[mrspeakers]

VOCE just received an award for Top 100 Products of the last 20 years" from HiFi+!

 

[jamato8]

I am not finding the Voce hard to drive at all. With the Hifiman Jade II, 12 o'clock is about as loud as I want to go and at 2 o'clock, it is too loud. The Linear Tube Audio Z10e, about 20 and it goes up to 100 so not hard at all, and the Voce sound excellent as in natural, musical and full (with excellent venue acoustical reverb retrieval, like in a very fine LP setup where you hear the slap from the walls etc.). Good stuff!

 

[Sound Eq]

The Linear Tube Audio Z10e it looks amazing, now that or the Blue Hawaii

 

[bearwarrior]

so with hugo2 as dac how would I do what u suggest, are u suggesting I set the volume of stax amp to max, and use the hugo2 not as line out, and instead use the volume control of hugo2, never thought of this, and what is the benefit

Although I have not owned Hugo 2, I believe it can do the job as a DAC/amp. So you max volume on 007tii which was connected to Hugo through RCA. The controller of Hugo or Hugo itself can control the volume. In this way, Hugo is played as a DAC and preamp. Hope it works.

 

[Sound Eq]

Although I have not owned Hugo 2, I believe it can do the job as a DAC/amp. So you max volume on 007tii which was connected to Hugo through RCA. The controller of Hugo or Hugo itself can control the volume. In this way, Hugo is played as a DAC and preamp. Hope it works.

can i ask why then most use line out from hugo2 to amps in general, as i was always thinking thats the proper way to do it

 

[bearwarrior]

can i ask why then most use line out from hugo2 to amps in general, as i was always thinking thats the proper way to do it

The main reason is to bypass the volume knob from the amp. In the speaker setup, the power amplifier does not have volume control. People use the preamp or some Dac to control it. It is not necessary for the headphone setup. But it will be good to try it. Eliminate the possibility to introduce distortion or noise.

The line output is just like all the other DACs. Digital in, analog output.

 

[Sound Eq]

The main reason is to bypass the volume knob from the amp. In the speaker setup, the power amplifier does not have volume control. People use the preamp or some Dac to control it. It is not necessary for the headphone setup. But it will be good to try it. Eliminate the possibility to introduce distortion or noise.

The line output is just like all the other DACs. Digital in, analog output.

thanks for the reply still just wondering what is the benefit to do it that way

 

[VandyMan]

thanks for the reply still just wondering what is the benefit to do it that way

I run my BHSE (and used to run my STAX amp) with the volume at max. I use my DAC to control the volume since it has a remote. I've compared this with the opposite (running the DAC at unity gain and adjusting the volume from the BHSE) and could not hear any difference of note.

 

[mrspeakers]

Using a DAC as a volume control has pros and cons. When you do this, you must resample the music, and at lower volume THD increases. DACs with 24 bit or 16-bit volume definitely shouldn't be used as a preamp in front of a good rig as the distortion will rise to obvious levels, but a lot of modern DACs like Chord produces have the resolution to pull it off, probably well enough most people wouldn't notice a loss vs analog pots. But there are always *some* artifacts of digital resampling. For myself, I always use the analog pot on the amp and go for bit-perfect through the system, but for convenience, etc, some may choose to go that way and it's unlikely to ruin your life, and it may improve it if that volume control is out of reach...

 

[VandyMan]

Using a DAC as a volume control has pros and cons. When you do this, you must resample the music, and at lower volume THD increases. DACs with 24 bit or 16-bit volume definitely shouldn't be used as a preamp in front of a good rig as the distortion will rise to obvious levels, but a lot of modern DACs like Chord produces have the resolution to pull it off, probably well enough most people wouldn't notice a loss vs analog pots. But there are always *some* artifacts of digital resampling. For myself, I always use the analog pot on the amp and go for bit-perfect through the system, but for convenience, etc, some may choose to go that way and it's unlikely to ruin your life, and it may improve it if that volume control is out of reach...

I recently got a Woo Audio WA5 LE (sounds great with the Ether Flow 1.1, BTW). I use it with this configuration... I set the DAC's volume to around +6db, adjust the amp to the loudest volume that I'd want, and then back off the DAC to unity gain. This allows me to use the DAC's volume control without every going below +0db. My DAC has an excellent volume control and used like this, no difference is audible vs using just the amp's volume control.

With the BHSE, my DAC has too much gain so I have to go below +0db, but not by much. I think it might be audible if I'm really listening closely, but it is a very very small difference. The kind of difference that you could go mad trying to listen for. If I had a lesser DAC or ran the DAC much below +0db, it might be a different story.

 

[mrspeakers]

Some great impressions of VOCE and Blue Hawaii from the High End Munich show...

"the VOCE and Blue Hawaii SE appear to have become the new king and queen of the headphone-listening hill."

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/high-end-munich-2019-mrspeakers-and-headamp-wow

 

[Sound Eq]

for people who find it a bit too much to buy BHSE or carbon amps, would a stax 007TII amp or an ifi ican pro with ifi iesl get a great sound of the voce, and which is preferred between those 2 setups ( stax 007tii amp or ifi combo ), and how much you think the scale up is between using one of the mentioned set ups compared to a BHSE

the reason I am asking is because I am already using stax 007 tii amp with my 007 mk2, and i have an ican pro already so i might justify buying the iesl if that is better

 

[mrspeakers]

deleted post

 

[mrspeakers]

for people who find it a bit too much to buy BHSE or carbon amps, would a stax 007TII amp or an ifi ican pro with ifi iesl get a great sound of the voce, and which is preferred between those 2 setups ( stax 007tii amp or ifi combo ), and how much you think the scale up is between using one of the mentioned set ups compared to a BHSE

the reason I am asking is because I am already using stax 007 tii amp with my 007 mk2, and i have an ican pro already so i might justify buying the iesl if that is better

I find the 007 Tii works quite well; it doesn't have the ultimate performance of the BHSE but it is dynamic, dimensional, detailed, and it has the volume I need for regular usage. We recommend this a lot as its reliable, affordable and readily available. Curious to hear others POV...

 

[Fastnbulbous]

Not sure why they can't speak to the iESL, but yes, if you already have the iCAN and like it, it's a great option. I have the stack, and it sounds great.

However, it's not really possible to really compare until someone is able to do a double blind A/B between it and BHSE and others.