Light Harmonic Geek Out EM/1000 Impressions Thread

[BaTou069]

Can't wait for my Geek Out720. I don't have a Can that need more power, I guess this will be more then enough for Nad HP50, He-400 and Alessandro MS1

 

[mikemercer]

Which Double Helix are you referring to as "other"?

 
The litz/braided ones in those photos.
The one here:

 
I dropped Peter at Double Helix an FB message to find out the name/mode of that cable.
I bought my Complement2 shortly after receiving it - and I'm going to buy these as well,
but I forget the model.
 
I'll get the model intel for you. You can, should you desire, contact Peter at Double Helix Cables and he
knows which cables I use for my rigs. He's also a great guy. He's not pushy, very laid-back 
but knows his cable science as well as some of best and brightest I've met in the high end audio
community!

 

[mikemercer]

  Can't wait for my Geek Out720. I don't have a Can that need more power, I guess this will be more then enough for Nad HP50, He-400 and Alessandro MS1

Yeah that's plenty of juice for your needs!
 
And you never know. Sometimes things form a strange synergy despite the numbers on a piece of paper. The astonishing result of trying my Audeze LCD-3 with the HRT microStreamer (review and thread HERE) is a good example of that! I loved, and still love the microStreamer, but technically the lil' amp/DAC didn't have the juice to drive the planar magnetics. That ended up being bulls--- as far as I was concerned!! Sure, it didn't drive them to their full potential, but it made for a very sweet-sounding pairing. I don't blast my ears out all the time anyway (I try not to, but its too much fun) - so the levels achieved were great for my taste! 

 
You never know what kind of crazy results you can bring about without experimenting!
 
One of the cool things about the Geek Out 1000 is that I've been having fun with a few different
headphones - and it does its job well with all of em - its an amp/DAC that isn't finicky, which is a great thing.
 
 
and, after pullin' an all-nighter - this is the best way to cap it off!
Watchin the sun come up, rockin' my LCD-X via the Geek Out 1000, with MOG as the source!!
Double Helix Cables on the cans

 

[BaTou069]

  Yeah that's plenty of juice for your needs!
 

 
I guess it's too much juice for Shure SE846, not much volume to play with?

 

[nicolo]

   
I guess it's too much juice for Shure SE846, not much volume to play with?

Way too much power for the Shures and the NAD. Maybe too much for the Alessandro too. The Geek 450 would be ideal for these.
 
The HE-400 would of course be perfect with the Geek 720. To calculate power requirements for headphones, go to the following link to find out:
 
http://www.headphone-amplifier.com/calculator.htm
 
Generally anything approaching 110db SPL is way overkill. For example, the HE-400 impedance is 38ohms, the efficiency 92db, and the Geek Out 720 is 720mW.
After pressing the calculate button, the SPL value is 103DB, which is pretty high. Please note planar magnetic cans are very current hungry. The calculation is for dynamic driver HPs only like the Shures, Sennheissers' etc. Hope this helps.

 

[BaTou069]

  Way too much power for the Shures and the NAD. Maybe too much for the Alessandro too. The Geek 450 would be ideal for these.
 
The HE-400 would of course be perfect with the Geek 720. To calculate power requirements for headphones, go to the following link to find out:
 
http://www.headphone-amplifier.com/calculator.htm
 
Generally anything approaching 110db SPL is way overkill. For example, the HE-400 impedance is 38ohms, the efficiency 92db, and the Geek Out 720 is 720mW.
After pressing the calculate button, the SPL value is 103DB, which is pretty high. Please note planar magnetic cans are very current hungry. The calculation is for dynamic driver HPs only like the Shures, Sennheissers' etc. Hope this helps.

 
Hey thanks
If i do the same calculations for the Shure for example. 9ohm impedance and 114 efficiency i get 131.6 db, this should hurt.
But when exactly do I get this db? From Volume 1? Shouldn't I be able to listen to low volumes and not getting such high dbs?

 

[nicolo]

   
Hey thanks
If i do the same calculations for the Shure for example. 9ohm impedance and 114 efficiency i get 131.6 db, this should hurt.
But when exactly do I get this db? From Volume 1? Shouldn't I be able to listen to low volumes and not getting such high dbs?

 
That definitely would blow your eardrums. Man, 131 db SPL is freaking insane!!!
 
 You will probably need to increase the volume very slowly, probably between 30%-40% of the volume range to listen at a reasonable volume. As Mike himself mentioned in this thread, you need to plug the Geek in and check that the gain/volume is set to low before plugging in IEMs/headphones each time . In your case it could be argued that due to it's efficiency, the Shures should be treated as IEMs.

 

[miceblue]

How warm does the Geek Out get? Uncomfortable to touch? As hot as the iPhone 4S on maximum brightness and playing a video?

Anyone?

 

[mtruong34]

"Watchin the sun come up, rockin' my LCD-X via the Geek Out 1000, with MOG as the source!!
Double Helix Cables on the cans"

Is that MOG? Looks more like Spotify. Which I use and love.

 

[BaTou069]

  .... In your case it could be argued that due to it's efficiency, the Shures should be treated as IEMs.

 
They are IEMs

"Watchin the sun come up, rockin' my LCD-X via the Geek Out 1000, with MOG as the source!!
Double Helix Cables on the cans"

Is that MOG? Looks more like Spotify. Which I use and love.

 
I understand that services like MOG or Spotify are MP3s, how is it listening to this with such high end cans like the LCD-X?

 

[AxelCloris]

 
I understand that services like MOG or Spotify are MP3s, how is it listening to this with such high end cans like the LCD-X?

 
MOG and Spotify can stream up 320 kbps, where standard MP3s are typically 128 kbps.

 

[BaTou069]

   
MOG and Spotify can stream up 320 kbps, where standard MP3s are typically 128 kbps.

I know, all I'm just asking is if you feel (hear) that these are lossy files, especially with such high end cans like LCDs

 

[AxelCloris]

  I know, all I'm just asking is if you feel (hear) that these are lossy files, especially with such high end cans like LCDs

 
Oh, ok. I follow you now, sorry. With the right setup you can tell the difference between resolutions even with more inexpensive headphones. If your source is good, it'll make a nice high quality file shine. Even with my cheap A151 IEM, there's a noticeable difference between standard 128k, 192k, 320k and up. A high end headphone can enhance the differences.

 

[grunter72]

My super duper geek out is flying over the ocean.... I'm very excited to receive it

 

[mikemercer]

Anyone?

the Geek Out 1000 gets really warm - but I wouldn't call it hot to the touch.
I can grab it and keep a hold of it without wincing...
 
 

   
They are IEMs
 
I understand that services like MOG or Spotify are MP3s, how is it listening to this with such high end cans like the LCD-X?

MOG and Spotify Premium stream at 320kbps - so I'm never rockin mp3 streams.
 
MOG can sound terrific through the right DAC (in this case, the DAC in the Geek Out 1000 - which has a few character traits of its 
BIG brotha - the Da Vinci DAC) and so can Spotify!!  Though MOG is more consistent in terms of its offerings at CD quality.
 
The great thing about my Mytek and McIntosh D100 is that I see what sample and bit rates it locks in on.
MOG always locks in at 24 or 16-bit/44.1kHz - Spotify occasionally drops when I got it hooked up to those DACs.
 
But, overall - with the right DAC you'd be surprised how solid you can get it to sound!!
 
It's pretty simple w/ the Geek Out 1000...

 
now there I'm rockin Spotify - and its sounds great!
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest (my REVIEW at PFO) soundin' open and airy,
with dynamics and sweet tonalities