[matti621]

Lots of chi-fi stuff uses el crapo parts....

And lots of gringo-fi charges X10 for nothing but the brand

 

[439598]

Lots of chi-fi stuff uses el crapo parts....

thats just a stereotype, even some ridiculously cheap no-name chinese kits I bought from ebay had genuine, high quality parts. Ive found cheaper parts in my headnhifi O2.
Any of the proper chinese brands (Topping, SMSL etc.) use top quality parts.
Just cos you pay more doesnt mean you get better quality.

@matti621 about good amps, cant really say as the best amps I've used are diy and havent bothered with commercial ones again, its so much cheaper to DIY and you have full control over parts etc. I was considering the magni 3 at one point, design wise it looks like a really good amp for the price.

Do you have a link to the HA5000 kit u bought?

 

[matti621]

cant really say as the best amps I've used are diy and havent bothered with commercial ones again, its so much cheaper to DIY and you have full control over parts etc

So which SS kit amp would you say sounds as good as the BHC?

Do you have a link to the HA5000 kit u bought?

It wasn't a kit, it was a ready made clone for $90 including shipping...

 

[439598]

So which SS kit amp would you say sounds as good as the BHC?


It wasn't a kit, it was a ready made clone for $90 including shipping...

what is a BHC?
I havent built anything from a complete kit, and most of it was only based loosely on different schematics. There was 'DCA headphone amp' you could buy the PCB or pre-built a while back, but there is a very good chance the HA5000 is a better and less expensive amp than that.

 

[matti621]

what is a BHC?

BHC = Bottlehead Crack (+Speedball). The kit is $430. Sounds very tubish and colored but it also has a sound like nothing else I heard.

 

[adydula]

Well I doubt you could tell if the parts were indeed genuine as many are duped!

The Magni 3+ is an excellent amp as well as the IC Magni Hersey...and it does have GOOD parts...and excellent service and support. And you dont have to wonder about cheap-fi anything....all for a paltry $99....beat that ch-fi man.

Also its funny to me that a BHC would sound "tubush"!! It is a tube amp?

:>)

 

[439598]

BHC = Bottlehead Crack (+Speedball). The kit is $430. Sounds very tubish and colored but it also has a sound like nothing else I heard.

ah ok, I have only tried a cathode follower tube amp circuit, similar to non-sb crack, but i wasnt a fan, too much distortion.
I have heard very good things about this DHT tube amp, buts its very advanced and expensive project

 

[439598]

Unless the parts are such good fakes that they are completely visually identical to the guarateed genuine ones Ive gotten from mouser then I dont think so.
I have gotten fake parts many times, usually capacitors, you can spot them a mile away.

 

[adydula]

Well a mile away is quite a distance!!

:>)

 

[439598]

Well a mile away is quite a distance!!

:>)

yes i use binoculars

 

[descloud]

If the O2 was defective or the cans had a peak I'd be able to tell from listening to test recordings and AB'ing.
I'd agree with you the O2 transparency was at fault if I didn't own a very transparent very analytical set - Dac1->T1.

I'm not sure about that. I haven't seen measurements of the Benchmark DAC1 headphone output, but the DAC doesn't appear to be as transparent as excellently performing DACs nowadays from these measurements: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-benchmark-dac1-usb-dac.3708/

So I don't completely agree with your statement that it's a very transparent set with that comparison. You haven't mentioned your source to your O2 amp either so there's other variables that haven't been taken into account.

Also, is the T1 in the chain you described the Beyerdynamic T1 headphones?

It also wouldn't make sense the BHC sounded so much better despite measuring very well as well.

What you find as "sounded better" and what I find "sounded better" is personal preference. So there's nothing to "make sense" from there, since you preferred the tube sound from the BHC than the solid state transparent amp to your HD600. And there's nothing wrong with that, but there's no logic to preference.

I also can't tell how well the BHC measures, given that it introduces second or third harmonic distortion to the output. I haven't been able to find measurements for it.

But you find that better sounding, so its great that it works out for you!

 

[rvalero]

I have this setup

PC - usb ODAC RCA - Grado RA1 (9v batteries) and it sounds far better than my soundcard and give grados headphones a better sound im very happy with it

Greetings

 

[adydula]

The BHC measures not that well at all.

BUT

Its been around for years, thousands of them out here, I have one as well...

For high impedance headphones like the Senn's HD600 and HD800, one would be hard pressed to find a better pairing regardless of any measurment concerns..

Numbers are not everything..especially for tube addicts...

 

[castleofargh]

The O2 isn't a youngster anymore, but I'd just point out that the user needs to pay attention to the DAC's voltage and possibly the amp's gain setting setting. Within the group of people who didn't just dislike the O2 but stated over the years that it sounded horrible, quite few were sending well above 2V into the amp while on high gain, and distorting the hell out of the signal. In case of doubt, just lower the digital level sent to the DAC a good deal, adjust the amp and check if the sound is still "bad".

The O2 served me very well for years. Both for testing and listening. I only put it aside a few months ago because since I got the Realizer A16 I just used the headphone out in it and really stopped caring about audio gears in general, but I keep the Odac/O2 around for consistency in my cheapo IEM measurements.

beyond that, if made properly and used properly it's still not what the user likes(for whatever reason, audio or not), then there's an entire world of other and often younger amps out there.

 

[gargani]

The O2 isn't a youngster anymore, but I'd just point out that the user needs to pay attention to the DAC's voltage and possibly the amp's gain setting setting. Within the group of people who didn't just dislike the O2 but stated over the years that it sounded horrible, quite few were sending well above 2V into the amp while on high gain, and distorting the hell out of the signal. In case of doubt, just lower the digital level sent to the DAC a good deal, adjust the amp and check if the sound is still "bad".

The O2 served me very well for years. Both for testing and listening. I only put it aside a few months ago because since I got the Realizer A16 I just used the headphone out in it and really stopped caring about audio gears in general, but I keep the Odac/O2 around for consistency in my cheapo IEM measurements.

beyond that, if made properly and used properly it's still not what the user likes(for whatever reason, audio or not), then there's an entire world of other and often younger amps out there.

I have a magni 3 and an o2. I've compared them back to back. If there is a difference in sound, It's subtle enough that I can't hear the difference.