Little Dot MK VI
Feb 25, 2009 at 9:59 AM Post #98 of 125
Ok, here's the deal. I only had 2 hours to spend with it on stock tubes before I had to fly out of country. Wont be back home till monday. Also my StraighWire Encore II Interconnects are getting reterminated with XLRs, so I ran out to Guitar Center and picked up some cheap $10 XLR microphone cables (I don't know for 100% if these are balanced, but I couldn't wait any longer since I had the amp sitting at home for 1 week before I got the HD650 XLR cable). I will post a true comparison once my straighwires get here and I burn in the amp and roll my 5998s and Mullard ECC35s (only 2 hours on it so far).

The first thing I noticed right away was the HUGE increase in soundstage and instrument separation over the DV332. Big noticable diference. Now I know what people mean by 3-d soundstage. I heard instruments in front of me, behind me, to my sides, etc. I never heard anything like it before (but I never heard a balanced setup before this either). I guess that is the advantage of Balanced, and this is with no-burn in, stock tubes, and cheap XLRs (really cheap). It was so much fun to listen to all my favorite tracks with that incredible 3-D soundstage. Bass and treble needs improvement over the 332, but burn-in, better tubes, and my straightwires should fix that. Also can't wait to see how those changes will increase the soundstage even more.

My source is the TADAC from Tube Audio Design (this thing is frekin' incredible, lush, with detail and airy, but I will save a review on that for a later time).

Also, if this a first sign of how things will be, get better from here, balanced is worth it for me with my HD650s.

Note : these minor comparisons are only against a DV332.
 
Feb 25, 2009 at 11:39 AM Post #99 of 125
Thanks for posting your initial comparisons Onychild
smily_headphones1.gif

I hope you let us know how it develops with burn in and tuberolling, but it sounds pretty promising already.

Happy listening
 
Mar 9, 2009 at 4:08 PM Post #100 of 125
Ok, so I am back from my trip and I have spent a good amount of time with the little dot (though only burned in for 30 hours or so), finally running in "true" balanced mode with my HD650s and TADAC, and I am completely floored by the difference balanced makes for the HD650s.

Before my trip, I was using some cheap $10 microphone XLR cables that I found out a few days ago were not "true" balanced. They were just microphone cables with XLR connections--> Guitar center guys are idiots. I swapped them for some $50 Monster Audio Balanced cables while I wait for my Straightwire Encore IIs to get recabled for balanced.

I did a test over the weekend for SE vs Balanced. I was using the direct-tube to RCA out of the TADAC to SE into the MK6 vs. tube to opamps to XLR balanced to MK6. I swapped back and forth several times for many songs, and this is what I noticed, WITH THE HD650s only (YMMV depending on your cans) :

1. The HD650s sound like totally different headphones when balanced but still maintaining their dark signature that I love so much about them. My ears can't stand any harshness even for a minute.

2. All the instruments and little nuances in the music that were lost or drowned out in SE are brought forward in balanced mode for you to enjoy. I heard things in songs I have not heard before (I know you have read that many times on head-fi, but damn did that statement ever hold true).

3. Bass is improved like I have never heard on the HD650s. VERY controlled, not flabby at all. The best part is, you will only hear the bass when the music calls for it.

4. Instrument separation is also vastly improved along with the soundstage. Big improvements in both of these when compared to SE.

5. When I was swapping back and forth between SE and balanced, SE sounded like the music was rushed, and balanced sounds like each instrument takes its good time to present itself, but never feeling slow. Hard to describe, but I just got involved in the music more when it was balanced.

6. And another reason why I know balanced is a keeper, my wife actually hijacked my system for 6 hours on Sat. She has heard every upgrade to my system (because I made her listen), but she never cared to listen for more than 5 minutes. When I asked her if she noticed any difference when she heard balanced for the first time, all she said was, "Ummm..., I can't tell, but I just enjoy it more now than before."


I am completely sold on the Balanced camp with my HD650s. I spend so much time with my system over the weekend and never got tired of it. There are certain songs that just blow my mind. The songs that have music going from your left to your right, then back around -->, these types of songs just sound amazing in balanced mode.

I still have to roll my 5998s and Mullard ECC35s, send the TADAC in to get 2 Moon HDAMs installed, burn in everything for 300 hours, and waiting on my straight Wires and a custom made headphone cable from Fidelity Audio that I am dying to hear.
 
Mar 9, 2009 at 4:12 PM Post #101 of 125
^ Did you adjust for the difference in volume when switching between balanced and single ended?
 
Mar 9, 2009 at 4:16 PM Post #102 of 125
Yes, I did notice that SE was not as loud and I did adjust the gain/volum on the TADAC and my amp to make up for the difference while not adding any extra noise --> another reason I love the TADAC so much is the gain control (and tubyness knob).
 
Mar 9, 2009 at 4:28 PM Post #103 of 125
Neat, thanks for your findings.
I'm hoping to get a fully balanced dynamic rig in the near future, and hope I can look forward to similar sonic benefits.

Not sure how you matched the volume levels though, but the best way would probably be to do it with some sort of SPL meter if you haven't done so, so you can get an accurate match.
Even a small 0.5 dB difference in volume can result in favouring one of the setups over another.
 
Mar 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM Post #104 of 125
I volume matched only by ear, but no amount of extra volume on SE could have given the sonic difference (soundstage, instrument separation, bass control, etc) balanced brings. You can truly hear the difference with balanced, its not just louder.
 
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