[Chris J]

 
Quote:

Yes, the M-stage pairs well with any Beyer 600 ohm can.  I speak from experience cause I own the 770/880/990, all 600 ohm.
 

I can second that................well, just a bit.   My Stage works well with my 600 ohm DT880, more than enough drive, volume, control.
 
BTW....why do you have the 770, 880 & 990s?
Just curious, no judgement....... you lucky person!

 

[ZenErik]

You two didn't do much to sell me, but you did anyway. DT990 600ohm ordered! Can't wait to see how they compare to the Q701s. Should have them and the M-Stage on Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[Chris J]

 
Quote:

You two didn't do much to sell me, but you did anyway. DT990 600ohm ordered! Can't wait to see how they compare to the Q701s. Should have them and the M-Stage on Wednesday or Thursday.

Q701s are awesome!
Don't sell them!
 
 

 

[ZenErik]

Quote:

 

Q701s are awesome!
Don't sell them!
 
 

They are definitely awesome. Hopefully I will be keeping both the Q701 and DT990 600 ohm. I was just looking for something a little more "fun" and bass heavy for certain styles of music. DT990 seems to get the nod as the open can with the heaviest bass. The Ultrasone Pro 2900 may be stiff competition for the DT990, but it is hard to find much info on them comparing them to the DT990.
 

 

[Chris J]

 
Quote:

They are definitely awesome. Hopefully I will be keeping both the Q701 and DT990 600 ohm. I was just looking for something a little more "fun" and bass heavy for certain styles of music. DT990 seems to get the nod as the open can with the heaviest bass. The Ultrasone Pro 2900 may be stiff competition for the DT990, but it is hard to find much info on them comparing them to the DT990.
 

Yep, I had some trouble deciding between DT880 & 990s!
Neutral or fun,  I went with neutral.

 
 

 

[SleazyC]

Anyone ever noticed any distortion when listening to music via the M-stage and low impedance headphones? I seem to be getting some distortion listening to certain kinds of music when using my UM3x's while on the lowest gain settings. Wondering if these headphones are too sensitive or if I should be concerned that this is an issue with my amp.

 

[Chris J]

 


 
Quote:

Anyone ever noticed any distortion when listening to music via the M-stage and low impedance headphones? I seem to be getting some distortion listening to certain kinds of music when using my UM3x's while on the lowest gain settings. Wondering if these headphones are too sensitive or if I should be concerned that this is an issue with my amp.

I have never noticed any distortion from the amp when using AKG K70x series.
I've noticed A LOT of distortion from a lot of recordings, though!

 
Anyway, the Westones have approx. the same impedance as AKG K70x, and the Matrix has no trouble driving the AKG.......so it must be something else.
The Westones are far more efficient than the K701s so a gain setting of 10 dB makes sense.
When you look at the efficiency of the Westones the M Stage should have any problem driving them.
Just for fun, try a higher gain setting, you should have to turn the volume down to maybe 9 o'clock to use them, but you never know until to try it out.  
 
The M Stage can output a lot of current and a lot of voltage so it should be able to drive almost any headphone.
It also has a low output impedance so should have any trouble with a low impedance or high impedance 'phone.
It can even drive my 2,000 ohm Sennheisers! No, that's not a typo.
 
YMMV
 

 

[ETAHL]

Quote:

Anyone ever noticed any distortion when listening to music via the M-stage and low impedance headphones? I seem to be getting some distortion listening to certain kinds of music when using my UM3x's while on the lowest gain settings. Wondering if these headphones are too sensitive or if I should be concerned that this is an issue with my amp.

You will be appalled at the amount of compression and clipping in many of today's popular recordings.

With better phones and systems you can clearly hear these issues.
Just open the offending audio files in Audacity or any audio editing program and you will see the problems in their waveforms.

 

[ZenErik]

You mean the rectangle bar that almost never dips?

 

[francisdemarte]

Quote:

You will be appalled and the amount of compression and clipping in many of today's popular recordings.

With better phones and systems you can clearly hear these issues.
Just open the offending audio files in Audacity or any audio editing program and you will see the problems in their waveforms

 
I hope you don't mean 0db gain? Keep in mind that certain op amp's require a minimum amount of gain to work correctly. This maybe the cause of the distortion you hear.
 
 

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

 
I hope you don't mean 0db gain? Keep in mind that certain op amp's require a minimum amount of gain to work correctly. This maybe the cause of the distortion you hear.
 
 

The stock op amp should be stable and OK to use at 0 dB gain.
I  have a Class A modded OPA627 in mine. Works fine at 0 dB gain.
 
Quote:

Anyone ever noticed any distortion when listening to music via the M-stage and low impedance headphones? I seem to be getting some distortion listening to certain kinds of music when using my UM3x's while on the lowest gain settings. Wondering if these headphones are too sensitive or if I should be concerned that this is an issue with my amp.

I tried  out my M Stage with my Shure SE210 'phones at 0 dB gain.............they sounded Ok...............for Shure SE210s!

One of these days I should get something better.
 
 

 

[SleazyC]

Quote:

I have never noticed any distortion from the amp when using AKG K70x series.
I've noticed A LOT of distortion from a lot of recordings, though!

 
Anyway, the Westones have approx. the same impedance as AKG K70x, and the Matrix has no trouble driving the AKG.......so it must be something else.
The Westones are far more efficient than the K701s so a gain setting of 10 dB makes sense.
When you look at the efficiency of the Westones the M Stage should have any problem driving them.
Just for fun, try a higher gain setting, you should have to turn the volume down to maybe 9 o'clock to use them, but you never know until to try it out.  
 
The M Stage can output a lot of current and a lot of voltage so it should be able to drive almost any headphone.
It also has a low output impedance so should have any trouble with a low impedance or high impedance 'phone.
It can even drive my 2,000 ohm Sennheisers! No, that's not a typo.
 
YMMV
 

 
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give them a shot with the 10 dB gain. I'll also look at the waveform of the songs to maybe spot if the mastering of the song is causing the issues.
 
Quote:

You will be appalled at the amount of compression and clipping in many of today's popular recordings.

With better phones and systems you can clearly hear these issues.
Just open the offending audio files in Audacity or any audio editing program and you will see the problems in their waveforms.

 
Will do!
 
Quote:

 
I hope you don't mean 0db gain? Keep in mind that certain op amp's require a minimum amount of gain to work correctly. This maybe the cause of the distortion you hear.
 
 

 
I am on 0db gain right now and have the Class A modded OPA627 in my M-stage. Would I want to bump the gain up to a specific number here?
 
I have my volume dial at about the 11-12 o'clock setting and a lot of songs sound just fine but I do get some distortion/clipping that I don't hear un-amp'd or just coming out of my uDAC.
 

 

[Xymordos]

The original Lehman I don't think was designed for such low impedance IEMs...I remember reading somewhere on the forums about recommended not to use IEMs on them

 

[Tribbs]

After reviewing various amps for my 32Ω impedance Grado I opted for Dr. Kevin Gilmore designed DynaLo
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/461997/lost-link-to-a-dynalo-amp/

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

The original Lehman I don't think was designed for such low impedance IEMs...I remember reading somewhere on the forums about recommended not to use IEMs on them

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, why not? I just don't understand???

I guess you are talking about the Lehmann Black Cube Linear?
I don't see why it wouldn't be able to drive a low impdeance IEM.