[Nostoi]

Zeos just posted a YouTube review of Zähl HM1 -

That escalated quickly.

 

[adrianm]

Well that was disappointing, even for Zeos. What I find most depressing is his subscriber count versus say a channel like this :



And I'm not even a Susvara fan.

 

[chesebert]

I find Z’s ability to not give a F is rather refreshing in a sea of shills (like the “reviewer” in the above video)

 

[chesebert]

Also, spending tons of money on dynamic headphone amplifier never made much sense to me. We are talking about a 4-5in driver (at the most) that is generally very linear, relatively sensitive with almost flat impedance curve - like the simplest possible load to drive. You would be much better off spending the bucks on the front end or headphones (thank you, HFM and Audeze for driving up the cost of headphones around 2010ish; we can now all pay more and get less)

 

[orrman]

Also, spending tons of money on dynamic headphone amplifier never made much sense to me. We are talking about a 4-5in driver (at the most) that is generally very linear, relatively sensitive with almost flat impedance curve - like the simplest possible load to drive. You would be much better off spending the bucks on the front end or headphones (thank you, HFM and Audeze for driving up the cost of headphones around 2010ish; we can now all pay more and get less)

well I plan to use it to drive headphones as well as preamp for my active monitors and the ability to move between the feedback options and soundstage and small eq changes go a long way to being better suited to do all of that. You pay extra here because it's made in small quantities and flexible with different gear on top of being high quality sound. That's at least how I see it. It's definitely not for everyone. Cost of a device is not only associated to how good it sounds.

 

[chesebert]

well I plan to use it to drive headphones as well as preamp for my active monitors and the ability to move between the feedback options and soundstage and small eq changes go a long way to being better suited to do all of that. You pay extra here because it's made in small quantities and flexible with different gear on top of being high quality sound. That's at least how I see it. It's definitely not for everyone. Cost of a device is not only associated to how good it sounds.

Makes sense for the special use case. And yes, you do have to pay out to get something special. But kind of nuts to think Zahl costs more than LTA Z40, which is also small batch, uses good quality parts but is a lot more substantial in terms of materials and is a full-fledged integrated amp with a pretty decent headphone amp for dynamic cans. If Zahl is charging that much for a headphone amp, at least do what dan d agostino does - make it beautiful/unique.

 

[orrman]

But kind of nuts to think Zahl costs more than LTA Z40, which is also small batch, uses good quality parts but is a lot more substantial in terms of materials and is a full-fledged integrated amp with a pretty decent headphone amp for dynamic cans.

well that's because the Z40 is an amazing deal

 

[paradoxper]

Also, spending tons of money on dynamic headphone amplifier never made much sense to me. We are talking about a 4-5in driver (at the most) that is generally very linear, relatively sensitive with almost flat impedance curve - like the simplest possible load to drive. You would be much better off spending the bucks on the front end or headphones (thank you, HFM and Audeze for driving up the cost of headphones around 2010ish; we can now all pay more and get less)

At least a little over simplified, the HM1 does offer some flexible features some may find useful. If you're chasing sound, you may make the argument going for something like the Realiser would be the better utility, however, the HM1 is also generally marketed as a studio tool.

 

[chesebert]

Business/studio is probably the intended target market for this anyway, so that does make sense. I was thinking purely of what it takes to move some air with a 4in headphone driver.

 

[adrianm]

Makes sense for the special use case. And yes, you do have to pay out to get something special. But kind of nuts to think Zahl costs more than LTA Z40, which is also small batch, uses good quality parts but is a lot more substantial in terms of materials and is a full-fledged integrated amp with a pretty decent headphone amp for dynamic cans. If Zahl is charging that much for a headphone amp, at least do what dan d agostino does - make it beautiful/unique.

The only thing that might make more sense to me than the HM1 would be the Z10E (Now THAT seems like good value) + X9000, but people aren't that crazy about its performance from what i've read. The only problem? Good luck buying it in Europe with customs and all that.
There's easily a market for the HM1 in the pro market, plus audiophiles going for Susvara, Stealth, Utopia , etc can just get one amp and forget about mixing and matching and flavour of the month.

 

[eskamobob1]

only thing that might make more sense to me than the HM1 would be the Z10E (Now THAT seems like good value) + X9000, but people aren't that crazy about its performance from what i've read.

That's interesting to hear. Tbh z10e pretty easily blows away every other energizer I've heard in its range (it's technically bested by 3es elite, but I still enjoy it more tbh) and I agree that z10e + x9k is a damned good chain. I do hear that the conventional HP output on it isn't great for sus though, which is a little disappointing if wanting an AIO amp

 

[stuck limo]

. delete

 

[Danmellinger]

The only thing that might make more sense to me than the HM1 would be the Z10E (Now THAT seems like good value) + X9000, but people aren't that crazy about its performance from what i've read. The only problem? Good luck buying it in Europe with customs and all that.
There's easily a market for the HM1 in the pro market, plus audiophiles going for Susvara, Stealth, Utopia , etc can just get one amp and forget about mixing and matching and flavour of the month.

I use my HM-1 as a preamp into the Z10e and X9K and I wouldn't trade this chain for anything I've heard yet to date. I think the LTA is a tremendous value in SQ to dollar and that's even before you do any tube rolling. Only wish it powered Sus a bit better, but I haven't really preferred Sus with any tube amps other than the AIC-10.

 

[orrman]

I use my HM-1 as a preamp into the Z10e and X9K and I wouldn't trade this chain for anything I've heard yet to date. I think the LTA is a tremendous value in SQ to dollar and that's even before you do any tube rolling. Only wish it powered Sus a bit better, but I haven't really preferred Sus with any tube amps other than the AIC-10.

Why pre the Z10E and not directly from your DAC? For the eq and stage?

 

[chesebert]

Why pre the Z10E and not directly from your DAC? For the eq and stage?

tone control perhaps?