[ESL-1]

All of the designs posted on the website have issues. Do you want me to spend all day listing the problems? I can if you don’t believe me.

No, no, too many other fun things to be doing.

 

[catscratch]

He’s not a competitor to Kevin Gilmore designs or what “Spritzer” or other known builders build…no worries, as he is mainly active on the German market

And we all know how “crappy engineered” German producs are: BMW, Mercedes, Porsche… :LOL:

As someone who's owned multiple BMWs I can safely say they're some of the least reliable vehicles I've ever had. So, not the best analogy.

Of course, I still have them, because I am dumb and never learn.

 

[kevin gilmore]

i had an original bmw m3. in 19 months it was in the shop 21 times. head came off twice. got rid of it. replaced it with an audi quatro turbo 200. the only thing worse was the jaguar s type r.

my father had a 300sel3.5. most amazing car ever. very hard to work on. i begged him to get the 6.3 but he would not listen.

 

[NCUS]

The German car companies pushed for diesel, which anyone who lived in CA in the 1980s/1990s should have realized is a horrible idea because NOx is just as bad, if not worse, than CHG emissions. They eventually found out they couldn't meet US EPA NOx regulations with diesel and just faked their way through it and got caught. BMW and MB are lucky VW got socked by the biggest fines.

My wife had her BMW SUV spontaneously light on fire while parked.

That said, any German car is probably more reliable than Land Rovers or Jaguars

 

[Daiyama]

Ok, let’s summarize. Germans build crappy cars and highamp might have had issues with safety (which I doubt its relevance, otherwise one would have heard about it from actual users of these amps).
But what does this have to do with the report of a user who compared directly a Carbon to the highamp Polaris and is in favour of the Polaris?
As long no one else has done this direct comparison I see no valid arguments to the contrary here.

 

[Chefguru]

Ok, let’s summarize. Germans build crappy cars and highamp might have had issues with safety (which I doubt its relevance, otherwise one would have heard about it from actual users of these amps).
But what does this have to do with the report of a user who compared directly a Carbon to the highamp Polaris and is in favour of the Polaris?
As long no one else has done this direct comparison I see no valid arguments to the contrary here.

If you go back a few more posts you’ll see that there was also a review of the other high amp model - which I then noted concerns about with a photo.
There are cases of many poorly built amps over the years either arcing the headphone (blowing holes in the drivers) or the amps themselves failing. This brand has been scrutinized many times over the years.
Buyer beware.

Polaris owner - please do take a photo of the internals so we can review since no schematics are posted

 

[padam]

I won't start with my issues with my Carbon . And believe me, it has issues, tonally and technically.
Do what ever you like to do or not. Much fun with it

Feel free, as a Carbon owner I am genuinely interested and I am very well aware that it's not quite perfect.
Not exactly T2 territory, so I don't expect it.
It's just that what it does do, which is having a very smooth solid-state sound with tight, deep and impactful bass, lots of dynamics (if the headphone can handle it), it does incredibly well.
I borrowed a standard KGSSHV because I could. While this is less versatile, with the right Stax (which in this case was a really special DIY piece on loan, and since it technically does not exist, having both items here really was a "very random occurrence") the sound is really enjoyable.
Nothing bothersome whatsoever, but it is also not boring, which the Carbon can be, depending on the interpretation of the word itself.
Has the ability to 'disappear'. That's what you want after the analysing stuff has been done.

And it is not that simple to properly rate an amp itself per se.
You plug a headphone in and rate it as a system.
If you don't own the thing, just listen at a meet, you'll never get to know what's really like, and how it works.

The problem is that in my view is some people are trying to defend certain headphones that need "inferior" amps to try and correct their flaws, which I advise them not to purchase. The headphones that I came to like sound pretty good on it. (and it's not because of the Carbon, it's because of the headphones themselves)

I let anyone decide as to which opinion/viewpoint is the correct one.
That's the way I see it in my experience, and I am not playing the "I am right, you're not" card.


