MY JOURNEY : A review of MG Head OTL MK1, Creek OBH-11SE and Senn HD-580

[gsferrari]

MG HEAD OTL MK-1 vs CREEK OBH-11SE
HEADPHONE AMPLIFIERS


Disclaimer

This report reflects my opinions based on tests/observations carried out under normal operating conditions. Each reader will have a different “ear” and these observations need not translate into guidelines by which they make decisions on purchasing/selling equipment. There are numerous threads based on the war between Solid State and Tube amplifiers and I am hoping that such wars be limited to existing lines of battle. Please do not bring war into this thread. I hope you enjoy reading this report just as much as I enjoyed the process of creating it.




“Fortune favours the brave” they say…

I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment because of what transpired over the past 6 years and the past 6 weeks to make this report possible.

Introduction :-

My name is Guru and I am a student of Electrical Engineering at the University Of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. I have always been interested in audio in general from a very early age but living in India shielded me from all the developments and possibilities of the rest of the world. Personal audio was limited to a pair of un-mentionable headphones and the much loved and hated Sony banana-yellow cassette player…
Although I enjoyed quality sound, it was only from the exposure I received from my relatives in Germany that I realized that there was a whole world filled with goodies waiting to be sampled. My cousin from germany lent me her Sennheiser HD-580 headphones back in 1996 for a couple of days and I was completely taken in. I listened to all my vinyl tracks through a Philips turntable and Sansui tube amplifier. When the time came to return the headphones I was in tears because those few days had exposed me to the world of hi-fi audio and I was not ready to part with it so soon. But sadly I had to let go and slipped back into the aural darkness for the years in between. Now as a student in USA with a credit card, job and a wallet,which is in various stages of cardiac arrest, I was overwhelmed with the choice before me. Next you will read about my journey over the past 6 weeks in finding my way through the quagmire.

Oh! And of course…I am terribly sorry about my wallet

The Beginning :-


They say I have a ear for detail. I can discern frequencies that others cant hear. I notice immediately if someone in the band goes off tune or off beat or misses a cue. Perhaps being a musician myself I am tuned to this sort of listening where I spend more time looking for mistakes than I do having a good time…

It is when I am semiconscious and truly relaxed that music becomes pleasurable to me and therefore I spend most of the night lying down by the poolside or on the laZboy with my favorite tunes playing through my headphones and pcdp.
I started off with a pair of Sony MDR-V300 headphones which are amazing cans for their price tag. They are low impedence phones so I had no problem powering them through the headphone socket of my Sony D-EJ1000 CD Player which is a work of art by itself. I should have stayed happy and even more important I shouldn’t have looked at some old family pictures…

For right there in one of the pictures was me, 15 years young and innocent with a pair of Sennheiser HD-580’s on my dimunitive head. A lot has changed since then, ive become less dimunitive but the innocence remains…YEAH RIGHT!!

Well…after that I just had to have my own pair and soon, after deliberating between the 580 and 600, I decided to go with the known and the cheap and just ordered the HD580 for myself…in a few days I would have the same headphones that I had heard almost 8 years earlier…it was a worrying thought…why hadn’t anything changed much in headphone technology since then? The Sennheiser HD-580 was almost a cult classic by now!!

Wallet emptied and credit card in hand I started looking for a decent amplifier and then I ran into trouble. I didn’t know what type of sound I preferred and was running around in circles trying to find my groove!

#include Wmcmanus

After some rather meaningless posting on the HeadFi forums and hiding my wallet from all the temptations that came my way I happened to post in the “South Florida Headphone Faithful” thread on the forums :-

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...=south+florida

After a couple of posts there I saw a post by Wayne McManus where he listed out all his equipment and I was amazed by his collection. I pmmed him immediately asking him if he had any old stuff that he wanted to get rid of and here are some of the pm’s we exchanged :-

gsferrari wrote on 11-14-2003 08:45 PM:
You sure have some amazing equipment....

