[john57]

According to Michael Mercer's review on headphone.guru, yes.
Impressions with the micro iDSD please

I get back to you on this. I audition the prime at RMAF with my micro iDSD and purchase
them even though I was more interested in other headphones at the time. I have one more test to perform. It has been a busy week for me.  

 

[musicman59]

  I get back to you on this. I audition the prime at RMAF with my micro iDSD and purchase
them even though I was more interested in other headphones at the time. I have one more test to perform. It has been a busy week for me.  

So was Dan selling APs at the RMAF? I placed my order about a week ago and based on his statement that the first 100 will be shipped on or before December 8th it appears I am about number 35 or so. I hope to get them before 12/8 I already sold my AD and I am having withdraws! 

 

[john57]

  So was Dan selling APs at the RMAF? I placed my order about a week ago and based on his statement that the first 100 will be shipped on or before December 8th it appears I am about number 35 or so. I hope to get them before 12/8 I already sold my AD and I am having withdraws! 

Dan just have a few available 2? at RMAF plus demos. It was a good thing since my attention was elsewhere.  I am currently listening to music! You should get yours soon!
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/737082/meet-alpha-prime/135#post_10967880

 

[fzman]

  Can the Alpha Prime be considered a TOTL Headphone? 

I am not even sure what this question means-- it is the top of the Mrspeakers line, does it compete with the world's best headphones - I think it is in the same league as other "best" cans.
 

According to Michael Mercer's review on headphone.guru, yes.
Impressions with the micro iDSD please

 
I have been using the Primes with my Icon HP8 Mk2 tube amp, and various dacs (currently a NAD M51) as well as with the micro iDSD.  I am still in the burn-in phase, which lasts for some time for me...... I run the micro 24/7 from my vortexbox computer, but I do turn off the Icon to not kill the tubes too quickly. That said, the big rig is better, but the micro holds its own surprisingly well.  It works well with many headphones and iems, from the more neutral/detailed like Kaedes and HD800s, to more warm, rich poweful bass types like the Primes, Noble N6s, and JVC DX1000.    
 
I liked what the micro does well enough to by the Primes based on that pairing at RMAF, and nothing I've heard at home would change my mind about that.  I am loving the Primes with either of the two lash-ups. You'll have to pry my micro from my cold dead fingers!
 
P.S. please don't try that - I'm a nice guy!

 

[maricius]

I am not even sure what this question means-- it is the top of the Mrspeakers line, does it compete with the world's best headphones - I think it is in the same league as other "best" cans.


I have been using the Primes with my Icon HP8 Mk2 tube amp, and various dacs (currently a NAD M51) as well as with the micro iDSD.  I am still in the burn-in phase, which lasts for some time for me...... I run the micro 24/7 from my vortexbox computer, but I do turn off the Icon to not kill the tubes too quickly. That said, the big rig is better, but the micro holds its own surprisingly well.  It works well with many headphones and iems, from the more neutral/detailed like Kaedes and HD800s, to more warm, rich poweful bass types like the Primes, Noble N6s, and JVC DX1000.    

I liked what the micro does well enough to by the Primes based on that pairing at RMAF, and nothing I've heard at home would change my mind about that.  I am loving the Primes with either of the two lash-ups. You'll have to pry my micro from my cold dead fingers!

P.S. please don't try that - I'm a nice guy!

Does big rig refer to iFi's dubbed "big rig" or those various DACs + HP8 Mk2? If the former, imo, iDSD DAC > iUSB + iDAC + iTube. That and the iUSB and the iTube didn't have the huge effect it had with other DACs. The iDSD's shorcoming for me would be the onboard amp section in overall quality (obviously not power).

Does the Prime - iDSD pairing err on the warmer/darker side or more on neutrality?

 

[fzman]

Does big rig refer to iFi's dubbed "big rig" or those various DACs + HP8 Mk2? If the former, imo, iDSD DAC > iUSB + iDAC + iTube. That and the iUSB and the iTube didn't have the huge effect it had with other DACs. The iDSD's shorcoming for me would be the onboard amp section in overall quality (obviously not power).

Does the Prime - iDSD pairing err on the warmer/darker side or more on neutrality?

 
'Big rig' refers to the various combinations of full-sized gear that I use for my headphone listening in a free-standing system (not the speaker rig with turntble, etc..)
 
