[mwilson]

+1
 
Quote:

I have not heard your setup but I envy you. Any man who is completely happy with his setup and has no desire to upgrade has found peace with himself.
 
Congrats.

 

 

[Uncle Erik]

Cifani090: I think you misunderstand. You are looking for "the most expensive" gear, not the "best". This amp cant be bettered, only be different. The weak part is the tube, and never will a Zana Deux or anything else be able to correct that.

Just how does a tube make all the difference?

Because you could put the most rare, cryo'ed tube into a bad circuit and make it sound terrible. The circuit is everything. Modest parts in a great circuit sound wonderful. The finest parts in a bad circuit sound awful. Try it yourself.

And speaking of circuits, I pulled up the site for this amp. It says that the power supply is switching - any good reason for not using a linear supply? Because switching supplies throw out a lot of RFI. You don't want RFI in your amp.

Further, it says that the power supply is 24V.

Here's the 6922 datasheet: http://www.nj7p.org/Tube4.php?tube=6922

If you look at the datasheet, it says that the 6922 runs at 90V-100V for class A operation.

How does this amp develop at least 90V to run a 6922 in class A?

Or is this one of those amps that nominally "runs" a tube for a little coloration and primarily relies on solid state for amplification?

There seems to be a lot of that these days. Solid state doesn't sell well, so tart it up with a tube that isn't contributing much of anything and call it a hybrid.

You'd be better off bypassing the tube and just calling it a solid state amp. More accurate and less coloration, too.

Best amp in the world? That's not what I'd call it.

I also take exception to the Ed. 9, but's that's a firefight for another day.

I'd like to know why someone thought a switching power supply is a good idea. If so, how is it shielded or dealt with to suppress RFI?

Also, just what is the tube doing in there? If it is only running at 24V, then its curves would be quite non-linear and not running in class A, according to the datasheet referenced above.

 

[krisno]

You never heard the amp, why are you commenting on how it "sounds"?
 
The tube is the weak part compared to resistors and transistors. And no matter what kind of amp design, if it contains a tube it will not be able to escape the limitations of valves. 
 
But be my guest, spend your money on $10k headphone amps, its a total joke. Nothing in comparable price will beat this tube amp that I have heard, and nothing else at higher price either. It will just be different.
 

 

[129207]

BEST AMP IN THE ZOONIVERSE! Makes my airplane cans sound like Stax. FROM THE FUTURE!

 

[Edoardo]

HD800 and Lake People / Violectric amps have been designed on "each other" and the Lake People G100 won a shootout on a Pro's German magazine against many others 1000$ + amps, when tested with the HD800

 

[NamelessPFG]

How much did the X-Fi Forte's SQ improve with those modifications? Looks like a later revision like mine as well, if only because the EMU20k2 has a heatsink on it (unlike earlier cards that were prone to grounding flaws). The only thing is that I don't want that Burson Audio OPAMP sticking out the side of the card like a sore thumb; instead, I'd prefer to secure it above the main sound card PCB and route the connections to the OPAMP socket with a cable. (Also, is that other cap mod viable without the discrete OPAMP in question? What does it do, exactly?)

Quote:

I have not heard your setup but I envy you. Any man who is completely happy with his setup and has no desire to upgrade has found peace with himself.
 
Congrats.

You don't always have to spend tons of cash to find your perfect sound presentation that makes music the most enjoyable for you, as I've found out. I think I'm pretty much there already, though frequenting this place makes me want to continue to expand my experiences just to help me make better-informed recommendations to people in need of advice.
 
Still, I worry about the day that something fails in my vintage Stax Lambda setup, because that's going to bring about a lot of wallet hurt. I have to have that electrostatic sound now and was very lucky to get it at the price I did.

 

 

[Eric_C]

Quote:

You never heard the amp, why are you commenting on how it "sounds"?
 
The tube is the weak part compared to resistors and transistors. And no matter what kind of amp design, if it contains a tube it will not be able to escape the limitations of valves. 
 
But be my guest, spend your money on $10k headphone amps, its a total joke. Nothing in comparable price will beat this tube amp that I have heard, and nothing else at higher price either. It will just be different.
 

Are you saying more expensive amps (in the "$10,000 range") can't be better? Have you heard the more expensive amps that you seem to be condemning? Because if you haven't, then you're guilty of the same error you're accusing UE of...

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Quote:

I also take exception to the Ed. 9, but's that's a firefight for another day.

 
You got that right, UE. 
 
Take it from someone who bought a pair based on other members opinion of them. I shall not be doing that again. In my book, probably the least sonic value per dollar I can think of. 
 
I'm thrilled this guy is digging his.....at least someone is happy with them. Maybe he's managed to build the ideal ED9 amplifier. One that actually gets them to approach making music.

