[NZtechfreak]

Nice! I agree, a stack of two CMA800R is mighty impressive indeed.

 
I was quite taken aback by the sound quality actually, having never heard of them prior to that day. Seems criminal to me that these are not better known here at Head-Fi, although I see recently they have been impressing people at some meets - a lot people declaring the HD800 pairing with them single-ended the best they've heard the HD800 (and even best in show for some of those people).
 
You might be able to answer a question for me here, by the by. I presume I can connect them to the Vega single-ended and balanced, and switch between the two inputs and outputs with a flick of the switch? Will be nice to be able to compare say the HD800 SE to the HE-6 and Ether balanced with very little delay.

 

[project86]

Hmmmm.... I want to say I think that would work. I'm sure I've tried it at some point.
 
The only thing to watch out for would be volume control. You spend a lot of time matching each channel just right in monoblock mode, and then for SE mode you'll probably end up adjusting one of them. So you'd have to match again with each switch. Unless you max them out for monoblock mode and control volume with your DAC - in which case you'll still have to mess with volume for SE mode, but it won't be as particular. 

 

[NZtechfreak]

Hmmmm.... I want to say I think that would work. I'm sure I've tried it at some point.

The only thing to watch out for would be volume control. You spend a lot of time matching each channel just right in monoblock mode, and then for SE mode you'll probably end up adjusting one of them. So you'd have to match again with each switch. Unless you max them out for monoblock mode and control volume with your DAC - in which case you'll still have to mess with volume for SE mode, but it won't be as particular. 

Yes, I had thought about the volume control. My plan, at least initially, was to max them and control volume from the Vega. From memory there isn't bit loss/truncation until you get to around 60, so hopefully that'll be enough volume attenuation (more than likely will be for the HE-6, perhaps not others) but I'll have to look that up to confirm.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Second amp arrived today, made for a very pleasant evening.

 

[Velomane]

Second amp arrived today, made for a very pleasant evening.

That is a nice looking stack. I look forward to your impressions with the HE-6. Also, let us know how the volume issue works out.

 

[project86]

Nice!!!

 

[jmsaxon69]

Second amp arrived today, made for a very pleasant evening.

Great system! Have you compared the CAS192D and the Vega?

 

[NZtechfreak]

  That is a nice looking stack. I look forward to your impressions with the HE-6. Also, let us know how the volume issue works out.

 
So far so good.
 
Obviously only quite superficial impressions so far, but I was quite taken with how vocals sounded last night, which was interesting, because while I pay a great deal of attention to lyrics, vocals tend not to take slight back seat to other aspects of audio reproduction in my usual listening. 
 
In terms of volume it depends on the mastering of the track. Loudness wars things require the CMA800R volume set to about 60-70% in order to have enough play to comfortably manage volume with the Vega alone when changing tracks and albums. For quieter recordings I could max the monos and use the Vega without difficulties. Given the variability and my habit to listen quite eclectically these days, rather than consuming whole albums, I just set the monos to about 70% and left things there. I was happy enough with a fairly quick and dirty by-ear volume balancing though, so I don't think I'll need to have an SPL meter stationed besides the stack anytime soon.
 
The above only applies to the HE-6 of course, for more sensitive headphones the volume at the monos will need to be down a fair amount, but that's a problem for another day (specifically, the day my Ether's arrive).
 

  Nice!!!

 
Thanks!
 

Great system! Have you compared the CAS192D and the Vega?

 
Not direct comparison, no. When I heard the CMA800R in monoblock mode a couple of months ago though it was with my HE-6 and via the CAS192D. From memory I really enjoyed the sound of that pairing, enough to make me interested to compare the two side-by-side sometime, perhaps my memory is faulty (this far out I wouldn't rely on anyones memory of audio impressions, much less mine) but I do actually wonder if the CAS192D might play to the HE-6 better than my Vega.

