[Wildcatsare1]

^Jamie, that is a beautiful Amp, did you do the woodwork or did the kit include the casing?

 

[paulchiu]

The wood is for hand warming?  Keep the Croissant crispy?
 
Quote:

  Been trying out a new diy amp with my HD800's the Nelson Pass ACA one of his jfet single ended class A  mono block designs with 6W output!  I built it to try with some full range speaker drivers and my HE-6 but its also been doing a great job with the HD800's as well

 
 
Have a couple of mods in mind to make it a bit more headphone user friendly.
 

 

 

 

[HiFiChris]

Looks good, man. Any photos of the rear or the inside?

 

[JamieMcC]

^Jamie, that is a beautiful Amp, did you do the woodwork or did the kit include the casing?

 
Thanks I only purchased the pcb boards from diyaudio and the enclosure is a diy affaire and was surprisingly easy to do essentially the heatsinks make up the baulk of it and the wood fixes to them.
 
The kit version they offer is two separate mono blocks.  I found some heat sinks on ebay and put the two separate mono block pcb sections in a single enclosure.
 
http://www.diyaudio.com/store/amplifier-kits/amp-camp-kit-23/aca-bundle-210.html
 
 

 
Its a very simple build link to the kits build guide
 
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/247361-aca-illustrated-build-guide.html
 

Looks good, man. Any photos of the rear or the inside?

 
 

 

 
The only thing to really be aware of is that as a power amp you need to find a way to control the volume either by using a pre amp or a passive attenuator. I have been using the software on my media player to do so temporarily and plan to fit a passive attenuator later.
 
So a word of WARNING please be aware this is a speaker amp and not plug and play for headphone use you could damage your headphones if you forget to have the volume set to the correct levels before plugging in your headphones if no volume control is fitted directly to the amp.
 
dac---->ACA---->headphones via speaker tap adapter. Fitting a panel mounted headout socket would also be option.
 
Edit don't be put off by its simplicity and parts count.  Just remember its a  Nelson Pass mono block fully running in class A  

 sonically its actually pretty damn good and a bit of a eye opener when you consider the parts cost.

 

[ubikutz]

Hi,
 
Anyone had success in using the HD800 with a Sony PS4 for console / gaming with virtual surround sound?
What kind of setup do you use for that?
 
Thanks!

 

[pervysage]

  Hi,
 
Anyone had success in using the HD800 with a Sony PS4 for console / gaming with virtual surround sound?
What kind of setup do you use for that?
 
Thanks!

 
If I can snag this pair of HD800's from Craigslist I will just run it like I run my TH900's. Game Console -> Astro Mixamp (which will provide the virtual surround sound) -> Amp of your choice -> HD800. 
 
The Astro Mixamp part you can change to whichever surround sound device you want to use (X7, Turtle Beach DSS, Creative Recon 3D, etc.)

 

[rawrster]

  Been trying out a new diy amp with my HD800's the Nelson Pass ACA one of his jfet single ended class A  mono block designs with 6W output!  I built it to try with some full range speaker drivers and my HE-6 but its also been doing a great job with the HD800's as well

 
 
Have a couple of mods in mind to make it a bit more headphone user friendly.
 
 
 

 
 

 
That amp looks great. I'm a huge fan of the nelson pass amps from the couple times I've heard them. The F1J is probably the best I've heard the HE-6. It sounds pretty good with the HD800 too. I wish I had the space for something like that and I have a tendency to go through gear quickly if I find a better deal and definitely wouldn't want to deal with shipping on a amp of that size.
 
 
On another note, I should be all set to go with my HD800. It arrives on Friday and I had a cable commissioned by Charleston cable company (I've never bought from them before and customer service seems to be very good). I just have to deal with that long stock cable for a week or so. With the HD800 and HE-6 in my rig again I wish I never went with Stax since I'm back to where I started a few years ago when I had the same headphones...

 

[FlySweep]

  .. I had a cable commissioned by Charleston cable company (I've never bought from them before and customer service seems to be very good). I just have to deal with that long stock cable for a week or so.

 
Chris' cables are terrific.. and he's a excellent guy to deal with.  I've had C3 cables (and interconnects) in the past and was very happy with the quality (and performance.. if you're into that side of things w/ cables).

