The THX 789 could really put up a good fight against a higher-end amplifier. The THX 789 may not have the best depth and sound stage in the world, or the best dynamics. It has a minimum amount of coloration but some pairing may be too clean for one's taste. After all I really don't have much to complain about it.
It does not matter if you believe in the better power cable or power regenerator because it uses a power brick. You simply do not have to worry about upgrading your power components. 789 sounded great out of the box and you do not have to worry about it. Vigorously tested by the ears of Head-fiers here and proven to works well with a wide range of headphones. All black and simple minimalist outlook. Most importantly , it sounded well above its price range.
has anyone tried using a non stock PS with this amp?
I tried various: switching, linear, regulated, non regulated but... all I get with those is silence or just some vary faint distorted sound when I turn volume to max :-/
all of the PSs I tried do, obviously, meet original's specs and all of them are working fine with other equipments
also tried a bunch of DC cords but... no joy
as soon as I revert to the original PS everything's fine
oh... btw... original PS doesn't show on Xing Yuan's catalogue
may it be custom made and have some "chip" the amplifier checks for?
THX 789 and HE 560 are a superb pairing. I especially love the increased energy that it brings to an orchestra.
The only problem with this set up is that there is ground loop hum when I connect the ESP 95X to the SDACB at the same time that the 789 is connected. Otherwise would have been perfect. Only a minor hassle though.
Solid little midfi headphone system. I’m only waiting on the balanced Cardas cable for the 560.
THX 789 and HE 560 are a superb pairing. I especially love the increased energy that it brings to an orchestra.
The only problem with this set up is that there is ground loop hum when I connect the ESP 95X to the SDACB at the same time that the 789 is connected. Otherwise would have been perfect. Only a minor hassle though....
The ESP/950(X) energiser picks up electrical hum from around it. In my case it was a motorized desk. Play around and see what the energiser is picking up. You can probably eliminate that hum somehow.
I have the AAA 789 and have loved it for the better part of 8 months now. I use either an ipad or iphone. I use Amazon HD Music, run from either the iphone or the ipad through the apple camera attachment which bypasses the DAC on the normal iPhone / iPad cord. I then hook to a Dragon Fly Cobalt for the DAC and from there to the 789. Seems to work well and love it. Of course, i have not tried everything else either. Oh, yeah, use the Sennheiser HD650.
What this means, it's that it don't push full 6W of power with his headroom in low or medium gain? So to have full power you need to keep it high gain, to get more headroom. ?
I'm considering the THX as my budget probably won't stretch to the TA-ZH1ES or other high end recommended amp(dacs).
I've seen a comment saying that the MDR-Z1R don't pair well with this amp as it boosted the mids too much(?). Does anyone else use the MDR-Z1R to confirm they don't go well together? Synergy can be a tricky thing and there is not a lot of info for lower priced amps for the Z1R in all my searches.
I'm considering the THX as my budget probably won't stretch to the TA-ZH1ES or other high end recommended amp(dacs).
I've seen a comment saying that the MDR-Z1R don't pair well with this amp as it boosted the mids too much(?). Does anyone else use the MDR-Z1R to confirm they don't go well together? Synergy can be a tricky thing and there is not a lot of info for lower priced amps for the Z1R in all my searches.
Have used them both but haven't used them together. 1990 has lots of punchy high bass but it's always fast and dynamic headphone. It can back up it's boosted bass. I think 789 can make it less fatiguing without rolling of the treble. 789 have some kind of deeper, distant soundstage and weaker dynamics(less punchy but more transparent). So if 1990 is overwhelming to you (right in your face and punchy) it can help.
I think it's smooth and airy in the highs but there is no roll off. 789 is not warm amp.
Have used them both but haven't used them together. 1990 has lots of punchy high bass but it's always fast and dynamic headphone. It can back up it's boosted bass. I think 789 can make it less fatiguing without rolling of the treble. 789 have some kind of deeper, distant soundstage and weaker dynamics(less punchy but more transparent). So if 1990 is overwhelming to you (right in your face and punchy) it can help.
I think it's smooth and airy in the highs but there is no roll off. 789 is not warm amp.
Have you tried Violectric V280? I am looking for an amp that can pair well with dt1990 and I may consider to get the senns hd660s, ht800s or hifiman arya in the future
What this means, it's that it don't push full 6W of power with his headroom in low or medium gain? So to have full power you need to keep it high gain, to get more headroom. ?
The power sent by any amplifier will only be enough to achieve the volume required. As a very basic example, you can have an amplifier capable of sending 6 watts at a given impedance but if you're using headphones at that impedance with a sensitivity of 93 decibels at 1 mW and you're listening at 93 decibels, the amplifier will only be sending 1 mW. In this example you would need to be listening at roughly 130 decibels to require 6 watts of output; doubling output power achieves a 3 db increase in volume.
That's a very simplistic example because there's a lot more than goes into it like resistance/impedance, voltage swing capabilities, etc. Point is though that a full 6 watts is enough to blow up many headphones and/or make you deaf if you listen at that volume for a sustained period on most headphones.
I use my THX 789 with a variety of headphones (DT 1990s, HE 500s, Elegia, A900x) and prefer high gain for all of them but rarely get above noon, and even that is only with my inefficient HE-500s.
The ESP/950(X) energiser picks up electrical hum from around it. In my case it was a motorized desk. Play around and see what the energiser is picking up. You can probably eliminate that hum somehow.
950 fed through the headphone jack, no hum. Output is limited to 24/44.1 but still sounds excellent. The benefit of hooking it up to the SDACB was that it fed both amps at the same time. Still, Audirvana makes it easy to switch as long as I stop playback, so this will do.
The folks over at the sound science forum insist that all solid state amps sound the same. I’ve only owned four and at different times, so never compared them directly. Granting that the 789 is not warm, would you say that makes it bright or just transparent?
The 789 is as close to "wire with gain" as you can get at this price point. For that reason, I love it. But it also is unforgiving of brighter headphones, compared to most other amps. (Which is more of a comment on how other amps color their sound.) I have a warm DAC and warm headphones, so the 789 was meant for people like me. As far as a lack of dynamics go, again, my DAC and headphones cover that well enough.
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