Massdrop x Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid Amp (CTH) - Dropping Monday
Mar 5, 2018 at 8:35 PM Post #421 of 1,441
The treble has opened up a bit on my CTH with burn in of the SDAC and included tube. It's still not sparkly per se, but the impact has improved considerably. Feeling pretty satisfied.
 
Mar 5, 2018 at 8:41 PM Post #422 of 1,441
I have a ‘74 6N23P that I can roll but it is not burned in. Other Head-Fiers have recommended a burn in time of 100 hours before they settle. I can bring it in tomorrow and let you know how it sounds.

As a caveat i’d be would be comparing it to a burned in Siemens E88CCs and with the E-Mu Teaks.

Yeah, 6N23P’s definitely take some time to burn in. I used one on the Crimson though, and it was fantastic.
 
Mar 7, 2018 at 9:04 AM Post #423 of 1,441
First impressions are: what a wonderful amp for $250! I listened for a couple of hours last night with my ZMF Eikon (source was Metrum Musette) and it was a wonderful and beautiful experience. The CTH, right out of the box and with no tube burn in, is to my ears a significant upgrade over the Vali 2 that I have been using for the last year. (And I really like the Vali 2!)

Compared to the Vali 2 I thought there was more fine detail and the music sounded more natural and engaging. What started out as a quick demo session with a few of my favorite tracks ended up stretching to a couple of hours because I just did not want to stop listening. This thing is soooooo nice!
 
Mar 8, 2018 at 9:51 AM Post #424 of 1,441
The MCTH paired with a Modi Multibit, Siemens E88CC, E-Mu Teaks (or any Fostex variant), and Tidal Hifi sounds fantastic. It’s making me :L3000: a bit too much at work.

I’ve become more impressed with the value and sound this amp offers.

@buldogge The Reflektors give it slightly more warmth than the Siemens and just a tad bit more euphony. It fills it out a bit more but it’s not as even as the Siemens. I’m going to leave it in burning all week.

Is anyone else experiencing channel imbalance at lower volumes?
 
Mar 8, 2018 at 2:15 PM Post #425 of 1,441
The MCTH paired with a Modi Multibit, Siemens E88CC, E-Mu Teaks (or any Fostex variant), and Tidal Hifi sounds fantastic. It’s making me :L3000: a bit too much at work.

I’ve become more impressed with the value and sound this amp offers.

@buldogge The Reflektors give it slightly more warmth than the Siemens and just a tad bit more euphony. It fills it out a bit more but it’s not as even as the Siemens. I’m going to leave it in burning all week.

Is anyone else experiencing channel imbalance at lower volumes?

I can hear ever-so-slight channel imbalance with my HD 6XX at what is basically the lowest perceivable volume, far quieter than would be acceptable for any kind of listening; the left ear comes in before the right. I can not perceive any channel imbalance with any of my in-ear headphones at any volume.
 
Mar 8, 2018 at 4:07 PM Post #426 of 1,441
I can hear ever-so-slight channel imbalance with my HD 6XX at what is basically the lowest perceivable volume, far quieter than would be acceptable for any kind of listening; the left ear comes in before the right. I can not perceive any channel imbalance with any of my in-ear headphones at any volume.

Same experience in having with the E-Mu Teaks but I do play the headphones at much lower volume at work. I want to say it goes away around around 9 - 10 o’clock.
 
Mar 8, 2018 at 4:10 PM Post #427 of 1,441
Same experience in having with the E-Mu Teaks but I do play the headphones at much lower volume at work. I want to say it goes away around around 9 - 10 o’clock.

For me, it's long gone by 8 o'clock; there's not a hint of it at 9, which is where I typically listen.
 
Mar 8, 2018 at 9:18 PM Post #428 of 1,441
I received mine last weekend and have really been enjoying it with HE 560. Exceptionally smooth and coherent with very good detail. I put in a 70 Voskhod assuming that if a new EH is stock and recommended that an older Voskhod would be even better. I never really gave the stock tube a chance. This was my first Massdrop purchase and I recently joined the 6xx drop. I remember when the 650 was the top and most expensive headphone back when I was in grad school and now a similar model is half what it cost used back then. It has been fun to get back into this hobby since I never get to listen to speakers these days.
 
Mar 13, 2018 at 3:09 PM Post #430 of 1,441
Photos from user spritzer on head-case forum:
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Mar 15, 2018 at 7:11 PM Post #433 of 1,441
So my two year old infiltrated my home office, activated my standing desk to an inappropriately high height, and the USB cable for the SDAC caught on a mantle and got pushed downwards such that it broke the USB micro jack inside the CTH+SDAC. The CTH is functioning fine using an external input, but the SDAC doesn't work because the jack got busted. I'm pretty upset, as I was thrilled with the sound I was getting out of this amp/DAC and have been thinking it might be end game :frowning2:

Any considerations I may need to be aware of before I open it up to see if it's something I can fix myself? Worst case scenario is I buy another DAC, but there's some magic gone with knowing I have a latent, busted DAC sitting inside my otherwise beautiful amp.

(I've got two degrees in engineering and have basic soldering skills, so no need for guidance there.)
 
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Mar 15, 2018 at 8:16 PM Post #434 of 1,441
So my two year old infiltrated my home office, activated my standing desk to an inappropriately high height, and the USB cable for the SDAC caught on a mantle and got pushed downwards such that it broke the USB micro jack inside the CTH+SDAC. The CTH is functioning fine using an external input, but the SDAC doesn't work because the jack got busted. I'm pretty upset, as I was thrilled with the sound I was getting out of this amp/DAC and have been thinking it might be end game :frowning2:

Any considerations I may need to be aware of before I open it up to see if it's something I can fix myself? Worst case scenario is I buy another DAC, but there's some magic gone with knowing I have a latent, busted DAC sitting inside my otherwise beautiful amp.

(I've got two degrees in engineering and have basic soldering skills, so no need for guidance there.)

The usb connector is on the SDAC daughter board which sits on top of the amp mother board. IRRC it is SMD. It would be tricky, but maybe possible to solder the pads. But I would expect also that the body is soldered to the board for grounding, and strength against insertion/removal. This might be trickier maybe even impossible.

But, if you have access to a hot air station I would guess you could get the old jack off with some care and float a new one on.
 

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