[project86]

Quote:

The A1 is still nicely burning in, so I'm not doing my review just yet.
 
I have to say that after all the fuzz that was being made about the Schiit Valhalla, there are hardly any reviews on here.
Does that mean that it's no good or does the search function just don't work?

(I consider the A1 a direct competitor of the Valhalla)
 
I'd like to see a comparison between the 2 but mostly I'm just surprised that no one is talking about the Schiit anymore ...
Then again, there was alot more talk about the D1 as well as the A1. What's wrong on here

 
 
I was wondering the same thing. I chose the A1 over the Valhalla, knowing that if I saw enough good comments on the Valhalla I might end up trying that too. Thus far I haven't heard much, I guess that is good for my wallet...
 
I am also unsure why the D1 seemed to have far more interest. Maybe because it is more of an all in one unit, making it a simple upgrade for people starting out? I'm not sure.

 

 

[_Spanky_]

Quote:

Maybe because it is more of an all in one unit, making it a simple upgrade for people starting out? I'm not sure.

I think that had a lot to do with it.

 

[Mysteek]

I gave in and bought myself the A1.  I'll have a review for it coming before the end of the month.

 

[Ultrainferno]

In general, should one unplug headphones before turning of any amp? With the Bravo I always do, with the rest I don't. No idea why

 

[project86]

Quote:

In general, should one unplug headphones before turning of any amp? With the Bravo I always do, with the rest I don't. No idea why

The only time I've ever purposely done that is when using a DIY amp (or something similar like a Singlepower....), just in case something is wired improperly. I wouldn't want to blow my headphones. With normal amps I just turn them off while still plugged in and then either leave the headphones or unplug them and put them away.

 

[project86]

Quote:

I gave in and bought myself the A1.  I'll have a review for it coming before the end of the month.

 Cool, I'll keep an eye out for it. Have fun!

 

[TheMiddleSky]

since A1 also designed for speaker amp, I guess this amp can deliver really good current to feed cans with low impedance and low sensitivity?
 
so this's a tube amp that suit for low impedance cans, isnt? (will pair them with K701 and Alessandro)

 

[project86]

 
Quote:

since A1 also designed for speaker amp, I guess this amp can deliver really good current to feed cans with low impedance and low sensitivity?
 
so this's a tube amp that suit for low impedance cans, isnt? (will pair them with K701 and Alessandro)

The A1 is equally good with low and high impedance cans. I don't know that it is necessarily BECAUSE it is also a speaker amp that makes it good with low impedance models, but that might play into it.
 
I've been using it for my Grados a lot lately. It is perfect for "less than reference quality" recordings, especially rock music.

 

[Mysteek]

Quote:

since A1 also designed for speaker amp, I guess this amp can deliver really good current to feed cans with low impedance and low sensitivity?
 
so this's a tube amp that suit for low impedance cans, isnt? (will pair them with K701 and Alessandro)

I don't want to give out too many first impressions yet, as I've had the A1 for a day but so far the A1 is amazing with headphones--I can't speak too much about speakers yet though.  I think you should view it the opposite way, based on sound alone it seems designed for headphone amp usage, the speaker part is just a plus.

 

[uelover]

I have had the A1 for almost two months now. Been waiting for everything to truly burn in and settle down before posting my take on it.
 
Ryan is amazing. The A1 arrived at my doorsteps two days after my purchase. Came via China post though and I am still amazed by his lightning postal speed.
 
I have ordered the first batch with the upgraded Tung-sol tube. And I listened to it with HD600 (high impedance can) as well as ESW10 (low impedance can). Out of the box it sounded great, with much cleaner sound compared to D1.
 
Headphone out:
 
On HD600 w Tung-Sol: The lows on this can is simply brilliant. It is well controlled and impactful. The highs are also well extended. No complain about them. However, the mids are the weakness. The mids had been drowned out and listening to jazz and vocal isn't an easy and pleasure experience. It may be due to the fact that HD600 is already a little recessed in its mids. Switching back to HD600 with D1 amp, all the frequencies came out more balanced and it allows me to hear everything more clearly and easily. The A1 just cleans up the sound and powered it up, making them sounds clean and beautiful to the ears.
 
On HD600 w WE403B: Similar to WE396A on D1 via tube out, the western electric tube's mid is more pronounced and the resolution of the sound is better. I would say that this is a more well balanced tube compared to Tung-Sol as the frequency response is more flat, making it suitable for many different genres of music. Nonetheless, my HD600 still sounded recessed on it. (I have thus sold my HD600 because I don't want to recable it at the price of another HD600).
 
