[eee1111]

Thanks man. These are the only headphones I am very passionate about, lol, so that showed I suppose.

I did a comparison of the he 1000v2 and the 1266 tc and I noticed how the tc is almost ignoring some midrange sound. I know the he1000 isn’t the susvara but I’d imagine their sound is clearly somewhat similar just because same brand

With that said it doesn’t even matter at all because what the TC does right it does it so well it’s amazing.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Is there a adapter available to drive the 1266s off speaker terminals ? ,…Sajid I too liked your review

Thanks @Palyodgree

I got Moon Audio to make a basic adapter for me with banana plugs on one end and female 4-pin XLR at the other.

You can get one from boutique cable manufacturers as well.

I initially used a DIY version.

Here’s what it looks like: https://www.zynsonix.com/Speaker-Amp-to-Headphone-Converter-Box_p_36.html

 

[mammal]

female 3-pin XLR at the other.

Not 4 pin?

 

[Palyodgree]

Thanks SajidI. I’ve been digging into this long thread i see I have a number of options for driving the 1266s and I will take my time, I understand Holo Audio will be releasing a headphone amplifier they voiced using the Susvaras the distributor tells me it’ll be under 4K , could be a great contender,,.

 

[Pastwa]

Hello my AB-1266 friends, as an owner of this fantastic headphone, I thought it would be nice to compare to another TOTL headphone setup, Sennheiser HE-1

Sorry if I missed that, but did you use signal from the Bartok also to the HE-1 ? The reason for asking is that the integral DAC in HE-1 is very mediocre, and a better external DAC makes substantial difference.

 

[Litlgi74]

For me, I'm convinced that they both need to be driven by speaker amps to fully realize what they are capable of.

Have you noticed that the only people not recommending a speaker amp to drive the TCs... Are the manufacturers.

 

[Solan]

New O-rings. The old were the size shown with the pick in them, and the new ones (two sizes up) are the ones withe the minijack jacking them up.

The fit on my head (I have bent the frame out just a wee bit) is now good.

If you have not bent the frame out, I believe you might experience the headband rubbing against the frame. So for bigger but not all that much bigger head, one size up will do the trick. For bigger heads than mine, three sizes may be called for. But for me, two seems to be the Goldilocks zone, as I now have the transducers right outside my middle ear rather than centered by my upper ear.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Not 4 pin?

Sorry, 4 pin. Corrected.

 

[Sajid Amit]

Have you noticed that the only people not recommending a speaker amp to drive the TCs... Are the manufacturers.

Yeah. There are risks.

But also, some of these manufacturers also sell HP amps.

Speaker amps, in my experience, have been this crazy wondrous world. Some of these manufacturers have 30 to 50 to 100 years of manufacturing experience behind them. There’s more competition in the two-channel amplifier world so you also get more bang for the back.

I have A/B-ed the Nimbus / GSX MK2 / a few other headamps with Pass / Accuphase / Gryphon / Luxman with the Susvara, and the stereo amps sounded technically more capable to me (though different from each other).

To be precise, the Sus (and the TC, although I have tried the TC with a few but the Sus with several speaker amps) scales in terms of technical performance on the stereo amps.

This is a subject matter where I have shared a lot of notes with @GoldenOne and also with @paradoxper.

 

[vonBaron]

Where you compare Niimbus?

 

[adydula]

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/tutorials/power-amp-adapter/

 

[paradoxper]

Yeah. There are risks.

But also, some of these manufacturers also sell HP amps.

Speaker amps, in my experience, have been this crazy wondrous world. Some of these manufacturers have 30 to 50 to 100 years of manufacturing experience behind them. There’s more competition in the two-channel amplifier world so you also get more bang for the back.

I have A/B-ed the Nimbus / GSX MK2 / a few other headamps with Pass / Accuphase / Gryphon / Luxman with the Susvara, and the stereo amps sounded technically more capable to me (though different from each other).

To be precise, the Sus (and the TC, although I have tried the TC with a few but the Sus with several speaker amps) scales in terms of technical performance on the stereo amps.

This is a subject matter where I have shared a lot of notes with @GoldenOne and also with @paradoxper.

Headamps are just in a elementary and concession phase in the commercial model.

It's also a simple fundamental of transformer and power supply reserve.

Do try a CFA3, it will match the stereo amps.

 

[Litlgi74]

Yeah. There are risks.

But also, some of these manufacturers also sell HP amps.

Speaker amps, in my experience, have been this crazy wondrous world. Some of these manufacturers have 30 to 50 to 100 years of manufacturing experience behind them. There’s more competition in the two-channel amplifier world so you also get more bang for the back.

I have A/B-ed the Nimbus / GSX MK2 / a few other headamps with Pass / Accuphase / Gryphon / Luxman with the Susvara, and the stereo amps sounded technically more capable to me (though different from each other).

To be precise, the Sus (and the TC, although I have tried the TC with a few but the Sus with several speaker amps) scales in terms of technical performance on the stereo amps.

This is a subject matter where I have shared a lot of notes with @GoldenOne and also with @paradoxper.

I am very happy with my Moon 600i... especially since I can use it for both my TCs and SR1a.

But @paradoxper is pushing me towards the CFA3. LOL

 

[mammal]

Sorry if I missed that, but did you use signal from the Bartok also to the HE-1 ? The reason for asking is that the integral DAC in HE-1 is very mediocre, and a better external DAC makes substantial difference.

Unfortunately not, I just used the internal dac of the unit. I asked them about the dac, why they are using 8 of them, but some off the shelf chip and they said because some complex math on only using the best output of the ones running in parallel. Not sure if I paraphrased it correctly. But I hope you get what I mean.

Perhaps my assessment that HE1 is not as detailed as Bartok and AB-1266 is exactly because of the dac HE1 uses?

 

[paradoxper]

I am very happy with my Moon 600i... especially since I can use it for both my TCs and SR1a.

But @paradoxper is pushing me towards the CFA3. LOL

Haha. I've pushed everyone I can feverishly towards a CFA3 and with the TC. This is non-negotiable.