[eric343]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer Maybe that was just poorly phrased but you do realize that the quality on of headphone amplifier depends on a lot more than the volume control used in it and how small the changes are going between different ones don't you?

Let's see -- a high-impedance intentionally-resistive device, in the low-level signal path before the signal is amplified by a device of very high gain?

Sounds pretty important to me. Certainly as important as your cables.

 

[mikeg]

Steve - Although I'm sure that your praise for Justin's amp is well deserved, have you had a chance to hear Mikhail's new amp for the HE90? If you've heard it, how does it compare to Justin's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevieo jason, i am a person but not the lucky one. i wish it was mine. i accidently sat on the lucky b's he90 & resulting in a slightly reshaped headband & the left ear piece is a bit dented. it's not so bad that sennheiser can't repair it given enough time & skilled recrafters. it now has some character. maybe the mystery owner wants to sell it to me now before he sees the damage. i don't know why justin went to all the trouble to build an amp for which there are so few headphones. it must have been a labor of love & the love resulted in one hell of fine sounding amp for the he90. it is truely a 1st class he90 amp & worthy of an hev designation. those few lucky dogs that got in on the he90 now have a worthy amp option. i have not heard another worthy amp out there at the present time with the exception of sennheiser's hev-90. justin, you out did yourself this time. congratulations on a great sounding amp. i was really impressed with the result. i found it natural, easy with authority & pleasure to listen to. i feel honored to be one of the 1st to hear this outstanding he90 amp. all i need is a he90 & then i can place my order. besides the he-90, i have to comment on the grado hf-1 which i heard for he 1st time. i was not expecting anything new & different but it is & i really liked the sound & i was surprised to find out the price. it is a fine headphone at a really good price & a lot of fun to listen to, imo. i only heard it with the ae-1 & it was a winning combo. three he90's in one room at the same time & to that hirsch reminded us that 1% of the world's production was on hand. how cool is that? it is always a good day when i can hang out & listen to he90's & a he60.

 

[mikeg]

How well does the new SinglePower amp for the HE90 perform, in comparison to Justin's? BTW, any word from Ray regarding a competing amp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hirsch I concur completely. After the NY meet, I was sweating if I would actually be able to find an electrostatic amp for an HE90 at all. This is the first amp other than the HEV90 that I can unhesitatingly recommend for use with the HE90.

 

[mikeg]

Deleted due to duplication.

 

[jjcha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg How well does the new SinglePower amp for the HE90 perform, in comparison to Justin's? BTW, any word from Ray regarding a competing amp?

Bozebuttons, I think we're gonna need another meet in a few weeks or so...

Best,

-Jason

 

[eric343]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg BTW, any word from Ray regarding a competing amp?

Does Ray have any experience working in the electrostatic domain?

 

[cetoole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric343 Let's see -- a high-impedance intentionally-resistive device, in the low-level signal path before the signal is amplified by a device of very high gain? Sounds pretty important to me. Certainly as important as your cables.

Yeah, I definitly agree, having a good volume control is more important than cables, although I havnt had much time with any of the real high end yet. A pot is just what eric said, and if the wipers arnt perfectly matching to each other, there will be balance issues. Remember, I did not know that he cherry-picked the pots. I am sure Justin knows what he is doing, and I do like the RK27, I was just commenting that I was very suprised to see it in this amp. So, were these new HE90 the "end of the journey" for anyone at the meet, and did anyone have any cans they preferred? Were all three of the HE90 new, and what kind of warm up time did you allow before the heavy listening?

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric343 Let's see -- a high-impedance intentionally-resistive device, in the low-level signal path before the signal is amplified by a device of very high gain? Sounds pretty important to me. Certainly as important as your cables.

Let's take a look at the original post
Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole I do find it amazing that you found Justin's amp with the RK27 to be as good or better than anything on the market, its a good pot, but I didnt think it would be regarded that highly.

This is pretty strightforward statement Eric, the quality of the amplifier is directly related to the quality of the pot.

Folowed by the response
Quote:

Originally Posted by GPalmer the quality on of headphone amplifier depends on a lot more than the volume control used in it

To which you objected. NOTE: I didn't say it wasn't a factor just there are other more important factors, for instance the circuit design springs to my mind as being rather more important. If we follow the line of reasoning you folks seem to be laying out, a low end amplifier like one of your meta42's, implemented with the crappiest parts we can dig up, with a stepped attenuator mounted will clearly beat a HeadRoom Max with the pots they normally use in it, since the volume control is better. Is that really what you're arguing for here Eric?

