[David1961]

Quote:

 but unlike him I also think the LL is drop-dead gorgeous sound-wise. 
 
 

 
I've never said I was disappointed in how the LL make the 009's sound or the 007's, in fact I was very impressed, but the BHSE for me has everything.
                               
P.S. When listening to music my preference is detail and transparency which is why I prefer the 009's over the 007's when driven by the BHSE.

 

[mwilson]

Oh, I didn't take from your message that you had been disappointed; knowing that you are enthralled with the BHSE sound, and I by the LL, I used the "unlike David" part.
 
 
Quote:

 
I've never said I was disappointed in how the LL make the 009's sound or the 007's, in fact I was very impressed, but the BHSE for me has everything.
                               
P.S. When listening to music my preference is detail and transparency which is why I prefer the 009's over the 007's when driven by the BHSE.

 

[vvs_75]

Intresting impressions guys.
 
First David said that BHSE have more power than LL. - "with the LL the knob had to be turned quite a bit more than the BHSE to get the same volume."
 
Than Ian siad  exact the opposite - "With the BHSE coupled with the 007s we felt the sound was slightly compromised - as if the BHSE was struggling to drive the 007s"

 

[spritzer]

Volume level does not equate power merely a combo of gain, sensitivity and output voltage....
 

 

[mwilson]

First of all, I would imagine that the same type of connection (single ended or balanced) was used for both amps, when attempting to match volume. Second, referencing volume knob position is irrelevant, unless the same potentiometer specs are implemented in both amps - resistance and taper wise. Moreover, volume matching without a proper SPL meter is rather tricky, so take this with a grain of salt from start.
 
Second, I don't take the below statements to be mutually exclusive - I've had gear which had no problem outputting volume, but was struggling with dynamics. Note that I'm not suggesting the BHSE was struggling (as I haven't heard it personally), but rather that it's possible to have one amp output a higher volume and still struggle driving a phone.
 
 
Quote:

Intresting impressions guys.
 
First David said that BHSE have more power than LL. - "with the LL the knob had to be turned quite a bit more than the BHSE to get the same volume."
 
Than Ian siad  exact the opposite - "With the BHSE coupled with the 007s we felt the sound was slightly compromised - as if the BHSE was struggling to drive the 007s"

 

[mwilson]

Yeah, like you said. Took me a lot longer to type my response as people kept bothering me (job and all), but you nailed it.
 
Quote:

Volume level does not equate power merely a combo of gain, sensitivity and output voltage....
 

 

[sachu]

Quote:

 The last thing is reliability, I had the BHSE on continuously for almost six hours, I wasn't listening to music in all that time but when I did it sounded amazing and ran without a problem.  If having tubes as part of an amp bothers you then the LL did sound pretty good but I also believe the K-01 played a big part in that. Regarding it's reliability, I don't know, so you might be better off asking someone that knows about what's in side it.
 
                     Dave.
 
P.S. About volume, I'm using their volume knobs as clocks and like I said, with the LL the knob had to be turned quite a bit more than the BHSE to get the same volume. My optimum setting on the BHSE using the 009's is between 11 & 12 o'clock, with Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb and High Hopes I have to put it to 1 and at times 2 o'clock because they sound so good even though I might end up damaging my hearing, however Ian likes it a lot louder than me.

 
Have had the LL left on for just over 4 days straight (as in full 100 hours) running music through it..no issues. Have done multiple 24 hour sessions of leaving the amp turned on in the past 8 months, no issues. 
 
 
As for gain and sensitivity, never had to go above 12 o clock for the 007mk1 and 11 o clock for the 009. Granted my Assemblage DAC does have a higher than usual voltage output. 

 

[David1961]

Quote:

Intresting impressions guys.
 
First David said that BHSE have more power than LL. - "with the LL the knob had to be turned quite a bit more than the BHSE to get the same volume."
 
Than Ian siad  exact the opposite - "With the BHSE coupled with the 007s we felt the sound was slightly compromised - as if the BHSE was struggling to drive the 007s"

Ian said the 007's seemed starved by the BHSE not me, he's put we but I never did. With the BHSE Ian never went past 4 o'clock where as the LL he went past 5 but he likes the volume quite loud. Some of the songs I listen to can only be played at low volume where as others need to be played quite loud but the loudest I'd ever have the BHSE driving the 009's is around 2 o'clock, but I want to reiterate I never thought the BHSE starved the SR-007's in any way.

