carlo
Founder of 5 in heavy rotation
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2001
- Posts
- 1,270
- Likes
- 10
just to get a few things out of the way: Jon is a great guy who was very patient with some problems that came up along the way (long story). i'm also typing without regard to spelling and proper capitalization, so try to forgive me. i've been using the amp for around two weeks, had it for about three, with the following equipment:
Headphones:
Grado SR225, SR60, and (for a couple of days) SR125
Sennheiser HD580
Sources:
(portable)
Sony D-E220
Soundesign 4925
<background info>
production date according to the sticker is july 1990, huge and cumbersome, long TOC recognition and uses 6 AA batteries. but it also has a line out and has a certain old school charm to it. sounds much better than the sony in my opinion. i was lucky enough to find it in my parents' garage a week ago.
</background info>
(home, all through a Monster HTS2500 plugged into an Eagle outlet)
AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000, see profile for various tweaks/mods.
Arcam Alpha 9, see profile for tweaks.
nOhr CD-1 (stock tubes) on audition.
Amps used for reference:
Anthem Pre-1L tube/ss (mods, see profile) hybrid headphone jack
MG Head DT (stock tubes)
cabling:
Radioshack Gold Series (6 ft?) male to male jack for portable use.
Monster Interlink headphone to RCAs (note: these cables claim to be directional and i used them the wrong way... i'm comfortable with that).
batteries are Duracell M3 Ultra.
i initially wanted to hold off for about a month before sharing my impressions, but believe it or not i've heard the little CMOY for at least a few hours through all of the above equipment. i'm on my second (!) battery now; i really need more supervision at work. i also stupidly bent the stylus on my cartridge (just after selling my backup), so not only am i bitter but no vinyl for this review. anyway, i've logged countless hours on the amp and have a free saturday night so...
build quality is great, nice clean layout and coolness to spare (got the nifty wintergreen altoids tin). JMT was kind enough to optimize the circuit for Grado SR125s (which i was planning on buying at the time of the order). my unit now has quite a few dings, dents, scratches, and a loose volume knob from all the use i've put it through (as well as spending a lot of time in my backpack and pocket). of course this is absolutely not a knock against Jon, who used the altoids tin at my request, but when i get around to building one i plan on using a heftier case.
on to the sound:
obviously, i find the sound of this thing addicting. clear sound from top to bottom, foot tapping grooviness, and (once again) it's just great to look at. through the grado sr225s, my preferred 'phones, i listen for hours without any sense of fatigue. the amp does justice to rock and roll, showing off the grado's delightful midrange and warmth. comparing my portable unit's ouput to that of the CMOY would be a waste of space: the latter more air, more body, yadda yadda.
what should be noted is that for the first time i can hear the differences between burned and original CDs away from a dedicated home setup. i usually burn copies for listening on the go using an ancient pentium II based computer and a cheap cd writer at 12x speed using feurio (http://feurio.com) to transmit bits on the fly... certainly not the best conditions. while on my (admittedly non-hirez but revealing) home setup there's a flatness with cdr's*, but quite honesty i've never heard a difference in either my car or sony portable. with the cmoy, cdrs using the above method sound granier and harsher than their originals.
more interestingly, the CMOY has quite a different character than the Anthem's head amp. the former sounds much more linear on the top end, with a crispness on treble and quickness with transients. drum and cymbal work on the strokes' is this it? was headbobbingly good, and while lacking the texture of the anthem's sound, had my foot taping and fingers snapping. yes, literally. "texture" being the fullness of a kick drum (the velvet underground's "peel here" remastering of loaded is one of my reference recordings for this very subject) and the decay of a cymbal ringing in space. acoustic guitar goes to the anthem, but not by much. at lower listening levels the CMOY holds it's character while the Pre1L collapses and smears a bit. the addage of equal but not the same applies; the anthem certainly adds a touch of bloat to the lower midrange and sweetens the highs (which imo sounds more realistic on acoustic material), while the CMOY could be called "accurate."
through the Sennheiser HD580s, some of the weaknesses of the amp become aparent. the little portable has more than enough power to drive them to satisfying levels (i'm listening with this very setup right now with the volume level at about 1/3 or 1/4 of full bore), however, the overall sound is lean, giving the impression of too much energy from lower treble on up. bass lines, while quick, don't extend to anything resembling the lower octaves, nor does it have the weight to be musical in my opinion. listening to, say, early bob dylan is satisfactory. listening to later radiohead isn't. no, i'm not a bass freak, but without a solid foundation the amp sounds, quite honestly, sharp and stringent. a noticable amount of grain is evident through all of my sources (although less so with the home players). an obvious possibility is, of course, that Jon had the SR125 in mind when setting gain (i'm not aware if he does any other mods for Sennheiser users).
i will say this: the CMOY is much quieter without a signal than the MG Head DT (i get a small bit of transformer hum from the DT, but it's forgetable at normal listening levels). what the CMOY isn't is more transparent... compared with the Head the various home cd players sound different, but not as different, if you catch my drift. in this regard Jon's amp is the equal of the Anthem, which is saying something, but not much.
i'm lucky enough to own two good pairs of headphones and amplifiers that drive them well. i make no secret to friends and collegues that i prefer the Grado sound (via my Anthem) to Sennheiser's linearity (via the Head DT)... with Jon's CMOY i gotta say that my SR125s have more of what i like about my HD580s. i lack the ability to clarify that further, but i hope that makes sense to you as the reader. is this cool little design in the altoids tin reference quality? sure, but what the hell do i know? i've bought every headphone amp i've tried. what i can say is this: the sound i'm presently getting through this thing has me exploring different cabling options from markertek, as well as diy options. a bargain? in my humble opinion, definitely.
best,
carlo.
