|
|
Post by krisno on May 22, 2009 13:30:09 GMT
Hi guys
It's me again....
I am living without tubes these days, it's OK, but I think I need to build me another x-Can. Atleast the other gave me practice. So Mike, be ready for another order... Is that low cost V2 PSU you had in the works finished yet??
ANYWAYS.... now that I have gotten my DAC in order with som expensive output caps(amazing difference). What can be done with the V2 to make it the best?
1: Mod kit from Mike
2: Russian tubes
3: Better PSU
4: Volume gain mod
5: Iron beads instead of input caps..
But is there anything else that can be done to improve bass/details/lushness of the amp?
I was considering modding the V3, but it is alot more expensive on ebay.
Is TUBELIFE longer in the V3 than V2? The V2 has rumours of killing those tubes... ? But maybe they can't kill the russians? ;D
Big thanks!
Kris
|
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on May 22, 2009 21:05:57 GMT
Hi guys It's me again.... I am living without tubes these days, it's OK, but I think I need to build me another x-Can. Atleast the other gave me practice. So Mike, be ready for another order... Is that low cost V2 PSU you had in the works finished yet?? ANYWAYS.... now that I have gotten my DAC in order with som expensive output caps(amazing difference). What can be done with the V2 to make it the best? 1: Mod kit from Mike 2: Russian tubes 3: Better PSU 4: Volume gain mod 5: Iron beads instead of input caps.. But is there anything else that can be done to improve bass/details/lushness of the amp? I was considering modding the V3, but it is alot more expensive on ebay. Is TUBELIFE longer in the V3 than V2? The V2 has rumours of killing those tubes... ? But maybe they can't kill the russians? ;D Big thanks! Kris I'm not even going to GO there Kris! You've been through this time and time again, just go and buy yourself an amp that you "like" and listen to it. Simple as that! All the best, Mike. |
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 23, 2009 1:39:13 GMT
You should be nice with your customers my friend ...
ok.. i will do it myself. I'll make an order for you later on.
K
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2009 5:20:02 GMT
You should be nice with your customers my friend ... ok.. i will do it myself. I'll make an order for you later on. K Krisno Yes, Mike is getting rich with all of his customers !  Have you ever considered the possibility, that if there was proper accounting of material, long trips to and from the Post Office, his time etc. , that Mike may even be losing money overall by providing such a service ? Especially as he also gives quite a bit of stuff away. I would be surprised if Mike is even breaking even, overall. SandyK |
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 23, 2009 10:27:55 GMT
If Mike made 90% profit I would be deligthed, if it is all just hard work - amazing!!
Well, I am stuck with these tubes and hmm.. the thing is that I won't know for sure if that last x-can was ruined before I get another one to see if it is the same. People are very happy about their modded V2.
SandyK... but anyways, tubelife in the V2, is it noticable shorter than in the V3?
|
|
insomniac
Been here a while! 
Team Zopiclone
Posts: 938
|
Post by insomniac on May 23, 2009 12:54:39 GMT
Seems like you have gone full-circle with this Kris?
What happened with the Burson "shoebox"? did you send it back?
Maybe it's the 701's that aren't compatible with your ears or the sound that you seek?
|
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 23, 2009 16:52:42 GMT
Hello my friend! The Burson is the best solid state I have heard to wide. My god it had a wide soundstage.... and very sweet sounding. But I returned it since it was bigger than everything I had enviosined. But honestly, on speakers solidstate is the way to go in my opionion.... but on headphones, atleast on the AKG, solidstate .... well to be honest, it bores me!! It has nice bass and some parts in movies are fun. But it's 'dry',... not organic and real like tubes. Also I don't know if that previous V2 actually was faulty or what was the problem. Secondly I have fixed that DAC somewhat... So I thought I could try the V2 once again... I can buy one now, bought in 2003 for £105.... But I am just wonderding if I should get the V3 as the V2 is said to be killing tubes, do you know anything about that insomniac? I got these very expesnive tungsram just luying around... Btw mike: I won't complain anymore .... I will just make an order and let you guys be. But may I ask, is that low cost V2 Powersupply you worked on, is it finished yet? ?? Kristian |
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on May 23, 2009 19:03:19 GMT
You should be nice with your customers my friend ... I am TRYING to be nice Kris and don't want you buying something you don't need.... Did you like your last X-CAN v2? NO! so what on earth is the point of buying ANOTHER one and going through all the same as before? I am not here to be nice to people and take their money off them for something they don't need.... I don't operate like that. Ask yourself the question "will this X-Can v2 sound any different to the last one?" if the answer is YES then do you really want one? Mike. |
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 23, 2009 19:30:45 GMT
Yes... I would like one, since I need some nice tubes and it is an inexpensive way....