 

[Big can man]

I emailed the seller on the amp the other day. Seemed nice enough. He offered me to come down and have a listen today so I took him up on that, just got back a bit ago With my cheap headphones, off I went down to Coolidge, Az. About an hours drive from my place. Did not know what to expect and was a little awkward but it turned out good. He was down to earth and very polite. I had a lot of questions and he answered them all and did not seem to be full of BS which I do respect. I gave him a jab and asked if it was the best in the world just to see what he would say, He smiled and said "There is not a best amp in the world and would never say that" He said he saw this post and that the customer was really nice and polite and was a great customer. I told him a title for people to read like that is asking for war! He nodded and said his customer is just enthusiastic and wanted to get the word out that he like the amp a lot. He still appreciated that he did post. He was very modest the whole time and I did not get an arrogant vibe from him like I expected. He did not seem to have a bad word to say about anyone or any other products and just enjoyed what he was doing which was fresh air as I expected him to think his stuff was the best and everything else was crap.
 
I was quite impressed with his setup and lab, office place. He had several amps being tested that were getting ready to be shipped out as well as a lot of kits. I tell you one thing for sure, this guys solder work is no joke. I have never seen hand soldering that good. No question now that what is in the photos is what I am going to get. I do not know enough to write one of these fancy reviews like many do on here, but I can say his little amp sounded good out of my cheapy mp3 player and made my headphones sound better than they ever did or that I thought they could, however I am a novice so take it for what it is. And out of his PC and CD player, my it made my mp3 player sound terrible and it really opened my eyes to what an amp would do for headphones
 
Two of his amps had different tubes in them so I was able to listen to both back to back. I did not think I would hear a difference but I sure did! I went back and forth, back and forth. What a difference. One had a JJ tube in it and one had an old russian tube in it. The old tube had a lot more bass and sounded better in the mid range. The JJ just sounded sort of wimpy. He said he has not offered the JJ tubes in awhile and only sells them with the russians now as many did not like the bass of the JJ tubes and that they had a lot of noise. He must have had 400 tubes in boxes, but I only listened to the pair. Most of them did not look like they would fit his amp anyways. He also showed me the settings on the amp. Seems like a winner. He showed why different output ohms was important and how it makes an amplifier sound different. He showed how you could use different tubes that are 6 or 12V and you could change them out and reset the amp to work with them.
 
He let me listen to his HD650 headphones everyone talks about on here as well as some other sennheisers he had. He also listened to the cheap ones I brought with me. Was a good time. I really did like his HD650 headphones but they are a bit out of my budget. Maybe at tax time.
 
I did not buy an amp just yet as I have to save up a bit as I just had to replace my computer this morning. I do think I will end up getting his amp. I really liked it a lot.

 

[rawrster]

krisno, how does this amp compare to the Matrix M Stage as you do mention the M Stage in your review but do not really compare them.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

First, the BUTTE is the future of headphone amps
 
Now, we have the best headphone/amp combo known to man
 
You guys are getting pretty good with the headlines on these threads.

'future of headphone amps' and 'future of transportable audio' are two very different things, Mr Roker - might be time to cut back on the whoopee weed, Amigo !
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/573679/apex-butte-the-future-of-transportable-audio
 
Given that 'transportable audio' is a somewhat nebulous concept, prone to all sorts of interpretation, I feel safe with that thread title. In this thread, I believe the OP here has placed a lot more of his manhood on a potential chopping block and I look forward to seeing just how he might extricate himself from further discomfort.  

 

[roker]

Quote:

'future of headphone amps' and 'future of transportable audio' are two very different things, Mr Roker - might be time to cut back on the whoopee weed, Amigo !
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/573679/apex-butte-the-future-of-transportable-audio
 
Given that 'transportable audio' is a somewhat nebulous concept, prone to all sorts of interpretation, I feel safe with that thread title. In this thread, I believe the OP here has placed a lot more of his manhood on a potential chopping block and I look forward to seeing just how he might extricate himself from further discomfort.  

I actually realized my typo later on but somehow the OCD didn't kick in to make me change it (which if you look at most of my posts, I end up going back to fix them later on).
 
but yes, hombre
 
it is surely the future of transportable audio
 
"I am death metal guitarist moving into a new apartment" is pretty good as well

 

[estreeter]

There was a followup - 'I am a black metal drummer being kicked out of my parents house' - but it didn't seem to capture the imagination in quite the same way, sadly.
 
I still maintain that if you title a thread sensibly, only sensible people will read it and they usually don't respond to my inane hyperbole - clearly, you have to get the attention of the dribblers. Now, where was I ? 

 

[krisno]

Vs the Matrix-M stage OPA627.'
 
Sunrise has:
 
real depth to the sound
much more organic sound
realism is different league
more bass
fun factor alot higher.
 
the matrix-m stage:
flatter sound
tad more details?(It cant be hepled, its the weakness of tube in general, Zana Deux no better)
less bass
boring
no tube, no hazzle, alu covering = no interference.
it has more details in top end, but that is because the russian tubes lack some of that. Replace the reflector 6922 with Mullard 6922 and you get more focus on the bright highs
 

 

[estreeter]

Since when did the M-Stage, capable as it undoubtedly is, become the barometer for 'finest *anything* known to man' ?