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Post by themystical on Nov 26, 2009 22:45:19 GMT
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Post by themystical on Jun 30, 2009 18:42:56 GMT
I am glad you like the K1000's. I have always believed they are the best cans one can buy for reasonable money. (they beat the Omega 2's to my ears) The quest for the best amp to go with them is another thing though. What are you driving them with?
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Post by themystical on Nov 11, 2008 21:36:02 GMT
Go on Leo...spill the beans!!!
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Post by themystical on Jul 5, 2008 12:54:17 GMT
Information on the performance of this amp seems to be really scarce! Even Headfi doesnt seem to have much. Can anybody shed some light as to how this compares in SQ against the V1, V2 or V3?
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Post by themystical on Nov 9, 2006 19:26:41 GMT
How much are you looking for Crimpshrine? It might be good to add a V3 to supplement my several V2's? !!!!
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Post by themystical on May 30, 2006 12:15:44 GMT
I need to get my second X-CanV2 power supplies upgraded using the 1800uF Panasonic FM capacitors. This is to make the second amp the same as the first one as I am using them as a parallel bridged pair (see my other posts in this forum). Anyway just rang RS to see when they might get some in stock and the answer was 1st September. That is a hellishly long time to wait!!! Anybody know where I might be able to get 10 of these capacitors?
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Post by themystical on May 5, 2006 16:43:53 GMT
Mike, So what is the verdict on your replacement for C103. It is in the signal path so should make a big difference if the results with the other capacitors in the signal path are anything to go by?
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Post by themystical on May 1, 2006 8:16:51 GMT
Mike....I know you are very cautious about removing the input capacitor but it such a massive sonic gain that it is worthwhile spending some effort into researching this. My thinking about the DC offset issue is, if you look at the schematic posted elsewhere on this forum, the input stage signal path consists of the input capacitor, the volume control pot and series capacitor C103. My view would be that any DC present would get to the pot but no further as C103 would block it and I don't think DC at the pot could do any damage. Rick seems to be on the ball with audio amplification circuitry and it would be good to get his comments on this issue! Personally speaking, there is no way the input capacitor is going back in......that would be like going from a £1000 headphone amp to a £200 one! but it would be nice to get to the bottom of this for the benefit of other forum members.
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Post by themystical on Apr 30, 2006 14:29:11 GMT
Just been through the "upgrade" process on the V2 and I must say the final results are absolutely stunning! I really cannot imagine a headphone amp that can better this and I have tried a few. I replaced the power supply capacitors with 1800uF Panasonic FM's and this certainly gives a better "effortlessness" to the sound especially in the lower frequencies. I am researching the improvements possible by changing diodes in the power supplies (see my other thread) but not getting far very fast! There seems to be umpteen types which are supposedly better then the IN4007's including Schottky's, Ultrafast soft recovery, FRED's, HEXFRED's etc. If you have any experience of this, can you kindly share it! The major factor for the improvement in sound quality is not the power supply improvements imho but the input and otput capacitors on the lower board. I had initially replaced the input and output capacitors with Capxcon non-polar's (RS type NK) without bypassing them and the resulting sound was rather scratchy and screechy! The remarkable clarity and cleanliness that I had been used to with the x-canV2 had been reduced! I decided to put back the original output capacitors (the much malaligned Jamicon) but this time bypass it with the biggest polypropylene (4.7uF) that I thought I might be able to fit loose (cabled) within the enclosure. I also removed the input capacitor and put links instead. Wow! What an improvement this made to the sound from my AKG K1000's! A level of detail, clarity and cleanliness that I had previously experienced with my Stax 3030 set-up but with presence and body to the sound, in other words, the being there experience that one can never achieve with an electrostatic set-up. I am not sure how much of the improvement can be apportioned to the bypassing and how much to the removal of the input capacitor. My own suspicion is that around 70% comes from the removal of the input capacitor!! Thats how I have rationalised it anyway as removal of a "non-linear" device from the signal path must reap sonic dividends. I musy say for the benefit of our newest member (bigtony, if he ever reads this!) that MF have done an absolutely brilliant engineering job with the x-cans in squeezing high-end performance for so little money! So congratulations bigtony!!! Now if only you could apply the same flair to all your other products.......
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Post by themystical on May 21, 2006 15:12:18 GMT
Got the second x-can a few days ago and have tried out the parallel bridging to run each of them as a mono amp. Basically I have turned the volume control to full to operate each amp as a power amplifier and created a special headphone cable which parallels the left and the right channel outputs in each amp. The input comes from the pre-out of my Lin Classik with the left going to one amp and the right to another. A short phono to phono cable connects the spare left and right input phono connection together. So what about the all important sound quality?! Well I have only listened to this set-up for a day or so but the biggest improvement is in the bass quality/quantity/texture and the general sense of real dynamics whilst retaining the already excellent high frequency/midband quality of the single amp. This is a real night and day difference beating by miles all of the other mods put together and the best I have got out of the x-canV2! With this level of sound quality, (better then amps costing many thousands of pounds) I am not sure whether a bridging adapter whilst running the x-can in balanced mode can make any further improvement!!!!!
