[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm wondering, everytime you change things it gets more detailed, at what point is it too much? "It's so transparent I can see God!"

Detailed in a natural musical way, which adds to the micro detail that adds to the air and feeling of space. When an amp gets good enough that these changes can be added, then their presence is noticed in either a good or bad way. In this case it is good.

I just finished a hyper pure silver IC for my system. Now for the burn in, which doesn't take too long with the type of silver I use. I have been using a Zu Pivot for some time, which is very nice but having had designed and made my own IC's for years and in the past having sold them, I always wanted to go ahead and make a nice high end one for my system of headphones.

Oh, could you say high for me? :^)

edit: oh one area to mod, the input wire. From the RCA's to the attenuator is a long path. The wire used is ok but a silver plated copper, which isn't my favorite. Pure silver, dead soft, for me. That will be next up.


My Mini to RCA of high purity silver, teflon and cheap Radio Shack RCA's. Yep, Radio Shack. I love the looks of some of the high end RCA's and have used them but the Rat Shack ones are actually very good. The material is nonmagnetic and the tips are hollow so you are just working with surface area. I don't like nickel plating but it is on most of even the high end connectors unless you get some Vampire (it appears more and more are going with gold flashed over copper) with gold flashing over copper but many Vampire items have magnetic pieces, go figure.

After only 6 hours of use I can't believe what an improvement these are over an already very good IC for mini to RCA of the Zu. I guess I should continue to stick to my own design.

 

[takezo]

john, good to hear the by-pass is working out for you. i don't think
i'll do it on mine just yet, as the v-caps are pretty darn good
in the highs already. and having two path can lead to smearing
more often than not, no? is the 10% rule recommended? or are
you experimenting with various farad values?

i guess i may try it on the mundorf or jensen next time i swap
those in but i'm not sure if by-passing is recommended for paper
in oil types... what's your take?

 

[jamato8]

There is the rule of 10 but also the rule of the ear. I normally go with 10X or 100X but also experiment and listen. There is no smearing of the frequencies but I am not sure there is any need to bypass the v-cap but it is always an interesting try.

Black Gates do best with BG bypassing only, not with other brands.

Paper and oil and do great with bypassing. A P&O with a teflon bypass can be very good.

 

[takezo]

good to know. i'll try experimenting with the pio caps when i swap
them in. they sound amazing in the mids, very tubey with smooth
hazy mids, but they are definitely less extended than teflon...
thanks for the insight john and happy holidays!

 

[jamato8]

Wow, I can really hear the bass impact and transparency difference with my silver IC. It is funny using 4 dollar RCA's with silver wire that is often used on IC's costing a few hundred dollars, though they are overpriced. I used a special 4 plat braiding technique. I used to be a braider years ago of horse tack and braided up to 24 plat in both rawhide and leather. Seems like another lifetime.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, I can really hear the bass impact and transparency difference with my silver IC. It is funny using 4 dollar RCA's with silver wire that is often used on IC's costing a few hundred dollars, though they are overpriced. I used a special 4 plat braiding technique. I used to be a braider years ago of horse tack and braided up to 24 plat in both rawhide and leather. Seems like another lifetime.

I agree cables are important. A few years ago I didn't, but with the resolution of my current sources, amps and phones it is impossible to deny now.

One of the tricks with home built silver IC is to use a teflon sleeve that is a bit larger than the solid dead soft silver wire that runs inside of it, so it acts more like a teflon air-tube dielectric and imparts less "flavor" on the sound. mmwhats makes some very nice silver cables, but his best ones are the 7-strand RCA or the 9-strand XLR (called Lucky Seven) which can match the anti-cables that use an "air-dielectric" and no sleeve, but at 2/3 the cost.

My ALO SXC mini-RCA is the best cable I have ever "not heard" as it seems to impart nothing of it's own to the sound (unlike a Jenna Labs wire), and just lets the full body of the music through. I also love my SXC XLR cables, and they also beat my anticables and mmwhats silver XLR cables by a small margin, but it is there.

 

[jamato8]

Yes, the air dieletric is the best way to go. I used to make and sell IC's and advertised in Stereophile. I always used teflon tubing and hyper pure silver. No one was using dead soft silver until in my research I discovered that it was the best way to go. Now I see people advertise dead soft silver. That was almost 18 years ago. Anyway, silver done right is great if not, it can be bright and harsh, which is why it had a bad reputation for some time. Part of the problem with insulated silver wire is once the insulation is applied, not only the dielectric interface is going on but the heat of applying it changes the wire. With tubing, obviously, there is no change. After 18 years, my first IC's, still show no discoloration.

