^ Ha ok. you twisted my arm. I'll buy a cheap balanced cable for my HD600 (even if it is a different situation). I have to after that post. If it made THAT much of a difference. Exciting stuff.
Singxer SA-1 / Balanced Amplifier Fully Discrete Class A - beyond THX 888 ?!
- Thread starter Muataz
- Start date
dstarr3
1000+ Head-Fier
My 6XX (and by extension, the 600 and 650) on my SA-1 is one of those synergies that makes me go "Okay, the engineers designed this amp specifically for this headphone, didn't they?" It is an absolutely outstanding combo, and if you're only a cheap balanced cable away from fully experiencing it, I can't recommend it enough
This amp is already so amazing with what I wrote above...I'm loving it. So if balanced makes it even better...I might not know what to do. : ) Danggg this is fun. Also tonight definitely makes me a believer that thinking all amps are the same is silly. This amp sounds so much better than Magni 3+ to me - feels like I'm finally getting the magic. There is a reason why this amp got great reviews.
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Plieb
100+ Head-Fier
I think the 660s leaves the 6xx in the dust on the SA 1. Great combo where the amp fixes the slight brightness of the 660s. Ultra smooth and dynamic sound. Fantastic detail and tons of power with this 150 ohm headphone. Of course im using the supplied balanced cable. The 660s on Amazon is around $320 which now makes it a fantastic bargain vs any 600 series version. Again to reiterate you get a SE and Balanced cable with the 660s.
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roderickvd
100+ Head-Fier
Adding to this, it’s not just about the extra voltage swing a balanced connection gives. The SA-1 just has better SQ on balanced in, balanced out. To my ears: more clarity, wider soundstage.
After a year, i switched it to high gain, and works so much better for both external active speakers and for headphones... Since the potentiometer is exponential, in high gain works better, louder for m the get go, when it is in pure class A, distorts much less than when it gets into class A/B. I se also 6XX with balanced cable, I have also single ended cable, but this amp works better balanced.
TheMiddleSky
Headphoneus Supremus
How do you know when the amp start to switch from Pure A to AB?
All these impressions are with SE-in. I don't have balanced cables going from Modius to SA-1 yet. I wonder what people thoughts are if Balanced-in matters or not.
First impressions with balanced with HD 600, Modius, and SA-1, high gain - THIS IS GREAT! thanks for the suggestion everyone. I'm not the best at describing differences but for balanced vs SE differences: seems like balanced has more bass impact and the voices around the studio seem to feel more real. It's not as much of on SE where it's like - ok this instrument is right there on your head. Now it's like everything has more impact and blends together more and goes around me more on more songs. If any of that makes sense. I can see why someone might prefer the SE in my setup, there are differences. SE is more relaxed and still has great center focus on the singer where you can feel how close they are to the mic. Balanced just does everything well though. Hard to find any faults so far, I'll do some more listening this weekend.
Edit: it's possible SE might be better for the singer/center focus of that main voice. I totally see what the person was saying. That can bring out more emotion potentially. Too early to tell though.
Double Edit: I think I might like low gain better than high gain with balanced. It just felt like everything was really loud and lost the smoothness I loved on SE when in high gain, balanced. Low gain brings back the easy to listen quality of this amp so far. Center focus voices sound great low gain balanced. Seems to make logical sense that I would like low gain on balanced, and high gain on SE since balanced is getting more power.
First impressions with balanced with HD 600, Modius, and SA-1, high gain - THIS IS GREAT! thanks for the suggestion everyone. I'm not the best at describing differences but for balanced vs SE differences: seems like balanced has more bass impact and the voices around the studio seem to feel more real. It's not as much of on SE where it's like - ok this instrument is right there on your head. Now it's like everything has more impact and blends together more and goes around me more on more songs. If any of that makes sense. I can see why someone might prefer the SE in my setup, there are differences. SE is more relaxed and still has great center focus on the singer where you can feel how close they are to the mic. Balanced just does everything well though. Hard to find any faults so far, I'll do some more listening this weekend.
Edit: it's possible SE might be better for the singer/center focus of that main voice. I totally see what the person was saying. That can bring out more emotion potentially. Too early to tell though.
Double Edit: I think I might like low gain better than high gain with balanced. It just felt like everything was really loud and lost the smoothness I loved on SE when in high gain, balanced. Low gain brings back the easy to listen quality of this amp so far. Center focus voices sound great low gain balanced. Seems to make logical sense that I would like low gain on balanced, and high gain on SE since balanced is getting more power.
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Are you sure you're talking about gain (four switches on the bottom) and not Hi/Low-Z (impedance)?
Yes talking about the switches on bottom. Just fun initial impressions. I know on balanced the high gain is a lot louder so I need to turn the knob down of course, it just seems like everything was in my face too much and I was losing presence of the singer which seemed similar to what the person that preferred SE on this amp was saying
. But I could have just had the volume pot in the wrong position on high gain without testing enough. It seems like low gain fixed all those issues for me on a quick check.
roderickvd
100+ Head-Fier
It is likely that there is a little more distortion on high gain. That might explain for some perceived differences.
I also run in low gain whenever I can.
I also run in low gain whenever I can.
Yes - anyone that didn't like how this amp sounded balanced, try low gain with volume pot at around 2 o'clock (or close to max volume) with lo-z -with HD600 or similar headphone. Disclaimer: this is while using a modius dac with rca into the SA-1. Waiting for my balanced cables in the mail to see if the balanced connection from dac to amp makes a difference.
I think you need to turn up low gain a good amount on this amp, but it sounds so good when you get the volume right. The center voice sounds great now, and it's a very head bobbing experience with balanced out as it's a very full sound. SE out was also great on high gain, but I can see why people love balanced now on this thing. It's tremendous.
I think you need to turn up low gain a good amount on this amp, but it sounds so good when you get the volume right. The center voice sounds great now, and it's a very head bobbing experience with balanced out as it's a very full sound. SE out was also great on high gain, but I can see why people love balanced now on this thing. It's tremendous.
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I do not know it, but the beginning of the volume is A, the highest is AB and distorts. In high gain it can stay in class A at higher volume. for the same amount of DB, sounds better in high gain, much more solid and powerful.
Yes I might be noticing that on low gain when I turn it up too high or I’m just overdoing outside the midrange which clutters the sound. I still think low gain at around 2-4 o’clock is amazing for the hd600. Preserving the great mid range - balanced out. Balanced-out in general seems much more powerful. What headphones do you use with this amp?
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RayMets1
100+ Head-Fier
I agree, I listen to my Aryas in High gain, low z and I get nice full sound at 9 to 10 o'clock, especially in the low end. I don't get that in low gain, which gets shouty after about 2 o'clock which I assume is the transition to A/B.
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