[alyanm]

Thanks, I'm still new to the Twag/balance concept and haven't ever heard that setup personally.  Is there a portable balanced source that would work with the SR71B?  I know nothing about balanced sources at all, my favorite source is now the Hifiman 601 which I'm pretty sure isn't balanced.
Quote:

Perhaps the most compelling reason for a balanced setup is the increased soundstage in general, however, doing that in a portable setup was not in the picture until the Protector appeared on the market.  The new SR71B and the iBasso PB1 should improve that even further (I have a PB1 and did audition an early prototype of the SR71B back in August), but at the cost of battery life and added bulk.  

 

[rmappita]

Hi warp08,
 
I got my JH16 PRO last week. I know they work awesome when I use it with my Iphone 4 or my Nuforce uDac, but I connected it to my very old Aiwa receaver, and the hole soud got better, and I really liked. So I want to buy an AMP. My limit would be $700.00. I always read good things about RSA, so I was thinking about the Protector or maybe the new SR-71B with balanced cable, what is your opinion? And If I buy a twag balanced or moon audio balanced cable, can I buy an adapter to use this cable direct with my Iphone 4, when I'm not with the amp?
 
 
Thank You,
    Rodrigo

 

[warp08]

Quote:

Thanks, I'm still new to the Twag/balance concept and haven't ever heard that setup personally.  Is there a portable balanced source that would work with the SR71B?  I know nothing about balanced sources at all, my favorite source is now the Hifiman 601 which I'm pretty sure isn't balanced.
Quote:

Perhaps the most compelling reason for a balanced setup is the increased soundstage in general, however, doing that in a portable setup was not in the picture until the Protector appeared on the market.  The new SR71B and the iBasso PB1 should improve that even further (I have a PB1 and did audition an early prototype of the SR71B back in August), but at the cost of battery life and added bulk.  

 
 
Currently, there is only one I know of.  It's the iBasso DB2 Boomslang DAC, but to make it work with the SR71B, you will need to build or custom order a Hirose to Protector balanced interconnect. I have one of these on order.

Rumor has it that Ray Samuels also has a similar device in the works, but this has not been confirmed yet and to my knowledge nobody has seen even a prototype.
 
Although I will test it and once I do my opinion may change, I personally believe that the SR71B is an overkill for driving IEMs.  People will buy it primarily to be able to drive their balanced high-impedance, full-size headphones.  I use primarily single-ended amps on the go and sacrifice a bit of balanced goodness for the sake of increased portability.
 
The HM-601s opamp is not balanced, but for a while Fang has had plans to build a balanced opamp module for the HM-801. Not sure if that is still in development or has been postponed indefinitely.
 

 

[dj nellie]

Quote:

The HM-601s opamp is not balanced, but for a while Fang has had plans to build a balanced opamp module for the HM-801. Not sure if that is still in development or has been postponed indefinitely.  

I saw Fang's prototype balanced opamp for the HM-801 at the NY meet.  I believe he's planning on releasing it some time early next year.

 

[alyanm]

What type of cable would be needed to hook that up to my JH16 Pros I wonder?  I guess I could skip the RSA Protector and just wait for Fang's balanced amp since I'm already working on upgrading to an 801.
 
Quote:

Quote:

I saw Fang's prototype balanced opamp for the HM-801 at the NY meet.  I believe he's planning on releasing it some time early next year.

 

[3X0]

I went to Jaben HK last night and tried the "silver dragon" cables (which they are in the process of renaming, apparently just to be nice to Moon Audio). They had two varieties -- one with a right angle mini and one with a straight 3.5mm Pailiccs. Incidentally, I'm not actually sure if they're both silver dragons as they are constructed of different materials yet retail at the same price point.
 
I preferred the right-angled cable with my 13s. I can see why a 16 owner might prefer the Pailiccs one though. I thought the Pailiccs one compromised the bass quantity a little bit, which would have been a good thing for the 16s as I thought the bass was a little too much. The one with the right-angle one sounded super, crystal-clear in comparison -- no compromise in the bass, yet the effects of the silver were palpable.
 
