[ddanois]

The HDVD 800 does come with a power cable. They just hide it in the box side pouch. I'm not noticing any noise issues with the stock cable.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

The HDVD 800 does come with a power cable. They just hide it in the box side pouch. I'm not noticing any noise issues with the stock cable.

I have not even noticed it in any side box will have to check the box to see if there is a power cable. I am still going to use the Nordost Blue heaven.

 

[OICWUTUDIDTHAR]

Quote:

I have not even noticed it in any side box will have to check the box to see if there is a power cable. I am still going to use the Nordost Blue heaven.

 
You really think a 1 foot "special sauce" power cable is going to make something sound better when you have miles of crap cable running through your walls?

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

 
You really think a 1 foot "special sauce" power cable is going to make something sound better when you have miles of crap cable running through your walls?

 My house was custom built and all the wires were addressed

 

[AlanHell]

Thank for the information.
Never notice there is cable inside the side wall.
 
LoL, Sennheiser sure does a good job of hiding it.
I am using my custom build power cable anyway.
I actually try to use the power cable from the LCD monitor just for fun, the gain has been lowered significantly.
I think I will stick with my custom cable~~~~

 

[Eee Pee]

Quote:

I actually try to use the power cable from the LCD monitor just for fun, the gain has been lowered significantly.
 

 

 

[OICWUTUDIDTHAR]

Quote:

Thank for the information.
Never notice there is cable inside the side wall.
 
LoL, Sennheiser sure does a good job of hiding it.
I am using my custom build power cable anyway.
I actually try to use the power cable from the LCD monitor just for fun, the gain has been lowered significantly.
I think I will stick with my custom cable~~~~

 
Please stop with this kind of non-sense. I am not trying to be a hater, but I do no like seeing this kind of stuff posted as it really affects new audiphiles/head-fiers, let them make there own decisions and keep this "audio voodoo magic" to yourselves please.

 

[dleblanc343]

A different power cable will change the outcome of your set-up; but a change isn't always positive. If you want better results with a power cable, it is true that your home wiring is not matched to your cable, and thus, it is beneficial to have a line conditioner/regulator to get more out of the cable for that reason.
 
Is it worth the expense? Certainly not. But if you have a studio or very high end sound room; absolutely. For headphone listening only... nope!

 

[atomiccow]

Me and Alan had a chance to AB the HDVD800 with balanced HD800 against Benchmark DAC1 > Bryston BHA-1 with balanced HD800 today. Both of us felt HDVD800 performed better than the DAC1 > BHA-1 on balanced. The HDVD800 is more realistic in rendition of soundstage and has greater detail. The BHA-1 is too forward which ends up masking much detail. Both amps have some sense of hot treble. I wouldn't say one is worse than the other. Both are pretty hot to me. I come from a KICAS Caliente though which is very warm and noticeably suppresses treble sparkle that should be present in recordings. I would say neither was at a level I would not be able to get used to and enjoy. The BHA-1 has slightly more bass presence than the HDVD800 which lends to its less realistic rendition in general. In general though, the frequency response of both were balanced. I would not apply any terms such as warm or cold to either as I don't think either falls into an extreme. I am not someone who thinks the HD800 itself is cold though. If the two were headphones, the HDVD800 would be an HD800 and the BHA-1 would closer to an LCD-2. That is not to say I prefer the BHA-1 for engaging tracks as I pretty much preferred the HDVD800 in all cases. The single ended on the HDVD800 vs the BHA-1 was no comparison as the HDVD800 was clearly better. The BHA-1 singled-ended output had very little detail. It almost felt like an afterthought. I would not switch my single-ended KICAS for the singled-end of the BHA-1.
 
For those who say the HDVD800 uses cheap connectors, I don't know what to say. They seem to be equal quality to Neutriks. The external quality of the HDVD800 is incredible. Its basically a brick of aluminum and glass. The potentiometer has good resistance and is more linear than the BHA-1 which has a very strange response curve where the beginning of the rotation does a lot and the later does very little. The HDVD800 plug and played perfectly and switched inputs perfectly. There were not stops, pops, or breaks when switching source or headphones.
 
The day ended with Alan purchasing the HDVD800. I decided to hold off purchasing it. Suffice to say, the BHA-1 is now probably off my list. The Benchmark DAC1 was Alan's so he can comment on whether the Benchmark is better than the HDVD800's dac section but combined, the HDVD800 against DAC1 > BHA-1 combo, the HDVD800 is better and cheaper.
 

