[Budgie]

I think i am going out for some pizza and beer, nighty-night!

 

[carlo]

mark,

just to be clear, i agree with some of what you have to say on this issue (i'm not addressing the topic since i'm not really in the mood for it). but the melos gold reference/maestro board is a different beast than what you've stated on this board (i understand your reasons for thinking what you think, but its wrong - there's a lot going on in that circuit), the actually of what it is needed to be clarified so people have accurate information.

if you'd like it explained further, pm/email. (note: since i have a mall-fi ad now i feel i need to say this: this offer or any explanation of the melos by myself on this board has nothing to do with anything but information)

you caught on to the code in your signature in a fancy way, nice

carlo.

 

[markl]

Quote:

you caught on to the code in your signature in a fancy way, nice

Thanks to you, carlo, yes!

Quote:

(i'm not addressing the topic since i'm not really in the mood for it).

Fine... be that way!!!

Quote:

but the melos gold reference/maestro board is a different beast than what you've stated on this board (i understand your reasons for thinking what you think, but its wrong - there's a lot going on in that circuit),

Yes, I am a self-described "layman". I'd go so far as to say I'm a "layman's layman".

I'm only going on gut instinct here, and I can accept if I'm wrong. Cheers.

Mark

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Going by carlo's description, sounds like the Melos is a nice preamp and headphone amp only because it CONTAINS a nice preamp and headphone amp--the investments in the two parts don't overlap at all huh?

By the same token, your 3.5k HT receiver may act as a nice headphone amp BECAUSE it contains a better headphone amp than the average $300 headphone amp...

 

[Pepzhez]

I'll throw in my 2 cents ...

I've long recommended Adcom preamps because, in addition to their overall quality (price-performance ratio), they have (or had - I don't know about these days, as they've changed owners) stellar headphone amps which will easily slay the headphone amps in NAD preamps, for example. I would not say that the Adcom headphone amps are the ultimate, but they will hold their own against many a standalone head amp costing $500 or thereabouts. In other words, more than enough for most people, and, in many cases, far superior to what they would probably purchase in a standalone head amp.

Actually, the Adcom preamp more than satisfies my headphone needs, but then I prefer my B&W speakers, in any case. For portable use, a JMT CHA-47 (haven't yet heard a META at all) is a sweet deal.

 

[halcyon]

With the risk of repeating, I urge some of you to read a review I translated in to English:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=18830

It contains comments from an electrical engineer and an audiophile, Risto Niska, who has been testing and measuring headphones for over a decade.

His own conclusion echoes that of some others here: the single biggest factor changing the audible quality of headphones is the output impedance of the headphone jack.

He argues based on his measurements and listening tests that most integrated amps have too high impedance from their output jacks while many portable sources have a sufficiently low impedance.

He has also measured the impedance curves for various headphones and mapped how they change as a function of frequency.

I wish I could translate the whole review from word to word into English with all the graphs. It would make so much sense.

regards,
Halcyon