 

[jgwtriode]

  The Yggy has caught my interest, even though I haven't been too enthused with Schiit gear in the past (I don't actively dislike them; they just didn't suit my tastes). I'm also intrigued by the upcoming Bottlehead DAC and the DDDAC 1794. For some reason those three and their particular implementations has piqued my curiosity.
 
I do think I need a dac with higher output potential, but at the same time I like to have a small form factor (which is one major appeal of my Echo2, which is tiny yet still has 4 channel output as well as 2 channel input).
 
Of course, if I get something higher up then I'm going to be tempted to get some Questyle monos...

Check out the DDdac 1794 based  Single Board Upgrade Thread on Diyaudio...if you want to get a sense of what is being done even with just a single board version.  Some pretty wild stuff.  According to Carlsor.  His full tilt single board version holds its own with 10 to 20 thousand dollar dacs.  Some pretty amazing stuff going on.  I am currently waiting for parts to finish my version which includes most of what has been discussed on the Upgrade thread.   Even stock it's supposed to quite remarkable.
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[Armaegis]

Intriguing, but I hardly have time for big DIY projects anymore these days. My entire amp situation has changed recently too, so I'm not even sure what I should be looking for dac-wise.

 

[jgwtriode]

  Intriguing, but I hardly have time for big DIY projects anymore these days. My entire amp situation has changed recently too, so I'm not even sure what I should be looking for dac-wise.

No doubt the Doc's Bottlehead Dac will be excellent performance and value for the money.  It went from a Kit to being basically a prebuilt.  I pretty seriously considered it until I found
the DDdac 1794!
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[goropeza]

Anybody know how this amp would match with a low impedance headphone like the TH 900's? I have heard the CMA 800i with the HD 800 and I was blown away. That is TRULY hi-fi sound, and I have heard quite a few rigs up to this point. I've heard something along the lines of impedance matching for this amp, but im not informed enough to really know what that means. Does this mean the amp can match a current with a high impedance headphone like the HD 800 and a low impedance headphone like the TH 900?

 

[NZtechfreak]

  Anybody know how this amp would match with a low impedance headphone like the TH 900's? I have heard the CMA 800i with the HD 800 and I was blown away. That is TRULY hi-fi sound, and I have heard quite a few rigs up to this point. I've heard something along the lines of impedance matching for this amp, but im not informed enough to really know what that means. Does this mean the amp can match a current with a high impedance headphone like the HD 800 and a low impedance headphone like the TH 900?

 
Others with a better grasp of the technicalities will no doubt chime in, but there shouldn't be a problem with the TH-900. Checking Fostex site their impedance is 25ohm, so you're ideally looking for an amp output impedance less than 8x that value (with dynamic drivers and balanced armature designs, too high an output impedance from the amp might result in wonky frequency responses at some frequencies, worth noting that planar magnetics do not exhibit this behaviour). I can't recall the output impedance of the CMA800R (and a brief search didn't readily throw that up for me), but it is very low (less than 1 or 2 ohm from memory), and won't cause problems with the TH-900. I have used mine with the T5p rated at 32ohm without any problems. The current drive aspect of the CMA800R applies in the gain stage, rather than the output stage, so doesn't require any special matching with the transducer as far as I'm aware - no doubt project86 can supply more detail around that.

 

[project86]

The CMA800R has an output impedance of less than 1 ohm. So no impedance related issues there at all. The only thing I'd be concerned about is gain. TH900 is rather easy to drive, and with the CMA800R gain comes on real strong, real quick. So there's not a ton of usable volume range before it starts getting too loud. I didn't find this to be a deal breaker but I don't know what volumes you listen at. It depends on the music being played as well. 
 
I do think the CMA800i all-in-one unit has a better gain structure. It seems more capable of driving sensitive headphones and even IEMs while still giving plenty of usable volume range. 

 

[NZtechfreak]

Further to project86 post, regarding usable volume range, that may not be such an issue if you have a DAC with some non-destructive volume control in front of the amp. Just something to think about.