Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
Waiting on parts but I like the colors so far. Every bit of the wood will be solid maple.
L0rdGwyn's DIY Audio
- Thread starter L0rdGwyn
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Waiting on parts but I like the colors so far. Every bit of the wood will be solid maple.
Thanks! I did some preliminary A-B testing of Atrium and Caldera this morning. I know that is of particular interest to a few people who follow this thread, so I will put some thoughts out there on it at some point.
I am patiently awaiting the arrival of the Purple fuse. Going to start A-B testing it on my OTL, I'll use the Caldera since it is now the most revealing headphone I have here, then try it in one of my DACs.
raindownthunda
100+ Head-Fier
Top of mind for me! I’d be curious if you have a suggestion for which headphone you’d choose for complimenting the VC (assuming proper amping for the caldera).
Duly noted, I'll keep that in mind! Remind me again what are your music interests?
raindownthunda
100+ Head-Fier
Thanks! I'm all over the place with all types of electronic, rock/metal/prog, jazz/blues/folk/vocals, hip hop, strings/classical.
I had the chance to hear the Atrium a few months back and was very impressed with the vocals, staging, slam, and natural sounding string instruments. I love the speed, slam, 3d staging, and sub-bass of the VC, but find myself reaching more for my Aeolus for vocal heavy sessions or more laid back acoustic music. I was thinking the Atrium would be my next, but now I'm not quite sure. If the Caldera has just-as-good midrange/vocals as the Atrium but better details, speed, and sub-bass that seems like an obvious winner. Hopefully will get a chance to demo the Caldera at some point in the near future. Mischa is adding a "low impedance mode" option to the Blue Halo+ so should be able to drive the Caldera pretty well with his OTL design.
Cool cool, I will look back at this post when I do a more thorough head-to-head and let you know what I think!
Intense fuse critical listening underway...
Purple fuse.
I first tested the fuse with my DMM to make sure it was intact (it was) then read the pamphlet. It includes an FAQ section, the first question is "Are fuses directional?". It states "Yes, fuses are directional. Electricity should flow from the left to the right when you view the fuse (from the "S" to the "R"). If you do not know the direction of flow, you should listen to the fuse inserted in both directions. One direction will sound more detailed. This is the correct way."
Now, this is puzzling to me since this is a mains fuse, and I am guessing 99.9% of people using this fuse are using it as a mains fuse, which means it is being used for alternating current, which is NOT directional, current flows in both directions depending on the polarity of the AC waveform.
But okay, they say it is directional and I am keeping an open mind so I thought that would be a good first test - does changing the orientation of the fuse make a difference?
I spent an hour swapping the fuse back and forth listening to test tracks. Believe it or not, I began to think there WAS a difference due to orientation, which of course made me wonder if I was really about to buy into the fuse game even though what I know from a technical standpoint, there shouldn't be a difference. I really became nearly convinced there was a difference with more detail, staging, and airiness in one specific orientation.
I was a bit shocked at that, so given how I was nearly sure of this, I thought "well, then it should be easy to pick out blinded". I realized I could quite easily perform a blind test since I did not need to know the orientation of the fuse to put it in place or look at it to swap orientations.
My highly scientific test went like this:
1) flop fuse around inside cupped hands to randomize initial orientation
2) listen
3) swap fuse to the other orientation without looking at it
4) listen
5) record which orientation I thought each one was.
I figured I'd do this five times to start and see how reproducible the effect was.
I immediately got it wrong on the first two runs LOL at which point I abandoned the test.
So, I don't think there is a difference due to orientation, and this just goes to show the power of expectation bias - I became convinced one orientation sounded better, then from that point forward, the opposite orientation sounded significantly worse. As soon as I did not know the orientation, not only did the difference disappear, it became reversed.
Okay so that's the first test, took an hour and a half, taking a break then I will do the purple fuse vs. a normal fuse. Similarly, I will listen sighted first and see if I think there is a detectable difference, then my partner has agreed to do the swapping for me to try it blinded.
I first tested the fuse with my DMM to make sure it was intact (it was) then read the pamphlet. It includes an FAQ section, the first question is "Are fuses directional?". It states "Yes, fuses are directional. Electricity should flow from the left to the right when you view the fuse (from the "S" to the "R"). If you do not know the direction of flow, you should listen to the fuse inserted in both directions. One direction will sound more detailed. This is the correct way."
Now, this is puzzling to me since this is a mains fuse, and I am guessing 99.9% of people using this fuse are using it as a mains fuse, which means it is being used for alternating current, which is NOT directional, current flows in both directions depending on the polarity of the AC waveform.
But okay, they say it is directional and I am keeping an open mind so I thought that would be a good first test - does changing the orientation of the fuse make a difference?
I spent an hour swapping the fuse back and forth listening to test tracks. Believe it or not, I began to think there WAS a difference due to orientation, which of course made me wonder if I was really about to buy into the fuse game even though what I know from a technical standpoint, there shouldn't be a difference. I really became nearly convinced there was a difference with more detail, staging, and airiness in one specific orientation.
I was a bit shocked at that, so given how I was nearly sure of this, I thought "well, then it should be easy to pick out blinded". I realized I could quite easily perform a blind test since I did not need to know the orientation of the fuse to put it in place or look at it to swap orientations.
My highly scientific test went like this:
1) flop fuse around inside cupped hands to randomize initial orientation
2) listen
3) swap fuse to the other orientation without looking at it
4) listen
5) record which orientation I thought each one was.
I figured I'd do this five times to start and see how reproducible the effect was.
I immediately got it wrong on the first two runs LOL at which point I abandoned the test.
So, I don't think there is a difference due to orientation, and this just goes to show the power of expectation bias - I became convinced one orientation sounded better, then from that point forward, the opposite orientation sounded significantly worse. As soon as I did not know the orientation, not only did the difference disappear, it became reversed.
Okay so that's the first test, took an hour and a half, taking a break then I will do the purple fuse vs. a normal fuse. Similarly, I will listen sighted first and see if I think there is a detectable difference, then my partner has agreed to do the swapping for me to try it blinded.
LobalWarming
500+ Head-Fier
Great work!
Expectation Bias: Putting the Psycho in Psychoacoustics.
Expectation Bias: Putting the Psycho in Psychoacoustics.
Alright, so I've been swapping these fuses back and forth in my OTL listening to the Caldera for almost an hour...
I cannot reliably pick out differences between them with sighted listening, which certainly means I wouldn't be able to hear a difference listening blinded.
But admittedly, I am pretty tired at this point. I am going to sleep on it and give it one more go tomorrow with fresh brain / ears and see if I can hear a difference. If I can, then I'll do a blind test to confirm.
I cannot reliably pick out differences between them with sighted listening, which certainly means I wouldn't be able to hear a difference listening blinded.
But admittedly, I am pretty tired at this point. I am going to sleep on it and give it one more go tomorrow with fresh brain / ears and see if I can hear a difference. If I can, then I'll do a blind test to confirm.
ColSaulTigh
Headphoneus Supremus
Have you put it in the DAC yet?
I do appreciate your going into this with an open(ish) mind.
Xcalibur255
Headphoneus Supremus
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Your ears are tuned pretty similar to mine I think so most definitely want to hear your thoughts on this. Do you still have the full mesh on your Atrium?
Yes! Full mesh. This is how it was tuned initially by Zach, he then switched to the perforated at a later date after sending out some demo units. I want to say at this point the perforated is stock? I'm sure someone else can confirm.
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