Im a graduate student at the University Of South Florida in Tampa...clean tables and teach school kids physics and math for a living...
Just got my new Senn HD-580 and it sounds terrible without a nice amp...
Do you have any old amps that you wanna get rid of ? Please consider me if you do...i could use some help here

Best regards,
Guru
Wayne replied :

Guru,

Thanks (I guess) about the amazing equipment. I see what you mean, and it is a little - well, more than a little - over the top, but fun to share with like-minded people who appreciate good music. It's nothing to be impressed about since I'm just a guy who buys headphones and headphone amps (but could not build one to save my life). It was nice to meet Mikhail in NYC (the designer and builder of the Single Power amps). Cool guy and smart as hell as far as I'm concerned. I'm hoping to find a way of getting the SDS (the monster truck of headphone amps) packed properly so that it can make the trip with me. Keep your fingers crossed because the music is produces with the R-10's and a good source is nothing short of magical.

I'll be sure to bring the HD600's with the Cardas cable so you can do some A/B's with your 580's. The HD650's sounded great in NY even though they were not yet broken in.

As far as amp selling, because I live in Cayman, it's a hassle to sell things in terms of shipping, but I wouldn't be opposed to selling either the ASL MG Head OTL or the Creek OBH-11 SE, both of which work well wth the Senns, depending on your tube vs. solid state preferences. I'm sure you've read the HD600 / MG Head threads at head-fi. This combo is legendary (I also have several extra tubes for the MG Head that I could throw in). Both of these amps are more of less jsut sitting around and gatering dust these days. At one point, I thought I'd hang on to them so that I could do a lot of testing of "how much better is X to Y" - that sort of thing, but once the SDS arrived, even the Sugden Headmaster and Berning micro ZOTL started to gather dust. A real shame, because they are such excellent amps and I should find new (and better) homes for them one day. I'm not at all sure about prices, but we can talk about that relative to what is the current 'market'. I think I paid $245 (used) for the MG Head and about $280 (new) for the Creek (with the upgraded power supply too) and haven't used either one of them very much. I'd be willing to take a bit of a hit to help someone like yourself get started, but nothing too dramatic! IMO, with the Senns, the MG Head will likely be a better match, but everyone has different listening preferences.

More later,

Wayne


And after a few more discussions :

Guru,

Sure, if you want to spend some time auditioning them, I can send them to you in the meantime. In the meantime, if you would send your address, I can start packing them up. It's a bit expensive to ship things from here but I'll let you know what it looks like before I send them. There are other choices in this general price range, so you should do some reading in the amps forum to see if you can get any clues as to what might be the 'flavor of the month' (as we like to call it). What I'm getting at is that I would not want you to commit to making a decision between 2 amps that I happen to have lying around - maybe you should give them an audition and then listen to more amps at the meet that might be in your general price range - and then decide.


Wayne



After this I sent Wayne my address and within a week I had two beautiful amplifiers sitting on my table begging to be heard.

THANK YOU WAYNE !!!

 

[gsferrari]

So I assembled all my equipment together and though I don’t have a great source I am still very excited about ABing the two amplifiers…

EQUIPMENT

1.Sony D-EJ 1000 Portable CD Player with Line Out (Primary Source)
2.Apple 20GB iPod (Secondary Source)
3.Sennheiser HD-580 Headphones – stock cables
4.MG Heat OTL MK-1 Headphone Amplifier with an assortment of tubes
5.Creek OBH-11 SE with OBH-2 Power Supply


MUSIC USED
1.Buddha Bar I through V
2.Bee Gees – One Night Only select songs
3.Crosby Stills and Nash – Shadowy Captain
4.Gipsy Kings – Mosaique
5.Cheb Mami – Meli Meli
6.Oasis – (What’s the story) Morning Glory ?
7.Kenny G – Breathless
8.Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
9.Sting - Brand New Day
10.Cat Stevens – The Very Best
11. U2 – The Best of U2
12.Steve Harley – Make Me Smile
13.Weather Report – Telarc Recording Studios
14.Eric Claptop – Unplugged

INTERESTING BITS

I am a HUGE believer in “Break-In” because, as an engineer, I know a little bit about materials sciences. When you shape materials they stiffen to resist the change in shape and orientation of molecules. This is even more true in the case of polymers and the suspension of the drivers in speakers and cans are polymer based. They need to be extended and flexed to regain their suppleness. Stiffness can arise due to properties of the material or due to storage for a long time. Whatever be the reason, I broke in my Senns for over 100 hours using a set of wav and mp3’s that I collected from the net. I also used a signal generator to supply signals from 10 – 20000 hz with controllable gain and output levels. I am very pleased with the results. The harshness in mids and highs is gone and the bass has a lot more extension to it. Tight bass doesn’t make a “brrrr” sound at the end of the note…it’s a satisfying “Thud”. Break in is in the ears of the listener

ON TO THE REVIEW



First up : Taking Delivery Of The Amps

When I opened my door on the 21st Friday afternoon (approximately 4 days after Wayne mailed the package containing the amps) I saw a sticker which told me that I had missed the delivery and the next delivery would be on Monday!!! I was devastated!!

