iBasso PB-2 Pelican fully balanced portable, DB-2 Dac . . HiFlight recommended op amps page 16. .

[qusp]

 
 
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n00b question here but have trawled everywhere looking for an answer.. is there such thing as a right angle HR10A-7R-6S connector?

 
 
no

 

 

[qusp]

DP

 

[qusp]

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i cant seem edit above for some reason. the 1612 is bipolar, not jfet like the 1642, which explains why i prefer it. both are similarly clean sounding, but i found the 1641 x 2 to have a bit more dynamic sound

take this with a grain of salt of course, I dont have the db2 and i did use the 1611 for a long time in unity gain situations and used it very successfully to build an instrumentation amp to measure mosfet transconductance with high accuracy. its a great chip, but i prefer 1642 in my testing in other gear. its just an opinion though, and the fact that Ti had to invent a new noise testing method in order to characterize its noise seems to back that up I always prefer fet input opamps, i like jfets, i got N and P type jfet symbols on the artwork on my jh13, so i could just be biased =)
 
the 1641 family, because f this groundbreaking noise, has a very details datasheet including extensive schematics and application notes describing the low noise techniques they used, this makes for fabulous info for a designer starting out. this is what i love about the linear tech and national datasheets too. this makes it easy to get the best out of them, love that.
 
actually this seems appropriate. looks like 1611 is marginally better down low but looses ground with higher source impedance. current noise is far better on the 1641 and i prefer the sound. but yeah both are excellent and i will continue to use 1611 as well.
 
I hope someone has a dba2 at the next sydney meet
 

 

 

[SpudHarris]

Cheers Jeremy
 
I'll have to try these in my PB2. I only have four off them but 2 off have pride of place in my Fi-quest so I'll have to pinch them out of that temperarily, I'll order some more if I like them in the PB2. At the moment the PB2 sounds great with 1611's.
 
I'll report back when I've had chance to listen for a while.

 

[qusp]

cool, no problem Nigel, i just wanted to make sure Ron didnt think i was criticizing his choice, just being opinionated as always; its a chip definitely worth trying as you well know. have you tried the lme49990 yet mate? its my favorite single at the moment, still that is, in fact i mentioned it in here quite a while ago now when i had only just got them. i remember you liked the ad797 quite a lot, think of the lme49990 as AD797 with a bit more depth, about the same amount of detail retrieval and speed and if you can believe it, more slam. its not quite as picky with its environment either, so should be good for rolling. i'm pretty keen to try this thing out at a meet for kicks and so i can get a comedy portable rig photo for the gallery stacked with my iriver->portable sabre dac/amp hehe maybe stuffed in a massive pair of cargo pants driving lcd-2 thnk ron didnt like it for some reason, oh well his loss =)
 
happy rolling chaps!!!

 

[SpudHarris]

Haha, that comedy rig you mention sounds a little like mine at the moment even down to the newly aquired LCD-2.
 
Got another 6 OPA1641's on route from Farnell (TI are asking too many questions about my sample requirements hehe). I am listening to my ES5's balanced via CLAS into DB2 balanced out to PB2 and have to say I think the 1641 sounds a lot like the 1611 to my ears. I'll listen with the LCD's or HE-500's later. I'm waiting on some more Hirose connectors so the LCD's are single ended at the mo but still sound great, just better through the EF-5. Any way, you have me ramblin' as usual...... Off to order 4 x LME49990's now haha!!

 

[Yitaro]

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Haha, that comedy rig you mention sounds a little like mine at the moment even down to the newly aquired LCD-2.
 
Got another 6 OPA1641's on route from Farnell (TI are asking too many questions about my sample requirements hehe). I am listening to my ES5's balanced via CLAS into DB2 balanced out to PB2 and have to say I think the 1641 sounds a lot like the 1611 to my ears. I'll listen with the LCD's or HE-500's later. I'm waiting on some more Hirose connectors so the LCD's are single ended at the mo but still sound great, just better through the EF-5. Any way, you have me ramblin' as usual...... Off to order 4 x LME49990's now haha!!

Hey SpudHarris,
 
Would you mind posting some pictures of your portable stack.  I am looking at the same set up (ipod, CLAS,DB2, and PB2) but driving HD650.  How's the set up with LCD-2?  Is there sound difference with single 1611 and dual 1612?
 
 

 

[HiFlight]

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Hey SpudHarris,
 
Would you mind posting some pictures of your portable stack.  I am looking at the same set up (ipod, CLAS,DB2, and PB2) but driving HD650.  How's the set up with LCD-2?  Is there sound difference with single 1611 and dual 1612? 
 

Both the 1612 and 1642 have completely independent circuitry between the 2 channels so they should sound exactly the same as the 1611 and 1641 respectively.  Very much like a dual-mono amp.  I have listened to each probably hundreds of times with many different phones and have never detected the slightest difference between the single and dual versions.  
 
Perhaps someone with golden ears might disagree, but I would wager that in DBT, the results would be 50-50.  
 

