[london luke]

"its been a long time since I rock and rolled"!!!



I have been away working so have not realy listened to The amp. But its been cooking nice and slow... It must have over 500 hours of use so far from a radio input.

Since the original amp was made a few changes have been made... One was the LED!!! god they are bright !!!! so i have a night/day switch!!

As the HD600's have been well an truly burnt in and the "IXOS GAMMA" interconnect also I spent some time last night and this morning listening to my favourite tracks.

The Chiarra is very fast and stable. I have learnt to listen to headphones without trying to find "Speakers" in the room!!!

I played some Biily idol that is well recorded and found the sound to realy work. Ok will never have the full stage of speakers ... But works well.

Would I reccomend this amp....??? yes why not. Its well put together . The kit is well priced and I imagine easy to build (Richard??)

I would use the opamp that richard used and a few minor changes to caps etc.

So with out too much "Mungo jumbo" I love it... Its very relaxing when it should be and yet can kick your teeth in when reqired..but in a very controlled manner.



If your in london and your not sure.... contact me and come and have a listen

cheers again to Richard for all his help.

 

[wordsworth]

Whole heartedly agree with what Luke has said. The Chiara is a very fine amp. It is hard for me to compare it as I don't have any other standard amps. The best way to some it up is to say that since owning the chiara I have not wanted to try to upgrade. I am sure if you spent lots more money you can get better sound, but for the money the chiara is great.

Wordsworth

 

[Filipe]

can you buy it ready built in a nice case? if so for how much?

 

[wordsworth]

you can find the amp at:
http://www.williamshart.com/phono.htm

You may also need the Andante Regulated Power Supply as well (though I believe there alternatives to this power supply, which might be cheaper).

The guys at william hart will build it for you though they do charge (it is worth emailing them and asking how much for build as they might offer a reduced price).

Mike (Pink Floyd) made some changes to the build (removal of tone control, different op amps) which would be worth doing.

The unbuilt amp cost £109 with case and power supply is £98 with case.

If you can get a cheaper power supply and build the amp yourself it is a very cheap amp (about the same as Xin's Supermini + options) that sounds quite amazing. For people in the UK it is definetly a good option for a headphone amp.

Wordsworth

 

[london luke]

Sat up last night and did the "Pink Floyd" thing.. 3 whole albums back to back.

This time I had the volume well up. Ok things got very loud... but this was a good test for the bass and treble....It was amazing the amp kept on driving yet under great control. This has realy put the icing on the cake.

When asked to, this amp can realy deliver.


Richard any news on your latest little device???

luke

 

[Nigel]

I've been very pleased with my Chiarra. It's a lovely sounding unit.

Wordsworth, what op amp are you currently using & are you still using your X-Feed?

Best,

Nigel.

 

[wordsworth]

Hi Nigel

I am currently using the AD823, I recently went through the other op amps again and still found the AD823 to be the best though it lacks something in the vocal department for me (though as good as any of the other op amps). I only use the x-feed with the beatles and other extreme stereo music. I find that with the chiara I don't need the x-feed much especialy with the Hd580's. I have to thank Mike for building the Chiara as it is one top amp.

Wordsworth

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by wordsworth Hi Nigel I am currently using the AD823, I recently went through the other op amps again and still found the AD823 to be the best though it lacks something in the vocal department for me (though as good as any of the other op amps). I only use the x-feed with the beatles and other extreme stereo music. I find that with the chiara I don't need the x-feed much especialy with the Hd580's. I have to thank Mike for building the Chiara as it is one top amp. Wordsworth

Why thanks Mark

Glad you're still finding it a great amp! I thought the AD712 was your favourite? Last time we spoke it was the AD712 and now it's the AD823

I decided to buy another pair of HD600's as they were irresistable at £119 with free delivery and I'm now in the process of evaluating the best op amp to partner them.

The 600's sure do sound pretty crappy straight out of the box and even after a full 24 hours burn in they haven't improved "that" much

I thought it may have been the AD823 making them sound bright but, nope, it's just the way the headphones seem to sound from new....... I'll give them a few more hours of radio 2 and see if they loosen up a bit before experimenting further with op amps.

I'm starting to get tweakers fever so I've decided to try a few things I've been thinking about on the Chiarra

Thing is, the sound at the moment is just so good and I wouldn't want to over egg the pudding and detract from what it does so well.