A guy came over yesterday from quite a distance after speaking on the phone for a long while.
Brought his own source and music, so not "my" system per se.
He could barely make some models fit because his head is shaped differently to mine, but I am genuinely impressed with his hearing.

When he tested the Nova with the KGSSHV (yeah we know how bad this amp is, don't we? worse than Carbon lol)
His first question was: "What's the drawback of this?"
I said: "Yeah that's exactly it: Nothing."

It's just that that you may want More from certain things.
When you want the "zing" but not the "zang" - now that's where it gets tricky.
It can easily turn into what's probably like setting up an F1 car both both slow and fast corners - and straights - and also the drivers's taste and the conditions jada jada...
You either get understeer or oversteer or too much drag or drivers complaining that they can't drive the thing.
You get the idea.

His evaluation is infinitely more simple. Probably all the better for it, didn't cloud his judgement about this or that, he just tested how music sounded like.
First time he's ever been interested in a headphone out of necessity - and I couldn't fool him. (I also didn't want to, but still...)
Like driving an exotic car without realising it, because it's the first car you've sat in and therefore you have no comparison whatsoever.
Some people simply do not care because they intend to go from A-B and don't give a damn about driving experience. Does the job. End of story.
Any headphone can play music a certain level. But levels do exist, although defining them is not so easy.

He might just end up with a really good one if he isn't afraid to be decisive, I am almost jealous of him if this happens, as I wasn't so lucky at first.
Or maybe it's not luck. It's knowledge taken from elsewhere and put into good use.
Takes progress. But some people "just know". Others don't, but after a while, they will. Others again will not, because they do not want to - and they might even try to convince others of certain things.

Other people messaged me on and on, and still to this day, they probably don't realise how much time they've missed by going down a different route.

Of course they've asked about headphones that they've never heard relying upon one opinion out of many, so I can't say I blame them.

 

[Daiyama]

If you go back a few more posts you’ll see that there was also a review of the other high amp model - which I then noted concerns about with a photo.
There are cases of many poorly built amps over the years either arcing the headphone (blowing holes in the drivers) or the amps themselves failing. This brand has been scrutinized many times over the years.
Buyer beware.

Polaris owner - please do take a photo of the internals so we can review since no schematics are posted

Please provide references were a highamp model has caused such problems.

 

[kevin gilmore]

My wife had her BMW SUV spontaneously light on fire while parked.

warning to all that don't know, a lot of cars keep the brake light circuit active when the car is turned off.
then the brake light switch on the master cylinder leaks, and starts the brake fluid on fire.
huge issue with many ford vehicles. and bmw. and few others.

if you have one of these, get it fixed. my neighbor did not listen to the recalls on his car and it almost burned his house down.
firetruck bill ended up being about $18k and then about $50k damage to his house. still smells to this day.

now back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[Aspirant Audiophile]

Feel free, as a Carbon owner I am genuinely interested and I am very well aware that it's not quite perfect.
Not exactly T2 territory, so I don't expect it.
It's just that what it does do, which is having a very smooth solid-state sound with tight, deep and impactful bass, lots of dynamics (if the headphone can handle it), it does incredibly well.
I borrowed a standard KGSSHV because I could. While this is less versatile, with the right Stax (which in this case was a really special DIY piece on loan, and since it technically does not exist, having both items here really was a "very random occurrence") the sound is really enjoyable.
Nothing bothersome whatsoever, but it is also not boring, which the Carbon can be, depending on the interpretation of the word itself.
Has the ability to 'disappear'. That's what you want after the analysing stuff has been done.

And it is not that simple to properly rate an amp itself per se.
You plug a headphone in and rate it as a system.
If you don't own the thing, just listen at a meet, you'll never get to know what's really like, and how it works.