*re: cdr info above - using EAC and burning at 2x or 4x speed (once again, with feurio) leads to copies that, to my ears, are indiscernable from the original.
Headphones:
Grado SR225, SR60, and (for a couple of days) SR125
Sennheiser HD580
Sources:
(portable)
Sony D-E220
Soundesign 4925
<background info>
production date according to the sticker is july 1990, huge and cumbersome, long TOC recognition and uses 6 AA batteries. but it also has a line out and has a certain old school charm to it. sounds much better than the sony in my opinion. i was lucky enough to find it in my parents' garage a week ago.
</background info>
(home, all through a Monster HTS2500 plugged into an Eagle outlet)
AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000, see profile for various tweaks/mods.
Arcam Alpha 9, see profile for tweaks.
nOhr CD-1 (stock tubes) on audition.
Amps used for reference:
Anthem Pre-1L tube/ss (mods, see profile) hybrid headphone jack
MG Head DT (stock tubes)
cabling:
Radioshack Gold Series (6 ft?) male to male jack for portable use.
Monster Interlink headphone to RCAs (note: these cables claim to be directional and i used them the wrong way... i'm comfortable with that).
batteries are Duracell M3 Ultra.
i initially wanted to hold off for about a month before sharing my impressions, but believe it or not i've heard the little CMOY for at least a few hours through all of the above equipment. i'm on my second (!) battery now; i really need more supervision at work. i also stupidly bent the stylus on my cartridge (just after selling my backup), so not only am i bitter but no vinyl for this review. anyway, i've logged countless hours on the amp and have a free saturday night so...
build quality is great, nice clean layout and coolness to spare (got the nifty wintergreen altoids tin). JMT was kind enough to optimize the circuit for Grado SR125s (which i was planning on buying at the time of the order). my unit now has quite a few dings, dents, scratches, and a loose volume knob from all the use i've put it through (as well as spending a lot of time in my backpack and pocket). of course this is absolutely not a knock against Jon, who used the altoids tin at my request, but when i get around to building one i plan on using a heftier case.
on to the sound:
obviously, i find the sound of this thing addicting. clear sound from top to bottom, foot tapping grooviness, and (once again) it's just great to look at. through the grado sr225s, my preferred 'phones, i listen for hours without any sense of fatigue. the amp does justice to rock and roll, showing off the grado's delightful midrange and warmth. comparing my portable unit's ouput to that of the CMOY would be a waste of space: the latter more air, more body, yadda yadda.
what should be noted is that for the first time i can hear the differences between burned and original CDs away from a dedicated home setup. i usually burn copies for listening on the go using an ancient pentium II based computer and a cheap cd writer at 12x speed using feurio (http://feurio.com) to transmit bits on the fly... certainly not the best conditions. while on my (admittedly non-hirez but revealing) home setup there's a flatness with cdr's*, but quite honesty i've never heard a difference in either my car or sony portable. with the cmoy, cdrs using the above method sound granier and harsher than their originals.
more interestingly, the CMOY has quite a different character than the Anthem's head amp. the former sounds much more linear on the top end, with a crispness on treble and quickness with transients. drum and cymbal work on the strokes' is this it? was headbobbingly good, and while lacking the texture of the anthem's sound, had my foot taping and fingers snapping. yes, literally. "texture" being the fullness of a kick drum (the velvet underground's "peel here" remastering of loaded is one of my reference recordings for this very subject) and the decay of a cymbal ringing in space. acoustic guitar goes to the anthem, but not by much. at lower listening levels the CMOY holds it's character while the Pre1L collapses and smears a bit. the addage of equal but not the same applies; the anthem certainly adds a touch of bloat to the lower midrange and sweetens the highs (which imo sounds more realistic on acoustic material), while the CMOY could be called "accurate."
through the Sennheiser HD580s, some of the weaknesses of the amp become aparent. the little portable has more than enough power to drive them to satisfying levels (i'm listening with this very setup right now with the volume level at about 1/3 or 1/4 of full bore), however, the overall sound is lean, giving the impression of too much energy from lower treble on up. bass lines, while quick, don't extend to anything resembling the lower octaves, nor does it have the weight to be musical in my opinion. listening to, say, early bob dylan is satisfactory. listening to later radiohead isn't. no, i'm not a bass freak, but without a solid foundation the amp sounds, quite honestly, sharp and stringent. a noticable amount of grain is evident through all of my sources (although less so with the home players). an obvious possibility is, of course, that Jon had the SR125 in mind when setting gain (i'm not aware if he does any other mods for Sennheiser users).
i will say this: the CMOY is much quieter without a signal than the MG Head DT (i get a small bit of transformer hum from the DT, but it's forgetable at normal listening levels). what the CMOY isn't is more transparent... compared with the Head the various home cd players sound different, but not as different, if you catch my drift. in this regard Jon's amp is the equal of the Anthem, which is saying something, but not much.
i'm lucky enough to own two good pairs of headphones and amplifiers that drive them well. i make no secret to friends and collegues that i prefer the Grado sound (via my Anthem) to Sennheiser's linearity (via the Head DT)... with Jon's CMOY i gotta say that my SR125s have more of what i like about my HD580s. i lack the ability to clarify that further, but i hope that makes sense to you as the reader. is this cool little design in the altoids tin reference quality? sure, but what the hell do i know? i've bought every headphone amp i've tried. what i can say is this: the sound i'm presently getting through this thing has me exploring different cabling options from markertek, as well as diy options. a bargain? in my humble opinion, definitely.
best,
carlo.
*re: cdr info above - using EAC and burning at 2x or 4x speed (once again, with feurio) leads to copies that, to my ears, are indiscernable from the original.
