K1000 plugged into 6vrms outputs of dCS DAC = No amp, best bass ever!!
Sep 11, 2008 at 7:47 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 28

Patrick82

Banned
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Posts
3,745
Likes
17
Some/all of the DACs from dCS have a switch that selects between 2vrms and 6vrms output from the RCA or XLR outputs. For 8 months I have had my K1000 plugged into a dCS Elgar Plus DAC with cheap Neutrik XLR connectors. When I tried 2vrms setting it was worse than all amps I have tried. With 6vrms it was the best.

Switching from 2vrms to 6vrms makes it warmer and bassier with more low-level detail.

I carried my old Krell KAV-500i power amp from the basement to try if I get more bass from a dedicated amp. The Krell has 250 watts per channel and is the bassiest of all amps I tried! I'm not getting much bass from it (compared to dCS 6vrms), I'm only getting colored sound. For the first time in a long time I'm hearing colored sound again! The dCS DAC is very neutral.
 
Sep 11, 2008 at 8:34 PM Post #3 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Time to pop some decent connectors on that thing, then.

What kind of Power Cord are you using?



I have tried Nordost Valhalla power cable with dCS gear but stock cable wrapped in ERS Paper sounded better. dCS is already silky smooth so the extra veil from Valhalla power cable isn't needed. I'm using Virtual Dynamics Genesis 1.1 Power Cable now, it increased bass while making it tighter with more resolution.
 
Sep 12, 2008 at 12:31 AM Post #4 of 28
That rocks brotha!

oooh yeah...

chewie0ol.gif
 
Sep 17, 2008 at 6:46 PM Post #6 of 28
I have warmed up the Krell for 40 hours and expected more bass but I was disappointed. The Krell power amp needs only about an hour warm-up before it's ready. I'm not hearing any improvement after 40 hours.

With ALL my other gear I hear a difference in 1-2 days warm-up, even the dedicated P300 Power Plant feeding the Krell. But the Krell itself, I can't hear a difference from warm-up. Maybe it's because it's already too warm sounding. The Krell sounds warmer than all the amps I have tried.
 
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:11 PM Post #7 of 28
So, more power, better response, pretty much obvious.

Patrick, did you try K1000 with any speaker power amplifier? These ones are supposed to be connected to speaker amps for the full potential. I doubt most headphone amps can do justice for K1000.
 
Sep 17, 2008 at 11:18 PM Post #8 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by wnmnkh /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So, more power, better response, pretty much obvious.

Patrick, did you try K1000 with any speaker power amplifier? These ones are supposed to be connected to speaker amps for the full potential. I doubt most headphone amps can do justice for K1000.



Yes. My Krell KAV-500i power amp is meant for speakers, it has 250 watts per channel. What this thread is about is that K1000 plugged directly into the DAC gives better bass after boosting up the voltage. Dedicated amp is not needed.

I have never tried a headamp with the K1000, only amps for loudspeakers. I have tried Krell KAV-500i (250wpc), PS Audio GCC-100 (100wpc), T-Amp (15 wpc). With T-Amp the bass was gone compared to the 6vrms outputs of the DAC, the difference was HUGE.
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 10:03 PM Post #9 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I have tried Nordost Valhalla power cable with dCS gear but stock cable wrapped in ERS Paper sounded better. dCS is already silky smooth so the extra veil from Valhalla power cable isn't needed. I'm using Virtual Dynamics Genesis 1.1 Power Cable now, it increased bass while making it tighter with more resolution.


have you tried the Nordost Valhalla wraped in ERS paper?
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 10:51 PM Post #12 of 28
Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I have warmed up the Krell for 40 hours and expected more bass but I was disappointed. The Krell power amp needs only about an hour warm-up before it's ready. I'm not hearing any improvement after 40 hours.

With ALL my other gear I hear a difference in 1-2 days warm-up, even the dedicated P300 Power Plant feeding the Krell. But the Krell itself, I can't hear a difference from warm-up. Maybe it's because it's already too warm sounding. The Krell sounds warmer than all the amps I have tried.



LMAO. Always the comedian Patrick
tongue.gif
 
Sep 19, 2008 at 11:46 PM Post #13 of 28
I turned on the Krell, left it running while playing music through the K1000. After 3 hours I listened again and got lot of strong bass. Then I paused the music and left the Krell running for another 5 hours. The bass was gone! There was no bass, it was just empty, cold and edgy. It went from warmth into horrible brightness.

Warming up the K1000 drivers for only 3 hours makes a much bigger difference than 40 hours warm-up of the Krell amp itself. With previous experiments I have found that 12 hours warm-up of K1000 is needed. The difference is really HUGE. Even using 1dB lower burn-in volume makes a difference to the sound, each burn-in volume gives a different sound signature to the K1000.

But with Krell power amp, what is going on? With my ICEpower amp (GCC-100) the difference from warm-up was huge even after 2 weeks warm-up, and still noticeable after 1 month. But with Krell, nothing happens.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top