[hifimanrookie]

Another question about the Matrix amp. What is the difference between the different gain settings? Which one to use with HD650 and K701? I guess that with higher gain settings there is more electronic circuitry involved which can give ibferior sound. Maybe my guess is wrong?

The only difference i found on thedifferentgain was that on highest gain the sound gets a bit muddy...the other gain setting dont effeft the sound quality to my ears..but to be honest..even with my my he500 i never needed more the gain 10 db..and that phone ismuch harder to drive then the hd650 or the akg..so no need to worry about sound quality decrease

 

[WestLander]

I think +10 gain is the consensus best. The M-Stage pairs very well with the AKG K701, so I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever setting you choose. Volume control might be more difficult at higher gain though, so be careful with your eardrums!

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

It is a bargain indeed but when you use them for the first time try not to get disappointed as they won't sound as you might expect them to.K701 take weeks of burning-in to reveal their clarity and openess.Use pink or white noise from here http://whitenoisemp3s.com/free-white-noise played in a loop and forget them for 2 weeks!
They lack the bass other cans have (some equilizing fixes that IMO) but their clarity is unsurpassed for the money you spend.If you're a jazz lover these babies are the best value for money.

 
Burn-in is very controversial, I have a pair of Q701s, I tried burning them in for a week, but I listened to them every day while I was burning them in, I heard no difference.
 
OTOH, I liked the Q701 first time I heard them.
I would call myself a Jazz lover and yes, they are just the thing for Jazz.

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

Another question about the Matrix amp. What is the difference between the different gain settings? Which one to use with HD650 and K701? I guess that with higher gain settings there is more electronic circuitry involved which can give ibferior sound. Maybe my guess is wrong?

 
There is no additional circuitry when High Gain is used
The difference is:
high gain: less feedback, so you may hear a bit more distortion, and less bandwidth
low gain: more feedback, so you may hear a bit less distortion, but I doubt it, and a bit more bandwidth.
 
As others have pointed out, most people set gain to 10 dB and forget it.

 

[Shazb0t]

Quote:

 
Burn-in is very controversial, I have a pair of Q701s, I tried burning them in for a week, but I listened to them every day while I was burning them in, I heard no difference.
 
OTOH, I liked the Q701 first time I heard them.
I would call myself a Jazz lover and yes, they are just the thing for Jazz.

 
I've read on the forums that someone was told by AKG that the Q701's are burned in from the factory.

 

[fuzzybaffy]

I'd like to chip in really quickly saying that the M-Stage drives my Sennheiser HD-650 really well.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

The only difference i found on thedifferentgain was that on highest gain the sound gets a bit muddy...the other gain setting dont effeft the sound quality to my ears..but to be honest..even with my my he500 i never needed more the gain 10 db..and that phone ismuch harder to drive then the hd650 or the akg..so no need to worry about sound quality decrease

 
It is really reassuring to know that. By the way, I think that HE-500 are really marvellous headphones. Are you happy with them?
 
Quote:

I think +10 gain is the consensus best. The M-Stage pairs very well with the AKG K701, so I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever setting you choose. Volume control might be more difficult at higher gain though, so be careful with your eardrums!

 
Then 10 dB it will be. I will test 0 and 18 too just to see if I can hear any difference.
 
Quote:

 
Burn-in is very controversial, I have a pair of Q701s, I tried burning them in for a week, but I listened to them every day while I was burning them in, I heard no difference.
 
OTOH, I liked the Q701 first time I heard them.
I would call myself a Jazz lover and yes, they are just the thing for Jazz.

 
OK, I heard a pair of K701 that were well burnt-in I beleive. They were at least 5 months old then. It was a pair with a newer 5-digit serial number starting on 80 if I remember correctly.
 
Quote:

 
There is no additional circuitry when High Gain is used
The difference is:
high gain: less feedback, so you may hear a bit more distortion, and less bandwidth
low gain: more feedback, so you may hear a bit less distortion, but I doubt it, and a bit more bandwidth.
 
As others have pointed out, most people set gain to 10 dB and forget it.

 
OK. Than it's safer to use lower gain, distortion-wise.
Quote:

 
I've read on the forums that someone was told by AKG that the Q701's are burned in from the factory.

 
That is interesting. It would be very interesting to know if they do the same with K701.
 
Quote:

I'd like to chip in really quickly saying that the M-Stage drives my Sennheiser HD-650 really well.

 
Great, I use Musical Fidelity X-Can v3 right now but I'm not sure my HD650 really is comfortable with a hybrid amp. What do you think? There is lots of power in X-can but I think that it maybe is "too much warmth" delivered from a tube amp. My plan is to sell the X-Can and buy a Matrix amp and use it with both k701 and HD650. But my question is, wouldn't MF be a good companion to K701

 

[kazaakas]

So last week I switched the opamp of my M-Stage to a LME49860 (more or less the same as LM4562 and LME49720) and contrary to what most people say, it DID make a significant difference!
This thing is actually a thick sounding amp now and believe it or not but my Q701's are sounding real bassy! Even the clarity and the soundstage SEEMS (!) to be improved. But boy am I happy I did this mod, I'm close to perfecting my rig now

 

[zalbard]

Quote:

So last week I switched the opamp of my M-Stage to a LME49860 (more or less the same as LM4562 and LME49720) and contrary to what most people say, it DID make a significant difference!
This thing is actually a thick sounding amp now and believe it or not but my Q701's are sounding real bassy! Even the clarity and the soundstage SEEMS (!) to be improved. But boy am I happy I did this mod, I'm close to perfecting my rig now

Nice!
Considering Class A biasing it?

