[chris_ah1]

Ok, it seems that perhaps I came off a bit too harsh in my post in the VS5 go vibe thread. However, I still stand by what i said - it was a shame that there was no hinting at the new product......Anyhow, a few days ago I got my GV5 low gain and my feelings are unfortunately mixed. I wanted to love it, but umm...well this is what i posted:
"I received my low gain version of the original from norm yesterday and I have to admit, I was a bit suprised with it.

After everything people have said, I can't see how the 6172 sounds synthetic. If anything it sounds murkier than using the audio straight from my M3. If anything it sounds how i expected a 2227 might sound like.

Admittedly the amp has cut down all electrical noise (except when the HD spins for a time, but in a portable environment you don't notice). Also, the hiss disappears unless I turn the volume way up, all I'm left with is the hiss on the recording - nothing you can do about that.

However, I'm wondering if the differences I'm hearing are from the line out rather than the amp?

I was just extremely surprised at how less open the sound was than my iaudio M3. I believe within the first ten seconds I realised what a difference no crossfeed makes i guess...Any ideas?
e.g. on a recording of handel messiah ('tis the season) it felt as if I was back in the cathedral singing it with the echo the amp introduced, but in other situations it is less rewarding. Almost like an EAX environment setting.
Perhaps i could hear more of the recording?

Whilst the amp seems amazing for some music, I have to admit, not great for everything. well other than getting rid of most of the electrical noise and only recording hiss."

After a fair bit more listening, I can indeed say that there is a definite echoiness/murkiness to the sound with the GV5. It seems a touch slow, at times rather unbalanced - heavy with the bass, heavy with bright trebles and high trebles. Certainly not what I expected from the 6172.

Is this a problem with the amp, or is it allowing me to hear much more of the atmosphere and details in the recording than I have ever done before?

I have to admit that on a some recordings I really notice the amp - others less so. But when I do notice the amp it sort of makes it less clear and detailed...even though weirdly I can hear more of the words being sung.

In short....echoiness great for masses and passions, bit crummy for chamber music (really peeved me off listening to a stock dvorak piano trio).

Unfortunately I can still hear HD noise through the line out but at least no other noise unless i really crank the GV5 up or have an old recording

p.s. I LOVE the woosh when you turn it off - awesome!

 

[IEATTEFLON]

What other amps have you listened to in the past? I listened to my friends govibe today and it performed pretty well. I think you would be disapointed with most other amplifiers if you feel this way with the govibe.

 

[chris_ah1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IEATTEFLON /img/forum/go_quote.gif What other amps have you listened to in the past? I listened to my friends govibe today and it performed pretty well. I think you would be disapointed with most other amplifiers if you feel this way with the govibe.

No other portable amplifiers.
TBH I've been pleased enough with most of my PCI sound cards and a home theatre denon amplifier.

Perhaps I'm being harsh, but other than the reduction in noise (which i guess was my primary reason for getting it) the onboard headphone sounds damn good (btw I use no EQ or other nasty sound alteration features).

In fact I get less mudiness when pluggin in my lineout from the M3 into a logitech z5500 decoder box.

Perhaps it is voltage? Only running from a 9V battery.

 

[*645-k701]

sort your cables out.. the GV5 Pwns
even with rechargeable batteries its outstanding, out-performs most other amps its same size/bigger and more expensive amps.

give it at least 200hrs. get a linear regulated amp elpac ect.
run your sen's through it then. and say its rubbish..
you will be blown away.

 

[*645-k701]

Im going to go look at some sr125 , hd595. next paycheck,
see what they sound like through my gv5,it doesnt do the 701's justice.

but through any other iem's the gv5 is brilliant.

saving up for the UE10's hahahaha jizz stuff

 

[tigger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *645-k701 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Im going to go look at some sr125 , hd595. next paycheck, see what they sound like through my gv5,it doesnt do the 701's justice. but through any other iem's the gv5 is brilliant. saving up for the UE10's hahahaha jizz stuff

Try a 24v DC linear regulated power supply as mentioned on the Go-Vibe site at www.go-vibe-headphoneamp.com, you'll be amazed at the difference!

 

[chris_ah1]

I'm using the dock line out to a cardas 1ft mini to mini - is that not good enough?

I don't see why it shouldn't be good enough because the same cable didn't produce the echoiness going to a z5500 box....

As for 24V - very exotic in the UK. mascott won't even respond to my emails and although I've found some 24V supplies they either take ages to get here, or are from a firm I wouldn't particularly trust.

Yes, I have been using it with the senn HD595s (my only mildly high impedence set) and sure it is good - of course better than the onboard audio player for those headphones...but it still has that EAX type ambience echo.

I'm not saying it is rubbish - in fact the effect makes me very happy with the right music - just that it was certainly not what I was expecting. I expect echo in a cave, not with a GV5.

As for burn ins - I left it last night for 12hours plugged in and tonight so 24 hours. Plus just about another 20 of listening off a battery so I'm at a total of 48...still can't hear 'burn in'. But I'm patient.

I'm not denying the GV5 experience is amazing, but I have yet to hear it?
Maybe my interconnect is crap?
Maybe the player is crap?
Maybe the UM2/HD595s/MDRsa5000s just happen to gain echo with the amp in comparison to other sources I have?
Maybe this is what people refer to as tubey?

