[olor1n]

Schiit has just announced the Vali 2. This thing looks perfect for the budget conscious wanting to dip their toes in tubes. It only uses one tube and you can roll 6DJ8, 6922, ECC88, 2492, 6N23P to tune the sound to preference.

The original Vali is a great budget amp but there were compromises (microphonic and non-rollable tube). Folks just starting out are really spoilt for choice these days. A budget rig consisting of a MULTIBIT Bifrost > Vali 2 > HD600/650 would be a fine place to start. It might even be a good place to end your Head-Fi quest.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

  Don't get me wrong, I love tubes. Used a pair of VTL Compact 80 monoblocks on my LaScala's for 20 years, with NAD SS amps on the Hsu subwoofers. Both amps offering special attributes that made them perfect for their position.

Had three HP tubed amps. Now sold. WA6 WA7 and MP301 Mk2.  They weren't bad. I just think I am more at ease with the stability of the sound from SS amps, especially on my floor system, and esp with the genres I listen to. Like candle light, the sound of a tubed amp never is the same from session to session, like a candle burning down. With SS, I am assured of rock-solid stability in sound from my power amps and preamps. From session to session: bass slam, lightning dynamics, harmonic integrity, and freq extension smooth like silk, max transparency. Just my preferences, that's all.

 

[AlanU]

 
Had three HP tubed amps. Now sold. WA6 WA7 and MP301 Mk2.  They weren't bad. I just think I am more at ease with the stability of the sound from SS amps, especially on my floor system, and esp with the genres I listen to. Like candle light, the sound of a tubed amp never is the same from session to session, like a candle burning down. With SS, I am assured of rock-solid stability in sound from my power amps and preamps. From session to session: bass slam, lightning dynamics, harmonic integrity, and freq extension smooth like silk, max transparency. Just my preferences, that's all.

Hey Pete,
 
So you really sound like you diggin' your Polaris headphone amp??
 
I'm still looking to do some changes to my headphone rig.  I still haven't decided what to do
 
I purchased some new pads and headband padding for my aging 650's.  These headphones will be kicking around for a while

 

[CanadianMaestro]

   
So you really sound like you diggin' your Polaris headphone amp??
 
I'm still looking to do some changes to my headphone rig.  I still haven't decided what to do
 
I purchased some new pads and headband padding for my aging 650's.  These headphones will be kicking around for a while

Yes Alan, there is a Santa Klaus,  Polaris is a fine, beautiful-looking amp. An interesting contrast to my BHA-1, which is also beautiful, but in an ultra-modern, brave new world kinda way -- smooth lines, built like a Panzerkampfwagen Mk-V1. lol.  If BHA-1 is a Kandinsky, then Polaris is a Klimt.
 
650s really are something, eh?  They beat some flagships I've heard/owned, like LCD-2.2, which was great, but too damn heavy and not too forgiving. Plus you had to have a great amp to push it to its max. imo.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

This is amazing on the 650
 
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/3594
 

 

[connieflyer]

These sound great, the guitar is right there almost touch it and Ursala Langmyr really has a pleasing voice, thanks for sharing, have to look around the site.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

  These sound great, the guitar is right there almost touch it and Ursala Langmyr really has a pleasing voice, thanks for sharing, have to look around the site.

Discount code is CROWN 
15% off, until Dec 14 midnight PST.
 
Go for it!

 

[connieflyer]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Sal1950]

 
Had three HP tubed amps. Now sold. WA6 WA7 and MP301 Mk2.  They weren't bad. I just think I am more at ease with the stability of the sound from SS amps, especially on my floor system, and esp with the genres I listen to. Like candle light, the sound of a tubed amp never is the same from session to session, like a candle burning down. With SS, I am assured of rock-solid stability in sound from my power amps and preamps. From session to session: bass slam, lightning dynamics, harmonic integrity, and freq extension smooth like silk, max transparency. Just my preferences, that's all.

Yep I agree completely. IMHO tubes have their most trouble with very low level signals like phono, headphone, and pre-amp stages. Their instability with noise levels being the biggest problems I had. Even with my VTL power amps, the 12AT7 input and driver tubes, one of the four would always go noisy every 6-12 months. Admittedly my LaScala's with 104 db sensitivity were very revealing  to any noise or hum and things had to be "just right" for the system to have a dead quiet background. I any case I went to rehab for my audiophilia nervosa and no longer constantly chase the illusive golden ear addiction.  

 

[penmarker]

 
Or you could and a male and female TRRS to your existing cable that way you can use the same cable with both terminations.  I had that done with my Kimber Kable for my MDR-Z7, except it was 4 pin XLR...

 

Don't do this for amps with native balanced topology, it could damage the amp if the headphone connector have a common ground. You need to separate the negative terminal from the source. Oops, you meant the same thing as me.

I've recabled an HD525 cable (similiar like the HD600) with Neutrik male 4P XLR and the other end with female XLR. That way I can still use it with the TRS connector.

http://i.imgur.com/9RljPlj.jpg

Reterminating is very easy -
1) Determine the connections on the XLR: R+ R-, L+ L-.
2) Cut the cable at the desired length and strip the wires. You will usually see the cables painted with a layer of insulation. You will see a pair with the same colour, thats the R- L-. So the trick is to check which colour is R+ and L+.
Label them.
3) Strip that insulation layer by running a hot soldering iron slowly against it, like scraping paint. This will melt the insulation off the cable. It will smell bad, its fine, but be sure to keep cleaning your soldering tip with a damp sponge or cloth.
4) If you stripped the insulation right, you should be able to solder it relatively easily to the XLR solder points.
5) Do the same for the other end.

If you have some sort of tester like a voltmeter that would be best, because you can just check which wire goes to which earcup connector pin.

 

[Krutsch]

  ...
 
I also tried the Nighthawk's, thinking that I might appreciate their signature, since their tuning has been compared to something akin to the 650's. I found them to be overly dark, with much less sophisticated sounding treble to my ears. Overall I was really disappointed. Not sure which setups their fans are using. 
 
...

 
Lehmann Audio Rhinelander.

 

[Sal1950]

  This is amazing on the 650
 
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/3594
 

The chick looks pretty hot!

 

[CanadianMaestro]

  The chick looks pretty hot!

Music and lust....some things never change. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

 

[iancraig10]

More like a 'dirty beast'. His eyes are bigger than his ears.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

60% of the human brain is devoted to visual processing.