The problem is that in my view is some people are trying to defend certain headphones that need "inferior" amps to try and correct their flaws, which I advise them not to purchase. The headphones that I came to like sound pretty good on it. (and it's not because of the Carbon, it's because of the headphones themselves)

I let anyone decide as to which opinion/viewpoint is the correct one.
That's the way I see it in my experience, and I am not playing the "I am right, you're not" card.


A guy came over yesterday from quite a distance after speaking on the phone for a long while.
Brought his own source and music, so not "my" system per se.
He could barely make some models fit because his head is shaped differently to mine, but I am genuinely impressed with his hearing.

When he tested the Nova with the KGSSHV (yeah we know how bad this amp is, don't we? worse than Carbon lol)
His first question was: "What's the drawback of this?"
I said: "Yeah that's exactly it: Nothing."

It's just that that you may want More from certain things.
When you want the "zing" but not the "zang" - now that's where it gets tricky.
It can easily turn into what's probably like setting up an F1 car both both slow and fast corners - and straights - and also the drivers's taste and the conditions jada jada...
You either get understeer or oversteer or too much drag or drivers complaining that they can't drive the thing.
You get the idea.

His evaluation is infinitely more simple. Probably all the better for it, didn't cloud his judgement about this or that, he just tested how music sounded like.
First time he's ever been interested in a headphone out of necessity - and I couldn't fool him. (I also didn't want to, but still...)
Like driving an exotic car without realising it, because it's the first car you've sat in and therefore you have no comparison whatsoever.
Some people simply do not care because they intend to go from A-B and don't give a damn about driving experience. Does the job. End of story.
Any headphone can play music a certain level. But levels do exist, although defining them is not so easy.

He might just end up with a really good one if he isn't afraid to be decisive, I am almost jealous of him if this happens, as I wasn't so lucky at first.
Or maybe it's not luck. It's knowledge taken from elsewhere and put into good use.
Takes progress. But some people "just know". Others don't, but after a while, they will. Others again will not, because they do not want to - and they might even try to convince others of certain things.

Other people messaged me on and on, and still to this day, they probably don't realise how much time they've missed by going down a different route.

Of course they've asked about headphones that they've never heard relying upon one opinion out of many, so I can't say I blame them.

This, for so many reasons.

Earlier today I was casually listening to x9000 on a Carbon (terrible synergy, some would say) with a decent-but-not-millionaire-level Magni phono and a 30-year-old Thorens...Maybe very focused AB testing would change my mind, but I thought, "Damn this sounds so good on a Carbon."

Of course, I had a similar reaction to five different vinyl-as-source chains. Tubefests vs. no tubes, Sigma/404 vs. 007mki, MT vs 353x vs Carbon...nothing was better/best, each was different.

 

[sillie]

Well, I owned a Sirrah for many years before I updated to a Alpha Centauri. And I had also the opportunity to compare both with a Carbon. The Carbon had to struggle to keep on the level of the Sirrah, and had no chance against the Alpha Centauri. The Alpha Centauri sounds very clear, with a fine resolution and meanwhile, with the push-pull update it has a very deep and dry bass. I never had any problem with the designs of high-amp. Andreas is building amps since nearly 20 years and I have never heard that there was any trouble with his amplifiers.

 

[Chefguru]

Please provide references were a highamp model has caused such problems.

Re-read what I wrote. There is a plethora of estat amps over the years being built poorly with the same type of carelessness for safety that have caused headphone arcing & amp failure. The internal photos of these amps that have been posted show the same concerns. The schematics posted on the website have issues - I pointed some of those out as an example.

This is a systemic issue with many estat amp builders. The KG designs themselves have been butcher by many builders and scrutinized. There needs to be much better transparency about what is actually in these black boxes so that over the long haul they can continue to improve. It’s very unfortunate to think that outside of Stax and KG-builders I can only think of Frank Cooter who made anything worthwhile. It’s nice seeing Justin push for the DHT amp based on his own design (even if it takes half a decade).

