account and as soon as I'm done fiddling around with this set up, an HR-2 will be on its way for some serious comparison testing. What made you decide to get a Constantine? I Keed, is I'm kidding??? USG

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hi-Finthen /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... However, I'll add this new bit of startling revelation with my CanAmp / k701s pairing , is their MASSIVE scaling up of presentation realized with the addition of my new source, the MHDT NOS DAC ...

i agree

got the Oritek discrete Zhaolu and by jove with the canamp and K701 is one of the best sonic experience I've ever encountered

i am scared for my wallet, but either Ori's mod is excellent value (it is) + the heed's scalabilty (it does) and the K701's sound sig do it all for me because I am not really feeling diminishing returns here, and I've spent so much money I'd hoped the diminishing returns would kick my face back into sanity

oh well... i don't know what to upgrade next ??? this forum will be the death of me

 

[dw6928]

d-cee, instead of being consumed with your next upgrade, and considering the Heed/701 already on hand, perhaps you might want to sit back and concentrate on listening to your music for a while. i found it to be most rewarding.

 

[Morph201]

Very wise words! Heed them well d-cee (haha, pun intended of course!)....

It's ALWAYS about the music!!!

 

[d-cee]

I will take heed!

I guess I ought to take a break ey, things are going pretty good right now

edit: all of a sudden the itch to go balanced has slowly began to consume me

 

[yrh0413]

lolz i'm still in search of the best source for my CanAmp and K701. Currently listed are (from cheapest to most expensive) EMU 1212m, Lite DAC-AH, Monica II

One problem is that i cannot listen to them before i make my purchase. Bummer.

 

[dw6928]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will take heed! I guess I ought to take a break ey, things are going pretty good right now edit: all of a sudden the itch to go balanced has slowly began to consume me

As is well documented in these forums, the "sudden itch" to
upgrade/change our components can wreak havoc on the pure enjoyment of the music. It is a dangerous game.

 

[fallen dragon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackbird Audio /img/forum/go_quote.gif Rega builds some nice electronics as well. Hard to loose either way! Dan

No reply from the distributors (again) so Rega it is! Anyway I love my Rega Planet 2000 and I can even get the EAR mail order

Thanks for the replies guys

Graham UK

 

[dw6928]

Did I read correctly, some posts ago, that it is prudent to leave the Heed on for 20-30 minutes before use? Is this necessary in a solid state amp? Tubes I can understand; perhaps I am in the dark about the circuit board/resistor technology.

 

[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dw6928 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did I read correctly, some posts ago, that it is prudent to leave the Heed on for 20-30 minutes before use? Is this necessary in a solid state amp? Tubes I can understand; perhaps I am in the dark about the circuit board/resistor technology.

The CanAmp has a Class A output stage, so it performs best after reaching an optimal running temperature.

 

[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallen dragon /img/forum/go_quote.gif No reply from the distributors (again) so Rega it is! Anyway I love my Rega Planet 2000 and I can even get the EAR mail order

Graham, if you haven't already pulled the trigger on the Rega, you might contact Tony at Needles & Spins, who sells the CanAmp via mail order in the UK.

Although Rega make many fine products (and I've owned a few in the past), the Ear, while useful enough within the confines of their range, is, IMO, not one of their finest efforts. I had one for a few weeks about three years ago but I ended up returning it once I discovered that it wasn't terribly better than the headphone-out on my NAD 314 integrated.

Having owned a CanAmp since January, I'm confident that it is in another class altogether to my recollection of the Rega...unless the Ear has been substantially upgraded in the interim.

 

[dw6928]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexdexter /img/forum/go_quote.gif The CanAmp has a Class A output stage, so it performs best after reaching an optimal running temperature.

and that temperature is achieved after how many minutes?