[smeggy]

I need a pair of bridged TH monoblocks to run balanced, one for each shirt pocket

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, yesterday Ray had designed a little test for me. He had me take a blind, level matched test between the Tomahawk and another manufacturer's $500 home SS amp, and then the TH versus a $1,500 home tube amp. The source was a high end Meridian CD player, and Ray has a switchbox allowing me to switch between amps, although I did not know which amp was which, nor did I know what amps the TH was being compared to. Headphones were HD600.

Interesting test and results Skylab. One question, I wonder what music you chose to use for these tests.

 

[smeggy]

While the test itself is interesting and revealing, what I find far more interesting is the number of people who find these tests so threatening. Why is the idea that amps don't sound as different as we like to make out so scary? We should be happy that we can get performance as good for less. It has long been argued (with backup) that amps sound closer than we'd like to believe.

 

[Morph201]

Sacrilege!

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omendelovitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have one question in this case: with the exception of power issues (for the higher impedance phones), what then becomes the point of buying a raptor, B-52, HR-2, XP-7, etc., if the SR-71 or Hornet can handle the Job? I'm a big fan of Ray's, and having owned and thoroughly enjoyed 2 of his portable amps (see my sig), I have to wonder why he bothers going to tubes or SS if his op-amp based designs sound almost indistinguishable from the others...

ray's sr-71 is a capable all-arounder that sounds good with almost any headphone you throw at it. i have not done the extensive comparisons that ray and the op have done, but the sr-71 sounded enough like the hr-2 with power supply ON MY GEAR that i really can not justify buying another amp right now.

what impressed me though was how close the sound character was between the hornet, sr-71, and hr-2. it was like listening to the same amp but with greater and greater air and extension as you went up.

 

[Jan Meier]

Hi Skylab,

" Ray was certainly not trying to show that ALL amps sound the same - far from it. Just that with HIS amps, and the TH in specific, that he has worked hard to make them sound like his reference amps "

I feel flattered that the ARIA is one of his reference amps!

Next time you visit Ray bring your OPERA with you!

Jan

 

[recstar24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan Meier /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Skylab, " Ray was certainly not trying to show that ALL amps sound the same - far from it. Just that with HIS amps, and the TH in specific, that he has worked hard to make them sound like his reference amps " I feel flattered that the ARIA is one of his reference amps! Next time you visit Ray bring your OPERA with you! Jan

Don't forget that he has owned the Meier HA-2 for the longest of times. I remember a long time ago I a/b'd the HR-2 and your HA-2 and the differences were neglible. All that means is that they are both very fine amps indeed.

 

[Ray Samuels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omendelovitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif even if it was a bottleneck, I can't be sure how much of one it would be, but considering the relative simplicity and 'purity' of an RCA-RCA switch... all I guess I'm saying is that there is more chance for error given the necessarily more complex setup of a headphone output switch box relative to an RCA IC relay. RAY, WHERE ARE YOU? I'M SO CURIOUS!!!