I ran out and saw the USPS van moving towards the exit gate. I don’t consider myself a runner but on this occasion I could have won a medal at the Olympics had there been a “Run before you lose your amps” event. In any case I begged the postman to give me my package. He made me run back for ID and by the time I got the package into my room I was quite famished.
I am VERY precise in whatever I do and sometimes annoy those waiting by trying to be absolutely perfect about everything. I took a while opening the box because I didn’t want to damage anything inside. The first thing I saw on top was the Creek OBH-11 SE and this was an absolute shocker to me. THE AMP WAS SO SMALL!!! It was so cute and well built that I was completely taken with it. And then they shot it right out of the window with the power supply…I thought this brick was the MG Head amp and it turned out to be the power supply for the Creek amp!! I was rather disappointed because whats the point in having an amp that small and power supply that HUGE…see for yourselves…
The next item in the package was a beautiful RCA-RCA Interconnect by Homegrown Audio. And then a very delicate package full of various tubes for the MG Head. And finally the gorgeous MG Head OTL MK-1 amplifier. I tweaked a muscle trying to lift it out with one hand. This is a BEAST and needs to be handled with care. Finally with all the goodies out and on the table I set everything up on my Walmart table (Im a poor guy…) and checked if they would turn on. I prudently removed some of the packing debris from around the tubes…no point having everything catch fire

I had my source, both amps and cans all ready for auditioning and first I decided to let each amp run for a couple of hours each. I ended up continuing the break in of my headphones for another 24 hours (12 with each amp) because I had classes to attend and work at the university cafeteria.

Whew!! I have been listening to both amps for the last one week and here are my impressions

 

[gsferrari]

CREEK OBH-11 SE Headphone Amplifier

The amplifier is very nicely built with excellent grippy rubber feet on the bottom. This is an amp which will not look out of place on an executives desk if you can hide the ghastly psu out of sight!

The headphone plugged in with a satisfying thwack. Volume control feels very smooth and linear. On the rear you have two sets of RCA’s – one for i/p and the other for o/p. The rear also has a power switch which did not feel as solid as the rest of the amp.

It was a rather tacky plastic depressable affair which really should have been a more solid switch with a lower profile. The green lettering on the front looks ok but it could have been chrome with a blue LED of less brighness.

Otherwise the amp is very well built. I am not going to write about the interiors because this is not my amplifier and although Wayne is a very kind gentleman, im not sure if opening up his amps will be tolerated

Sound – First impressions

I formed these impressions after only a few hours of listening. I included it to show the readers that what you think of an amp after the first few minutes doesn’t always accurately reflect the true nature of the amplifier. This holds good for anything in life…first impressions are not very reliable.
The amplifier is DEAD silent. No hiss at ANY volume and with any connection variation. Very impressive. I guess that’s why it has such a HUGE power supply. The silence was deep and rather eerie.
When I played Metallica and a couple of dance tunes through the creek I was rather disappointed with the BASS rendering. There was little or no bass worthy of mention. The treble was excellent. Mids and highs were incredibly detailed and I could make out every little sound in the upper frequencies without any veil. In the Eric Clapton Unplugged CD track #1 – “Signe” around the 53rd second I could hear the drummer moving his pedal around and confirmed this a few days later from the video where the drummer bends down exactly at the 53rd second. I was stunned because I couldn’t hear this sound before or perhaps I heard it and didn’t think twice about it! This amp+cans combo will expose all these sounds in your recordings. But again…the Bass was very disappointing to say the least and I didnt enjoy the music at first.