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Post by themystical on Apr 18, 2006 19:20:03 GMT
Would you believe that The X-can on ebay dissappeard just as I was going to hit the "buy it now" button. Somebody else beat me to it!!! That means a few days wait whilst I source another one! I see what you mean by the vokume control pot.....I may try putting them both on max and utilising the pre-outs from my Linn Classik which I use as a source to see how much difference that makes!
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Post by themystical on Apr 18, 2006 18:51:57 GMT
Exactly my thoughts Rick! The other thing is with the two channels being in phase and equal in magnitude ( circuitry being identical) it is difficult to imagine one channel reverse driving the other. The magnitude of the errors due to component innaccuracies. one would imagine to be small and these would be further attenuated by the output resistors. It seems like it is worth trying! I will provide some feedback on the SQ issue. But first I need to buy another x-can V2. Just saw one on UK ebay which I need to nab!!
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Post by themystical on Apr 18, 2006 15:37:13 GMT
I really appreciate your help with this Rick! Thanks again!! You are a fountain of knowledge!!!!! Here is the schematic for the X-Can V3 output stage which I believe is very similar to the V2. (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59577) Do you think it would be safe to try connecting the outputs together?
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Post by themystical on Apr 18, 2006 11:22:39 GMT
I would like to try out the parallel bridging option first as it does not add any additional components to the signal path which could potentially degrade the sound quality and it does not cost any money!! The circuit diagram for the V2 is located here.http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/x-canv2.pdf Would it be safe to try this out? i.e connect inputs and outputs of the two channels in parallel? Any help with this wquestion appreciated!
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Post by themystical on Apr 16, 2006 17:38:22 GMT
Will investigate both the passive and the active options but your suggestion of the passive one sounds good to me especially if transformers sound better! What do the 10k series resistors do?
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Post by themystical on Apr 16, 2006 16:58:57 GMT
Thanks for that Rick! First of all having tried a vast number of amps with the AKG's, including EAR V20, Linn Classik, Electrocompaniet etc., some of these costing many thousands of pounds, the best sound quality comes from the humble X-Can V2!!! Yes....hard to believe but factual!!!! Now if only I could get a bit more power, it would be out of this world! Hence my quest for bridging! Now I believe that one can do what you are suggesting which increases the voltage swing or alternatively do a parallel connection of the outputs which would increase the current. What I was wondering was whether anybody had tried connecting the left and right inputs and outputs together and whether it was safe to do so. I was also wondering whether there was a device (bridging adapter) available commercially to provide the inverted input in the series bridged option you suggest.
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Post by themystical on Apr 16, 2006 12:50:37 GMT
I am so impressed by this amp that I am considering using 2 of them as in a bridged mono format for my current/power hungry AKG K1000 headphones. Does anybody know whether the V2 is bridgeable and what I might have to do to make it work?
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Post by themystical on May 21, 2006 15:18:35 GMT
Thanks for the response Alain/Rick. The BYW98's are listed as "fast" recifiers on the RS website which also has an "ultrafast" category and their is laso the issue of the recovery characteristic .... fast or slow. Sonically what was the improvement you got Alain and have you tried out any other diode types??
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Post by themystical on Apr 15, 2006 16:26:52 GMT
Has anybody tried any diode upgrades with the X-Cans. There seems to be a bit about on the net regarding schottky's and ultrafast slow recovery ones and just wondered if anybody had any experience?
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Post by themystical on Aug 21, 2006 15:08:39 GMT
My recently modded x-canv2 has done the same! The 2 10R resistors look charred as the general area below the two transistors. When I measured the resistors, they still seem to measure around 8 ohms so they have not blown. It looks like exactly the same issue as the Great Roberto's x-can so it would be good to understand how that was repaired.
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Post by themystical on May 1, 2006 8:36:23 GMT
Listening sunglasses! Are you going to choose one that make you look cool or the ones that sound good?! Comm'on you geeks, you know what the right answer is!!!!!
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Post by themystical on Apr 30, 2006 14:37:52 GMT
My original set-up was the Sennheiser HD600's with the X-CanV2 and did it sound fantastic! Couldn't be bettered could it??? Yes it could...the Stax 3030 that I replaced it with is a lot better imo but I really believe that the best headphones out there are the ones that I currently use... the AKG K1000's provided you get the amping right. These give the closest experience to listening to high-end loudspeakers that you are likely to get from headphones
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