 

[IanG]

Quote:
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by vvs_75

Intresting impressions guys.
 
First David said that BHSE have more power than LL. - "with the LL the knob had to be turned quite a bit more than the BHSE to get the same volume."
 
Than Ian siad exact the opposite - "With the BHSE coupled with the 007s we felt the sound was slightly compromised - as if the BHSE was struggling to drive the 007s"

 

Ian said the 007's seemed starved by the BHSE not me, he's put we but I never did. With the BHSE Ian never went past 4 o'clock where as the LL he went past 5 but he likes the volume quite loud. Some of the songs I listen to can only be played at low volume where as others need to be played quite loud but the loudest I'd ever have the BHSE driving the 009's is around 2 o'clock, but I want to reiterate I never thought the BHSE starved the SR-007's in any way.

 
Yes I definitely felt the 007s seemed a bit starved when driven by the BHSE - as though there was insufficient drive.
 
I didn't get this with the LL - and all this hardly matters to us anyway since David is the one with the BHSE and doesn't use the 007s.
 
What's more David listens at lower levels than I do.
 
Furthermore, what may be relevant are some sensitivity and output issues. We used both the RCA and the XLR outputs from David's Esoteric CD player - the XLR for his BHSE (XLR input) and the RCA for my LL (RCA input). I've no idea whether Esoteric output levels and/or BHSE/LL input sensitivities are matched or otherwise.
 
As for where the volume control sits I suspect this should be irrelevant provided ones preferred listening range is covered by the amplifier's volume range. It used to be proposed, in hifi magazines and on various hifi fora, that a high volume position was preferable because it equated to lesser attenuation. I've no idea whether this is factual or just hot air. For the most part, conventional hifi volume controls now either work in the digital domain or as stepped attenuators so one doesn't hear that proposition put forward on those fora so often.

 

[mwilson]

This is relevant alright. You're basically feeding half the voltage via the RCA, so of course the volume needs to be set higher on the amp. Moreover, XLR is more beneficial wrt dynamics and noise

Furthermore, what may be relevant are some sensitivity and output issues. We used both the RCA and the XLR outputs from David's Esoteric CD player - the XLR for his BHSE (XLR input) and the RCA for my LL (RCA input). I've no idea whether Esoteric output levels and/or BHSE/LL input sensitivities are matched or otherwise.

 

[vvs_75]

[size=10pt]Thanks for more details. I understand that volume position is not = power. I was more confused / surprised that the BHSE was struggling to drive 007s and the LL was not in the same set up.[/size]

 

[johnwmclean]

Relative to gain the less resistance over the voltage divider the better.

 

[David1961]

When I first got the pure silver XLR interconnects from The-Missing-Link, I wanted to see if I could hear a difference in SQ between those XLR's and the RCA's I'd already got. With the K-01 + BHSE I'm able to have both interconnects connected at the same time and can do the switching within seconds by changing the switch on the BHSE and altering the setting on the K-01. After reading some of the posts above I wanted to see if I could hear a difference in volume obviously only using just my K-01 + BHSE + RCA and XLR interconnects. I've only just done this test and the best CD I have that gives me the best sound is "Oxygene" by Jean Michel Jarre and while the SQ was different between the two interconnects, without me touching the volume control I found there was NO difference what so ever in volume, the volume with both interconnects was exactly the same.

 

[justin w.]

the output levels on my Sony SACD player is also identical for the XLR and RCA outputs.  convenient when testing amplifiers

 

[googleli]

Note that there is a "+6DB" option for XLR output on the Esoteric K-01.
Quote:

When I first got the pure silver XLR interconnects from The-Missing-Link, I wanted to see if I could hear a difference in SQ between those XLR's and the RCA's I'd already got. With the K-01 + BHSE I'm able to have both interconnects connected at the same time and can do the switching within seconds by changing the switch on the BHSE and altering the setting on the K-01. After reading some of the posts above I wanted to see if I could hear a difference in volume obviously only using just my K-01 + BHSE + RCA and XLR interconnects. I've only just done this test and the best CD I have that gives me the best sound is "Oxygene" by Jean Michel Jarre and while the SQ was different between the two interconnects, without me touching the volume control I found there was NO difference what so ever in volume, the volume with both interconnects was exactly the same.