They're impressively constructed. I might actually consider getting the right-angled one as my stock JHA cable is in rough shape, and it seems to be the cheapest "audiophile"-grade aftermarket cable out there presently. I'm surprised since I'm not really a cable person at all -- I'm actually buying it for the build and looks rather than the sound.
 
N.B.: Jaben HK doesn't burn in any of their stuff -- the only burn-in is by customer use.

 

[dj nellie]

I believe the new HM-801 opamp will use TRS (or TRSS?) connectors.  It's yet another balanced termination, to go along with the Protector/SR71-b, Boomslang, 3-pin XLR, and 4-pin XLR. 
 
You can have adapters made pretty easily to/from each of these connections, but I still wish there there was a single uniform standard for balanced terminations.

 

[warp08]

Quote:

I believe the new HM-801 opamp will use TRS (or TRSS?) connectors.  It's yet another balanced termination, to go along with the Protector/SR71-b, Boomslang, 3-pin XLR, and 4-pin XLR. 
 
You can have adapters made pretty easily to/from each of these connections, but I still wish there there was a single uniform standard for balanced terminations.

I believe Fang chose the TTRS, because that was the only option he could fit within the dimensions of the HM-801 GanQi opamp bay, or as close to it as he could get.  But I did not see the prototype, so if anyone has pictures from RMAF, please share.

 

[MuuMuu]

Just got my JH16s -- upgraded to JH3As when it was announced and reverted to just the IEMs after all the delays.
 
Really enjoying the sound, minus the somewhat narrow soundstage (it's an IEM so I guess you can't help that).  I can also see how this would pair very well w/ the Protector, for sure.  Too bad I sold mine off last month not thinking I won't have any use for it, but it was probably for the better anyway.  Had to keep that thing 10ft away from my phone else it would start picking up noise on the amplifiers, and I really have no plans for using these aside from a very portable setup, or for late night listening sessions.  If anything I'm really interested to hear how much better the JH3As are now, though I'll wait for a sale this time around.
 
By the way... any suggestions for using these w/ iphone4 bumpers?  I don't mind making the 1/8" jack opening a little bigger, but that plug is really, really thick.

 

[warp08]

Quote:

Just got my JH16s -- upgraded to JH3As when it was announced and reverted to just the IEMs after all the delays.
 
Really enjoying the sound, minus the somewhat narrow soundstage (it's an IEM so I guess you can't help that).  I can also see how this would pair very well w/ the Protector, for sure.  Too bad I sold mine off last month not thinking I won't have any use for it, but it was probably for the better anyway.  Had to keep that thing 10ft away from my phone else it would start picking up noise on the amplifiers, and I really have no plans for using these aside from a very portable setup, or for late night listening sessions.  If anything I'm really interested to hear how much better the JH3As are now, though I'll wait for a sale this time around.
 
By the way... any suggestions for using these w/ iphone4 bumpers?  I don't mind making the 1/8" jack opening a little bigger, but that plug is really, really thick.

The stock JHA cable is just bad quality overall, including the molded connector. I recommend you consider a quality aftermarket replacement cable with a straight Oyaide connector, those are slick enough.  Anyway how do you manage to free up enough space for music on 32GB flash?  Mine is practically full with apps without even photos or videos sync'd.
 

 

[MuuMuu]

Found my solution in a 6in extension cable that came w/ my Shures.  Capacity-wise I find the 32GB to be sufficient -- I'd be happier with 64, but with a little bit of file management within itunes I got more than enough space.  As for the cables, I tried once w/ a different set and agreed w/ the view that it does absolutely nothing.  Not spending money again on differences I cannot discern.  Frankly if this was actually a point of concern Jerry would be the first person out there with 'high quality cable' upgrades.
 
I am noticing that there isn't a whole lot of bite to the treble (I guess you could say it's very smooth, to put it in positive terms), though.  Not really a bad thing, as it makes pop music easier to listen to, and it's still eons better than my previous work phones (t50p) in pretty much every respect.