Silver also has the lowest resistance with copper and then gold at third. Silver transformers (output) are incredible but just a bit expensive. I would like to have some made for the Woo 6.

I also noticed a manufacture of a well received cable here on Headfi, advertises that their copper wire is silver plated so that the copper would not discolor. The main reason is for the oxidation, which unlike silver that is still a good conductor, becomes a real problem and has many negative effects, especially on sound. I do not like copper plated with silver as you have two different types of conductors with different resistances and the sound, to me, is bright and not as good as either one alone.

 

[KZEE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree cables are important. A few years ago I didn't, but with the resolution of my current sources, amps and phones it is impossible to deny now.

I don't mean to go off topic, but your experiences with cables confirms something that I've observed with the folks that don't hear differences in cables and what-not... their systems are almost always low-rez (not that there's anything wrong with that

), and they're just not going to very easily hear cable differences in low-rez systems.
But what's hilarious is how militant they become in claiming that because different cables don't have an affect on the sound of their systems, then different cables can't possibly have an affect the sound of your system. Skepticism is good, but one needs to have all the facts before belittling someone else for hearing things that you don't.

 

[KZEE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No one was using dead soft silver until in my research I discovered that it was the best way to go.

Hi John,
Not everyone agrees that silver is the best way to go... I find that although silver imparts a certain magic to the midrange, ultimately to my ears silver sounds closed in and rolled off on the top end, and thus I much prefer non-stranded solid core copper for my cabling.
Just my 2 pence worth. :>)

 

[jamato8]

It depends upon gauge used, and shape. I used for years, a special flat silver wire that had all the high frequency you could want. Again, you don't need as large a gauge in silver. It is all in balance.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KZEE /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi John, Not everyone agrees that silver is the best way to go... I find that although silver imparts a certain magic to the midrange, ultimately to my ears silver sounds closed in and rolled off on the top end, and thus I much prefer non-stranded solid core copper for my cabling. Just my 2 pence worth. :>)

Materials, design and type of braid can make a difference though. For instance, the "mmwhats" built silver cables do roll off on the top end if you have the 3-strand simple braid, but his 7-strand and 9-strand versions with a different braid have no roll off vs the 3-strand.

 

[KZEE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It depends upon gauge used, and shape. I used for years, a special flat silver wire that had all the high frequency you could want. Again, you don't need as large a gauge in silver. It is all in balance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Materials, design and type of braid can make a difference though. For instance, the "mmwhats" built silver cables do roll off on the top end if you have the 3-strand simple braid, but his 7-strand and 9-strand versions with a different braid have no roll off vs the 3-strand.

Gauge and shape, materials, design, type of braid - oy, how many different differently constructed cables will I have to buy (at mucho $ a pop) in order to get the sound that I'm after?!
No thanks... I really like the sound of solid core copper - it's consistent from cable to cable - and it's quite a bit cheaper than silver to boot.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KZEE /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gauge and shape, materials, design, type of braid - oy, how many different differently constructed cables will I have to buy (at mucho $ a pop) in order to get the sound that I'm after?! No thanks... I really like the sound of solid core copper - it's consistent from cable to cable - and it's quite a bit cheaper than silver to boot.

Oh there is no mystery. I worked out the braid and gauge a long time ago and that is why the cables I made and sold were successful. Copper is great also. I

It's all good.

edit: my cables I just made after 24 hours of burn-in have started to sound really crappy. lol such is the process. They sound all scrambled. Too much detail and lacking in warmth.

 

[Brighten]

jamato8, HeadphoneAddict (and anyone else with the stepped attenuator upgrade)-

Looking at some various Woo amps, does the "stepped attenuator" produce a substantial gain in sound quality?

I read up what stepped attenuators did last night and unfortunately didn't progress too far in my understanding.

I would appreciate the help with an "english" description of what it does exactly and how it effects the output of the amp.

Thanks!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Hey Brighten,

Pics of the surf lessons on real waves are up - they've only surfed the web about 3x since Xmas Eve...

The stepped attenuators are supposed to have a more transparent effect on the sound, as you are using a higher quality circuit for the sound to pass through. I still plan to upgrade to a Goldpoint like jamato8 one of these days, but the stock attenuator hasn't been bad. I still wonder if my standard attenuator is why a stock WA6 without max, PDPSU or Sophia is 90% of my maxed with all the upgrades except attenuator.