[Redcarmoose]

So, we buy stuff because we have no friends. That's really sad.

No, it’s more of a culturally taught, self-generated endorphin-opioid response, though one highly socially acceptable. IMO

The friends thing is secondary. IMO

1st world problem, really.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Get the YGGY, and be happier........

...and gooder...
It has a knob that goes to eleven, right?

 

[Mike-WI]

On happiness...

https://ophi.org.uk/policy/national-policy/gross-national-happiness-index/

Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index
The phrase ‘gross national happiness’ was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” The concept implies that sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing.

Since then the idea of Gross National Happiness (GNH) has influenced Bhutan’s economic and social policy, and also captured the imagination of others far beyond its borders. In creating the Gross National Happiness Index, Bhutan sought to create a measurement tool that would be useful for policymaking and create policy incentives for the government, NGOs and businesses of Bhutan to increase GNH.

The GNH Index includes both traditional areas of socio-economic concern such as living standards, health and education and less traditional aspects of culture and psychological wellbeing. It is a holistic reflection of the general wellbeing of the Bhutanese population rather than a subjective psychological ranking of ‘happiness’ alone.
...

 

[porchwizard]

... Rather than get into a discussion of DF and its importance (or lack thereof) to audio amplifier performance, I will bow out of this discussion by referring you to a more technical resource, although one still written in layman's language: https://trueaudio.com/post_013.htm Perhaps this will help you, perhaps not.

There is, in the audio arena, much discussion of speaker wires, and the trueaudio article got me thinking. It basically says that speaker wire resistance can swamp the damping factor of an amplifier.

Their example is that an amplifier with DF 3000 (output impedance of .0025 ohms) connected to 8 ohm speakers with cables that have .25 ohms resistance will result in an effective DF of 32.

I decided to check out what realistic speaker cable resistances might be to get some idea of the magnitudes involved. I used american values (AWG/gauge) and resistance values from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Tables/wirega.html. The table is for solid wire. Speaker wire, I assume, is almost exclusively stranded but I didn't try to check solid -vs- stranded resistances for a given gauge.

24 gauge is thin lamp cord. 14 gauge is normal 120v/15-amp circuit house wiring. 10 gauge is pretty fat. I think some high end cables can be even fatter. Blue Jeans sells 10-14awg cables.

So based on a 10' cable (20' of wire) (6m) of different sizes, with the 3000 DF amplifier and 8 ohm speaker, I get

(gauge, 20' wire resistance, DF)
24awg, .5ohm, DF=16
22awg, .32ohm, DF=25
16awg, .08ohm, DF=97
14awg, .05ohm, DF=152
10awg, .02ohm, DF=356

If the amplifier DF was 100 to begin with, 16awg -> DF=50 and 10awg -> DF=80.

It seems unlikely folks in this forum would be using 24awg (I use 16awg 10' cables) but it seems that there could well be an audible difference between the cables even at the 16-10awg range.

Post updated to account for 20 feet of total wire in a 10 foot speaker cable (thanks to jimmers for the heads up)

 

[RCBinTN]

The new entry-level gear being made by Schiit Audio is light years ahead of when I joined Head-Fi in 2012.
Just finished setting up a first headphone rig with my son in law.

Eitr - Modi MB - Loki - Magni3 - HD650

The sound is remarkably good for the price ... $1,170 including the HPs, cables and shipping.
Note: the HD650 were on sale for $319 new from BHPhotoVideo

 

[Whazzzup]

wow my HP cable is way more expensive than the rig!

 

[RCBinTN]

My 800 SN is almost to 42000.
I agree, working back from the transducer seems right. It's easier than getting the best regarded, best measuring equipment up front only to hear that the phones you've auditioned and liked the best don't mesh well with the stuff in front of it. After my initial "baseline" phone was set, I needed to audition a lot of different phones in home to make sure they were what I wanted sound-wise. I'm fairly certain I've gone through 20 different phones after the 800 and found the Utopia and Abyss worked just fine with most of my gear and ears. The others I rejected for one reason or another.

A Head-Fi friend offered to lend me his Abyss, but I decided to decline.
Too afraid that I'd never return them, or else my wallet would have been in big trouble again

 

[45longcolt]

On happiness...


The phrase ‘gross national happiness’ was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.”

Wangchuck? Loved his Points on the Curve LP, and the To Live and Die in LA OST. Didn't get the Bhutan connection before...

 

[AA8]

Is your MJ2 connected via the Yggy’s rca out?

Nope. I just manually plug the XLR cables into whatever amp is my flavor at the moment. A decent use case for an XLR SYS like solution, but I can survive as the stack is right next to my desk.

 

[CAPT Deadpool]

// @AA8 Manual quote:
Nope. I just manually plug the XLR cables into whatever amp is my flavor at the moment. A decent use case for an XLR SYS like solution, but I can survive as the stack is right next to my desk.

//End Quote

Regarding a SYS like XLR switcher:

The best thing I've found for cost efficiency is the Pro Co Switch Witch. A few of us on here use it and in particular @the finisher recommended it to me IIRC.

https://www.markertek.com/product/s...witch-stereo-in-4-stereo-out-monitor-switcher

The best part is it has Schiity-like tactile toggle switches that make that satisfying flick noise (Like your flying with Maj T. J. "King" Kong).

You can output line level (NOT amplified aka Speaker level) signals to any combination of four XLR pairs.

Another popular option is this:

https://www.markertek.com/product/vs-4x/kramer-vs-4x-4x1-balanced-audio-passive-switcher

However for this use case the Kramer would have to be run backwards; which would necessitate investment in custom cables as your M/F would be reversed from normal usage.

