[joelongwood]

Quote:

joe: where did you order your EMP from?

I got it from a guy in Australia after seeing his post in the For Sale forum at HeadWize. I just got it today......3 days from Australia to NY.....geez, it takes longer than that to get a letter to a town a few miles away! Thanks to all the helpul DIYers here, I picked up a step-up transformer for the 240V power supply and listened briefly. I gotta say that, in direct comparison to the modded MG Head, the EMP retains all the detail and air, yet somehow makes it smoother. There is no graininess at all.....just smoothness. The midrange is wonderful and the bass is deeper and tighter than the Head. I'll post more after I listen more.

PS: This thing is so damn small.........and beautiful!

 

[KR...]

make sure to try it with all of your headphones and post your thoughts on how it handled each.

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

make sure to try it with all of your headphones and post your thoughts on how it handled each.

Maybe when I retire.

 

[Wing]

I think Eric Barbour explains it well.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/select/0898/tube.htm

dustychalk - Life changing experience, uh, I can relate to that :>.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Page not found!

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by Nick Dangerous Page not found!

add an l

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/select/0898/tube.html

 

[Hirsch]

Hmmm....my wave editor can simulate several tube effects including:

A. Tiode (12AX7)
B. Triode (12AT7)
C. Triode (12AU7)
D. Pentode (6EJ7)
E. 2 Stage Class
F. 2 Stage Class AB
G. 2A3 Push-Pull
H. 2A3 Single-Ended

I wonder if any of them sound as good as the MicroZOTL that UPS should deliver on Friday...

 

[RMSzero]

I wasn't trolling per se, and I'm sure hearing tubed amplifiers would sound really good. I'm just an EE student trying to understand why, and saying "No" doesn't really help.

The article that Wing posted explains a lot though. Thanks.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by RMSzero I wasn't trolling per se, and I'm sure hearing tubed amplifiers would sound really good. I'm just an EE student trying to understand why, and saying "No" doesn't really help.

It's still information, but no, I wasn't really trying to be helpful. And you may not have been trolling per se, but you were asking for it, with the harshness and "loaded-ness" with which you asked the original questions.

What I was trying to say was that the difference was explicitly not in the frequency response. It has to do mostly -- I think -- with how they handle compression and distortion. Do a search on the forums for another post I recently posted about why I think this is so (unless you already read it, which I suspect you did, which is why I'm not posting a link).

 

[RickG]

Quote:

Originally posted by joelongwood I gotta say that, in direct comparison to the modded MG Head, the EMP retains all the detail and air, yet somehow makes it smoother. There is no graininess at all.....just smoothness. The midrange is wonderful and the bass is deeper and tighter than the Head. I'll post more after I listen more. PS: This thing is so damn small.........and beautiful!

I'd say that pretty well sums it up, Joe!

 

[RMSzero]

Quote:

Do a search on the forums for another post I recently posted about why I think this is so (unless you already read it, which I suspect you did, which is why I'm not posting a link).

It wasn't in your most recent few pages of posts, and I'm not going back further. I can't imagine that your post could have any more insight than the website wing linked to. You should really look at it if you're interested in knowing more specifically what the differences are.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I'm just damn confused by that article... I thought SS is supposed to have *less* noise than tube?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by RMSzero It wasn't in your most recent few pages of posts...

Ugh, you read them all? I'm sorry. I can be suchanass, sometimes. Here's a link:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...6369#post72114

The only reason I'm posting it again, is that I'm hoping someone remembers the article to which I'm referring...sorry it's not more scientifical.

 

[uvak]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs I'm just damn confused by that article... I thought SS is supposed to have *less* noise than tube?

My personal encounters with both my Headmaster and Cary "suggested" that the latter tend to have slight background hiss.

(My Headmaster is dead silent !!)

However, through experiments and tweaks, I managed to reduce the hiss to a very low level.

Perhaps, one day I would be able to remove the hiss completely.

Conclusion? I do not think it is really a straight-forward YES or NO answer. It depends on the equipment setup and (perhaps) even the listening environment.

 

[joelongwood]

RickG wrote:
Quote:

I'm still using mine in the bedroom system and does it ever kick ass with the HD600s and SR 325s!

So far I've been listening just about exclusively to the EMP with the Senns....I've just been amazed at their transformation since I first used them with the Wing modded MG Head. For the hell of it, I tried the EMP with the 325s.......listening to John Prine acoustic stuff. Another big WOW! Although the veil was lifted from the Senns and they became more transparent, they still presented the performance at a distance. The 325s bring it right up-front and in your face......Prine's voice is chillingly close and real, as is the guitar and the pluck of the bass. Rick....you're right on the money with this one. Thanks.