It's certainly an amazing amp for the money and I still consider it streets ahead of the commercial competition...... If I were building one again though it would be housed in something like Luke's case and not in those gawd awful £4.99 "Maplins" efforts that Sean supplies....... Just think of the placebo effect a quality case would add to the proceedings

Our amps look like pigs ears but sound like silk purses, an amp that looked like a silk purse and sounded like a silk purse would be added icing on the cake a bit of subliminal "eye candy"

The commercial amps are generally silk purse fascias with pigs ear innards with "looks" being more important than sound. What part does the look of your amp play on your perception of its quality Luke? I bet it adds a degree of depth, soundstage and overall sense of great quality just from the looks alone? "presentation" is paramount to get that last ounce of sonic enjoyment. I've already contacted Nigel Mark and if you would like your Chiarra / andante housed in an all in one classy enclosure for the cost of postage and the cabinet then contact me

Remember to enter your 6 numbers in my anniversary X-Feed competition the closing date for entries is tomorrow http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=48254

Whoops I'm rambling on here, it's hard to know what I'm typing listening to music at the same time. As I type I've got Yello "flag" playing away with an OPA 2227 on board

Mike.

 

[wordsworth]

Hi Mike

As for the AD823 I have been using it for months after I bought a surge protector for my amp. The surge protector cleared up the power supply and altered the sound more than I image in would. The bass was definetly deeper and tighter and the overall sound was less muddy. This meant I no longer need the extra bass and treble the AD712 offered and when I put in the AD823 it was amazing, the sound had better mid than the AD712 and generally more musical. For me cleaning up the power supply changed the sound more than some op amps do.

Personally I love the chiara with my HD580's and don't find it bright in the slightest (not sure if the HD580's are darker than the HD600's). It seems perfectly laid back but with great detail and great bass. The only thing lacking is the vocals. Sometimes group vocals sound to close together and lack sparkle, however this could be down to my source (Philips 963SA) or the recordings. On single vocal pieces (Gorecki Symphony No. 3) it sounds fantastic though not as good as with the Ety's where the vocals are just perfect (I couldn't imagine better).

As for the case I don't mind the rather boring black look though I would be interested to see what these other cases look like. have you got a picture of them online?

Let me know about and tweaks also if you hear about any other op amps worth trying.

Thanks again for a fantastic amp. By the way I have put in my numbers for the special addition x-feed

Mark

 

[Nigel]

Hello Wordsworth,

I use the AD823 as well. I'm finding it plays music with more feeling & emotion than the BB OPA series. However, I find the vocals not as prominent as the Burr Browns. I never listen without the X-Feed, I have trouble with the space in my head without it :-} Are you considering a cable upgrade for your 'phones? I use the Cardas & thought it a worthwhile purchase. Please tell us more about your surge protector. Any web links?

Best,

Nigel

 

[wordsworth]

Hi Nigel

Well my cable is going on my HD580's as it come loose often and and split has appeared. however I only paid £25 for my HD580's so the cardas will cost quite a bit more than the headphones, though I find the sound has improved with the clean power supply and the foam mod. if the cable goes I will definetly consider the cardas thought Jan Meier should have his cable for sale soon and it should be cheap with luck.

Wordsworth

 

[london luke]

Hello Everyone.

Ive been realy busy. Ive even forgot who asked me about the Case?? I am sure i returned their message with full details???

In simple laymans terms..The better the case weight etc..the better the sound. Ihave now put some of that "Dynamat" stuff inside to dampen any case noise.

From the very begining the whole thing had to compliment its self. No point in having a great amp in a Krap case.

Imagine you see one for the first time... You have heard all about them..your excited etc..and Infront of you is some £10.00 cased amp..????? Its looking like a school project!!..

I even thought about a custom Glass enclosure...

As i mentioen..this is my first real headphone amp.........Its toodark a road for me to start walking down....I like my amp. The concept/kit is great value for money. With the Andante powersupply .It sounds great.. I am sure other cheaper Power supplies could be used..But I wanted to stick with the basic platform only a few mods etc.

If this amp was finished as a "Retail product" I would like to know what price it could be marketed at?????


I think this amp should be taken to America and see their reaction to it..!!


.

 

[RichardH]

Hi chaps - long time no speak. Glad you're still enjoying the amp Luke - I'll email you later for that tweak I'd like you to try - I'm sure you're up to a bit of soldering, aren't you.

Luke will have filled people in on the case he got, but a quick comment from my perspective (it was me wot had to drill the thing). In efdect you get two fascia panels - one in the brushed alu finish that Luke is using, plus one in brushed black. Both are about 5mm amulinium, and easy enough to drill. Bit scary getting it in the right place though. The black finish is a little easily scratched though - I don't think it's adonised. Finish is not super top quality, but as Luke will have indicated, the cases are rather good value, and you can fit both psu and Chiarra in there. The main thing to comment on is that the top and bottom plates are steel rather than aluminium - heavier, and there are feelings that ferrous materials can affect the sound. Something to be aware of.

A comment on the power supply. Like many, I've found in my noodlings that a good PSU is essential for getting the most out of any amp. I found that a LM317/337 based supply with encapsulated toriodal transformer does at least as good a job as the Andante (which uses fixed voltage regs of the 7815/7915 type).

You'll need to spend some time getting a PCB layout sorted, so something for the more dedicated perhaps. Another possibility that I think would give even better results is using a tracking pre reg layout - all this is documented in the LM317 datasheet.

R