[sunneebear]

Look down the connector and you will see five splines.  Four small and one large.  The large spline should point to pads.  

 

[wahsmoh]

 
I haven't quite gotten the hang of that as well. They're really sturdy though.

How do the Alpha Dogs sound out of the DX90/iDSD combo? That is kind of my future setup for making my Alpha Dogs portable(atleast around my house)

 

[maricius]

  How do the Alpha Dogs sound out of the DX90/iDSD combo? That is kind of my future setup for making my Alpha Dogs portable(atleast around my house)

I wrote my impressions on the Alpha Dog a few posts back. Those impressions are while being driven by the iDSD and a laptop. The sound with the DX90 should be fairly the same. I think the iDSD drives the Alpha Dog pretty well at Normal mode with 0dB attenuation or at Turbo mode with -12dB attenuation. The latter adds a little PRaT and a small amount of bass punch (barely perceptible). The Alpha Dog responds well to bass boosting once the vents are turned, more so than my other headphones.  I'm currently using them with the vents screwed 1 whole rotation and the bass boost on the iDSD. One note though, the more the bass are opened, some midrange intimacy is lost. With 1 rotation of the screw, bass is still very tight.

 

[muziq]

Dan--how are upgrades coming along?  Any new issues or problems?  Is the process getting better/faster?  

 

[mrspeakers]

  Dan--how are upgrades coming along?  Any new issues or problems?  Is the process getting better/faster?  

The upgrades are really difficult.  There are many things that have been problematic.  I haven't made a final call, but for this to work we'll have to come up with some different approaches.  Given that the next 6 weeks are the busiest of the year I'm likely going to have to defer a final decision until Feb or March.  We've had a heck of a time on this one.  It's easier from the Mad Dogs, but from the Alpha it's been close to impossible to build them without at least one major issue per headphone.

 

[muziq]

 
The upgrades are really difficult. 

Thanks for letting us know, Dan.  I feel very appreciative to be in the upgrade group, but am sorry it's proving so challenging to get through.  We're all pulling for you and sending good vibes your way.  May the patron saint of engineers steady your hand and eliminate all faults and shorts!

 

[kaisiang]

Hey Guys! Seems like a good community here! I just got my first portable combo, the Fiio X1 and E11K, and was thinking of getting the Alpha Dog for office use, do you guys think this will work well with E11K? Or do I need to invest in another portable amp? And I hope it'll work well with my Bottlehead Crack at home? Will appreciate any inputs! Thanks!

 

[olegausany]

Hey Guys! Seems like a good community here! I just got my first portable combo, the Fiio X1 and E11K, and was thinking of getting the Alpha Dog for office use, do you guys think this will work well with E11K? Or do I need to invest in another portable amp? And I hope it'll work well with my Bottlehead Crack at home? Will appreciate any inputs! Thanks!

Not with the Crack, sorry

 

[kaisiang]

Oh no, what's wrong with the crack? Would it be too warm? What would be a decent desktop amp you'd recommend? Trying to keep cost down somehow too!

 

[kaisiang]

Ah, and I just realised that the crack is really meant for high impedance cans, maybe that's the reason?

 

[olegausany]

Ah, and I just realised that the crack is really meant for high impedance cans, maybe that's the reason?

Yes

 

[kaisiang]

Yes

What about the Asgard 2 to go along with my Bifrost? I'm thinking the E11K would be sufficient as a on the go setup?

 

[wahsmoh]

  What about the Asgard 2 to go along with my Bifrost? I'm thinking the E11K would be sufficient as a on the go setup?

I drive the Alpha Dogs with the Asgard 2 and Bifrost Uber. It's a neutral-warm sound that has ample power and pretty much ideal bass that you want. Soundstage is impressive for the $250 price of the amp and if you read some reviews around the net it would be hard to do any better at that price for an amp and below $500. Plus you don't have to deal with tubes and adding THD to your sound
 
EDIT: Also remember, your DAC matters more than the amp. I hooked up my Asgard 2 to my "high end" PCI sound card and while it is fantastic for gaming with 7.1 DSP on the Alpha Dogs, with music DSP on and DSP off it sounds 2D in comparison to the Bifrost Uber's superior imaging and instrument separation. No doubt DACs are WAY more important than amps as long as you got sufficient power flowing through your amp to your headphones.
 
Also, you will have to use high gain to drive the Alpha Dogs on the Asgard 2 as they need some juice to power them. I am usually listening from 10'oclock to 12'oclock depending on the "loudness" of the track I am playing. CD quality they usually got the music recorded louder than some of the higher quality FLAC and vinyl rips that I have.

 

[kaisiang]

Thanks all! Looks like I'll be saving up for an asgard 2, and the uber upgrade to the bifrost! Mebbe will grab a fulla along with it!

 

[Mullet]

You can use the ADs with a crack. Is it the perfect synergy? I'm not sure. But planars don't care about output impedance, so it would be the amount of current that would be the problem. The only way to figure out if it works is plug them in and see if you like the sound. If you do, you got a winner. If not, then you'll see why Oleg says they aren't a good match.