[Whazzzup]

I think that’s what I said. Scale. But take this to the Oppo thread and ask

 

[musickid]

I mentioned the utopia as having the same characteristics as the pm1 in this regard. This can apply to any make of headphone. Thanks mlxx and Whazzzup.

 

[iceanddice]

Unsubbing now. Own a tt2, a kgsshv carbon and some stax’s, and a utopia and a lcd 4z... all have benefitted from owning a tt2. These recurring nonsensical queries have finally hit its final stride in my book. Lots of a hundred different pages do not serve any real world purpose it seems. Cheers tho. Keep the thread alive!

 

[Whazzzup]

Ditto

 

[musickid]

The DPD parcel countdown has begun. To one of the finest digital audio set ups money can buy.

 

[ZappaMan]

i think that guy could have unsubbed at the optimal moment. if you thought mscaler was good, tt2 is very impressive, in your face, no denying its 'upgradeness' on h2.

 

[Amberlamps]

Yay, MK finally gets his TT2.

Enjoy dude.

 

[Hooster]

1) For the 4th time. How can a sensitive headphone like the utopia at 104dBL which means it gets loud with very little power also play balanced? If it runs balanced therefore the amp must be supplying much greater power maybe up to 2 or even 3W than a single ended configuration. How is this possible from a technical perspective? The utopia therefore shares this characteristic with my PM1. I have no intention of buying an amp to use with my TT2. This is just a technical query. If it is something to do with scalability then i do not understand the mechanism at work here. Can anyone help?

The question is good, and worth answering since it is pertinent to basic understanding of how audio equipment works.

Firstly regarding balanced. Any headphone can be run balanced. You can pick up the cheapest headphone in a shop, un-solder the original cables, solder a balanced cable to the drivers and connect to a balanced amp. I have done this myself with AKG 701 cans and it works fine. There is nothing ultra high tech or high performance or even mysterious about balanced. There is an endless selection of youtube videos on balanced and unbalanced:


The amp is never ever supplying any more power than you tell it to supply with the volume control. I can connect my 150W speakers to a 10000 watt amp and things are perfectly fine since I never ask the amp to deliver 10000 Watts. So, the amp can supply 3W max, but you can safely connect your headphones to it because you will never dial the volume up high enough for anything even close to 3W to be delivered.

A sensitive headphone can, and ideally should in my opinion play balanced. It is superior to single ended and should be used if available.

 

[Hooster]

Quick query:

My Oppo PM1 is really sensitive at 102dBL. So this means it requires very little power to play loud. However Oppo also sell a balanced cable by which you can use the headphone with their HA1 amp balanced. How can a really sensitive headphone also play balanced and take up to 2W if not more from the Oppo HA1 amp? I assume maximum loudness would be similar to maximum loudness with single ended. The website also mentions (Pulse Max Input Power 2 W). This seems like a contradiction and i don't quite understand. I know other TOTL easy to drive headphones can also do the same balanced. Feedback appreciated. Would running the PM1 balanced as an experiment be a bad idea from a TT2 or just plain dangerous? BTW TT2 is arriving tomorrow the DPD tracking is live! Photos to come. Long term maximum input power on the PM1 is 500mW.

Finally can anyone calculate the power output into 32ohms with the TT2 unbalanced by looking at the specs? That would help me immensely. The PM1 is 32 ohms impedance. (From Chord: 288 mW RMS 300Ω; 7.3 W RMS 8Ω). These figures are for unbalanced.

Quick note: I've just read that Rob definitely does not recommend balanced for headphones at all. Maybe this does not apply to monsters like susvara/abyss? Anyway this does not still answer my original query above in the first paragraph if anyone can help. I'm on a steep learning curve so bear with me

"How can a really sensitive headphone also play balanced and take up to 2W if not more from the Oppo HA1 amp?" It can't, but you just set the volume to a level the headphone and your ears can deal with.

How can you run a headphone balanced from a TT2? Does it have a balanced headphone output?

The TT2 unbalanced should put out about 1.8W into 32 Ohms. I hope that helps.

 

[CreditingKarma]

Yeah I haven't replaced the HTT2 with a new desktop DAC yet. I am using the iFi iDSD BL in the interim. I'd like to go back to the DAVE (I think?,) but I don't think I'll be able to afford it. Not sure yet what I'm going to do : )

I am not sure what you are looking at for a price range. I had a hugo 2 with an mscaler and traded to fund my two channel setup when I sold my lcd 4z. I ended up getting a metrum onyx that i really like. I use it with my ab1266 phi tc and a liquid platinum and it sounds great. I might upgrade to the pavane, TT2 or a ps audio direct stream dac down the road. My wallet needs a break after the first half of the year. Two speaker upgrades then more headphones. Thankfully I think I am at a stopping point with the abyss and the magico speakers for a good while.

Most of the highest regarded dacs in the two channel world are R2R based MSB and DCS. Might be worth a shot in you system.

 

[dawktah2]

I thought balanced was for noise not power? Increase in power is coincidental with TT2???

 

[mlxx]

I thought balanced was for noise not power? Increase in power is coincidental with TT2???

If you have an amp that does both single ended and balanced then in balanced mode you will get twice the voltage and four times the power.
This is because you need to duplicate the amp again for the out of phase signal so in balanced it is using two amps (per channel). TT2 does this.

 

[N Quarter]

CreditingKarma
Why would you not include the Dave and TT2 as well regarded in the 2 channel world? I am mostly a 2 channel guy, and love driving my speakers (Dynaudio Excite 12’s ) directly off my TT2. They do not have the scale of your Magico’s, but I will be upgrading my speakers eventually, I traded Sopra 1’s to fund my TT2, and after I get an MScaler, I will be looking at end game speakers. The short list is Dynaudio Confidence 20’s, Kudos 505’s, and Borrenson Z01’s. I live in an apartment building, so volume needs to be kept down.

 

[rkt31]

I am not sure what you are looking at for a price range. I had a hugo 2 with an mscaler and traded to fund my two channel setup when I sold my lcd 4z. I ended up getting a metrum onyx that i really like. I use it with my ab1266 phi tc and a liquid platinum and it sounds great. I might upgrade to the pavane, TT2 or a ps audio direct stream dac down the road. My wallet needs a break after the first half of the year. Two speaker upgrades then more headphones. Thankfully I think I am at a stopping point with the abyss and the magico speakers for a good while.

Most of the highest regarded dacs in the two channel world are R2R based MSB and DCS. Might be worth a shot in you system.

Msb and dcs highest regarded ? Who says ? Once you listen tt2 or Dave with HMS and then msb ( even select version ), even a kid can tell the off timing of transients in msb and that too in a YouTube video. Don't believe try yourself. I have made some mobile phone videos of tt2 and HMS and even in those videos the extremely clean transients and clarity are evident.

 

[Hooster]

CreditingKarma
Why would you not include the Dave and TT2 as well regarded in the 2 channel world? I am mostly a 2 channel guy, and love driving my speakers (Dynaudio Excite 12’s ) directly off my TT2. They do not have the scale of your Magico’s, but I will be upgrading my speakers eventually, I traded Sopra 1’s to fund my TT2, and after I get an MScaler, I will be looking at end game speakers. The short list is Dynaudio Confidence 20’s, Kudos 505’s, and Borrenson Z01’s. I live in an apartment building, so volume needs to be kept down.

You are short changing yourself, driving those Dynaudios directly from a TT. At least try a good powerful amp.