[daisangen]

Update on this. It is not completely dead; it never lights up when I power the amp but after a few hours, it magically starts working.
 
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My amp's power led just died on me. I powered it on and noticed the led doesn't light up, yet it plays music.
 

 

 

[Sganzerla]

Let me place some SUBJECTIVE findings. I know there are a lot of variables accounting to this or that, but it may be of help to someone thinking of doing some experiments.
 
When I first got my Matrix M-Stage I didn't found it to pair very well with my K701, specially because there was no bass. My Millet Starving Student sounded like a better match, more dynamic, organic and relaxed sound, but its stock power cord was much warmer than Matrix one - I found this too late unfortunately, after selling my K701 and MHSS! The level of detail, soundstage, in many other areas Matrix was the clearly winner, but... synergy should not be undervalued.
 
After that I tried some opamps, LM4562, LME49860 and the stock OPA2134 all using 10dB setting, the one I tought was better at this time. Then I tried the class A biasing (3.3k) and found the LM4562 better, specially for dynamics and extension on both extremes. By the way, my LM4562 has resistors on opamp, and both OPA2134 and LME49860 were biased via resistors on the adapter. I tried right after those opamps the Earth HDAM from Audio-GD and found it had stronger bass, better mids and much more natural sound than any other OPA I tried before (but it has less soundstage too).
 
After some days, I don't know why, but I tried 20dB setting to see what happens and I found a rather different sound with these settings, the changes were very obvious with class A biased OPAs, much stronger bass and pronunced mids (something my DT880/600 needs) with Earth OPA. I changed my DIY power cords (tried a mix of 3 different connectors in 2 different cables and mixed the combinations between DAC and this AMP) and found again that an error in the combination was sufficient to destroy the sound of my system. Gold is the key word for me at this moment - lush beautiful natural 3D sound.
 
Today after reading some comments I tried again OPA Earth, LM4562(3.3k) and LME49860(3.3k on adapter). Both LM4562 and LME49860 sound similar, but LM49860 sounds a little fuller with less highs extension, decay and a little more congested mids. LM4562 still has wider soundstage, is faster, has more air between instruments too, sounds ligther and smoother in a good way, I have problems finding words for its differences. Earth still have the strongest bass, dynamics and details for my ears and is still my standard, at least for now.
 
By the way, soon I may be trying to add resistors directly to LME49860 to see if these differences maintain.

 

[proteinpig]

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Sorry for the double post - I thought my post would get more attention in this thread -
I got a Matrix M-stage and have been trying it for the past 48 hours with my D2000s. As nycbone says, it was quite a step up in soundstage going from the the Little Dot I+ to the M-stage. However, the bass response has been disappointing to say the least. Though the bass is tight, it lacks punch and definition (compared to the bass from Little Dot I+ which is gorgeous)...

 

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You can warm up the amp a little bit and get a LOT more definition with LM4562 with class A adapter. Maybe more punch from a pair of AD797s on a dual to single adapter. Otherwise the M-Stage is not an amp which has a lot of bass punch. There are a few others in this thread that have also commented on this. The M-Stage is a good amp, especially for the price, but the amp's relative lack of bass punch is one of its weaknesses. Being an M-Stage owner myself, I'm just being totally honest.
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Thanks Purrin.
I think I'll try Class A modded LM4562. Can someone suggest a good place to get this? I am not a big DIYer.

 

[lyramax]

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I see that the GD-Audio OPA-SUN  and the GD-Audio OPA-MOON  are avaliable from Tam's Audio.
...
 

Does Tam's Audio provide or sell the 100mm extension "cable" (http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/OPA/lead.jpg)?
 

 

[jtam]

Does Tam's Audio provide or sell the 100mm extension "cable" (http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/OPA/lead.jpg)?
 

Positive.

 

[lyramax]

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Positive.

Is the cable included with HDAM, or optional with extra $ charge?

 

[jtam]

Included.

 
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Positive.

Is the cable included with HDAM, or optional with extra $ charge?

 

[avexdevil]

will the m-stage be able to drive say an audioengine 5? as far as i can tell from reading the previous posts, i'll only run into problems running passive speakers, in which case the audioengines and most 2.0 bookshelf monitors out there should be able to have the m-stage as a pre-amp?

 

[Mad Max]

Totally.  The M-Stage will be great with powered speakers.

 

[Sganzerla]

Would you think is worth to change the IEC inlet of this product? I was thinking of adding something like Furutech FI-10 Rhodium, the prices aren't that high, but I don't know how much easy would it be to change. Any toughts on this?

 

[ninjikiran]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, its just an outlet.  Stock outlet does its job just fine.
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Would you think is worth to change the IEC inlet of this product? I was thinking of adding something like Furutech FI-10 Rhodium, the prices aren't that high, but I don't know how much easy would it be to change. Any toughts on this?

 

[JoetheArachnid]

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Would you think is worth to change the IEC inlet of this product? I was thinking of adding something like Furutech FI-10 Rhodium, the prices aren't that high, but I don't know how much easy would it be to change. Any toughts on this?

How much do you WANT it to get better?

 
I'd say it's probably not worth it. The wiring could get messy (hence losing any possible benefit of a better connector) and also if you look the IEC connector incorporates the power switch on the back as well - you'd have find a socket with a switch, or replace both.

 

[ninjikiran]

Better off replacing parts on the board itself like capacitors.
 
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Would you think is worth to change the IEC inlet of this product? I was thinking of adding something like Furutech FI-10 Rhodium, the prices aren't that high, but I don't know how much easy would it be to change. Any toughts on this?

How much do you WANT it to get better?

 
I'd say it's probably not worth it. The wiring could get messy (hence losing any possible benefit of a better connector) and also if you look the IEC connector incorporates the power switch on the back as well - you'd have find a socket with a switch, or replace both.

 

[Sganzerla]

 I looked the IEC but couldn't see the on/off switch is the same part, so thanks for the info.
 Recently I made my power cords, trying some different plugs (gold, gold+rhodium,silver+rhodium) and found impressive sound differences, so I tought for a brief moment something that should be easily replaced could be interesting to try.

 

[ForeverCalzone]

can the m stage drive hd600/hd650's properly? I've heard the hd600/650 benefit more from a tube amp, is that true?