SK138
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- May 15, 2005
- Posts
- 1,502
- Likes
- 10
Equipment:
Source:
sk138's Apple MacBook iTune with 16bit and 24bit ripped in lossless or 128kbps to 320kbps AAC format
sk138's Cambridge Audio 840c CD player
slwiser's 5G iMod
DAC:
slwiser's Lavry DA10
sk138's Cambridge Audio 840c DAC via Optical input
sk138's CIA VDA2/VAC with RAL cryo power umbilical
Single Ended Amps:
slwiser's Yamamoto Sound Craft HA-02 with stock tubes
slwiser's Xin Reference (beta)
Edmar's Meier Headsix
Balanced Amps:
sk138's Balanced Mini^3
sk138's Balanced cMoy
sk138's Balanced CIA VHP2/VAC
Bazile's Balanced Lunchbox II (stock tubes)
Headphones:
slwiser's UE9
sk138's Modded Senn HD580 (RnB Grace 5-2 4pin XLR balanced cable)
Edmar's Stock Senn HD580 (Stock HD650 4pin XLR balanced cable - with Single Ended converter)
sk138's Modded Senn HD650 (Cardas 4pin XLR cable)
Accessory and Cables: (inside joke)
HagUSB XLR SPDIF converter
Radio Shack Sound Meter
99.99% NoVEC (Northern VA Electricity Company) Power line (cable)
00.01% Good quality copper cable
Music:
Female Vocal Jazz
Acoustic
Soft Trance
Classic Rock
Uncategorizable Music...to me (inside joke)
First of all, I like to thank Steve (slwiser) for driver over 2 hours to my home for this micro-meet as well as Edmar driving 5 hours from NY to visit me and to attend this micro-meet. I also like to thank Jeff (Bazile) for loaning me his two Lunchbox II amps for this meeting.
Wow!!!...where to do I start....I just like to say first that these are my impressions and by no means a formal review. I don't listen to music analytically. I listen to music to inspire me and to enjoy as good music.
I had two objectives from this meeting. First is how does Cambridge 840c fair against benchmark of performance, the Lavry DA10. Second is how does high performance and highly respected single ended amp fair against "budget" balanced amp(s).
There is absolutely no doubt Yammy sounds extremely good as a single ended tube amp. The bass reaches deep and treble sparkles with best of any SS amps that I heard in the past. The real magic was in the mid tone, especially with female vocals. Prior to listening to Yammy, my ears (and brain) has been sensitized strictly listening to my balanced rigs. To me, balanced and single ended difference was obvious. In single ended, the vocal are forward and in general seem to me 2D sounding where instrumentation is on the same plain. The general characteristic of balanced system, the vocals are few steps back from instrumentation in different plain giving it a more pronounced 3D illusion. The bass and treble also seems to be stretched farther out in balanced than in single ended mode. The air between notes is more noticeable in balanced than single ended as well. Ultimately...which sounds more "realistic"....I would have to say single ended sounds more realistic where vocals and instrumentation collide and blend to make a single coherent music. But I enjoy balanced more, must like I like to put extra sharpening in my picture processing. Thus, it's my personal preference to choose balanced over single ended.
Next...the source (DAC) shoot out. All the listening in this comparison was done using single ended output, and not balanced due to lack of time and lack of extra XLR to balanced RCA cables that's required. I would like to say Cambridge 840c won this battle because I am biased to owning one. Truth be told...there is no clear winner here folks. Lavry DA10 still can hold it's own with new player such as 840c. Generally, 840c is more detailed sounding with most music that synergizes very well with laid back sound of Senn cans. UE9 is already detailed sounding can and I think it sounds better with Lavry than 840c. Also depending on the music that's playing, Lavry is better than 840c and visa versa. There is no night and day difference between these two great DACs. Cambridge does have one advantage of being a CD transport as well as being a DAC.
As we were wrapping up the meet in comparing the two great DACs, Steve suggested we compare the Lavry and 840c against the iMod. I thought he was joking. How can iMod compare against 840c and Lavry? All I can say is, iMod is very good. On lot of the music we casually sampled, I could not tell the difference between iMod and two DACs!!!
Other impressions:
Balanced Lunchbox II amp: Wow!!!...what can I say?! It's the best balanced amp for HD580 that I heard to date. The bass is dumb...dumb deep and mid tone is just incredible with female vocals. Unfortunately, it does not do well with balanced HD650. The bass is over dominating and the veil is back with HD650. I was so impressed with this amp...I purchased one from FS forum. Now, I have to get another one from Craig soon
Thanks again Jeff...it's going back to you soon and I will miss it until I setup my own balanced Lunchbox.
Meier Headsix amp: This little amp is extremely well made and sounds absolutely fantastic for it's size and price. I am holding myself back from getting one since I need to order another Lunchbox II for a balanced configuration
UE9: The bass is deepest anything I heard and detail is just phenomena. But it has one major flaw with me. It's a closed can and I don't like the sense of closed-in sound compare to Senn open cans.
On the side note...I am working on Steve in getting another Yammy for the first balanced Yammy amp with his Lavry DA10
In the end, this was fun meet with some old friends.
