[WaveTheory]

Hey thanks for the reply! So yes, solid state all the time to this point really. I've actually been super happy with my Burson ss amp, but don't want to give tubes a pass just because I've never used them. Happy to have something a lot more coloured than what ss gives me. Listen to a bit of everything but I'd say day to day would move between a lot of electronica, some female vocalist London Grammar type stuff....less often would be some metal and hip hop. Budget would be about in around the closed back lcd 2's which ends up around $1300AUD. The goal here is fun kicked back setup for work listening. That being said if whatever I buy works better with my current Burson Soloist and the Cayin (or other tube/tube hybrid) sounds good with my open LCD3's I'm happy to shuffle around for home.

Basically looking for nice, not crazy cost closed backs that sound fun for the tunes I listen to.

IMO the 1Amk2 isn't the best for many planars and low impedance dynamic headphones. The LCD-2 open is one of the few that sounds really good on it. The LCD-2 closed might be fine but isn't generally regarded as being all that great. I think your best bet to match both the amp and your stated tastes would be to see if you can land a ZMF Atticus or Eikon at a price you're comfortable with. They are closed back, play well with tube amps, and the ZMF sound is pretty good for the genres you lean toward. More easily available in Australia might be the Beyerdynamic DT1770. The 250 ohm version is the best bet. The signature might be too v shaped for you, but I don't know. Good luck!

 

[Foulcher]

Hello,

To come back to my HA-1A Mk2 experience, I have finally compared it to the Marantz CD6006 headphone output. I connected the RCA out from the CD6006 to the Cayin amp and so AB'ed both ouputs (the DAC is of course the same due to the wiring).
It was not really easy as it was not blind (I could have asked to my GF but I did not think about it at the time), as my dB-meter was my Apple Watch as always and because switching was not really fast.

But after having gone through a selection of CDs, I would say that the HA-1A Mk2 was overall more appealing. I noticed quite quickly the difference but couldn't really say what was really different. On tracks without that much basses, both are clear and detailed. However, when there are mixed basses, HA-1A Mk2 seemed to have more punch and power. In fact the CD6006 headphone output was somewhere between Headphone B of the HA-1A and the Headphone A output (or the A output with the minimal impedance), so a bit more "quiet" (HA-1A Mk2 sounds louder with the same displayed dB, so I guess that there are more basses). HA-1A Mk2 sounds also a bit "wider" but in an "acoustic" way (like hearing breath when someone sings).I do not know if it is the "tube" sound (objectively CD6006 sound a bit cleaner but I have the feeling that Marantz tries to replicate a bit of the "tube" sound with HDAM but also a bit more "dry"/"less lively").

I will not say which is better or not, I think the difference is subtle (especially at low impedance setting) but the HA-1A Mk2 was marginally more pleasing and huge in basses.
I unfontunately forgot to test iPhone dongle vs CD6006 RCA on HA-1A Mk2 but that does not matter for now (it might when I will purchase a HD800S, probably this winter or during the French summer sale tomorrow).

I posted a picture of my "setup", definitely (a lot) messier (not to say it is a dump) than others. I changed many things on my desk (monitor, etc.) so I have to organize that

 

[Epika07]

Anyone else used ZMFs with this amp and get hiss/hum when using the higher impedance settings? At the lowest setting the noise isn't that bad but not sure if I'm compromising on sound by not having it at a higher setting

 

[WaveTheory]

Anyone else used ZMFs with this amp and get hiss/hum when using the higher impedance settings?

I have not used a ZMF. I don't recall any hiss through my 300 ohm Senns or 600 ohm Beyers, though. Hum is just kinda a thing with tube amps. Mine hums when I crank the volume pot up really high.

At the lowest setting the noise isn't that bad but not sure if I'm compromising on sound by not having it at a higher setting

You're not compromising, per se, you're just finding a setting you like. The impedance settings adjust the output impedance, which controls the damping factor. The damping factor is the ratio of load impedance (your headphone's impedance) to the output impedance. The higher the output impedance, the lower the damping factor. Damping factor gives you an idea of how quickly the amplifier can stop a headphone/speaker driver from moving, or stated another way, large damping factor allows the amplifier to impart a larger acceleration to the driver. The higher the damping factor the more controlled the driver will be. That sounds great, but there can be too much of a good thing there. Too much damping and the sound can be very dry and chalky. On the other end, too little damping and the sound gets very wet and sloppy. WIth 1AMK2 and 300 ohm cans, the damping factor will be enough on all settings to give you a very detailed, well controlled sound. But, the different settings allow you set to your preference how dry or wet you like it. Apologies if that's too pedantic, but I just wanted to make it clear that you're not compromising and all you're doing is a little bit of tuning to taste. Enjoy!

 

[Epika07]

I have not used a ZMF. I don't recall any hiss through my 300 ohm Senns or 600 ohm Beyers, though. Hum is just kinda a thing with tube amps. Mine hums when I crank the volume pot up really high.