Let me start by giving the respect to the maufacturers whom I own & have used their amps in my A/B tests. This is not a disrespect to their beautiful sounding amps, but just the opposite, I love their amps thats why I own them. To name a few, Eddy current, Meire Audio, Audio Valve, Headroom, many others.
I used to A/B my home base amps & Raptors against my portables in many meets, some commented that if they sound alike then my home amps were not made properly.
To put an end to that comment, & knowing that majority of headfeirs do own an amp one way or another from the manufacturers I mentioned above, I decided to put the Tomahawk against some of finest sounding amps that I respect & own for their quality of sound reproduction.
Remember this test is not bashing other manufacturers amps but in using them in my test I declare my love & respect to these great sounding amps.
The best test is the one that uses a high quality source, a source that produces high quality signal from your red book CDs.
Even though the amp under test is the Tomahawk, which is designed for portable use with portable sources like ipod & other mp3s players, it was developed using 24 bit Meridian as a source, NO portable source was used in it's development. Also high quality pro headphones were used
including R-10 & HD600, Grado PS-1, other IEM were used
as UE10, E500, E5C, E4C, E3s & many others.
The sound that I was looking for was identical to the input signal of my high quality source.
If a portable amp is capable of producing the high quality source signal, then with ease it can produce the ipod signal or other mp3s players.
The test was conducted with Meridian 508, 24bit CD player as a source using Gold, high quality RCA splitter to a couple of identical RCA to RCA 3 feet interconnectors
feeding the RKV MKIII, $1400.00 Tube amp & the other set using Cheap Radio Shack RCA to mini adaptor that feeds the input of Tomahawk. That by it self is a disadvantage to Tomahawk. The Headphone out of the RKVMKIII & the headphone output of the Tomahawk, "again we used Radio Shack 1/4" to mini adaptor", another disadvantage to the Tomahawk for using a cheap adaptor, were plugged into the A/B box via two identical 3 feet, highest quality militery wires. The A/B box has a simple 3 ploes double through switch, wired with militery wires again, to an output 1/4" jack. That is where headphone is plugged in.
The most important part of this test is to make sure that the volume is adjusted identical on both amps, you have to work on it for a while until you get it right. By switching the toggle switch to the left or to the right you select either amp, you will have a seemless signal going through if volumes are exact.
In complete silence, Skylab was sitting & listening to my music first, then to his music second time around, he must have switched that toggle switch a hundered times trying to find out which is which or which he likes better.
Let me tell you another disadvantage that the Tomahawk had.
I used in my test HD600, which are high impedance headphones, which every one knows that tubes love them & are easy load to drive. At the same time every one knows that the 300 load of the HD600 is not the best for a portable solid state amp that is designed to drive very low impedance headphones.
The rest of the story, skylab has it written in his posts.
Please do not take this as an advertisement to RSA, as I do have the Tomahawk thread that I can go over their & say what I want, but it is asked of me to comment by the above headfier, that is why I am posting this post.
Please feel free to remove it if by any chance it seems to offend any person or manufacturers.
thanks.
Ray Samuels

 

[Morph201]

Excellent! Once again, thanks for taking the time to explain it!

 

[Ray Samuels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan Meier /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Skylab, " Ray was certainly not trying to show that ALL amps sound the same - far from it. Just that with HIS amps, and the TH in specific, that he has worked hard to make them sound like his reference amps " I feel flattered that the ARIA is one of his reference amps! Next time you visit Ray bring your OPERA with you! Jan

Hi Jan...
After I posted my last post, I found that you have posted befor me. I do mean it from the bottom of my heart that your amps are sweet & I do love them, If I did not like them I would have never owned them, to use them in this test, it only shows that i use the best to compare my amps to.
I never meant in any way to put your master work down.
I did use my own Raptor & Stealth with my SR-71 in many headfi meets. Believe me when some times I am tired & want to listen to something other than mine i reach to your 2 amps that I own & sit & enjoy them. Many friends stop by & see your amps at my place & I always comment that I love Dr. Meire sound.
Cheers my friend.
Ray Samuels

 

[Jan Meier]

Dear Ray,

> I never meant in any way to put your master work down.

Don't worry. From our brief mail communications I always felt you're more a colleague-friend then a competitor! I think that in many aspects we have very similar ideas about how this business should be run.

And next weekend will be very first time that I will have the opportunity to listen to one of your amps. There's a big headphone meeting in Germany and someone is taken his Tomahawk with him

But you really should listen to that OPERA though! It is very different from all my other models.

Cheers

Jan

 

[ken36]

Guys like Mikhail and Ray are true artists. They certainly deserve our respect.

 

[ManAtWork]

Thanks Skylab to share this experience to us. What my question is if the RS amp sound alike, how is Ray to posit the SR-71, B-52 etc? It confused the customers. I noticed that Ray put all his focus now on the Tomahawk, but is it the best choice along the product line?

 

[mrarroyo]

All I know it that it was a very cool that Ray opened up his home to you so you could experience the comparison.

 

[philodox]

Sorry if I missed this, but did he ever tell you what the $500 solid state and the $1500 tube amp were?