Only had them for a day, so very early, but I too love these phones, seems like they have balanced sound, clear treble, but as mentioned it's a little early to be certain. Listening to Hi-Res classical orchestral music currently, enjoying it. Alex was also very easy to deal with BTW - and I would rather buy and support smaller more niche or bespoke manufacturers rather than the major players when the quality is as good or better in this case.
If you guys have any balanced headphone amp, you have to try Saturn One with balanced cable. You can order very inexpensive or expensive depending on your budget from veclan.com and special order a balanced headphone cable for the Saturn One. I have ordered several balanced cables from this company and I have not disappointed yet with their quality cable. The price ranges from $40 to couple of hundred dollars depending what type of features you order. I have ordered $40 cable to $150 range and they all sound about same to my ears. It just more expensive one looks more fancy and sturdier looking. When I listen to "While I Cry" live version from Kenny Wayne Shepherd blue song, it sounds simply beautiful. My current source is ASUS Xonar Essence One Muse Edition > Headroom Home Balanced Headphone Amp with Max module. I can listen to this setup all day long without fatigue.
I just got my hands on the Saturn One after the long wait.
Build Quality : Very good craftsmanship and light. However, the metal used may scratch very easily. My scissors got intact with the headband and scratches. And one of the screw came loose when holding the headband. Alex is currently shipping another replacement part.
Comfort : It is as if I'm not wearing anything, it goes very light on my head. Very comfortable. Doesn't heat up my ears as much as other headphones.
Sound Quality : Initial impressions, very clean and transparent. It's very open but has the soundstage a little smaller compared to my Sony Fidelio x2 but imaging is definitely better. My setup is only with the Dragonfly Red. Deep and strong bass, Very revealing mids and a little peaky highs. I'm not sure if my setup is the cause of this but it is barely noticeable. Overall, very fun cans and the most open cans I've ever tried.
Alex is really helpful with all my questions and problems and replies very quickly. To me, it is as important as getting a good quality product. Well done Alex Hyland!! Definitely did not regret with the purchase.
Hey Dezhifi,
Welcome to the small but happy group of Hyland Saturn One owners. I have had mine for about six months and I am still amazed with their level of detail and how well they have paired up with every amp combination that I have tried them with.
Just be careful with those wicked scissors of yours and enjoy your Hyland Saturn One ownership experience.
Will do xD.
Geezer,
Can you describe how the Grado G cush affects the sound compared to the generic ones that Alex included? It's quite expensive to purchase it here, I have to find out if it's worth while.
It has been a while, but my recollection is that it was a subtle change. Nothing major. Perhaps a little bigger soundstage since the drivers were slightly further from your ears due to the stiffness of the Grado G versus the generic.
I sent Alex a pair of genuine Grado G s. You might email him and see what his answer is. I currently do not have a pair of imitation G s to put on to give you an answer. My advice would be that the difference would not be worth the extra cost.
Will do xD.
Geezer,
Can you describe how the Grado G cush affects the sound compared to the generic ones that Alex included? It's quite expensive to purchase it here, I have to find out if it's worth while.
I personally have both the Grado G cushions as well as the stock included generic ones. I personally prefer the generics as I find them to be a bit more comfortable. Tonally, is seems a bit smoother but not night and day differences. Not worth the premium cost of the G's IMO.
The Grace M9xx is superb. Plenty of power and many useful settings including crossfeed. Only drawback is that it is Optical and USB only, no Coax. I often use it alone without the EW. I hear little, if any, difference with or without the amp.
I have used my Saturn One on several solid state and hybrid amps. The Elemental Watson is stellar, but it sounded very good with everything that I paired it with.
Take a look at the Audio gd r2r 11 dac/amp. I really like the r2r ladder dac that is built into it and the solid state amp is decent as well. It has usb, coax and digital inputs.
So far, I have tried Headroom Millett Hybrid, X-Can v3 and v8 for hybrid amp with my Saturn One. All of them sound fantastic with Saturn One. But unfortunately all of them are out of production so you have to look in the used market. If you have a chance to obtain HR Millett Hybrid, get it if you can. I simply love my Saturn One with HR Millett Hybrid.
I agree with Justhavingfun on the Saturn 1 and hybrid amp pairing. But I do have one solid state amp that kicks the Saturn 1 very well.
A few months ago I decided to try and build a diy amp. The Pete Millett Butte amp is what i chose to start with. You buy the board for $20 from Pete on EBay and the bill of material from Mouser came to about $90. Learning to solder is easy with the videos that are out there. I got a $10 practice project from Amazon to develop my skills before I started on the Butte. About the same time I picked up a used Burson Fun amp to experiment with op amp rolling. Then I saw a post about Sparkos op amps.
Here is the built Butte:
Instead of the speced op amps I used Sparkos Labs single op amps. ( they are the two green squares in the top half of the board) The Sparkos make the little Butte kick like a mule!
If you have any amps that have op amps in their signal paths, you need to check out the Sparkos Labs site. The cost of a pair of singles or duals is a drop in the bucket compared to all of the $ I have dropped in the past chasing a better sound for my mid fi equipment.
Justhavingfun has rolled in some Sparkos in his older amps, feel free to chime in on your experience.
Back to the Butte. PM me if you would like more information or I would consider building one for you if you picked up the cost of material and shipping to you.
Yes even the old favorites like M3 and PPA will benefit greatly with Sparkos opamps replacement. These amps never sounded this good. Even Firestone Cute amp sounding great with Saprkos.
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