[matthewhypolite]

 

[seeteeyou]

HE1000 and microZOTL2.0 (David Berning's fans rejoice) turned out to be a wonderful match, I wonder if ZOTL40 were the right candidate for driving Abyss?
 
http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-preamplifiers/stereo-preamps/linear-tube-audio-microzotl-2.0-headphone-amp-preamp-review.html
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/zotl/1.html
http://www.urbanhifi.com/collection/zotl40
http://www.lineartubeaudio.com/zotl40/
 

---

 
BTW, here's a nice toy for converting speaker taps into ALL kinds of balanced headphone outputs for roughly $475
 
http://www.olasonic.jp/store/products/detail.php?product_id=89
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

[preproman]

  Quick update, Lumin + 600i + Abyss (I'll keep this short as I'll be testing more with the Lumin A1, Lumin D1, Moon 600i, Moon 430, Aurender N10 and Analog (Quad) next week).
 
I have always been an open advocate for the Abyss, understanding and accepting a couple of shortcomings; mids could be more engaging (although this is personal preference) and the treble can be quite harsh at times.
 
This combination has not just addressed those 'issues', it has unequivocally surpassed them. Mids are delicious, instruments and voices sound visceral and real, layer separation and spacial cues have gone through the roof - it's now holographic. Sounds is liquid and tangible backed by dynamic power. Not only that, there is incredible resolution and detail retrieval (but in no way at the expense of flow).
 
No longer do they feel 'technically excellent' (soundstage, accuracy, bass), they are quite literally oozing with musicality, emotion, timing and coherence. It's like owning a new pair of headphones. Never heard the Abyss this good, they scale incredibly well. It's leagues above the 430 HAD. And in fact, anything I've heard via headphones.
 
This is just with the Lumin D1. Lots more to play with next week, I'll be reporting back :¬)

 
WOW you are going to have a hard time deciding what stays and what goes.  
 
The 600i is just a beast of an amp no doubt.  Lumin D1 vs Aurender 10 + Analog DAC is going to be interesting.. 
 
One of the main point for me is with the Aurender you can change out DACs - with the Lumin it's all one unit.  The good thing about that is no (USB) mess.  Decisions, decisions. decisions..  
 
Good luck...

 

[Yoga]

   
WOW you are going to have a hard time deciding what stays and what goes.  
 
The 600i is just a beast of an amp no doubt.  Lumin D1 vs Aurender 10 + Analog DAC is going to be interesting.. 
 
One of the main point for me is with the Aurender you can change out DACs - with the Lumin it's all one unit.  The good thing about that is no (USB) mess.  Decisions, decisions. decisions..  
 
Good luck...

 
Fun times indeed :¬)
 
I have the A1 with me now, although I managed to pop the fuse in the 600i last night (whoops), by disconnecting the Abyss from the speaker to XLR cable adapter on the amp (the amp was in standby mode, not full power off). I saw a pop/flash in the unit which of course scared the life out of me. Thankfully the fuse is easily replaced at home, I have some coming tomorrow.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

   
Fun times indeed :¬)
 
I have the A1 with me now, although I managed to pop the fuse in the 600i last night (whoops), by disconnecting the Abyss from the speaker to XLR cable adapter on the amp (the amp was in standby mode, not full power off). I saw a pop/flash in the unit which of course scared the life out of me. Thankfully the fuse is easily replaced at home, I have some coming tomorrow.

 
 
Yikes.  I have disconnected/swapped headphones with my amp on with no issue (nothing playing).  I guess I should stop 

 
That's odd that it would have an issue with the amp in standby, however...  Are your headphones okay?

 

[Yoga]

   
 
Yikes.  I have disconnected/swapped headphones with my amp on with no issue (nothing playing).  I guess I should stop 

 
That's odd that it would have an issue with the amp in standby, however...  Are your headphones okay?

Headphones are fine thankfully!
 
