The (Un)Official Amp Thread For ZMF Headphones
- Thread starter Monsterzero
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That'll buff right out.
iamoneagain
Headphoneus Supremus
But to be honest, it did sound nice with my Grado RS-1 I had at the time. It’s just that it’s kind of upsetting to find out what was inside of it for the cost at the time. I think I must of gotten mine second hand on classified here. If you have efficient headphones, I suppose this might be all you need.
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Pharmaboy
Headphoneus Supremus
Ambulance doctor to bullfighter who just got gored in the bull-ring: "That'll buff right out"
(sound of a heart monitor flatlining)
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jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
No wonder RA-1 sounds so airy!
iamoneagain
Headphoneus Supremus
Essentially you could get a mcoy amp in an altoids tin for under $40 and have what’s in that Grado amp for anyone curious about the sound quality. Then get your own wood and build a nice ZMF style case. Might need some upgraded caps too.
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idairyou
500+ Head-Fier
C-3PO walks into a room:
'How interesting.'
'Oh my!'
'I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude.'
'Please don't get up.'
'Noooooo!'
PEW PEW!!!!
Nayyte
100+ Head-Fier
Hello fellow zmfers. I'm looking for a new amp/DAC/separates for my OG Auteur. Currently I have a Rogue RH-5 fed by a audio-gd R-1 nos r2r dac. While this sounds great for my HD600's and as a preamp, I feel it smooths things out too much for the Auteur. I'm missing a lot of bite to the music and the Auteur is so good at providing that edge to the notes in a pleasurable way. Before I was just using my questyle cma400i which has an akm DAC. Definitely has the edge but lacked the right tonality and definition. My budget max would be $1500 as I would like to work towards something special. I'm actually building a crack with speedball right now and am interested to see how that sounds.
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
For the headphone amplifier driving Auteur OG (and other ZMF dynamic driver h/p): Icon Audio HP8 Signature.
PS: could you build BHC initially without Speedball? then install Speedball, if need be.
Nayyte
100+ Head-Fier
I'm on the last page for the basic crack. I could definitely test it out first. I've got some tubes to roll with it as well. RCA 6AS7 black plate, 6BL7GTA (this one needs the speedball per my research).
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
I ask because BHC without Speedball excels in depth and soundstage. BHC with Speedball has solid-state tendencies to ‘quick’ transients with some diminution of liquidity and soundstage.
Nayyte
100+ Head-Fier
Yeah I have heard that too. I did a/b test my rogue with both my r2r and akm DACs and it was the r2r that did the smoothing out of the edges that I talked about. I've found that it's amazing for high resolution recordings like jazz and classical and anything else well recorded. It is turn makes pop music sound very exaggerated in the wrong places. I like my Paramore sometimes but through the r2r it was terriblely bloated sounding.
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
Interesting that you say that through Audio-gd R-1 sound is occasionally bloated. The Mojo Audio Mystique (EVO pro level) DAC - massive R2R - is never that. 
EDIT: Mystique does not round off transients; it also has no ‘false’ / ‘etched’ detail.
EDIT: Mystique does not round off transients; it also has no ‘false’ / ‘etched’ detail.
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Hi Nayyte. If I recall correctly, your R1-NOS is still fairly new, isn't it? While I don't own one, I have read they take many hours to settle in and reveal their true sound. How many hours would you say the DAC has played? Just making sure it's fully burned in before you decide it's not right for you (but if you do decide that, I may want to buy it from you!).
