[kugino]

   
I do not believe he is selling carbons so you might want to check whether he wants this posted.
 
HS

i figured he was selling them since he is building multiple boxes...but yeah, i probably shouldn't post things unless checking with him first. good to know that they're all spoken for...i think he's a tremendous builder and from all my dealings with him, a really good guy, too. 

 

[comzee]

The soundstage isn't huge but at the same time natural and intimate...

The smaller soundstage might be the source you're using. I use the 009/Carbon with a Yggdrasil. I get what I would consider massive soundstage. 
I've used my Master 7 with the 009/Carbon for quite a bit too. Although it is also an amazing dac, the soundstage is quite smaller.
 
The the shining trait, imo, of the Ygg is soundstage, and the Carbon doesn't hold it back in any way.

 

[Dr. T]

Been listening a couple days now with the sr009 and kgsshv carbon from Birgir. Impressions are details, extension, speed, transparency blows all my orthos/planar headphones out the water. The soundstage isn't huge but at the same time natural and intimate...

Agreed whole heartedly. I was able to get a Carbon second hand. After a few sessions with the 009's I promptly sold my HE-6's and LCD-2's. They might as well go to someone who will use them. I'm done with orthos. 

 

[sensui123]

Source is Metrum Pavane.... My endgame dac basically. To be fair I'm comparing with speakers and other big stage headphones like hd800 and he1000. To me, I think the he1000 positions sound the best I've heard so far out of headphones. But the sr009 is just killer across the board.

 

[bmichels]

... All in all, I can't wait for the bhse to come in so I can compare. 

 
when do you expect the BHSE to come in ?   2017 ? 2018 ? .... 

     ( I have one ordered, but... I have not even heard from Justin about my colour choice, so....)
 
BTW: did you ordered your BHSE with the upgraded ALPS RK50 volume pot ?    ( I forgot to ask for this upgrade, is it worthy ? does it improve SQ ? are there other upgrade to ask for ? )

 

[sensui123]

The bhse should come soon. Balance paid and Justin told me it's been testing since February. Yes it's with the RK50 pot upgrade. Don't want to get my hopes to since testing takes awhile too heh.

 

[potkettleblack]

I didn't realise things like this were so exclusive and weren't ongoing. I assume that there aren't many people making these worldwide? I think I'll be getting the HD800S tomorrow, but I lust after the L700 and had planned it for the start of the next year.

 

[soren_brix]

   
when do you expect the BHSE to come in ?   2017 ? 2018 ? .... 

     ( I have one ordered, but... I have not even heard from Justin about my colour choice, so....)
 
BTW: did you ordered your BHSE with the upgraded ALPS RK50 volume pot ?    ( I forgot to ask for this upgrade, is it worthy ? does it improve SQ ? are there other upgrade to ask for ? )

You've ordered a BHSE, and forgot to decide whether to get the RK50 or not? and don't have a clue in rgrds to RK50 and SQ? ... however, you do know your color of choice ...

 

[potkettleblack]

You've ordered a BHSE, and forgot to decide whether to get the RK50 or not? and don't have a clue in rgrds to RK50 and SQ? ... however, you do know your color of choice ...

If only he could be as prepared and as knowledgable as you, soren.

 

[zolkis]

Are there informative reviews between the RK50 and other good pots/attenuators? Among the ones I've found only one guy claimed it sounded less colored through the Stax 009 than other solutions.
At least Accuphase is not using it any more, not sure if because of cost or because their AAVA attenuator sounds better.
 
I've got the RK50, but only to my Stax amp, as it was there I wanted to maximize transparency and I haven't tried other pots there. In a speaker amp, apart from nice tracking and smooth operation, there are well built carbon film pots out there that sound as good or very near (as far as I can tell) -- though I am not really fit to judge as I was never able to make that much difference between "good enough" pots.
 
The ~600 euros price of the RK50 made even my perfectionist audiophool mind think about returns of investment. It seems better to invest in caps, especially tweeter series caps, arguably the single most important component apart from drivers. However, once or twice in a lifetime it's probably OK, and once gotten, I will not take part of it.
 
So the point is: if you've got it, don't look back, and if you don't have it but have e.g. a BHSE, be happy with it.

 

[comzee]

  The ~600 euros price of the RK50 made even my perfectionist audiophool mind think about returns of investment.

That's quite expensive for just a pot. This is the one Birgir uses in his Carbon. I searched the crap out of Google, and I can't find what this thing is apart from it being Alpha. Apparently it's a 21mm quad pot, best I could find.

Spoiler: Image

 
I like stepped attenuators, they appear to be more transparent to me. I'm using a Goldpt V24 Quad as a passive preamp, works a treat.
 
edit:
TIL I guess the Goldpt is a series Attenuator, not stepped.

 

[Pale Rider]

I used to prefer quality stepped attenuators as well, until I got one of these in my speaker system:
 
Tortuga Audio Passive Preamp 
 
The LDRs are beyond transparent, whatever that might be. Sounds like hype, I know, but in this case, completely warranted. The LDR has made me think of asking Birgir if he would build a straight Carbon, with no volume control. In my speaker system, it's as if the sound was "released."

 

[comzee]

  The LDRs are beyond transparent, whatever that might be.

I think a general concept is that resistor series are better then potentiometers.
GoldPt quotes about their V24 "You can string dozens of them together and that will still sound like a single individual resistor!"
 
It would be interesting to get an oscilloscope and pass thru 1khz sine wave through both LDRs and Thin Films.
Not even sure if oscilloscopes exist that are sensitive enough to test the difference between the two.

 

[Pale Rider]

  I think a general concept is that resistor series are better then potentiometers.
GoldPt quotes about their V24 "You can string dozens of them together and that will still sound like a single individual resistor!"
 
It would be interesting to get an oscilloscope and pass thru 1khz sine wave through both LDRs and Thin Films.
Not even sure if oscilloscopes exist that are sensitive enough to test the difference between the two.

With enough beer, I bet we could hear anything.

 

[Bjmjpl]

Hello all,
 
Just received my beautiful purple amp from Justin - i have (i thought) everything i needed - including the cardas cables balanced for pono recommended by the great folks here...but i did not receive a power supply cable - i have the umbilical and i have researched to see if i was supposed to receive the cable - but i have nothing to plus the power supply into the wall...am i supposed to - can i just use a regular desktop computer cable that fits fine?
 
In researching this i also saw this link to this video that i had no idea i was supposed to be doing....
 
 video 
 
so this makes me nervous to use this computer cable - can somebody let me know so i can listen?!?!??!?!?!  lol - soooo ready - its been like 2 years!
 
and ps - is there anything else i need/should be doing to maximize this equipment?
 
thank you all for your continued learning and support!