[Runrunsmithfly]

Great idea

I had to go back and correct my spelling of his name. When I bought mine I had a question for him and we corresponded for a while. He wanted my opinion on the Piety.

 

[JoeYellow]

I had to go back and correct my spelling of his name. When I bought mine I had a question for him and we corresponded for a while. He wanted my opinion on the Piety.

yeah he seems like a really great guy

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

yeah he seems like a really great guy

He is. And also very knowledgeable about this hobby.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Good review but I actually prefer the Piety over the Asgard 3 with my 300 ohm HD600s.

Late reply: my experience is much the same. I prefer my HD650's with the Piety, and Hifiman Sundara with the Freya N + Asgard 3. A friend of mine who's a trained classical musician came to the same conclusions.

 

[JoeYellow]

He is. And also very knowledgeable about this hobby.

A gentleman and a scholar too!!

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

Speaking of gentlemen, I just received my DNA Starlett headphone amplifier today after an 18 month wait.
The owner of DNA is Donald North, and he is both extremely knowledgeable about his product line as well as this hobby.

Donald is also one of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. He allowed me to demo a DNA Starlett for a month in order to determine
if the Starlett worked well in my system. All he asked was that I pay to ship it to the next person on the demo list
once my demonstration was over. It cost me only $65 to have access to a $2200US headphone amplifier for a month.

Talk about a bargain as well as one heck of a test drive!

 

[AstronomerXI]

Does anyone else get static noise when turning the Piety volume knob?

I do as well. It's not a huge deal as once I have the volume where I want it stays there. With no audio playing the static is very noticeable through my speakers/headphones.

edit: I saw the response that it's not an abnormal thing. I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

Dirty volume pot?

 

[mystaiced]

Does anyone else get static noise when turning the Piety volume knob?

I’m again getting a little static/scratchiness when turned near the 12 o clock position, in low gain. I’ve been just leaving the volume knob where it is and it hasn’t been an issue. Seems like it only is present when adjusting the volume.

 

[Baten]

Speaking of gentlemen, I just received my DNA Starlett headphone amplifier today after an 18 month wait.
The owner of DNA is Donald North, and he is both extremely knowledgeable about his product line as well as this hobby.

Donald is also one of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. He allowed me to demo a DNA Starlett for a month in order to determine
if the Starlett worked well in my system. All he asked was that I pay to ship it to the next person on the demo list
once my demonstration was over. It cost me only $65 to have access to a $2200US headphone amplifier for a month.

Talk about a bargain as well as one heck of a test drive!

Just wondering. Why this thread?
Very sweet amp tho

 

[BS5711]

Dirty volume pot?

I think more “cheap” volume pot so not reliably quiet on operation.

I got lucky on my Magni + the pot is silent but my Piety is very scratchy.

 

[Luckyleo]

I think more “cheap” volume pot so not reliably quiet on operation.

I got lucky on my Magni + the pot is silent but my Piety is very scratchy.

Did you try pulling the knob away from the amp? I had the same issue, it was resolved immediately after the "pull"

Leo

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

Just wondering. Why this thread?
Very sweet amp tho

Because someone had mentioned what a pleasant person CEE TEE is to deal with. I agree. So I thought I'd also mention my
good experiences in dealing with Donald North, who also owns an American audio company dedicated to the manufacture
of specialty products.

 

[AstronomerXI]

The Piety has a more obvious sonic presentation difference between high gain and low gain than almost any other solid state amp I can recall. It's almost like getting two amps in one. The high gain version with its sonic presentation, and the low gain version with a different presentation. High gain is a little more aggressive but the soundstage also shrinks. Low gain is a softer presentation but has a larger and more cohesive soundstage. The relative differences between gain settings do depend on the headphones and DAC used.

I agree. One of my reference tracks for electric guitar-based music is Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Ramada Inn", 16:52 of multiple grungy guitar solos and jamming. Just listening to it today in low and high gain the difference is quite clear. High gain has a live feel to it with the instruments close together and the lead guitar and vocals sounding "tubey", like you're standing next to the amps at a gig. Low gain, which I've not really played with, spreads out the instruments and tones down the aggressiveness. I can think of music where both settings would fit.

The audio chain is Mac Studio Max playing Apple Music->iFi Zen DAC II->Loki Mini+->Sys->MagPie->Sennheiser HD650.

 

[BS5711]

Did you try pulling the knob away from the amp? I had the same issue, it was resolved immediately after the "pull"

Leo

Yes I did, I pulled my knob completely off and it made no difference.

The scratchy noise is through the headphones caused by the pot internals.

It didn’t really bother me but I shelved the Piety in favour of the Magni + because I frankly don’t hear a really noticeable difference in sound and the three step gain control and non existent noise floor with IEM is much more useful for my use case.