I hope I am very wrong about the Polaris and it’s a fantastic amp both sonically & structurally. All signs point to no. If the owner wants to send me an interior photo privately I promise not to re-post without their permission,

 

[alota]

Rileggi quello che ho scritto. C'è una pletora di amplificatori statali nel corso degli anni costruiti male con lo stesso tipo di disattenzione per la sicurezza che ha causato la formazione di archi elettrici nelle cuffie e il guasto dell'amplificatore. Le foto interne di questi amplificatori che sono state pubblicate mostrano le stesse preoccupazioni. Gli schemi pubblicati sul sito Web presentano problemi: ne ho indicati alcuni come esempio.

Questo è un problema sistemico per molti costruttori di amplificatori statali. I progetti KG stessi sono stati macellati da molti costruttori e esaminati attentamente. È necessaria una maggiore trasparenza su ciò che effettivamente c’è in queste scatole nere in modo che nel lungo periodo possano continuare a migliorare. È davvero un peccato pensare che al di fuori dei costruttori Stax e KG posso pensare solo a Frank Cooter che ha realizzato qualcosa di utile. È bello vedere Justin spingere per l'amplificatore DHT basato sul suo progetto (anche se ci vorrà mezzo decennio).

Spero di sbagliarmi di grosso riguardo al Polaris ed è un amplificatore fantastico sia dal punto di vista sonoro che strutturale. Tutti i segnali indicano no. Se il proprietario vuole inviarmi una foto degli interni in privato prometto di non ripubblicarla senza il suo Permesso,

The picture is in the site like i told you in a previous post

 

[Daiyama]

Re-read what I wrote. There is a plethora of estat amps over the years being built poorly with the same type of carelessness for safety that have caused headphone arcing & amp failure. The internal photos of these amps that have been posted show the same concerns. The schematics posted on the website have issues - I pointed some of those out as an example.

This is a systemic issue with many estat amp builders. The KG designs themselves have been butcher by many builders and scrutinized. There needs to be much better transparency about what is actually in these black boxes so that over the long haul they can continue to improve. It’s very unfortunate to think that outside of Stax and KG-builders I can only think of Frank Cooter who made anything worthwhile. It’s nice seeing Justin push for the DHT amp based on his own design (even if it takes half a decade).

I hope I am very wrong about the Polaris and it’s a fantastic amp both sonically & structurally. All signs point to no. If the owner wants to send me an interior photo privately I promise not to re-post without their permission,

Please re-read what I have ask. Show me a reference of a failed (or headphone killing) highamp. It is as simple as that.
I do not care about similar designs in other devices and and their failure rates. And even when the schematics have „issues“, the highamp devices in the field seems not to have (or you could provide references). So for me you are only theorising here without actual evidence about highamp amps.

I can also theorise, highamp does not advertise their products in messages boards (as other builders intensively do), highamp relies mainly on positive recommendations of satisfied customers, which are by the way constantly ignored here. If the devices would be prone to these failures you claim here, highamp would be long out of business, but they are not, so there seems to be some build quality here.

 

[yaps66]

Re-read what I wrote. There is a plethora of estat amps over the years being built poorly with the same type of carelessness for safety that have caused headphone arcing & amp failure. The internal photos of these amps that have been posted show the same concerns. The schematics posted on the website have issues - I pointed some of those out as an example.

This is a systemic issue with many estat amp builders. The KG designs themselves have been butcher by many builders and scrutinized. There needs to be much better transparency about what is actually in these black boxes so that over the long haul they can continue to improve. It’s very unfortunate to think that outside of Stax and KG-builders I can only think of Frank Cooter who made anything worthwhile. It’s nice seeing Justin push for the DHT amp based on his own design (even if it takes half a decade).

I hope I am very wrong about the Polaris and it’s a fantastic amp both sonically & structurally. All signs point to no. If the owner wants to send me an interior photo privately I promise not to re-post without their permission,

Shout out to John Mclean (@johnwillmclean) who built my KGSSHV Carbon. Love it to bits! Driving my X9k and L500 just fine!