Lasting Impressions

I have formed these impressions of the amplifier after a week of listening to it alternatively with the MG Head. I am actually very pleased with the little performer and though it still struggles for pure Bass and lower mids the Creek takes the icing in the mids and highs department. The mids and highs were extremely detailed as I mentioned before. Bass strength depends on the recording and the source as I found out after connecting the iPod to the amp. I don’t like the loose boomy bassy sound of the iPod but after connecting it to the Creek the bass seemed tamed a little and was definitely tighter. The previously “bassless” Creek came out with flying colors on this one and the Bass had decent levels of extension when required and tightness when required. I must add however that it still didn’t meet my requirements and ultimately I just felt that although this was a great amp, it was just not the amp for me. Many of the readers will love this “subdued bass” because it allows you to listen to the music for longer without fatigue and ear ache. The incredible sonic detail of this amp is a BIG plus.

 

[gsferrari]

MG Head OTL MK-1 Headphone Amplifier

The MG Head makes you want to turn around and look again and again and again……and again

It is beautifully built in the old fashioned way. I think its fitting that this amp is built by “Antique Sound Labs” because it looks very 60’s. The amp is VERy heavy because of the transformers and if you don’t have any low impedence cans lying around then I think there is a version out there without the unnecessary burden. Unnecessary because most readers with High impedence cans will prefer the OTL mode of this amp. The MG Head has both the OTL and T modes which can be chosen by switching the headphone between the two sockets. There is also a toggle switch for Feedback which is sort of enigmatic because we’re not able to decide which way is ON. Ultimately the toggle switch alters the sound significantly in the T mode while the change is more subtle in the OTL mode. The amplifier is all black with a anodized front plate which is home to the power switch, volume control, feedback toggle, T and OTL sockets.

The volume control is not as fine as I would have liked and had a grainy feel and changing the volume also produced a slight scratchy sound as long as the wheel was in motion. With a setting chosen however the amp was very silent. At higher volumes with certain connection settings however there was a mild hum in the headphones but nothing annoying and certainly not noticeable with the music turned on. This could also be due to the tube that was installed…lets see what transpires with some tuberolling

The amp stands on 4 feet which are not as impressive as the ones on the Creek. But this amp is so heavy that its not going to be sliding around your desk unlike the creek so I guess it really doesn’t matter. There is a grill to protect the tubes when you are done with tuberolling but IMHO the amp looks much better without the grill…better to keep it on in case your dog or kid get curious.

The rear of the amp is very simple with two input options – one for RCA and one for mini plug which is great news for us PCDP and iPod users who don’t have a mini-RCA converter that’s a quality affair.




Sound – First Impressions

Very impressed. The bass rendition was amazing and it felt like having a subwoofer in the room…well not quite but close

And this is not muddy lifeless bass. The Bass was very detailed with smooth transitions without clipping especially in music from Buddha Bar where you have the Bass changing between 20 – 40 and 80 Hz repeatedly. Above the bass the mids and highs were also impressive. In the T mode the headphones that are naturally laid back were suddenly brought forward a long way. The depth was lost though and this sort of sound is perfect for Rock and Hip-Hop presentation. I preferred the T mode with feedback toggle in the UP position which by markings on the face plate indicate that feedback is ON.

The T mode without feedback is too dull and boring but might be suitable for other kinds of music which I haven’t explored yet. OTL and T with FB took up most of my time. All in all this amp was a killer. Two amps in one and so many possible variations with the toggled feedback, OTL and T modes and an impressive variety of tubes to pick and choose from.

Lasting Impressions

This amp has me drooling all over the place. I have already purchased GE 5751 Signal tubes and JJ’s Power tubes to replace the standard Sovteks.

I am using the article by Nick Dangerous (of Head-Fi) as a guide towards tuberolling and the results are stunning. Just changing between different 12AX7 tubes gave so many different sounds and I was able to tell which ones I liked and which ones I didn’t. I am in the prossess of matching certain tubes with certain types of music according to my tastes and all that and more is coming up.




Temporary Conclusion

You cant go wrong with either amplifier. They are both fantastic and it’s a matter of choosing between an amp with good overall sound and great Bass and another amp with superb sonic detail and average bass. Its not that simple however. One is a tube amp and the other is solid state and comparing them is sacrilege because both are from completely different philosophies. But these are the only two amps that fall into my price range and command respect at the same time. Both are PERFECT for the Sennheiser HD-580 and I am sure that if you get the Sennheiser HD580/600/650 headphones and one of these amps then all you need is to upgrade your source because these amps will do their job admirably.

 

[gsferrari]

Coming Up….