Quite simply I can hear a cathedral in handel messiah only with the GV5 added to the mix....and I thought the recording was done in a studio...
Should I be hearing that?
Is my hearing going wonky?

 

[wae5]

If you cannot appreciate the differences between amps consider yourself blessed because you have rescued your wallet using only a cheap $75 amp.

 

[waterfrontmgmt]

i am using my new go vibe 5 (with 9 volt) with brand new 595's and an ipod. i use a 12" mini out of the headphone jack...and it sounds amazing. no echo here.

i love the go vibe. many people on these forums recommended it to me...it was everything i hoped for.

only problem i have...right after i got the go vibe, i got an e-mail from jan saying a headfive had just become available...so now i have that on the way as well.

my wallet has now dissappeared and believed to be hiding in a closet.

 

[jamato8]

It would almost seem something is wrong with the amp. Have you tried a different battery?

 

[norseman8485]

I've recently got a GV5 with about 50hrs on it and I'm using an Ultimate Link IC and a 9.6v battery with it. The thing is, I really can't hear much of a difference with and without it. Maybe it sounds a tad fuller and maybe there's a deeper bass and maybe there's a slight hollowness to the sound but nothing I can say is definitely there. This is completely different from when I heard a friend's cmoy and was completely taken back by the change in sound quality.
Dunno if it's my ears or is the amp not burnt in or some other factors?

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by norseman8485 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've recently got a GV5 with about 50hrs on it and I'm using an Ultimate Link IC and a 9.6v battery with it. The thing is, I really can't hear much of a difference with and without it. Maybe it sounds a tad fuller and maybe there's a deeper bass and maybe there's a slight hollowness to the sound but nothing I can say is definitely there. This is completely different from when I heard a friend's cmoy and was completely taken back by the change in sound quality. Dunno if it's my ears or is the amp not burnt in or some other factors?

Well I can see where that would be frustrating. There are some odd contrast with peoples opinions here on this amp. I wonder what is going on?

 

[NelsonVandal]

This is exactly what I've said about the MP-amp containing LM6171. I've had the same experience with LM4562 compared to OPA2134 and AD8620 in my Xenos OHA-REP. The sound is a bit too extended in the highest treble, overly crisp, and the bass also seems a bit extended and decays longer. I called it a synthetic treble because it colours the sound. I also called it a synthetic airiness. The soundstage is larger than life. Nothing really plays in the middle, not even the bass or the voices. Most of the time voices are supposed to come straight from the middle.

With my Sennheiser HD650 all of the above destroys their qualities. With my modded Philips SHP895 it sounds just great, like hand in glove. Fun, open, clear and crisp highs and mids, fat and nice bass. Not natural but fun, really sparkling. Maybe it's a matter of this synergy-thing and personal preferences.

Is this the National house-sound?

 

[Filburt]

What you're describing sounds more or less like the LM6172 to me. I haven't been using it anymore in my amps as, while I find it has some nice aspects to the sound, it gets fatiguing.

Anyhow, I'd try the AD8058/AD8057 in its place (e.g. to switch out for LM6172/6171) if you feeling like modifying that thing, or maybe AD8058/AD9631.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ah1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif p.s. I LOVE the woosh when you turn it off - awesome!

Hmm, is this normal on the GV5? Otherwise, I'm wondering if there's an oscillation problem somewhere.

Quote:

As for burn ins - I left it last night for 12hours plugged in and tonight so 24 hours. Plus just about another 20 of listening off a battery so I'm at a total of 48...still can't hear 'burn in'. But I'm patient.

You might never hear it. I've never, in the entire time I've built anything audio, heard anything even resembling burn-in in a solid-state amplifier. IMHO it has more to do with the effects of cognitive bias coupled with psychological and physiological acclimation than something physical in the amplifiers. That suspicion is reinforced by it being my experience in other industry that the magnitude of performance drift generally needed for something to be audible on the order of these claims would be intolerable in the industries and markets that these parts are primarily directed towards. Audio, for example, is not the target market of the LM6172 (it's an xDSL line driver), nor are the capacitors we use. If either part were experiencing this sort of rapid performance drift, I have serious doubts that they would be used in their target markets since, while substantial shifts in distortion products, slew characteristics, or recovery behaviour (or whatever else) are tolerable to the ear, it's not particularly desirable in more quantitatively concerned applications.

In other words, you could try to get used to it and maybe you'll like it better after some more use, or you could try replacing the op-amps or replacing the amp and try to achieve whatever your current objective is.

 

[Andrea]

NelsonVandal,

could be. Still have to hear the LM4562 but you somehow discouraged me from giving it a try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by norseman8485 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've recently got a GV5 with about 50hrs on it and I'm using an Ultimate Link IC and a 9.6v battery with it. The thing is, I really can't hear much of a difference with and without it. Maybe it sounds a tad fuller and maybe there's a deeper bass and maybe there's a slight hollowness to the sound but nothing I can say is definitely there. This is completely different from when I heard a friend's cmoy and was completely taken back by the change in sound quality. Dunno if it's my ears or is the amp not burnt in or some other factors?

What you're (not) hearing is merely the tasteless/hollow/dull sound of the LM6172/6171, even emphasized by the 3-channel design.