 

[qusp]

they ARE quite similar, thats why i mentioned them silly =) because they are a good drop in replacement and i find they are a bit more dynamic. 
 
yeah i dont get many opamp samples from Ti these days, i get the odd other thing, like i got a battery charge manager, an adsl driver (for differential line driver roles) and a low noise reference a little while ago, but yeah they started asking a few questions of me too 
 
i reckon you'll love the lme49990, its really fantastic imo
 
I would actually think duals might even be preferred in the dba2, because the idea is in balanced amps for each polarity to track each other well for best noise, this will happen more effectively if they are on the same die because they will have come from the same wafer and will track over temperature more effectively as they are bonded, unless you go to the trouble of hand matching your opamps like single fets in a discrete amp to be better matched than the tolerances in a dual device and then thermally bonding them; but thats crazy talk
 
yeah i thought you might get a kick out of my comments on the comedy rig, mine would be even larger than yours though, not by much i must admit and only triple stack unless i also borrow a CLAS, because my rig is just iriver with coax mod ->portable sabre es9018 dac/amp->headphones.
 
the sabre is pretty chunky, but not as large as the ibasso PBA2->DBA2 stack but then i only designed it with ~6.5vrms swing, plenty for jh13 and hd600

 

[SpudHarris]

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Hey SpudHarris,
 
Would you mind posting some pictures of your portable stack.  I am looking at the same set up (ipod, CLAS,DB2, and PB2) but driving HD650.  How's the set up with LCD-2?  Is there sound difference with single 1611 and dual 1612? 
 

I will do that for you but I must mention that I never have it all in a complete stack I have CLAS on the bottom then the PB2 and then the DB2 on top. My ipod is allways on an umbilical usb to the CLAS which allows me to keep the stack in my messenger bag and still be able to choose/change tracks/albums on my ipod which goes in my pocket.
 
Here's the 3 stack....
 

 
 

 

[HiFlight]

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I will do that for you but I must mention that I never have it all in a complete stack I have CLAS on the bottom then the PB2 and then the DB2 on top. My ipod is allways on an umbilical usb to the CLAS which allows me to keep the stack in my messenger bag and still be able to choose/change tracks/albums on my ipod which goes in my pocket.
 
Here's the 3 stack....
 

 

Looking back on the portable choices of just a few years ago, who wudda thunk??????
 

 

[SpudHarris]

I still can't believe that I can have desktop quality on the go.
 
It's true that walking around you probably could take something less bulky and I often just throw the imod/P4 combo in my bag for such times. When I know I'm gonna get a bit of ''Me Time'' when out and about then I'll take the ''Stack''. Nothing compares to a day at the beach where my kids are off doing their thing and I can hook up with my tunes in awsome quality. In the UK we've had fantastic weather recently considering the time of year and I like to be outside as much as possible.  

 

[estreeter]

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I still can't believe that I can have desktop quality on the go.
 
It's true that walking around you probably could take something less bulky and I often just throw the imod/P4 combo in my bag for such times. When I know I'm gonna get a bit of ''Me Time'' when out and about then I'll take the ''Stack''. Nothing compares to a day at the beach where my kids are off doing their thing and I can hook up with my tunes in awsome quality. In the UK we've had fantastic weather recently considering the time of year and I like to be outside as much as possible.  

@spudharris - as much as I try to champion the 'transportable audio' cause, for the money you have laid out I would suggest that you *should* have desktop quality with that stack ! As you know, I'm a massive fan of the P4 as a single-ended solution for mid-fi cans, but your 'big rig' is at the sharp end of 'portable' in both cost and size.
 
Its a shame, IMO, that Mike didnt include the P4 in Headfonia's 'Usual Suspects' amp roundup, but given his less-than-stellar opinion of most iBasso gear, its probably just as well. I'll get another P4 as soon as I get Xmas sorted and a couple of the other toys on my list crossed off. It never ends

 

 

[jamato8]

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I still can't believe that I can have desktop quality on the go.
 
It's true that walking around you probably could take something less bulky and I often just throw the imod/P4 combo in my bag for such times. When I know I'm gonna get a bit of ''Me Time'' when out and about then I'll take the ''Stack''. Nothing compares to a day at the beach where my kids are off doing their thing and I can hook up with my tunes in awsome quality. In the UK we've had fantastic weather recently considering the time of year and I like to be outside as much as possible.  

I have biked and hiked with a stack and I see it as a encumbrance not, and feel it as an encumbrance not. I do get great enjoyment from a well implemented stack. 
 

 

[qusp]

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@spudharris - as much as I try to champion the 'transportable audio' cause, for the money you have laid out I would suggest that you *should* have desktop quality with that stack ! As you know, I'm a massive fan of the P4 as a single-ended solution for mid-fi cans, but your 'big rig' is at the sharp end of 'portable' in both cost and size.
 
Its a shame, IMO, that Mike didnt include the P4 in Headfonia's 'Usual Suspects' amp roundup, but given his less-than-stellar opinion of most iBasso gear, its probably just as well. I'll get another P4 as soon as I get Xmas sorted and a couple of the other toys on my list crossed off. It never ends

 

to be fair mate, Nigel has been around long enough, owned similar smaller rigs to what you mention, owned desktop amps, but having a single transportable rig suits his budget and lifestyle better, as ive seen you say before, you just cant argue with informed decisions like that.