I swapped them over once before and nothing happened (while the amp was on). It was the second time there was a pop. The manual says under no circumstances should you connect/disconnect while on, I read that but didn't take heed. I'm keeping the blown fuse on my desk as a reminder to not be lazy :¬)

 

[bigfatpaulie]

 
Headphones are fine thankfully!
 
I swapped them over once before and nothing happened (while the amp was on). It was the second time there was a pop. The manual says under no circumstances should you connect/disconnect while on, I read that but didn't take heed. I'm keeping the blown fuse on my desk as a reminder to not be lazy :¬)

 
 
No kidding!
 
Glad everything is relatively unscathed.  
 
Let this be a lesson to all of us.

 

[Yoga]

   
 
No kidding!
 
Glad everything is relatively unscathed.  
 
Let this be a lesson to all of us.

A little fuse saved me a **** ton of trouble :¬)
 
Saw this as an opportunity to try an audiophile fuse. I'll blind A/B it vs the standard replacement that Simaudio are sending. 

 

[dBel84]

Speaker amps are at much greater risk and most manufacturers will recommend shutting the amp down before changing input cables let alone speaker cables. FWIW headphone amps are equally at risk which is why at minimum the volume should be turned down to minimum when pulling out (or inserting) a TRS jack. There have been a few spectacular amp failures at meets when people are "hot swapping" headphones for comparison. 
 
Glad your amp and headphones survived the incident. 
 
..dB

 

[Yoga]

  Speaker amps are at much greater risk and most manufacturers will recommend shutting the amp down before changing input cables let alone speaker cables. FWIW headphone amps are equally at risk which is why at minimum the volume should be turned down to minimum when pulling out (or inserting) a TRS jack. There have been a few spectacular amp failures at meets when people are "hot swapping" headphones for comparison. 
 
Glad your amp and headphones survived the incident. 
 
..dB

Thanks, me too :¬)
 
Didn't realise the same applied to headphone amps!

 

[mulder01]

Wow I would never have expected that. Whenever I have auditioned headphones I have always paused the source and turned the amp volume right down to minumum before swapping headphones and never had an issue. Noone at the store ever said anything to me about not doing it either. The fact that it was on standby is even more surprising. Does it even have a physical power switch on the unit or do you have to do it at the wall outlet?

 

[isquirrel]

Like wise I have never had an issue swapping headphones since the amps volume is muted or turned down. I think this issue is entirely amp dependant. Bad luck of YOga's before that it blew a fuse, good luck really as that's all it did.

 

[Yoga]

I consider myself very lucky indeed.
 
Simaudio recommend using fast blow fuses (hence the sensitivity), perhaps many others opt for slow blow.

 

[Joe Skubinski]

Headphone amps tend to be a bit more stable with connecting and disconnecting the load (headphone).
With speaker amps its a whole different story, and with which you need to be very careful.

That fuse flash blowing (as in the inner glass surface is black) signifies a dead short on the output stages. The output stage transistors surviving such acts is limited in number. What causes it is an instantaneous high frequency oscillation that to the amps output stage looks like a DC signal turning it full on through both rails, similar to a dead short condition.

Bottom line, if your going to play with speaker amps and headphones, best be aware of the amps limitations. And by all means turn the speaker amp off-- Standby is not powered down.

 

[Yoga]

Headphone amps tend to be a bit more stable with connecting and disconnecting the load (headphone).
With speaker amps its a whole different story, and with which you need to be very careful.

That fuse flash blowing (as in the inner glass surface is black) signifies a dead short on the output stages. The output stage transistors surviving such acts is limited in number. What causes it is an instantaneous high frequency oscillation that to the amps output stage looks like a DC signal turning it full on through both rails, similar to a dead short condition.

Bottom line, if your going to play with speaker amps and headphones, best be aware of the amps limitations. And by all means turn the speaker amp off-- Standby is not powered down.

The inner glass is black indeed. Thanks for the technical description of the cause.