[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nspindel Tyll - I couldn't have said that better myself. Then again, I couldn't have said it at all.....

Rickcr42 was saying it ages ago and it appears everyone is now agreeing

Cheers Rick.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Hiya Rick,

Did I do OK on my explaination above, seriously, I'm interested if you have anything to add.

 

[Jorg]

Tyll,

Would you offer an independent regulation of the volume in the left and the right channels in your future amps? May be some balance control? I ask because I have different shapes of ear canals and with some headphones (Senns for example) I hear the sound louder in the right ear and with other headphones (Grados, most ATs etc) everything's perfect.

I think if it's not difficult in terms of design it would make point to offer this as an option for people like me (I know a few other people on Head-Fi wih this problem and there were several threads about it as I recall). Just my IMHO.

 

[MASantos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorg Tyll, Would you offer an independent regulation of the volume in the left and the right channels in your future amps? May be some balance control? I ask because I have different shapes of ear canals and with some headphones (Senns for example) I hear the sound louder in the right ear and with other headphones (Grados, most ATs etc) everything's perfect. I think if it's not difficult in terms of design it would make point to offer this as an option for people like me (I know a few other people on Head-Fi wih this problem and there were several threads about it as I recall). Just my IMHO.

From the managment point of view, this would increase costs by adding extra circuitry and components which would only be used by a minority of users. It's not a very smart solutionbecause most people would complain about the extra costs(and possible sound degradation) and only few would actually use that feature . Instead of this maybe headroom should create a external balance control which would connect between the headphone out and your cans.

This is just my opinion, Till might have a different POV.

Manuel

 

[Jorg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MASantos From the managment point of view, this would increase costs by adding extra circuitry and components which would only be used by a minority of users. It's not a very smart solutionbecause most people would complain about the extra costs(and possible sound degradation) and only few would actually use that feature . Instead of this maybe headroom should create a external balance control which would connect between the headphone out and your cans. This is just my opinion, Till might have a different POV. Manuel

For balanced amps, I think, it's just the cost of another knob.

I can't understand why people would complain if Headroom makes it an option. It shouldn't change the design dramatically as I understand it.

From another management point of view (

) it will better target that group of buyers and it seems to me that it's not so small.

Again, IMHO.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorg For balanced amps, I think, it's just the cost of another knob. I can't understand why people would complain if Headroom makes it an option. It shouldn't change the design dramatically as I understand it. From another management point of view ( ) it will better target that group of buyers and it seems to me that it's not so small. Again, IMHO.

The BlockHead was actually set up that way, mainly because it was two single ended Max's joined at the hip to make a balanced amp, therefore had seperate left and right controls for the two seperate amps which each handled one channel.

It would be impossible in the Micro line, and somewhat difficult due to space constrains in the Desktop line. It would not be difficult to impliment in the Home and Max lines, however adding an option for something DOES increase costs - they would need to have a new design for both Max and Home front panels, and if they only sold 1 per year it wouldn't be worth the effort.

 

[Jorg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth The BlockHead was actually set up that way, mainly because it was two single ended Max's joined at the hip to make a balanced amp, therefore had seperate left and right controls for the two seperate amps which each handled one channel. It would be impossible in the Micro line, and somewhat difficult due to space constrains in the Desktop line. It would not be difficult to impliment in the Home and Max lines, however adding an option for something DOES increase costs - they would need to have a new design for both Max and Home front panels, and if they only sold 1 per year it wouldn't be worth the effort.

Yes, I know how Blockhead is constructed, and I also understand why Headroom made only one knob on the Max Balanced this time - here most people would feel uncomfortable having 1500$ (

) pots and not being able to absolutely accurately set the volume

And I understand that it would cost a lot to change the existing amps - it's interesting for me if Headroom considers doing this in the future amps

Also, I think it's much more than one per year. I've read somewhere that at least 5% of people have different ear canals, but I could be wrong. Again, a balance control is more than enough. BTW Winamp has balance control, but unfortunately Winamp isn't a huge headphone amp making factory.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Doing it in the way we do now (in the analog domain) the solution won't make any money. But in the future---when we're doing DSP (digital signal processing) in the box---we probably will put balance contols in the amps. We'll probably only work on the digital inputs though.

