[RCBinTN]

Nice memories! Annette and I were also at Spring Hill...seems like a long time ago now!
I miss Burnley - hope he's doing OK...does anybody know?
I also think Matt has scaled back in the hobby, and Joe got out of his audio business altogether.

That is a wonderful collection of hooch, Brent! Those Angels Envy are delicious...
RMAF CanJam Denver - sounds like a hoot - have you been there in the past?

And, perhaps we will get to see the Porsche Panamera live & in person...what do you think @pippen99?

I had no idea that Woodford has so many interesting bourbons...probably hard to find most of the master's collection.
https://www.woodfordreserve.com/whiskey/masters-collection/

 

[kilkil]

I haven't heard anything about our missing friends, but really the only threads i look at on Head-Fi are all about our meets unless i'm researching equipment.

I'm hoping Chuck makes an appearance also.

The Angels Envy were my favorite from the last meet

 

[jr4jc]

Ok so what bourbon should I bring??
Or should I bring food
I make a mean chicken gumbo!!!

 

[kilkil]

Ok so what bourbon should I bring??
Or should I bring food
I make a mean chicken gumbo!!!

We aren't picky. Whatever bourbon you enjoy or want to try (you mentioned Blantons, i enjoy Blantons, though i usually only drink it at a bar). As for food Gumbo is great. I was thinking possibly making Chili (due to cooler weather and for the simplicity of not having to cook when people are here, previously i grilled during the meet). I'll probably make a loaf of bread also.

I hope it is still warm enough to enjoy sitting on the deck. The sunroom will be completed by then if we need to be inside and still want a nice view. I'm trying to convince myself to lay the tile in the sunroom tonight, but i'm feeling lazy, I cut all the tiles yesterday, so it should be easy.

 

[jr4jc]

Ok I’m thinking about buying a cavalli 1st run, found it at a good price, currently I have SE how much difference would it make to go to balanced cables will it change sound and how and if so brands ???

 

[kilkil]

Fyi, the cavalli I spoke highly of is a $4000 amp and not the carbon.

balanced should not sound worse than single ended. They should sound the same (with the exception that balanced will be a bit louder at the same volume setting, due to double the amplication). Balanced, by design, reduces the noise that can be picked up via the cables. Thus balanced shouldn't be needed, though if it is available, it should be used.

My headphone system uses single ended (due to my dynahi amp is SE and it would have been double the cost to build it balanced), while my speaker system is balanced. Both coming out of the same DAC.

As for cables, some spend lots on cables, my view is that it is the last thing to spend money on, buy better than the ultra cheap, but not expensive.

 

[jr4jc]

from something you said i figured you were talking about the liquid gold $4000. i have found a cavalli 1st run for $400 and have read a lot of reviews of it with the LCD-X all have been very very good. I've seen it priced from upper $300 -$600 for the 1st run version so i am considering it
i have also seen the massdrop version for just under $400
should i just get the massdrop; its new but it is not the original Cavalli???
These accept SE but also do balanced is why i wondered about the differences.
thanks

 

[pippen99]

Ok I’m thinking about buying a cavalli 1st run, found it at a good price, currently I have SE how much difference would it make to go to balanced cables will it change sound and how and if so brands ???

The Cavalli Liquid Carbon first run was designed to be used as balanced output. Most if not all exhibited a distinct hum from the SE output. This was corrected in the second run by an upgrade of the power supply. The LC is a wonderful little amp with great sound if using the balanced output. It doesn't matter if your input is SE because the LC employs a phase splitter to turn SE input to balanced output.(If you want that explained it will have to come from someone smarter than me). The Liquid Gold(AKA Lau) is the expensive Cavalli Tom is referring to. I upgraded from the LC to the Lau sometime ago.

 

[RCBinTN]

Chicken gumbo, chili and fresh bread - what a great combination. Annette won't eat chili but loves gumbo.
Last time, she brought a pan of (shrimp and andouille) jambalaya and there wasn't a drop left over.

My HP system is fully balanced due to the designs of the Gumby DAC and Bryston amplifier.
Both have balanced hardware designs (different than what Chuck describes for the Cavalli amp).

Jason explains the Gumby on the Schiit website...
"Choose Gungnir Multibit, and you get the same proprietary closed-form DSP-based digital filter as Yggdrasil, coupled to four precision Analog Devices AD5781BRUZ digital to analog converters for true hardware balancing and 19 effective bits of resolution. The analog section is completed with discrete JFET buffers and summers, the same as Yggdrasil."

I did test the Bryston using the ($600!) SE headphone cable that came with the LCD-4.
It sounded just OK - the cable had no break-in time on it - but the cans sound better with the balanced cable from Wywires.

I have mid-level cables, but they were the lowest priority in setting up my rig.
I had been using Wywires red (HP) and blue (interconnects), and then upgraded to Wywires platinum for both HP and interconnects.
Worked with Alex along the way to help him develop the platinum...I'm very happy with them.

http://www.wywires.com/silver-gold-and-blue/

 

[kilkil]

I'm actually using the Mojo as the DAC in my office system. Thus the mojo functions well as a DAC only (no pure line out, I set it to just past Blue, Blue-white). Thus if you acquire the Cavalli, you can still use the Mojo with it.

PC->Mojo->Dynahi->Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1's (NrT upgrade). And occasionally my AKG K501.

This combo sounds much better than the Peachtree DAC/Amp i was using. I didn't build the Dynahi for a Speaker Amp, but it outputs about 1W, so plenty for near field listening.


The Jambalaya was excellent. I love food, now i can't wait to taste the Gumbo. If there is anything i can do/not do for the chili, let me know. I always make it very mild, since many people don't like spicy.

 

[jr4jc]

I guess my biggest concern is the cavalli 1 if it sounds great SE w my LCD-X that would be fantastic I really don’t want to get it t and have to get balanced cables
Instead I could put the price of cable and amp into a better SE amp?!?!
Or get the massdrop version?!?!
I like the moon neo 230had
I’ve heard my headphones w it and read lots of great reviews of it w lcd-x
Its$1500
I’ve read many say the hum that the cavalli v1 has I s not noticeable and they sound great
What do y’all know?!?!

 

[RCBinTN]

Sorry, I know nothing about any of that gear.
I have heard good things about the Cavalli equipment in general.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't trust Massdrop, whatever that is. Knock off of a Chinese knock-off?

I do know that going balanced is a conscious decision, and one that I don't regret.

 

[pippen99]

With the LCD-X the hum would probably not be noticeable. The LC sounds appreciably better from the balanced output. You can find a decent 4 pin XLR cable for not all that much money either in the classifieds on this sigte or on Ebay. I would pass on the LC if you were not going to get a balanced cable. I had an X before moving up stream to a LCD-4. It is a fine headphone. The only Massdrop item I have ever bought were pads so can't help you there.

 

[jr4jc]

Thank you
That’s what I’m wondering if the LC would mean balanced cables or not
I’m currently listening to abbey road w iPhone>mojo>lcd-x
I think my ears are starting to better hear what they are hearing...!!
I know that the longer you listen to better systems the more discerning your ears get
I think mine are starting to improve
I’m liking the mojo the more I listen to it
I may wait to buy anything else until after the meet.

 

[jr4jc]

4 pin XLR what brands???
Audeze sells one for $149 new