You're not compromising, per se, you're just finding a setting you like. The impedance settings adjust the output impedance, which controls the damping factor. The damping factor is the ratio of load impedance (your headphone's impedance) to the output impedance. The higher the output impedance, the lower the damping factor. Damping factor gives you an idea of how quickly the amplifier can stop a headphone/speaker driver from moving, or stated another way, large damping factor allows the amplifier to impart a larger acceleration to the driver. The higher the damping factor the more controlled the driver will be. That sounds great, but there can be too much of a good thing there. Too much damping and the sound can be very dry and chalky. On the other end, too little damping and the sound gets very wet and sloppy. WIth 1AMK2 and 300 ohm cans, the damping factor will be enough on all settings to give you a very detailed, well controlled sound. But, the different settings allow you set to your preference how dry or wet you like it. Apologies if that's too pedantic, but I just wanted to make it clear that you're not compromising and all you're doing is a little bit of tuning to taste. Enjoy!

Hmm I get hum with the volume pot not even halfway. I have the Cayin connected to a Modi 3 DAC connected to my PC via USB, and there's a low background hum which is made worse whenever I scroll my mouse. Wish I knew what the cause was...
Do you think changing the tubes would help? I've already swapped out the 12AU7s to Golden Dragons though and it hasn't seemed to make much difference

 

[Andykong]

Hmm I get hum with the volume pot not even halfway. I have the Cayin connected to a Modi 3 DAC connected to my PC via USB, and there's a low background hum which is made worse whenever I scroll my mouse. Wish I knew what the cause was...
Do you think changing the tubes would help? I've already swapped out the 12AU7s to Golden Dragons though and it hasn't seemed to make much difference

I think your DAC is not properly isolated from its USB receiver, so the ground noise of your PC has leaked into the tube amplifier. If you can unplug the PC from your DAC and test your system with a non-USB source, the noise should be improved. Not sure if this is the only noise source in your system, we can only debug them one after the other.

Tube rolling will only have minor effect because some vacuum tube are less sensitive to interference, but it won't solve the problem because the noise are coming from upstream.

 

[WaveTheory]

Hmm I get hum with the volume pot not even halfway. I have the Cayin connected to a Modi 3 DAC connected to my PC via USB, and there's a low background hum which is made worse whenever I scroll my mouse. Wish I knew what the cause was...
Do you think changing the tubes would help? I've already swapped out the 12AU7s to Golden Dragons though and it hasn't seemed to make much difference

After this added info I agree with @Andykong that you likely have some usb noise happening. To check you can use a 3.5mm to rca y cable and plug your phone into the 1Amk2. If the hum goes away then yes, it's most likely usb noise. There are few potential fixes for this which I won't list until you've confirmed...lots of typing, lol. Good luck! I've had usb noise before and it is irritating.

 

[Epika07]

I think your DAC is not properly isolated from its USB receiver, so the ground noise of your PC has leaked into the tube amplifier. If you can unplug the PC from your DAC and test your system with a non-USB source, the noise should be improved. Not sure if this is the only noise source in your system, we can only debug them one after the other.

Tube rolling will only have minor effect because some vacuum tube are less sensitive to interference, but it won't solve the problem because the noise are coming from upstream.

Just tried plugging my DAC to my PS5 via optical, and there seems to be no hum (or very quiet) on the lowest impedance setting...

 

[Epika07]

After this added info I agree with @Andykong that you likely have some usb noise happening. To check you can use a 3.5mm to rca y cable and plug your phone into the 1Amk2. If the hum goes away then yes, it's most likely usb noise. There are few potential fixes for this which I won't list until you've confirmed...lots of typing, lol. Good luck! I've had usb noise before and it is irritating.

Using a non-usb source i.e. optical from my DAC to my PS5 seems to have eliminated most of the hum... so I'm guessing it is USB noise then?

 

[Andykong]

Just tried plugging my DAC to my PS5 via optical, and there seems to be no hum (or very quiet) on the lowest impedance setting...

Did you unplug the USB Audio input when you switch to optical from PS5?

As I said, there can be more than one source of interference, after you eliminated the USB noise, maybe other noise become noticeable and you need to handle them one by one.

 

[Epika07]

Did you unplug the USB Audio input when you switch to optical from PS5?

Yep, unplugged the USB cable connecting my DAC to my PC before connecting my DAC to my PS5 via optical

 

[Andykong]

Yep, unplugged the USB cable connecting my DAC to my PC before connecting my DAC to my PS5 via optical

Now you are ready to look for the next interference, it can be any RF devices, or even the dimmer of your lighting.

 

[Epika07]

Now you are ready to look for the next interference, it can be any RF devices, or even the dimmer of your lighting.

I honestly have no idea what it could be tbh... I don't think lighting is the cause since switching my lights off doesn't make a difference

 

[Andykong]

I honestly have no idea what it could be tbh... I don't think lighting is the cause since switching my lights off doesn't make a difference

I am just providing example to illustrate that the source of interference can be something totally unexpected. Lighting normally don't cause any problem, but if you are using a dimmer control instead of regular on/off control, that can be a hidden problem.

 

[Epika07]

After this added info I agree with @Andykong that you likely have some usb noise happening. To check you can use a 3.5mm to rca y cable and plug your phone into the 1Amk2. If the hum goes away then yes, it's most likely usb noise. There are few potential fixes for this which I won't list until you've confirmed...lots of typing, lol. Good luck! I've had usb noise before and it is irritating.

I'm curious about what the fixes are... USB isolators I've used like ifi defender/silencer only reduce the noise by a little bit. This problem is slowly driving me nuts haha