On ESW10 w WE403B: Similar to D1, I feel that A1 is not so ideal in driving low impedance cans as they sounded 'noisy'. HD600's sound came across to me as totally clean. Very very clean.
 
I have come to observed that everyone here are using Beyer's cans. It may be that Beyer's cans sounded bright and forward in the first place and has high impedance, making it a perfect mate with the A1.
 
Analog Out:
 
If you have D1 too and intend to connect an active speaker to your D1+A1 setup, I would say that connecting the speaker directly to the tube-out on the D1 which be a much better option since you will get less signal loss through all the cables and circuitry. With the 'direct' button impressed on my D1, my speaker could effortlessly reproduced fine quality sound that still continues to amaze me at how great D1 is as a Dac. However, from D1 SS out to A1 and then to my speaker, I find that a lot of details had been lost and the sound came out as slightly muffled compared to being fed directly from D1. I am already using a very good interconnect to minimize transmission loss.
 
I have no small passive speaker that could be driven by A1 so I didn't tested that part.
 
Complains:
I have to agree that it is really difficult to screw back the case once I open it to roll the tube! But really, it is no big issue. The A1 still look gorgeous without any screws on it. So well, screw that screws issue.
 
The gain is a little high on A1. A lot of time I have difficulty getting to the 'just nice' volume level as it is either too loud or too soft. I have thus learned to rely more on my itune and vlc digital volume control rather than the A1's volume pot.
 
Conclusion:
If you intend to use A1 as a headphone amplifier and if you do posses bright sounding cans with high impedance, A1 is perfect for you.
If you are using low impedance headphone or if your headphone is already dark sounding, you may want to audit them on the A1 first. I have audited several audio technica cans with A1 and they don't mate well.
 
My A1 is now being 'left on the shelf' as I use D1 as the Dac for my speaker set up and iQube V2 as my headphone set up.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

nice review uelover
 
but after read your review, looks like I get interest back to D1 again, and using it as DAC + tube pre amp
 
it's a bit spooky for me when read "reccesed mid"

 

[_Spanky_]

I have a little present for you A1 owners that dabble in DIY

 
Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Osk-CBpfu0
 
I will have a tutorial with pictures written up when I fully finish the mods
 
*EDIT*
Just went for the final mod (source knob is a on/off switch for speakers) and a screw connected with a partially charged capacitor and I got to see a lovely orange spark. I'm scared shitless since I let go of the screw about half a second before it did that and I know there's 200v caps in there. I'm going to let the unit set for a while, maybe overnight. Hopefully it didn't damage anything. It's a pretty simple circuit so I doubt it did. If my A1 is fubar, you got to see it's final moments in that video ^^
 
*EDIT*
My unit isn't dead!
I attempted to finish the mods but I accidentally used the wrong solder point and have to re-do it but I'm using the unit for now. I posted basic instructions and pictures here in the other thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/500259/maverick-audio-tubemagic-a1-hybrid-amp-condensed-faq-and-info-thread#post_6753700

 

[Ultrainferno]

The A1 just scared me!
 
I was listening to some quiet tunes from the Cavalera Conspiracy on my laptop (Foobar-usb-D1-A1-Heels-6 extension cord - DT990) when suddenly my left channel went krghrggdgrrgrhhhchhchchchchchchch to go dead right after.
Unplugged the headphone plugged it into the D1, all good. Plugged it in to my A/V receiver, all good. plugged it back into the A1: Dead...
 
So I'm thinking it must be one of the tubes but they both are fine (raytheons), switched some cables, no effect what so ever.
Must be the plug then I think and indeed the left channel comes back when i pull the plug half out, but then the right signal gets lost. Good as its only the connector and bad news as I'm a complete newbie when it concernes electronics.
 
Then all of a sudden it starts working again like if nothing ever happened.... No idea what caused it and I hope it will never come back again.
Anyone got any clues?
 
Another thing I have with the D1, A1 and my receiver: often when I turn them on I get an electric discharge between me and the power button. No idea what's causing this or if this can hurt the equipment but I get scared to death each time (lets hope that doens't happen for real

) What might ne causing this and what can I do about this?
 
thanks guys!

 

[_Spanky_]

There can be fluke things like that. One time the sound just died and I turned off my whole setup (including the D1 and A1) for a little bit then I turned it all back on and it worked.
 
The static discharge IMO is a good thing. It means your equipment is properly grounded and the case is sending the electricity to ground. Might be the humidity level, type of carpeting or clothing you have.

 

[Ultrainferno]

I've opened up a ticket anyway. curious what Ryan says after this happened again