 

[YngwieJMalmsteen]

So, I'm thinkin I'm gonna send my coda in but I really don't want to be ampless for too long; are you guys swamped right now and would it help if I waited a week or a month? The form says 2-3 weeks but I assume that's more of a worst case scenario, any idea what your turn around time is at the moment?

Also, I need to get the gain lowered (~12 o'clock = listening level for 880's), should I just squeeze that in on the upgrade forum, include a seperate note, or something else? It would be nice if the upgrade form had like a "comments" space with the customer info, just a thought.

Also, if anybody has had their coda/micro amp upgraded already it would be great if you could post your impressions.

edit: guess I'll just pm this to jamey.

 

[Luco]

Slightly off topic question here: do your balanced amps use 2 or 4 modules in unbalanced mode?

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luco Slightly off topic question here: do your balanced amps use 2 or 4 modules in unbalanced mode?

2. They are not bridged in any way in single ended mode. The only reason to bridge them in single ended mode would be to get the same output power as in balanced mode, which would only be required to drive an AKG K1000. That would be pointless, because even bridged the modules don't have enough output power to power the K1000 in the way HeadRoom would want them to - though it does work and to some accounts very well.

 

[Luco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth 2. They are not bridged in any way in single ended mode. The only reason to bridge them in single ended mode would be to get the same output power as in balanced mode, which would only be required to drive an AKG K1000. That would be pointless, because even bridged the modules don't have enough output power to power the K1000 in the way HeadRoom would want them to - though it does work and to some accounts very well.

I'm not sure about that. The Max Balanced does have 4 power supplies, I reckon it could the K1000 on any day.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luco I'm not sure about that. The Max Balanced does have 4 power supplies, I reckon it could the K1000 on any day.

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the PSU. The maximum output of each module is about 500mW, limited by current. In a balanced config, that is bridged to a total of 1W, whether there is 1 PSU or there are 10. They can supply easily adequate voltage, but not as much current as the guys at HeadRoom feel that the K1K requires to sing.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luco I'm not sure about that. The Max Balanced does have 4 power supplies, I reckon it could the K1000 on any day.

I've seen this a couple times now and I need to say that I haven't done a good job helping folks understand our products fully. I got lazy and let it slide the first time I saw it and I never should have done that. I'm an idiot sometimes, but to my knowledge the Max has the same number of power supplies as the Home. The BlockHead had four power supplies, but I believe the current Max has two. Jamey should adjudicate the final word here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the PSU. The maximum output of each module is about 500mW, limited by current. In a balanced config, that is bridged to a total of 1W, whether there is 1 PSU or there are 10. They can supply easily adequate voltage, but not as much current as the guys at HeadRoom feel that the K1K requires to sing.

Now that one is exactly on the spot correct. The K-1000 needs much more like a small power amp, maybe 10-20 watts. That killer 300B tube amp at the national meet would be PERFECT.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens I've seen this a couple times now and I need to say that I haven't done a good job helping folks understand our products fully. I got lazy and let it slide the first time I saw it and I never should have done that. I'm an idiot sometimes, but to my knowledge the Max has the same number of power supplies as the Home. The BlockHead had four power supplies, but I believe the current Max has two. Jamey should adjudicate the final word here. Now that one is exactly on the spot correct. The K-1000 needs much more like a small power amp, maybe 10-20 watts. That killer 300B tube amp at the national meet would be PERFECT.

Who am I to tell you about what's in your products, but I always thought that you guys have 4 power supplies (back to the transformer) in the Balanced Max, and my evidence, apart from a hunch is the following:

"Four independent dual left/right mono power supplies provide instantaneous, perfectly regulated power for the four edge-mounted Max modules, the honkin' mothers of all modules"

Now, re-reading that I realise it doesn't necessarily mean there are 4 transformers as I originally thought it did - there could just be four seperate regulation sections from two transformers.

BTW I picked up some K1K's quite cheaply in the UK, along with the original Musical Fidelity A1 which does a great job with them (I paid around $100 for it!) - it's their original pure class A integrated amp, about 20W into 8 ohms, and the top panel could fry an egg (something I of course intend to test in the near future).