 

[warp08]

Quote:

Found my solution in a 6in extension cable that came w/ my Shures.  Capacity-wise I find the 32GB to be sufficient -- I'd be happier with 64, but with a little bit of file management within itunes I got more than enough space.  As for the cables, I tried once w/ a different set and agreed w/ the view that it does absolutely nothing.  Not spending money again on differences I cannot discern.  Frankly if this was actually a point of concern Jerry would be the first person out there with 'high quality cable' upgrades.
 
I am noticing that there isn't a whole lot of bite to the treble (I guess you could say it's very smooth, to put it in positive terms), though.  Not really a bad thing, as it makes pop music easier to listen to, and it's still eons better than my previous work phones (t50p) in pretty much every respect.

Not all aftermarket cables are alike and I'll just leave it at that.  Someone mentioned here that all JH monitors at RMAF were demoed with aftermarket cables and for good reason.  The JHA stock cables are sufficiently economical, durable and functional enough to sell their phones and that's all that matters to them, just like most every other high-end IEM/headphone manufacturers out there.
 
If I had a business like JHA, I would follow the same strategy and focus on my core business, leaving the optional upgrades to specialized partners.
 

 

[Oomingmak]

Quote:

Found my solution in a 6in extension cable that came w/ my Shures.  Capacity-wise I find the 32GB to be sufficient -- I'd be happier with 64, but with a little bit of file management within itunes I got more than enough space.  As for the cables, I tried once w/ a different set and agreed w/ the view that it does absolutely nothing.  Not spending money again on differences I cannot discern.  Frankly if this was actually a point of concern Jerry would be the first person out there with 'high quality cable' upgrades.
 
I am noticing that there isn't a whole lot of bite to the treble (I guess you could say it's very smooth, to put it in positive terms), though.  Not really a bad thing, as it makes pop music easier to listen to, and it's still eons better than my previous work phones (t50p) in pretty much every respect.

Actually it does make a difference, with the Twag cable the sound stage and transparency are improved. Was it worth the amount of money I paid for it? That depends on how much you love music but for me it was worth it.

 

[3X0]

I'm using these silver cables with Pailiccs connectors from Jaben which I picked up for less than US$100. Very neutral and really opened up my 16's. The standard OEM cables sounded dark and murky in comparison. I have not tried the TWag. I may consider getting balanced cables at a later stage.

Which version of these cables did you get? They showed me two versions of ostensibly the same model -- both were called the Silver Dragon (N.B. again, they are in the process of changing the name). The first didn't sound different from the stock cables at all to me. They also had a lower-end (~$450HK) purple cable that sounded exactly like this version; no improvement at all to my ears.
 
The other version is more forward. The treble has more bite, and the bass has more impact and slam. Detail resolution was off the hook (extreme silver content? I won't pretend to know). In all honestly, the difference seemed more dramatic than when I tried a well-burned-in TWag, going by memory (maybe it just does better for the money, or the same for less money). This version was the one I bought, at $750HK.
 
When I walked back into the bustling streets of Mong Kok, I ended up "inadvertently" losing my stock cables. It was probably my subconscious. 

 

[Yale]

Which version of these cables did you get? They showed me two versions of ostensibly the same model -- both were called the Silver Dragon (N.B. again, they are in the process of changing the name). The first didn't sound different from the stock cables at all to me. They also had a lower-end (~$450HK) purple cable that sounded exactly like this version; no improvement at all to my ears.
 
The other version is more forward. The treble has more bite, and the bass has more impact and slam. Detail resolution was off the hook (extreme silver content? I won't pretend to know). In all honestly, the difference seemed more dramatic than when I tried a well-burned-in TWag, going by memory (maybe it just does better for the money, or the same for less money). This version was the one I bought, at $750HK.
 
When I walked back into the bustling streets of Mong Kok, I ended up "inadvertently" losing my stock cables. It was probably my subconscious. 

 


3XO:
I got the ones with straight Pailiccs plugs. I thought that the SQ was much improved over the relatively cheesy oem cables that came w the 16s.
Enjoy.