[Flumpus]

Well, I'm gonna be getting a penguin cmoy from JMT shortly, and have a total airhead right now... so what I'm wondering is all things considered, if I don't use crossfeed, what would be best for the Ety ER4S? What do you guys think that have heard both? What do yall actually use?

I'll be able to compare the two in a week or two, maybe a little longer, but I'm just curious...

 

[Flumpus]

No one? No opinions?

 

[chych]

I asked Jude this question... I suppose he wouldn't mind if I told you...

He said for the most part, low impedance phones excell on the cmoy while higher ones (like his hd600) are better on the TA.

 

[Tim D]

I was going to post something but felt it would be better if you just found out on your own.

But since comparisons already started...
Barring x-feed, I feel the JMT is a smoother sounding amp. I like it better than TA, but never did a direct A/B. The Ety4S because of its medium impedance will gloss over the slight grain/noise of the TA for the most part. The JMT doesn't have grain/noise to start with.

The JMT amp is in a nice package with knobs and metal switches. The TA will have plastic sliders and switches.

TA will utilize 2 AA's til their last gulp of energy to the most potential til it will finally shut-off

JMT amp will use a 9V which will slowly degrade during its use til it is drained and will eventually be noticable in the form of clipping.

 

[joelongwood]

I've done some direct A/B comparisons with my JMT Penguin and the TA........to my ears, there's no contest. The TA seems to have rolled off highs while the Penguin sounds much more dynamic. Vocals, in particular, take on a realism that can be uncanny at times. There's an edge to the voice......just like in real life. The TA seems to gloss over this detail. The TA seems to have a bit more bass, but it's just that...."more", not better. The Penguin delivers some very deep tight bass. I love it.......that's why I have five of them. JMT is great......he has tailored some of the amps to match up better with specific phones.....different gain settings, different op amps. I don't understand any of this stuff........I just know it works, for me. Flumpus, I think (I know) you'll be very pleased!

 

[CWW]

To color things a bit more. I don't have the TA, but do have a Penguin (www.pepermints.com) JMT amp. I won't make a comparison about something I don't have. To add to the posts about battery life, I'll say I noticed the same thing with regard to slow sound degradation on the JMT. For good reason, he doesn't pinpoint the battery life. Depending on one's fastidiousness I would currently guess it to be more than 12 and less than 25 hours. I know...pretty broad range. I've only had it a week

The voltage output of the alkalines I use starts at just above 9V, which is where a 9V should be. It then slowly looses voltage over time. I don't know how rapidly, but can tell all that using a dead 9V from my multimeter I was able to read 2.4V from the terminals (with new batt in the meter, duh). It wouldn't even power the LCD in the meter with that output. In the amp the crackle was terrible. My first battery to go in the JMT started doing a similar distortion when its voltage output had dropped to 4.2V. I know this because while it was in the amp I tested it. With amp off voltage rises back up (must be a battery thing, I guess). Turning it back on at 5V+ things were clear again as the voltage started immediately dropping to where it made this distortion at around 4.2V. It got down to below 4 and I pronounced it dead and replaced it.

I know I could spot the distortion easily whenever it shows up. The more difficult thing about this amp's power needs is to recognize where the bass starts to fall off. The first thing I noticed with a fresh 9V was crisp balanced bass output. I will try in the future to figure out at what voltage it seems to become shy. My guess is somewhere below 7V, or after around 10 hours, or more use. In the end, I think the point is well taken about battery replacement timing being a bit fuzzy. YMMV.

Test was with Ety ER 4S and 3 9V's at various stages of life.

CWW