[Goh]

Hi all,

I received the Original Master amp today and took a good listen to it. Honestly, I do not hear a clear improvement from my $55 CMOY amp. Even more strangely, the Original Master seems able to provide less volume for my AKG K601 than the CMOY can! I've read before that the Master has a low-ish gain, but I had no idea it would be overpowered by a cheaper portable amp. Note that my CMOY has a low/high gain switch, and it is currently set to high gain.

Am I missing something here, folks? For something that is nearly $200, I expected a more substantial improvement. I THINK I can hear some more bass slam, but it might just be my imagination. Everything else - highs, mids, soundstage - sounds about the same, just with less volume than I'm used to. Any suggestions or comments? Maybe spend more time with the amp? I was greatly anticipating the amp and really did want to love it, as I did my AKG K601s when I got them.

 

[Azure]

Hmm...I'd say:

1. Differences between amps, sources, headphones, etc. are much smaller than people make them out to be here

2. Source may not be high-end enough for differences between amps to be very apparent

3. You didn't match the volume on both amps; is the Master's gain so low that you have it on max and it is still below your listening level? Try your best to match the volume level of both before doing comparisons.

4. Sound signature of the CMOY and Master may be similar, thus making it harder to differentiate between the two.

 

[coolshot]

hmmm i dont have the same experience.


Out the box, the original master sounds better all accounts. My main complaint with my cmoy is that it adds a very metallic grainy sound. The original master IMO is more dynamic both ways better highs,more slam, and smooth midrange. As for the 601, i cant comment on that as all my cans are low impedence with good efficiency. My current cans, Beyer 2005 32ohms are ear bleeding loud after the 1 o'clock postion. I listen around the 11 o'clock postion which is louder than most ppl listen at.

 

[Goh]

After some additional listening, it does seem like the Original Master improves the sound a bit, at least on Eric Clapton's Unplugged CD. Impact of the music is more noticeable.

Volume-wise, I keep the Original Master at around the 2 o'clock position, which is roughly equivalent to 3/7 of the CMOY's max. Even if I crank the Master to full volume, I can still "tolerate" the sound, and it's almost desirable for DVD's that have a lower mix.

I haven't A/B'ed the CMOY and the Master, and I don't really see the point. Yes, I may find that the Master sounds better when compared directly to my CMOY, but if it's not noticeable by itself, then obviously, no new emotional response has been extracted from the music. And it's this emotional response that I seek.

In light of this negativity, I must post some good comments about the Master. It is built very sturdily, and it's incredibly well-designed and stylish. In terms of build quality, it lives up to its billing in every way. And it certainly doesn't sound BAD. It sounds very good, but it doesn't give me anything tangibly NEW. If this was my first amp, I would be happy living with it for a long time. Alas, it is significantly more expensive than my current amp, and I could derive more personal gain from spending the money elsewhere...like a guitar, or a ps2, or an MCAT study package.

An interesting point...my disappointment with the amp prompted me to take a listen to my 3-year-old Sennheiser HD280Pro again. It still sounds very good, with even a little more detail than my K601 because of their isolation...

Alas, I've now realized I'm not a true audiophile, nor do I wish to be, at least for the time being. For a component to justify its higher price, I expect it to provide a clear improvement in sound quality, and I just don't hear it with my current gear. Plus, I'm unwilling to spend even more on source components just to hear that "improvement" I hoped for in the first place. In time, I might have enough money to spend that $150-200 won't seem like much, but now is not that time...I may be returning the Original Master soon.

Any other comments would be much appreciated. The amp just looks so good sitting on my PC...

 

[itsborken]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goh /img/forum/go_quote.gif Alas, I've now realized I'm not a true audiophile, nor do I wish to be, at least for the time being.

Just out of curiosity, did you burn in the OM for 100 hours or so? It can take a bit for the electronics to settle in and produce the eventual sound.

In any event, it's all about the music. There's no point throwing money at a problem that doesn't exist. Happy listening.

 

[kramer5150]

Your threshold of diminishing returns is just lower than most others. Nothing wrong with that at all, just enjoy the tunes and your setup. No point in throwing away good $$$, for inaudible differences.

 

[Goh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsborken /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just out of curiosity, did you burn in the OM for 100 hours or so? It can take a bit for the electronics to settle in and produce the eventual sound. In any event, it's all about the music. There's no point throwing money at a problem that doesn't exist. Happy listening.

Hmmm...I might try that. I do believe in headphone burn-in, but didn't really consider amp burn-in.

Thanks for the comments, all.

 

[Trippytiger]

Do let the amp run for a little while longer. When I first listened to mine with my Ultrasones, I found that it didn't make much of a difference with any of the problems I had with those headphones that I was told would improve with better amplification. But I let it run for about a week with just the radio on my receiver playing, and left it on for about three weeks, and I have to say that there has been a substantial improvement in what I'm hearing through it now. I was hating my Ultrasones for a while, but now they're actually kinda nice!

I do find it bizarre that you have to turn the volume up so much on your OEM, though. Granted, my PROlines are quite low-impedance, but I never turn the volume up past 10:00!

 

[Headphony]

Not having heard either of the amps or source in your set-up, I would 2nd or 3rd the notion that your source is the bottleneck in bringing to light the differences in these amps. You're not realizing the value of a good desktop amp without a good source.

 

[d-cee]

all my amps sounded quite similar till i got better sources

 

[Goh]

I'm planning on getting the Beresford DAC towards the end of the summer, so maybe I'll hold off on returning/selling the Original Master until then. My main problem with the amp right now is that it doesn't output enough volume when I'm watching DVDs on my PC.

I actually AB'ed the Original Master and the CMOY last night and could not hear any differences, even when I was expecting to.

I think someone with relatively easy to drive cans will love the Original Master. My K601s are, however, reputedly more difficult to drive than even the K701s.

Thanks for the comments, all. I will keep on listening.

 

[manhattanproj]

i thought the master amp is quite powerful. if i remember correctly, someone from the australia meet said that it could drive the k240 or k340, forgot which.

could your unit be defective?

 

[Goh]

I really hope that's not the case...

I have to stress that the amp isn't too weak for music-listening. Once I've adjusted the gain on my music files a bit in Foobar (offset the negative replaygain a bit), I now only have to turn the volume knob a little less than half-way to get a good volume.

The sound mix on DVDs have about 10dB less volume than my music. I use PowerDVD software, and have the audio configured for a quiet environment and dolby compatible downmix. Here's where I have to crank it up.

Does anyone else use demanding phones with the Original Master and get similar results?

 

[JadeEast]

Most Cds have the crap compressed out of them while movies
would be about 10db down from a music mix. While some
movies are mixed with a fair bit of compression there hasn't
been a loudness war driving an increased use of compression.

 

[Computerstud]

Keep us posted on the original master Goh. I'm looking at the original master too. Have you looked into the silverstone eb-01 as your source?