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg Steve - Although I'm sure that your praise for Justin's amp is well deserved, have you had a chance to hear Mikhail's new amp for the HE90? If you've heard it, how does it compare to Justin's?

I heard bozebutton's amp, if you're referring to that one and so did Steve. It showed promise but still needed work in my opinion. Mikhail was facing some obstacles such as not having a set of HE-90s to tune it with. He had filled in with a set of Stax resulting in the frequency balance being first-rate with a set of Stax but, at least to me, lacking in bass on the HE-90.

 

[eric343]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer If we follow the line of reasoning you folks seem to be laying out, a low end amplifier like one of your meta42's, implemented with the crappiest parts we can dig up, with a stepped attenuator mounted will clearly beat a HeadRoom Max with the pots they normally use in it, since the volume control is better. Is that really what you're arguing for here Eric?

Of course that's what I'm arguing for. I clearly stated that the volume potentiometer is the only significant factor in determining the sound quality of an amplifier.

I certainly didn't say the volume pot was on par with the importance of the cables in a sound system, since this would contradict the whole point that you conjured out of my post... after all, I don't see anyone saying that a set of really high-fi cables will turn a META42 into a Max.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric343 [The volume pot is] certainly as important as your cables.

Actually, I'm going to revise that. Since I've never actually done a side-by-side A/B comparison of volume pots, I can't authoritatively say that they are certain to be as important as cables. But since the results of putting Black Beauties and DACTs into META42s were so impressive[1], I'm going to say that they're almost certainly as important as cables.

[1] Yes, I made META42s with Black Beauties and, in one case, a $750 META42 with a DACT in an external chassis.

 

[Guss2]

Pardon my ignorance,but what would be the best pot to put in this new amp?I noticed Headroom offers the quad version RK50 as an upgrade for almost $1000,but is this really the best out there?Do any of the DACT's,or others for that matter,compare to this pot?I'm still learning about the inner workings of amps,so any info would be appreciated,I just want my HE90's to sound their best.Gary.

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric343 [1] Yes, I made META42s with Black Beauties and, in one case, a $750 META42 with a DACT in an external chassis.

LOL, did you get to compare it to a BlockHead? Did it win?

I think we're on the same page, and agree that it matters (and probably to about the same degree). My only objection to the first post was the implication that seemed to be there that the quality of the headphone amplfier could be judged based solely on the volume control. The effects of channel matching, etc from the use of a better volume control are perceptible, but given that Justin told me he is cherry picking only the top 10% of the Alps pots I think you're going to be in pretty decent territory on that front. To me channel matching in a headphone amplfier has always seemed to be less important to me than it is with preamps, since your soundstage is pretty well messed up already, what's another little bit?

Then too, based on Headroom's graphs it seems like the majority of headphones have poor matching compared to something like the HR-824's I have which are matched against each other at the factory before shipping so they're never more than a dB or a dB and a half different than their mate. The other benefits reported such as greater transparency, etc. are not something I've ever heard, but I've also never had two identical amps except for volume control on hand to do A/B against. I've always heard it before and then a few weeks after the changeover and I can't make accurate comparisons under those conditions...

 

[cetoole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer LOL, did you get to compare it to a BlockHead? Did it win? I think we're on the same page, and agree that it matters (and probably to about the same degree). My only objection to the first post was the implication that seemed to be there that the quality of the headphone amplfier could be judged based solely on the volume control.

Noooo, sorry I gave this impression, that comment wasnt worded very well. Just was trying to say I was suprised to see that pot in there, before I knew about the hand matching that goes on. At very low volumes with my Alps RK27, which was not hand picked at all, there is much less volume out of the left channel then right.
Quote:

The effects of channel matching, etc from the use of a better volume control are perceptible, but given that Justin told me he is cherry picking only the top 10% of the Alps pots I think you're going to be in pretty decent territory on that front.

Yes, that will be a very nice volume control, I am sure the channel matching will be well under 1db difference between channels. Now, if you could all go back to posting the kind of impressions that let me live a fantasy life about the HE90, so I may have sweet, high voltage dreams tonight.

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg How well does the new SinglePower amp for the HE90 perform, in comparison to Justin's? BTW, any word from Ray regarding a competing amp?

I asked Ray if he ever thought about making one. He told me he doesn't like electrostatic headphones so he probably won't be building an amp for something he doesn't like.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric343 Does Ray have any experience working in the electrostatic domain?

Ray is an engineer, and a true designer. I'm sure he is more than capable of coming up with something quite nice, should he wish to.