Thank you for taking pictures Edmar!
Source:
sk138's Apple MacBook iTune with 16bit and 24bit ripped in lossless or 128kbps to 320kbps AAC format
sk138's Cambridge Audio 840c CD player
slwiser's 5G iMod
DAC:
slwiser's Lavry DA10
sk138's Cambridge Audio 840c DAC via Optical input
sk138's CIA VDA2/VAC with RAL cryo power umbilical
Single Ended Amps:
slwiser's Yamamoto Sound Craft HA-02 with stock tubes
slwiser's Xin Reference (beta)
Edmar's Meier Headsix
Balanced Amps:
sk138's Balanced Mini^3
sk138's Balanced cMoy
sk138's Balanced CIA VHP2/VAC
Bazile's Balanced Lunchbox II (stock tubes)
Headphones:
slwiser's UE9
sk138's Modded Senn HD580 (RnB Grace 5-2 4pin XLR balanced cable)
Edmar's Stock Senn HD580 (Stock HD650 4pin XLR balanced cable - with Single Ended converter)
sk138's Modded Senn HD650 (Cardas 4pin XLR cable)
Accessory and Cables: (inside joke)
HagUSB XLR SPDIF converter
Radio Shack Sound Meter
99.99% NoVEC (Northern VA Electricity Company) Power line (cable)
00.01% Good quality copper cable
Music:
Female Vocal Jazz
Acoustic
Soft Trance
Classic Rock
Uncategorizable Music...to me (inside joke)
First of all, I like to thank Steve (slwiser) for driver over 2 hours to my home for this micro-meet as well as Edmar driving 5 hours from NY to visit me and to attend this micro-meet. I also like to thank Jeff (Bazile) for loaning me his two Lunchbox II amps for this meeting.
Wow!!!...where to do I start....I just like to say first that these are my impressions and by no means a formal review. I don't listen to music analytically. I listen to music to inspire me and to enjoy as good music.
I had two objectives from this meeting. First is how does Cambridge 840c fair against benchmark of performance, the Lavry DA10. Second is how does high performance and highly respected single ended amp fair against "budget" balanced amp(s).
There is absolutely no doubt Yammy sounds extremely good as a single ended tube amp. The bass reaches deep and treble sparkles with best of any SS amps that I heard in the past. The real magic was in the mid tone, especially with female vocals. Prior to listening to Yammy, my ears (and brain) has been sensitized strictly listening to my balanced rigs. To me, balanced and single ended difference was obvious. In single ended, the vocal are forward and in general seem to me 2D sounding where instrumentation is on the same plain. The general characteristic of balanced system, the vocals are few steps back from instrumentation in different plain giving it a more pronounced 3D illusion. The bass and treble also seems to be stretched farther out in balanced than in single ended mode. The air between notes is more noticeable in balanced than single ended as well. Ultimately...which sounds more "realistic"....I would have to say single ended sounds more realistic where vocals and instrumentation collide and blend to make a single coherent music. But I enjoy balanced more, must like I like to put extra sharpening in my picture processing. Thus, it's my personal preference to choose balanced over single ended.
Next...the source (DAC) shoot out. All the listening in this comparison was done using single ended output, and not balanced due to lack of time and lack of extra XLR to balanced RCA cables that's required. I would like to say Cambridge 840c won this battle because I am biased to owning one. Truth be told...there is no clear winner here folks. Lavry DA10 still can hold it's own with new player such as 840c. Generally, 840c is more detailed sounding with most music that synergizes very well with laid back sound of Senn cans. UE9 is already detailed sounding can and I think it sounds better with Lavry than 840c. Also depending on the music that's playing, Lavry is better than 840c and visa versa. There is no night and day difference between these two great DACs. Cambridge does have one advantage of being a CD transport as well as being a DAC.
As we were wrapping up the meet in comparing the two great DACs, Steve suggested we compare the Lavry and 840c against the iMod. I thought he was joking. How can iMod compare against 840c and Lavry? All I can say is, iMod is very good. On lot of the music we casually sampled, I could not tell the difference between iMod and two DACs!!!
Other impressions:
Balanced Lunchbox II amp: Wow!!!...what can I say?! It's the best balanced amp for HD580 that I heard to date. The bass is dumb...dumb deep and mid tone is just incredible with female vocals. Unfortunately, it does not do well with balanced HD650. The bass is over dominating and the veil is back with HD650. I was so impressed with this amp...I purchased one from FS forum. Now, I have to get another one from Craig soon
Meier Headsix amp: This little amp is extremely well made and sounds absolutely fantastic for it's size and price. I am holding myself back from getting one since I need to order another Lunchbox II for a balanced configuration
UE9: The bass is deepest anything I heard and detail is just phenomena. But it has one major flaw with me. It's a closed can and I don't like the sense of closed-in sound compare to Senn open cans.
On the side note...I am working on Steve in getting another Yammy for the first balanced Yammy amp with his Lavry DA10
In the end, this was fun meet with some old friends.
Thank you for taking pictures Edmar!