[Drrizzt]

Is dynamics related to power output? If so I assume that with almost 2w, comparing to the 1w power output of the sunrise that it wil make the bass tighter. It's a litle bit loose on the sunrise for my taste.

 

[mandrake50]

Is dynamics related to power output? If so I assume that with almost 2w, comparing to the 1w power output of the sunrise that it wil make the bass tighter. It's a litle bit loose on the sunrise for my taste.

I find bass, and overall sound on the Sunrise to be highly tube dependent.
I think that dynamics are only related to power output in that, without enough power to follow the peaks, you can get clipping. If you have enough volume to cover your listening preferences without clipping this should not be a factor. I usually more closely think of dynamics as being related to the speed of the amp and its noise floor.
 
Having more power in and of itself will not necessarily make bass tighter.

 

[mandrake50]

Is dynamics related to power output? If so I assume that with almost 2w, comparing to the 1w power output of the sunrise that it wil make the bass tighter. It's a litle bit loose on the sunrise for my taste.

I find bass, and overall sound on the Sunrise to be highly tube dependent. Check out the Sunrise tube rolling thread.
 
I think that dynamics are only related to power output in that, without enough power to follow the peaks, you can get clipping. If you have enough volume to cover your listening preferences without clipping this should not be a factor. I usually more closely think of dynamics as being related to the speed of the amp and its noise floor.
 
Having more power in and of itself will not necessarily make bass tighter. The overall design of the amp might.

 

[Drrizzt]

Thanks!

Can't wait to compare these two amps. I hope my he 500 is not defective and just that the sunrise is responsible for the sound distortion i get.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

I find the bass on the Polaris audibly tighter than the Ember but YMMV with tubes. The cleanest tube I had were Tungsram and even the Polaris were able to reveal details in certain syn bass tracks that the Ember sorta hid with decay.

The Polaris is highly impressive in this sense but tube lovers will always prefer the tube sound. I compared both with the he560

 

[mandrake50]

I find the bass on the Polaris audibly tighter than the Ember but YMMV with tubes. The cleanest tube I had were Tungsram and even the Polaris were able to reveal details in certain syn bass tracks that the Ember sorta hid with decay.

The Polaris is highly impressive in this sense but tube lovers will always prefer the tube sound. I compared both with the he560

Tube lovers love distortion that tubes supply. It is pleasant, maybe euphonic.. but it is distortion.. Different tubes simply change the place that the distortion is applied.
I am in that group BTW. With certain music and certain headphones (or speakers), I love my tube or hybrid amps. I am aware that it is because I like the coloration or "distortion" that they provide.
You need to Like the Polaris as it is. After listening for three weeks now, I do like it. It is very solid on the low end, it is open on the high end. It is really neutral overall, but has a tad bit of that tube mellowness. Likely because of the FET design. It is what it is, but from my experience, that is real good!
When I plug it in, I know what I am going to get.  No waiting for a two hour warm up, or remembering the "best" tube it put in for the program material or transducer, and bias, the tubes and wait for them to stabilize. Plug and go!  I like it!

 

[HOWIE13]

Does anybody have experience of using the treble tuning, if that's the way to describe it, on the Polaris? I read somewhere that it may reduce treble 'edginess'

 

[Mike In Bama]

I don't have any experience with the treble tuning, but you might want to look at the manual. In the Garage1217 web site, there is a tab for manuals. In the last page or so are a couple of graphs of the FR curves with the different settings.

 

[GreenMachine]

Doing this from my phone. Hope it works right.

Now to answer your question I will say that just moving the BW settings to the lowest setting did help tone down the sharpness/edge of the HE400's. They were still sharp but toned down a bit. I say give the BW settings a try and listen to each one for a day or so and you'll possibly be able to tell the difference. Best of luck!

Does anybody have experience of using the treble tuning, if that's the way to describe it, on the Polaris? I read somewhere that it may reduce treble 'edginess'

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I wonder how well the bandwith settings work on the HE-400's problematic treble. Anyone tested this?

WOW, I AM AN IDIOT. YOU JUST TALKED ABOUT THIS. DISREGARD.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  Does anybody have experience of using the treble tuning, if that's the way to describe it, on the Polaris? I read somewhere that it may reduce treble 'edginess'

Most of the tuning happens after 10khz meaning that the sense of air is lessened more so than peaks under 10k, with that said I can hear an audible difference on the 560s that made certain poor mastering more tolerable. Trying dynamic drivers and ortho magnetics, the orthos showed the lessening of treble more than the dynamic drivers.

As to the HE400's peak, I couldn't say from experience but it I think it would help to an extent.

 

[mandrake50]

The 400s have their own signature. They seem to me to have a recessed midrange to upper mids. They have emphasis in the 5K to 12K range.
I have played with the bandwidth adjustments on the Polaris. It really just knocks down the  above 10K range.... to my ears and based on measurements.
If you want to tame the 400s look to pads. The Jergpads or the Focus pads from Hifiman. Then think about the  grill mods.
I have the Jergpads and opened up the grills. I got rid of the sibilance and harshness in voices and symbols... and violins .
They start to be fun to listen to because they aggravate me less. Nice Bass and smoothed out high end.
Still nice and open and detailed sounding on the top...but not nearly as harsh.
 
In other words, in my experience, the bandwidth settings can leave out some of the frequencies (Not all of the ones you want for the 400s), but you need more for the 400s to do what it sounds like you are looking for!
 
Polaris is a very nice amp with lots of flexibility. Don't expect any miraculous changes for a phone that you don't like to begin with!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I love the HE-400 (owned it twice). All I want from it is a reduced treble output.

And you're wrong about the emphasis. The HE-400's treble dominance over all else starts at around 9khz and onward. 5khz-6khz is actually recessed relative to everything else about it (both Tyll and Purrin's graphs show this, Headroom's graph is of old HE-400, IIRC). 7-9khz is about on par with the bass and general mids, which then starts outdoing the rest of the sound spectrum with it's hot treble.

I've removed the grills as well, and it doesn't miraculously change the 400 in any shape or form other than aiding imaging and spaciousness by a smidge.

I didn't use Jergpads though. Velour and stock.

If Polaris's bandwidth adjustment mostly impacts 10khz and above (I'd like to see what exactly it impacts), then it should be beneficial to the HE-400 which is tilted quite upwards in those ranges. I don't need it to blunt it heavily. Just shave off a few dbs to at least let the treble meet the bass to mid line.

 

[HOWIE13]

Thanks for all the replies. I actually like the treble of the HE400,  but maybe the treble tuning of the Polaris will bring some benefit to these, and some of my other, cans. Will have to wait another few days for my Polaris to clear UK Customs

 

[mandrake50]

  Thanks for all the replies. I actually like the treble of the HE400,  but maybe the treble tuning of the Polaris will bring some benefit to these, and some of my other, cans. Will have to wait another few days for my Polaris to clear UK Customs

Please let us know what you think.
When I first got My Polaris I tried all of the settings with a few phones. Just out of curiosity. I have set everything back to basically wide open and low output impedance. I usually like the least amount of electronic processing between me and the music. I do want to try changing the output impedance for some of my Hi Z phones at some point. OTH, I am a big believer in  the concept of... If it works for you, do it (in audio anyway)
I will be interested to read what you think about the different settings you use and how you think that they work with the HE-400.