But please answer just the 2 questions... Is the V2 a tube toaster? Is your new low cost V2 PSU ready?
|
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on May 23, 2009 19:52:06 GMT
Yes... I would like one, since I need some nice tubes and it is an inexpensive way.... But please answer just the 2 questions... Is the V2 a tube toaster? Is your new low cost V2 PSU ready? Of course the v2 is not a tube toaster, who has been feeding you all this garbage? I've seen JAN philips 6922 lasting 10 years in these things... the tubes are MEANT to get hot! These things are used in military equipment so a bloody headphone amp is not going to toast them is it?. I have gone no further with the low cost PSU Kris... at the end of the day "time" costs the most in any product and considering the "budget" PSU would have taken the same time to build then I'd be as well just sticking with the Little Pinkie. What with the "credit crunch" in the UK parts are now costing a lot more (almost double in some instances) so now is not a good time to start thinking about offering a lower priced version.... parts cost going up, postage costs going up... from a UK perspective the Pinkie I already sell is "cheap" especially considering a loaf of bread costs £1.50, a gallon petrol £5, entrance into a cinema £8 etc. etc. hell, it cost me 70 pence for a can of coca cola today! Quite simply, it is not cost effective to produce a "budget" version of an already "budget" priced PSU..... I buy all the parts, construct the pinkie, package it, take it to the post office..... you also have to factor in things like the cost of tools, the electricity consumed in making one, the premises, the website and advertising costs and should anything go wrong with it..... the ability to offer a replacement free of charge.... £100 IS pretty much "budget" considering it's hand made in the UK.... as Alex said, there's not a lot in it for me apart from the satisfaction of making other people happy.... sure, I get a few quid out of each pinkie but NO WAY could it ever be considered a "profit" as such. If it were a profit making exercise I'd have made a good lump out of the hundreds I have sold.... the truth is I have made very little when all the associated costs have been taken into consideration. |
|
|
|
Post by dejanm on May 24, 2009 6:44:37 GMT
krisno, I have to admit to have the same question as Pink: why are you going after an unit that you didn't like ? What is the point in that ? If you want though an ultimate version of V2 than look here: www.borbelyaudio.com/eb804421.aspBorbely did the improvement of this design many years ago and he is selling it as a kit. You can buy it on his site and you can also buy a very good power supply for this headphone amp. You have to put it then in one (or two) enclosures and that will be probably the best what you can get from this design. It is though going to be more expencieve - but you can't get it for free ... can you ? Here you have an article about this design, where you can learn more about how this unit is working. Basically, it is valid for X-Can V2 too. www.borbelyaudio.com/pics/405borbely2506.pdfIt is a class A design with differential tube input and it has its sonical texture. It may happen though that it is simply not your cup of tea and therefore, even in its best version, not to provide you the kind of satisfaction that you are looking for. But that is something that you have to find out by yourself ... |
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 24, 2009 12:23:47 GMT
Mike... I have never attacked you. The price discussion was not meant that way. It was just that if I could get a PSU for £35 instead of 90, i would have gotten the cheaper. You are doing the whole forum big favours and your service is 100%! It's a pity you don't get any profits on this.
And I agree,.... the V2 was the best tube amp I have ever had, and I have had the V3 and V8 also.
I have to admit, headphones without tubes is just boring... I will get another and order another of your mod kit.
UK is going trough rough times, I don't know if you guys know economics, but Gordon Brown does not. Neither does Geithner/Obama.... UK and US is CREATING the depression! The bailouts of financial banks, the interfering in markets, that is what is going to send the UK and US livingstandards down through the ground the next 10 years. I am very sorry.. you need to elect better politicians. It's madness and a total fraud.
Let me just paste in something here. The great depression in 1930, US Goverment created it, and OBama is creating another. The big difference, US in 1930 was THE manufactorer of the world, now it is a NET import country. This one will be THE GREATEST depression! and Gordon Brown solution is to deflate the value of the sterling so everyone will be poor, not only the idiots who took big risk. It's madness and a disgrace. I am sorry for the US and UK worker..
Definiton of Lassiez-Faire economy: A policy of governmental non-interference in economic affairs
"Laissez-faire was, roughly, the traditional policy in American
depressions before 1929. The laissez-faire precedent was set in America's
first great depression, 1819, when the federal government's only act was
to ease terms of payment for its own land debtors. President Van Buren
also set a staunch laissez-faire course, in the Panic of 1837. Subsequent
federal governments followed a similar path, the chief sinners being state
governments, which periodically permitted insolvent banks to continue in
operation without paying their obligations.[1] In the 1920–1921
depression, government intervened to a greater extent, but wage rates were
permitted to fall, and government expenditures and taxes were reduced. And
this depression was over in one year – in what Dr. Benjamin M. Anderson
has called "our last natural recovery to full employment."
Laissez-faire, then, was the policy dictated both by sound theory and by
historical precedent. But in 1929, the sound course was rudely brushed
aside. Led by President Hoover, the government embarked on what Anderson
has accurately called the "Hoover New Deal." For if we define "New Deal"
as an antidepression program marked by extensive governmental economic
planning and intervention – including bolstering of wage rates and prices,
expansion of credit, propping up of weak firms, and increased government
spending (e.g., subsidies to unemployment and public works) – Herbert
Clark Hoover must be considered the founder of the New Deal in America.
Hoover, from the very start of the depression, set his course unerringly
toward the violation of all the laissez-faire canons. As a consequence, he
left office with the economy at the depths of an unprecedented depression,
with no recovery in sight after three and a half years, and with
unemployment at the terrible and unprecedented rate of 25 percent of the
labor force."
Good luck.....
|
|
|
|
Post by krisno on May 27, 2009 9:40:47 GMT
Guys! Never mind the 'economic school'..
Has anyone tried upgrading the V2 with matched high quality resistors(dale? vishay?) ? Does it make any difference?
|
|