 

[AlanHell]

Quote:

 
Please stop with this kind of non-sense. I am not trying to be a hater, but I do no like seeing this kind of stuff posted as it really affects new audiphiles/head-fiers, let them make there own decisions and keep this "audio voodoo magic" to yourselves please.

I am not saying the Monitor cable made the amp sounds worse.
I am not saying anything about the power cable have magical effect on the sound.
I am not even saying anything on the audiphiles level.
 
I am simply saying that the gain is lower meaning the volume of the system is lower by just switching the cable without changing the gain switch on the back. In store, it is much much lower than the gain as what I was expected using the store cable which seems to be used for some monitor or portable power source. Just to confirm, I unplug my monitor power cable and use it on my amp to test it again. The volume drop is not as significant as what I have experienced in the store, but there is around 3dB drop in volume. I think that is pretty significant drop since the change of the power cord use to have no audible effect on my other setups(at least with my ears). 
 
The fact is, I am not a cable believer either. Otherwise, I will not try to make balance cables for myself to just save money. My HD800 cable, made by myself, only costs $75 (with $55 on the HD800 headphone connectors) and it sounds amazing. My power cord only costs about 20 bucks and the only reason I got it is because the connector is bigger and tiger(and the seller on ebay do promise to use the best cable they got). I did the same switch test for my RPX-35 amp and there is no difference whatsoever. I have no idea why this is happening to the HDVD800 and I am just stating some fact I have observed. If you do not believe me, you can ask some other guys on headfi that has the HDVD800 and do the same test.
 
Again, I understand your anger towards ppl that trying to made their assumptions look like fact without prove. However, I think you simply misunderstood what I was trying to say here. So I hope I made it clear now.
 
P.S.
I may have a broken unit but I highly doubt it cause it sounds amazing.

 

[AlanHell]

Quote:

A different power cable will change the outcome of your set-up; but a change isn't always positive. If you want better results with a power cable, it is true that your home wiring is not matched to your cable, and thus, it is beneficial to have a line conditioner/regulator to get more out of the cable for that reason.
 
Is it worth the expense? Certainly not. But if you have a studio or very high end sound room; absolutely. For headphone listening only... nope!

I do have a AC power filter, but I think I used it more like a surge protect to make sure my multi-thousand-dollar gears does not burn for some accident in the power grid. There is no way for me to change my house wiring, so as long as my ground is working, I am fine with what I got.
I am not sure how much of the change of a thousand-dollar power cord will made for my system since I have never tried any cable in that grade. So, there will be no comment for me to make there, I am just stating some fact I have observed on my own amp. I am still a little confused about the power design of the HDVD800 and why it is so sensitive to current.

 

[OICWUTUDIDTHAR]

Quote:

I am not saying the Monitor cable made the amp sounds worse.
I am not saying anything about the power cable have magical effect on the sound.
I am not even saying anything on the audiphiles level.
 
I am simply saying that the gain is lower meaning the volume of the system is lower by just switching the cable without changing the gain switch on the back. In store, it is much much lower than the gain as what I was expected using the store cable which seems to be used for some monitor or portable power source. Just to confirm, I unplug my monitor power cable and use it on my amp to test it again. The volume drop is not as significant as what I have experienced in the store, but there is around 3dB drop in volume. I think that is pretty significant drop since the change of the power cord use to have no audible effect on my other setups(at least with my ears). 
 
The fact is, I am not a cable believer either. Otherwise, I will not try to make balance cables for myself to just save money. My HD800 cable, made by myself, only costs $75 (with $55 on the HD800 headphone connectors) and it sounds amazing. My power cord only costs about 20 bucks and the only reason I got it is because the connector is bigger and tiger(and the sell on ebay do promise to use the best cable they got). I did the same switch test for my RPX-35 amp and there is no difference whatsoever. I have no idea why this is happening to the HDVD800 and I am just stating some fact I have observed. If you do not believe me, you can ask some other guys on headfi that has the HDVD800 and do the same test.
 
Again, I understand your anger towards ppl that trying to made their assumptions look like fact without prove. However, I think you simply misunderstood what I was trying to say here. So I hope I made it clear now.
 