 

[hifimanrookie]

It is really reassuring to know that. By the way, I think that HE-500 are really marvellous headphones. Are you happy with them?

I tried a couple of phones..also somemore expensive ones..for me..and for the price..i didnt find a better phone..it isnt perfect in anything..but more important..its not bad in anything also..most phones are good in some things and bad in others..the he500 is very balanced..until now and with the amp i have it plays ALL kinds of music brillantly..from metal to classic, from adele to queen, from mozart to marley from regueaton to r&b, from jazz to 80ties disco,from blues to hiphop, and from dj tiesto to the shadows. The only music i dont use it with is country and western as i dont like that very much for the rest..sit down..put any music on and just embrace the music coming from ur phone BUT with the right amp.and .it doesnt need to be expensive so that u have to sell ur kidney or something..lolz..as u can see on my profile

 

[bracko]

It seems that OP mods are very usual with this amp. Will something like this do for a starter?
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2xMono-to-Dual-OPAMP-2x-OPA627-NE5532-OPA2604-x2-set-/281020844478?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item416e25c9be
 

 

[kazaakas]

Quote:

Nice!
Considering Class A biasing it?

Sure man, as much as I like the sound now, I'm always looking to improve it, what are the changes class-A biasing brings? I recall a it's either a warmer or brighter sound... lol which one was it?
Your setup is a lot like mine (better said: identical, just with my dream headphone , and save my $15 RCA cables) ever tried opamp rolling with the TiHD? LM49720 didn't work for **** in mine and still gotta solder some other ones but stil got to get myself some adapters and borrow/use a decent soldering iron somewhere.
Quote:

It seems that OP mods are very usual with this amp. Will something like this do for a starter?
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2xMono-to-Dual-OPAMP-2x-OPA627-NE5532-OPA2604-x2-set-/281020844478?pt=US_Amplifier_Parts_Components&hash=item416e25c9be
 

 
If you want to try opamp rolling for a starter, I'd just order a free LM4652NA or equivalent from national semiconductor, many people (myself included) are loving it with the amp.

 

[supra1988t]

I have one of these on the way from the massdrop group buy.  Can anyone tell me if the opamps from the iBasso topkit work with this amp as well?  Im pretty green to these ss amps.

 

[Taowolf51]

For those pairing the M-Stage with the D7000, I noticed a little something. It's commonly recommended to go with a gain setting of 10 with the D7000's, but I believe that if you have a MarkL modded D7000, the gain setting of 18 is better. I've noticed that the gain switch 10 has more of a focus on mids and rolls off the bass and highs a bit. While this would be great to balance out the stock D7000's, the MarkL Denons have already been somewhat balanced out, which makes the gain switch 10 essentially balance it out twice, and make it somewhat bass shy and less exciting overall. Switching the gain to 18 brought back the excitement and gave it back the Denon signature. If you think the Denons (MarkL or stock) are a bit too bassy, set the gain to 10, but if you like them the way they are, stick them on 18. Or, even better, try both!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Quote:

Got these into my stable as a "downgrade" HD800 amp, replacing my good old WA6SE.  The 6SE is better, without a doubt, but the reason I downgraded was because HD800 was no longer my primary headphone (the Stax 007 MK1's are) and I needed to come up with some money into furthering my Stax rig.
 
With that said, In my Macbook air -> M2tech Hiface -> Stello DA100 -> M-Stage (stock default version) rig, the HD800 sounds very lively and powerful, and am very satisfied with the synergy thus far. The main differences are that the M-Stage is little bit more harsh in the sibilance region and is less warm in the lower midrange compared to my old WA6SE, but these problems are not severe enough to my ears to become an issue. For the price it sounds spectacular indeed, and beats out the other SS amps I had such as the Stello HP100 and Burson 160D for the HD800. It's neck and neck with my old AMB M3 as well, which also amped the HD800's very well.  Another plus is that it's very silent overall without hissing noise or static noises when I plug and unplug the headphones.
 
The only thing I'm not happy with, however, is its volume control. No idea why they decided to use a knob so slippery on this? Does anyone have a good recommendation on a nice tactile feel volume knob replacement?

 
The M-Stage should sound very good with the HD800's. According to the reviewer, the M-Stage is a fairly close knockoff of the Lehmann Black Cube Linear, which was paired with the HD800 during its development and after during demonstrations at trade shows. So in a way, they were almost made for each other.

 

[hifimanrookie]

For

The M-Stage should sound very good with the HD800's. According to the reviewer, the M-Stage is a fairly close knockoff of the Lehmann Black Cube Linear, which was paired with the HD800 during its development and after during demonstrations at trade shows. So in a way, they were almost made for each other.

I agree with that..th mstage is a very good clone of the excellent cube who was tested with the hd800 during development.