[HeadphoneAddict]

Hmmm, my "Caffeine Pro with bass boost" has gone over 60 hours before. I use a 250Mah Tenergy rechargable and gets at least as many hours as you do with an alkaline.

I bought a 4 pack of Tenergy 250Mah 9V NiMH rechargable from eBay for around $10 a while back.

Maybe I'll try to hook it up again and let it run till it dies, and see how long it takes. Right now I keep it with my electric guitar, as a portable Stack-in-a-Box. I don't use it a whole lot ever since I bought a Lyrix Total Pro USB from Robert (bigger caps, 4 channel technology, socketed opamps). I know I have run the Lyrix for 24 hours on a rechargable, around Halloween when it was being burned-in.

 

[Buster Sword]

why won't i get a simple tracking number from this guy?

If my mail gets stolen then I can't figure it out.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I never got a tracking number either, but I always got my stuff.

 

[jtang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxicR21 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought this last month.The ULTRA one. I am very pleased with it. The only issue I find is that it eats batteries like candy. Alkaline batteries won't last more than 15-20 hours. I bought myself an 170mAh rechargable one to try the charger. Has anyone else tried that? The ULTRA model seems to have disappeared from the site and Robert doesn't seem to reply to emails anymore. Don't know if he is busy. My kit is PenguinAmp Ultra SONY MDR-V500 Thanks

i've got the PenguinAmp Royal (with a pair of MDR-V700's) for using in work, i find i get about 10ish hours too on 170mah rechargables.

though im a little confused as to how the charging circuit works, does it charge while the amp circuit is on or off or both when its on and off and does the charging circuit stop why the battery is full?

i went and bought a few energizer 9v rechargeables last week hoping the circuit isnt borked

also i too have ordered a headstage lyrix pro usb total last month (23rd january) and im waiting for it to arrive. i guess he is just over run with orders and building them. the last time i ordered the penguin amp it took about two weeks to arrive. but that could just be the postal service inside the EU.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

The Caffeine charges when on or off, just no indicator light. It stops when the battery is full. People should be using 250Mah rechargables or higher, see my post above for inexpensive powerful 9v I got, and use the charger Robert sells or a 12v universal that wont spike above 18v.

The Lyrix has a green light that blinks while charging, and here is what Robert says about the Lyrix charging:
Quote:

Battery charging: The amp stops charging when the battery is fully charged (it uses negative delta-V detection). See the green LED on the front thatindicateds the charging status: As long as it flashes the battery is charging (max. 5h). When it doesn't flash anymore the battery is fully charged or the battery's voltage is too high or too low or there is no battery inside the amp or the battery is damaged.

So, if the light stops flashing, the amp has stopped trying to charge the battery is all that means. Therefore, if the light stops flashing and the amp turns on, it is charged as much as it can safely be charged. If the light stops flashing and the amp wont turn on, there is no battery in it, or the battery is too weak and old to charge.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

PS: The Lyrix has a switch inside the battery compartment that lets you deactivate the charging circuit if you want to power the unit from a wall-wart with an Alkaline battery still inside. The Caffeine and Royal don't do that.

 

[toxicR21]

I am still confused.
With the Cafeine Ultra, I tried charging a 170mAh GP 8.4V battery with amp switched on or off. I left it for 6+ hours. It doesn't charge. The specs of the adapter are:

Input 230V ~ 50Hz
Output 3-4-5-6-7.5-9-12V
:500mA Regulated

I have tried to contact Robert a number of times.
I don't know if my unit is faulty.
I feel I have been conned.
Its supposed to have a 2 years warranty.
I ordered my unit on the 23rd of December, received it in January.
Where is my 1 month return warranty.

I don't know if Robert reads this forums.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Does yours charge when the unit is on? I don't know anything about the Ultra model. I guess I should look it up.

As for Robert's silence lately, I don't know what is up with that. I know he doesn't visit the forums. I'm sorry you are having such a hard time. I would hope it all works out in the end. Don't give up.

 

[euckersw]

Ok, so my amp supposedly shipped on 1/30, and now it's 2/10 and I still have yet to receive the amp. I emailed Robert yesterday, as I'm getting concerned, but of course I haven't heard anything back from him. I understand the German post makes the whole situation very tricky, but I have to admit it's really frustrating to have no idea what your status is or where your package may be.

Has anybody who ordered around 1/28 received their amp yet?

Thanks.

 

[jtang]

we'll i ordered a headstage on 23/1/08 and i have yet to receive it.

 

[toxicR21]

I had a reply from Robert about my charging issue.
He asked me to check the power adaptor polarity and voltage.
He also mentioned that the Ultra Amp is unavailable for 1 month.

Thanks

Update from Rob:

the 12V adaptor will work to power and charge the amp. The mA rating doesn't matter because the current uptake is very low. You can leave the amp on or off while charging.

I recommend you to buy a 250mA or higher NiMH rechargeable battery (it should last about 15-20 hours).

 

[Buster Sword]

Just got my amp in today!

First Impressions:

Packing: Packing is lightweight, i mean like weightless. It didn't get crushed or anything but that was pure luck, its adequate.
Came with just a small padded envelope inside a thin box. And one plastic bag for the interconnect.

Customer service: Yah we covered part of that, not the greatest.

Where it really counts:

Dude the sound is SOOO much better. Not just a little better
but damn the whole overall sound is much sharper and detailed.
Some songs don't even sound recognizable. (Song)Spark sounds like it has a completely different guitar.
The real violin & synths comes in a lot better too. It is very powerful, I have it only on 15% but its already a huge boost.
This amplified my portable cd player no problem.

BoA's voice as predicted, cuts through the mix as the midrange is GREATLY improved.
A lot little synthesizer sounds and other layers are heard that I did not hear before.
Big wow.
The only thing I don't like is that it amplifies anything bad, like my amplifier noise.
Now I have to upgrade my amplifier :X
Doesn't have that "tape hiss" sound on the other equipment.
I really don't like the hiss, it gets in the way of the great sound quality. Its tolerable though. Do your other headphone amps amplify noise too?

I can't put it above 20% on the knob or the noise will overtake the music.
I found 15% boost is loud with good compromise.
Problem does NOT exist on my cheap Panasonic CD player.

God why does my Pioneer Receiver have so much hiss?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Try getting an RCA to mini-plug cable (even a cheapie from radio shack) and plug the RCA into the tape monitor out of the Pioneer, and the mini plug end into the Caffeine. The tape monitor out should have a clean unamped line level signal, and you can control the headphone volume with the caffeine.

If that makes a big difference in hiss, then you know it is just a lousy headphone out from the Pioneer.

I tend to use dedicated sources for my headphones, so the cd, or dvd, or DAP go right into my headphone amp from a line out, not a headphone out. The next step up is to run the source optical out into a a higher quality DAC, and then from the DAC into the headphone amp. Then you really get to say WOW!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Also, if you think the Caffeine sounds great now, wait until it has over 200 hours on it...

 

[Buster Sword]

TAPE out?

NO i just mean that as a figure of speech. The sound is tape hiss
but i'm not using a tape!!
God no, tape is like outdated. Even Vinyl is worthy but tape is not.

Yes it is from the headphone out, its on all sources, tv, dvd, pc
All of them have hiss on the heaphone out.

What opamp is on the vsx-815 anyways? it sure stinks
I wonder if it will be better if i bought a $1500 Pioneer receiver?

And are you serious? Why does my amp have to burn in?
btw thanks for all of your help Headphone addict

I can understand drivers because they need to "stretch" But an amp?