P.S.
I may have a broken unit but I highly doubt it cause it sounds amazing.

 
 
Thanks for clarifying and I apologize for jumping the gun. Did you test the cable that came with the HDVD800? There really shouldn't be any difference in decibel level, maybe there is something wrong with your monitor cable.

 

[dleblanc343]

Quote:

Me and Alan had a chance to AB the HDVD800 with balanced HD800 against Benchmark DAC1 > Bryston BHA-1 with balanced HD800 today. Both of us felt HDVD800 performed better than the DAC1 > BHA-1 on balanced. The HDVD800 is more realistic in rendition of soundstage and has greater detail. The BHA-1 is too forward which ends up masking much detail. Both amps have some sense of hot treble. I wouldn't say one is worse than the other. Both are pretty hot to me. I come from a KICAS Caliente though which is very warm and noticeably suppresses treble sparkle that should be present in recordings. I would say neither was at a level I would not be able to get used to and enjoy. The BHA-1 has slightly more bass presence than the HDVD800 which lends to its less realistic rendition in general. In general though, the frequency response of both were balanced. I would not apply any terms such as warm or cold to either as I don't think either falls into an extreme. I am not someone who thinks the HD800 itself is cold though. If the two were headphones, the HDVD800 would be an HD800 and the BHA-1 would closer to an LCD-2. That is not to say I prefer the BHA-1 for engaging tracks as I pretty much preferred the HDVD800 in all cases. The single ended on the HDVD800 vs the BHA-1 was no comparison as the HDVD800 was clearly better. The BHA-1 singled-ended output had very little detail. It almost felt like an afterthought. I would not switch my single-ended KICAS for the singled-end of the BHA-1.
 
The day ended with Alan purchasing the HDVD800. I decided to hold off purchasing it. Suffice to say, the BHA-1 is now probably off my list. The Benchmark DAC1 was Alan's so he can comment on whether the Benchmark is better than the HDVD800's dac section but combined, the HDVD800 against DAC1 > BHA-1 combo, the HDVD800 is better and cheaper.
 

Interesting impressions! But I'm having a hard time understanding the part I highlighted... It's true the Senn amp has very nice finish and quality to it.
 
Also to explain why the BHA-1 volume knob adjusts volume exponentially depending on the the position of the knob is for monitoring usage in the pro world. The volume adjusts a 2x gain when nearing maximum volume (I believe).

 

[AlanHell]

Quote:

 
 
Thanks for clarifying and I apologize for jumping the gun. Did you test the cable that came with the HDVD800? There really shouldn't be any difference in decibel level, maybe there is something wrong with your monitor cable.

 
sadly, when I went through all the stuff in my box, I found no cables.
Maybe the North American version is different than the European ones.
 
If I have a very very expensive power cable, I can test if they make the amp sound louder. But for now, I only have my monitor cables.
The monitor power cord is rated for 5A only while mine has been rated for 20A. So I think the resistance on the LCD monitor cable is much higher than the one I got here. But I am still not sure how is that going to effect the gain of the amp since the 110V AC current rating should not effect what happens inside the amp anyway. The power circuit inside of the amp should be already very good for filtering noise in the AC line and convert them into clean DC.
I really cannot find anything else other than the connectors which should not have effect either. Maybe the power on the DAC has something to do with it.
 
I did try a different monitor cable form my other monitor. They seem to be made by the same vender with the same rating and has the same gain-droping problem.
 
I will leave the question to those ppl that understand the analog of this amp. For now, I am happy for what I have got.

 

[atomiccow]

The forwardness of the BHA-1 and it's greater bass quantity gives the amp a faster presentation than the HDVD800. It's not warm just like I wouldn't exactly call the LCD-2 warm. Warm is the HD650. The LCD-2 is fast and hard hitting but still sparkles in the treble. Meanwhile the HD800 gives a slower presentation that really exemplifies details when you listen carefully. The Bryston I feel falls into the faster and punchier category while the HDVD800 falls into the detail category. It's down to preference I suppose. If you're someone who thinks the HD800, as a headphone itself, is pretty much perfect then the HDVD800 is the one to go for out of the two. If you're someone who thinks the HD800 needs "correcting" (ie. you need to warm it up with a tube amp) then my opinion is probably useless to you. My conclusion though is that the HDVD800 is the superior device.