It is also possible to get these for significantly less than the prices at Markertek if you shop around.

I paid $135 for my Switch-Witch by purchasing a returned item from Amazon Warehouse.

Another option but much more expensive is one of the XLR switches at Goldpt.com that can be purchased with or without one of his Goldpoint stepped attenuators.

 

[AA8]

I have ran Ygg -> MJ2 (pre-amp) -> Jot in an XLR chain to add some tube fun to my Q701s which are the only pair of headphones that I haven't balanced. It was an interesting experience and did help round out the brightness a bit. MJ2 is still obviously good in single-end out as well, but I happened to have some short XLR cables I had made previously and figured "why not"?

On a sie note, I don't think anything was quite as harrowing as cutting the 1/4" plug off my PS1000e the day after I got them to slap on an XLR connector. I have no question regarding my soldering abilities, but still...

 

[garbulky]

Fair warning. I'm gonna march right into "we don't talk about it" land with this post. I've read countless times on many forums about "it's all about the music". This often called out to justify yet another purchase of gear in pursuit of the "holy grail" of audio reproduction. I say...."maybe....or maybe not".

The truth is I like gear and I'm not ashamed. I like all sorts of gear, but spend bigger on a few things that really trip my trigger. I like to look at gear, I like to use it, I like to change it sometimes and add to my collection. I occasionally make gear. I even sell some from time to time. I just like it, OK? Not spending the grocery or mortgage money. It's an indulgence. My interest ebbs and flows along with my interest in other things. It's not about ego or one-up-manship. It's not to impress the neighbors.

It's because I have a proclivity for shiny boxes with piercing LEDs and it's my god given right to have it around! Some like guns, some like cars or motorcycles. Others enjoy wine or cigars. I want gear...

Oh, and I like music too.

And Jason, I'm buying your Schiit in spite of your admonition not to. So there!

Yes! We can pretend it's "all about the music". But for me, it's not. It's about the sound and the gear that it takes to make it happen. I am more interested in the gear and the reproduction of the music than how great the song was. However, I dislike doing what Jason called sidegrading or in my case incremental upgrades. I have wasted too much money doing it and shy away from that. I would rather save for a long time and get something truly nice. And after I get it, it's not going to be leaving my system.

 

[dieslemat]

// @AA8 Manual quote:
Nope. I just manually plug the XLR cables into whatever amp is my flavor at the moment. A decent use case for an XLR SYS like solution, but I can survive as the stack is right next to my desk.

//End Quote

Regarding a SYS like XLR switcher:

The best thing I've found for cost efficiency is the Pro Co Switch Witch. A few of us on here use it and in particular @the finisher recommended it to me IIRC.

https://www.markertek.com/product/s...witch-stereo-in-4-stereo-out-monitor-switcher

The best part is it has Schiity-like tactile toggle switches that make that satisfying flick noise (Like your flying with Maj T. J. "King" Kong).

You can output line level (NOT amplified aka Speaker level) signals to any combination of four XLR pairs.

Another popular option is this:

https://www.markertek.com/product/vs-4x/kramer-vs-4x-4x1-balanced-audio-passive-switcher

However for this use case the Kramer would have to be run backwards; which would necessitate investment in custom cables as your M/F would be reversed from normal usage.

It is also possible to get these for significantly less than the prices at Markertek if you shop around.

I paid $135 for my Switch-Witch by purchasing a returned item from Amazon Warehouse.

Another option but much more expensive is one of the XLR switches at Goldpt.com that can be purchased with or without one of his Goldpoint stepped attenuators.

I’ve thought about these three options. But the hesitation have here is that these products are pcb based. If you have, not so cheap cables (and believe that cables matter a lot) the a good xlr switch with a point to point wiring will be the one you can accept.

 

[CAPT Deadpool]

I’ve thought about these three options. But the hesitation have here is that these products are pcb based. If you have, not so cheap cables (and believe that cables matter a lot) the a good xlr switch with a point to point wiring will be the one you can accept.

If you wanted I'm pretty sure you could pull the PCB out of the Switchwitch and do the point to point wiring yourself using their switches and enclosure.

Some people have broken the switches before too but they are easy enough to replace/upgrade to something more robust.

Rewiring a Switch Witch or building your own is bound to be cheaper than buying a boutique one (unless Schiit decides to make one).

That said if Schiit decided to make a Schiit Switch Witch I'd be all for it.

 

[D2Girls]

?

Okay, sure. I can go into detail again. I have already discussed my problem with several other communities, and had a video of the problem at one point, but just trust me, this was a serious issue.

When I had the SAGA in my system, it was causing the woofers in my speaker to excursion by a huge amount, to the max, I think. It would 'pop' and the drivers would really violently move out.

I've owned plenty of other preamps in my system before the Saga. I used a AVR, an Anthem 225, and a crummy little Audio-GD. None of them were doing this. My only conclusion was that there was some kind of flaw in my system, either in the Saga, that the Saga was picking up... though I don't know why any of my other preamps were doing this. Anyway, I contacted schiit and they mailed me out a replacement right away. Same problem.

My initial thought, which still is my belief was that the Saga was sending out current downstream. Maybe I had two defective sagas. Maybe something was up with my power. And the beefier power supplies in the other preamps I had filtered it out. Who knows, to be honest. I just know if I had continued to use the Saga, it probably would have destroyed my speakers.

Would up returning both. Pleasant experience overall. And I already had some preamps of my own so I wasn't really out anything but time. They refunded me for my return shipping too, minus the cost of shipping the original unit to me.

And before you ask, yes, I did all the trouble shooting steps.