I use the micro iDSD by itself as a combo dac-headphone amp portably connected to a Fiio X5 and also connected to an iFi iUSB in the headphone system.  
 
I would say the Prime plus micro is neutral to warm, rather than bright or analytic - but very natural sounding.  I listen to lots of acoustic jazz and jazz vocals and instruments sound very real, natural and fleshed out via the Prime and micro-- it's a very good combo-- better is dramatically more expensive.

 

[john57]

I got my new cable from Dan. Thanks
I find that with my iDSD micro the minimum phase setting is the best for the Prime. I also find that standard power works the best for SQ than turbo on the iDSD. I find that Foobar 2000 does a better job of converting PCM to DSD than J.River. J.River playing just PCM is still good. Still evaluating DSD performance at this point.
 
What a difference the Prime makes. The Prime is extremely revealing to equipment in the chain. However the Prime is also musical realistic. Those two qualities revealing(detail) and still be musical sounding is perhaps Dan greatest achievement because those two qualities do not always come together in headphone design.
 
right now I am doing another update to Foobar.

 

[swspiers]

Should the Prime be put in the Summit—Fi category?

 

[olegausany]

I got my new cable from Dan. Thanks
I find that with my iDSD micro the minimum phase setting is the best for the Prime. I also find that standard power works the best for SQ than turbo on the iDSD. I find that Foobar 2000 does a better job of converting PCM to DSD than J.River. J.River playing just PCM is still good. Still evaluating DSD performance at this point.
 
What a difference the Prime makes. The Prime is extremely revealing to equipment in the chain. However the Prime is also musical realistic. Those two qualities revealing(detail) and still be musical sounding is perhaps Dan greatest achievement because those two qualities do not always come together in headphone design.
 
right now I am doing another update to Foobar.

Which update are you talking about?

 

[Byronb]

Should the Prime be put in the Summit—Fi category?

Depends on how you qualify "Summit-Fi". I think from the SQ perspective, the Alpha's were summit fi for some, hopefully Dan brings the Prime even higher up that mountain. I obviously trust that he will since I have ordered my upgrade.

 

[TMRaven]

In Currawong's words, the equipment needs to be 'thousands of dollars.'  Alpha Prime is 1 penny short of that!

 

[john57]

                                                                                                                                 Guitar
 


I was listening to a DSD album of Fernando Sor: four sonatas for classical guitar performed by Ricardo Gallen. I had a technical issue with one of the tracks and Jonas Sacks at NativeDSD fixed the issue for me.
 
With the Alpha Prime, the initial pluck of the string was very sharp and loud. That tells me that the Alpha Prime has no problem in delivering the initial transit of sound from the guitar clearly defined and without compression at the peaks. The bass harmonics as the guitar string continues to vibrate are strong, deep and very smooth with the Prime as it fades out. With the Sony 7520 the bass harmonics are greatly decreased which is a bit surprising since a few users  think that the 7520 has too much bass; this was not true with this recording in which there was not enough bass. The second major issue I have with the 7520 was that the reverberation field is greatly overblown to the point that I had a harder time following the artist's playing. It sounded like more like playing in a cave than a church. This may have been due to the 7520 not having a flat response. Generally when recording the classical guitar the microphones are not that far away to begin with. With my Sennheiser can with the same piece the bass harmonics was quite buzzy sounding, not the smooth deep bass sound of the Alphas.
 
To be continued..

 

[mrspeakers]

Hi, switching focus to this thread from the sponsor thread.  
 

 

 

[mrspeakers]

In the spirit of the "shameless commerce division" at Car Talk, here are a few links to comments by reviewers.  I know it's a bit commercial but I do hope it's interesting. 
 
Innerfidelity CanJam coverage
 
Digital Audio Review
 
HiFi+
 
Audiophilia

 

[Tony1110]

In Currawong's words, the equipment needs to be 'thousands of dollars.'  Alpha Prime is 1 penny short of that!

That's the criteria, is it? This subject used to crop up in the HE-500 thread regularly. A lot of people felt aggrieved when it was removed from Summit-Fi. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. I thought the HE-500 were better than many headphones that did fall into the 'thousands of dollars' category. I'm sure lots of people will come to feel the same about AD Prime.