Comparison of both amps for various different songs from different genres
Measurements of i/p, o/p Impedence and other amp parameters for both amps
Pictures from the South Florida Meet scheduled for Dec 14th

 

[agile_one]

Excellent job, Guru! I'm sure Wayne is happy he sent the amps on to you before our meet, after this very nice writeup.

Particularly liked the part about racing after the delivery truck ...

I am very much looking forward to our meet at Matt's place on the 14th, and all the terrific goodies we will have there. We should all have much to say after that day.

btw, did I mention trhat I LOVE your choice of avatar's? surprised that no one else (at least that I've seen) has taken him yet - I smile each time I see it.

Now that I've seen your analysis of the Creek vs MG Head, I am looking forward to your reactions to the PPA's (we'll have both a JMT and LaRocco), Sugden Headmaster, MAX, Prehead, Ray's great Emmelines (both HR-2 and XP-7), and Wayne's fab SDS. I just hope your head doesn't explode ...

Keep up the good work - see you on the 14th.

 

[jpelg]

Nice job Guru. Very thorough.

Glad you gave Wayne props. He's a real enthusiast who goes way out of his way to share what he has with as many as possible. The fact that he is packing up and traveling with an SDS (!) is clear evidence of that.

Enjoy the meet. It's sure to be a great time. Don't forget to post impressions and pics.

 

[gsferrari]

Sheesh!! Need help hosting those images

 

[agile_one]

Guru ...

Seems to a daily usage limit problem at iVillage - got any other host you can use?

 

[gsferrari]

Fixed them temporarily...I hope

 

[Wmcmanus]

Guru (short for Gurushankar, and nothing to do with...),

It's nice to see that you're having such a blast with the amps! Thanks for the 'props' (as jpelg) called them, although that was really not necessary.

Perhaps you should think about doing a 'director's cut' (ala markl's XP-7 review) once you've firmed up your opinions. The MG Head folks like to see opinions on various tubes (although mine aren't labelled, somebody might be able to look at pics and quickly tell you which ones are which - maybe your top 2 or 3 tubes could be identified and this would help someone who is 'rolling their head' - oooh, bad pun).

 

[gsferrari]

Wayne,

I had to thank you and give you recognition here because if not for your generosity, none of this would have been possible. I am basically too darned broke to afford an amp and it would break my heart if I bought an amp and found out that it was not my cup of tea...

You converted me from SS to Tubes and I could find my groove because of you...

Other newbies who are REALLY interested should also know that there are amazing people on the forums and if they are patient and persistent enough they might get a slice of fortune as I have.


I have POSIDENT on all the tubes save 2 from your collection. Those are beyond recognition because there are no markings at all and unless someone is good enough to recognize a tube based on is design and construction...I fear those two are lost...and one of them is a very good tube indeed!!

I am waiting for the GE 5751 and the balanced JJ EL84's to show up...then i'll start the song by song review, tube by tube review and amp by amp review

Sounds good??

Hopefully i'll be done before the meet...And no need to worry about my head blowing up - here are some other reviews of mine...from another forums but what the heck

http://talknotebooks.com/showthread....ferrari+review


http://talknotebooks.com/showthread....ferrari+review

cheers!!

 

[Kenny12]

wow nice review, now my opinion has shifted more to the TUBE side, hey where do you get nice tubes in australia? i don't really want to order tubes from america everytime i feel like tube rolling.

Also did you perfer to use your PCDP or Ipod for playing music? and did u notice a diff between stock and better cables for your hd580?

 

[Kenny12]

wow nice review, now my opinion has shifted more to the TUBE side, hey where do you get nice tubes in australia? i don't really want to order tubes from america everytime i feel like tube rolling.

Also did you perfer to use your PCDP or Ipod for playing music? and did u notice a diff between stock and better cables for your hd580?

 

[gsferrari]

I dont have better cables....only stock...me is poor

I prefer my pcdp any day. The iPod was nice but the sound was a tad boomy and not to my taste. I like Bass but I like it to stay where it should and not smother everything else...

My dream is a fantastic tube based CD player dedicated for home use...now THATS a great source...

About tube buying - give me a few days and i'll give you a list of all the tubes you will need to order and where to order from. Once you have them you should be all set for some fun tuberolling...

Thats what I am doing now...collecting some great tubes for the great amp!!

Cheers!!