 

[ubikutz]

   
If I can snag this pair of HD800's from Craigslist I will just run it like I run my TH900's. Game Console -> Astro Mixamp (which will provide the virtual surround sound) -> Amp of your choice -> HD800. 
 
The Astro Mixamp part you can change to whichever surround sound device you want to use (X7, Turtle Beach DSS, Creative Recon 3D, etc.)

What port do you use to connect from the Mixamp to the amp?
Is the "stream out" port the one to use? Does it function like a "line out"?
 
Do you have two volume controls active at the same time? The astro volume and the amp volume?
If so, where do you set your astro volume for best quality?
 
Thanks!

 

[Yviena]

I don't really understand why many people are complaining about the bass and treble on this headphone.

I find that it ruthlessly reveals your upstream gear for what it really sounds like.

Tho it doesn't help that most music nowadays is mastered for the radio,car, beats etc anything with a smiley curve eq

 

[rawrster]

   
Chris' cables are terrific.. and he's a excellent guy to deal with.  I've had C3 cables (and interconnects) in the past and was very happy with the quality (and performance.. if you're into that side of things w/ cables).

 
He seems to go under the radar (similar to Ted from headphone lounge) so easier to provide good customer service and quicker turnaround time assuming it is a one person operation.
 
Hopefully this is my last expensive purchase for a while..I need to stop looking at the FS forums. Almost my entire setup is from impulse purchases...

 

[Oregonian]

   
He seems to go under the radar (similar to Ted from headphone lounge) so easier to provide good customer service and quicker turnaround time assuming it is a one person operation.
 
Hopefully this is my last expensive purchase for a while..I need to stop looking at the FS forums. Almost my entire setup is from impulse purchases...

How do you like the bass compared to the HE-6 I sold you? 

 

[rawrster]

 
How do you like the bass compared to the HE-6 I sold you? 

 
I won't know for some time since I ordered a balanced cable and won't arrive for 2 weeks probably. My system is better off with the HD800 so not really the best comparison since my amp isn't the best for HE-6 but I don't care. It still sounds good enough to me even after hearing better amps in the past. I did own them 2 years ago and the HE-6 bass was definitely better than the HD800. I'm not talking just volume or kick but in general. The bass quality of the HE-6 and that it is visceral (with the right amp) makes it hard to beat. I have a feeling that even with the Taurus the HE-6 bass will be hard to beat. 

 

[Sorrodje]

   
The HE-6 bass was definitely better than the HD800. I'm not talking just volume or kick but in general. The bass quality of the HE-6 and that it is visceral (with the right amp) makes it hard to beat.

 
 
mmmh. that's debatable... The HE-6 and the HD800 has been on my desk for a few weeks now and I still struggle to make my onw opinion about bass and the rest of the spectrum.  I still think both headphones brings something of their own in every area. Bass included.  
 
when I do A/B of the two headphones : when I switch from HE-6 to HD800 I tell myself " OK the upgrade is obvious"... when I switch from HD800 to HE-6 , I tell myself " hum. ****... I feel it's an upgrade as well" ... it's like the two headphones offer two different way to present the music but that two way are both as interesting for me.  I understand better  why so much people come from the HD800 to the HE-6 and the other way ! 

 

[pervysage]

What port do you use to connect from the Mixamp to the amp?
Is the "stream out" port the one to use? Does it function like a "line out"?

Do you have two volume controls active at the same time? The astro volume and the amp volume?
If so, where do you set your astro volume for best quality?

Thanks!

I use a headphone/microphone splitter that came with my Mixamp. That splitter plugs into the headset output on the Mixamp. From there you plug your microphone (I use an Antlion Modmic) into the microphone portion of the splitter and your headphone amplifier into the headphone portion of the splitter.

For the Mixamp volume, I have it fully maxed out and control the volume using my headphone amp. Works with no problems but I have read things in the past where people set there Mixamp volume to 80% or something along those lines.

I would not use the stream out port of the Mixamp at all. It is basically meant for combining everything from your Mixamp (game audio and microphone audio) and sending it to a line in on your computer for live streaming purposes. Even for that purpose I find the stream port to have very bad quality sound for some reason.