kelly
Herr Babelfish der Übersetzer, he wore a whipped-cream-covered tutu for this title.
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- Jan 1, 2002
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I started a thread over in the Headroom section a little while back but didn't really get a satisfying answer. Of course, I can understand why Headroom might not want to share in detail the design of their amplifiers and why certain decisions were made, but I'm hoping maybe some of you guys might have some insight.
Here's the original thread if anyone is interested:
Max is Class AB?
My basic premise is this:
(Crossfeed and filter issues aside.) I think the Max is a killer amp. It has bass, blackness and speed better than any solidstate amplifier I have heard. What it lacks is high frequency detail (ambient detail, texture). What I wonder is if this was a design goal--not everyone likes the same sound.
When I was auditioning the Max connected to a Sony XA777ES with the Sony R10 headphones at a meet, Edwin (the owner of the R10) said that the Max sounded "distant" compared to the Sugden Headmaster. That's probably the best way to describe that missing high frequency information. It simply sounds like things are further away. Of course, for some people that texture information may be too much--it may be thought to be fatiguing or even surreal. For me, the intimacy is part of the allure of headphones.
Bottom line? I want it all. I want the texture that I hear from Class A amplifiers and I want the other benefits that seem to be reaped from the Max's dual discrete power components. Danny says in essence that they were unable to run the OPA627 in Class A and still use the discrete components they used. Can anyone elaborate on this?
Of course, I know running the OPA627 in Class A isn't the whole solution and a lot of you have really put effort into opening up the treble with the cascode current sources, buffers and different opamp families. I'm still learning this stuff, so I'm just trying to spawn some conversation.
So anyone wanna take a stab at reverse engineering the Max in this thread?
Here's the original thread if anyone is interested:
Max is Class AB?
My basic premise is this:
(Crossfeed and filter issues aside.) I think the Max is a killer amp. It has bass, blackness and speed better than any solidstate amplifier I have heard. What it lacks is high frequency detail (ambient detail, texture). What I wonder is if this was a design goal--not everyone likes the same sound.
When I was auditioning the Max connected to a Sony XA777ES with the Sony R10 headphones at a meet, Edwin (the owner of the R10) said that the Max sounded "distant" compared to the Sugden Headmaster. That's probably the best way to describe that missing high frequency information. It simply sounds like things are further away. Of course, for some people that texture information may be too much--it may be thought to be fatiguing or even surreal. For me, the intimacy is part of the allure of headphones.
Bottom line? I want it all. I want the texture that I hear from Class A amplifiers and I want the other benefits that seem to be reaped from the Max's dual discrete power components. Danny says in essence that they were unable to run the OPA627 in Class A and still use the discrete components they used. Can anyone elaborate on this?
Of course, I know running the OPA627 in Class A isn't the whole solution and a lot of you have really put effort into opening up the treble with the cascode current sources, buffers and different opamp families. I'm still learning this stuff, so I'm just trying to spawn some conversation.
So anyone wanna take a stab at reverse engineering the Max in this thread?