|
Post by crimpshrine on Oct 5, 2006 14:39:50 GMT
Hi. I currently have a V3 Xcan which I have enjoyed a lot but I am into HipHop and feel the bass is a bit light.. (although I am used to listening to my HiFi with a rel stamepde which I adore!)
I was thinking of upgrading to a slee with the psu.. would I get more bass from this amp? I am using HD650's, hand made silver connects and an AVI labs latest version cd p. Many thanks.
|
|
tomo
250+
DIY Supremo
Posts: 368
|
Post by tomo on Oct 6, 2006 13:08:52 GMT
Umm ...
Before anything, you got a wrong pair of headphones. HD650 should be wonderous for classical music and jazz. It's probably decent for hiphop and rock, but you should have bought a pair of Grado. Senn isn't all bad for those music, because I have PX100 which is excellent. (It's sometimes better than HD580 I use)
As for the amp, Slee? I think it is a single chip amp using a medium grade opamp. ... I think you might be better off with XCAN. I would consider more beefier solution.
Rick? You know any good commercial amps?
T
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 8, 2006 2:00:42 GMT
Headroom amps are nice and even though i don't own one have no problem recommending them though not cheap.I especially liked the old Cosmic.These amps are "finished" rather than open ended projects Ray Samuels SR-71 kicks ass for portable duty and to be honest one i could live with as my only headphone amp if i had to If you can find one the old Audio Alchemy is a serious performer OP176 opamp (mono version of the OP275 but better performer all around ) which can be easily changed,discrete transistor Class-A current pump output stage,built in liscenced Headroom Crossfeed network and a nice tough,the power supply is external (internal local V-regs) so you can hit the amp with a serious power aource or even batteries for portable duty (D-Cell battery pack my man,no wimp 9 volters need apply here !) Switching over to tubes I lean to pentode power more and more lately with the 6V6/6BQ5/EL84/SV83 group in class A and there you have a shitload of options though most use the 12AX7 as the front end.To me a choice but a lazy one. Power in class-A is low as hell but with low Z cans driven directly from the 8 ohm tap on the transformer (or at most minimal series resistance) or med Z cans through a standard headphone load of 120 ohms (series resistor) enough. 600 ohm cans ? No shot.just not enough voltage drive.For that you need to step up to the EL34/KT88/6L6 PP arena or they sound shrill.Hit these puppies with 20-30 watts and they sing Have not heard most there being a new offering damn near monthly but the sonic profile of pentode power a bit more "beefy" than your average triode output headphone amp, kinda like hitting a bass boost though not exactly the same sound.I guess a description could go that it is more of a feeling of bass power than bass boost and like going from a speaker system with a 8" woofer to one with a 12" woofer where even if the specs are identical in the response graph there is no mistaking which is which Abother not personally heard but one I know from totally accidently building an amp with almost an identical topology and using the same tubes is the Mapletree EAR. Does most things well and does nothing bad.a bargain with no hyped up prices due to fancy jargon or unnecessary metalwaork/cosmetics/boutique-FOTM parts. Would love to hear a Chazz one day and roll in some 6L6's (or maybe just DIY a cloner ) and maybe a S.E.X. which at 4 watts is dead on as you can tell I have come to the point where I beleive a headphone amp should be a mini power amp rather than a beefed up line stage and that mostly due to my love of the dynamic sound of the Grado which is not too far off a speaker load in impedance with the mid z cans being voltage whores quite happy with a "preamp" doing the driving so if a tube amp having an actual power tube and if solid state and actual discrete current amp output stage unless a portable where size.weight.heat buldup and battery life all come into play. I recently have been screwing around with a PP EL-34 "booster amp" stage driven by a low power amplifier (Se 6V6 output) to drive my Electrostats (Rebranded Stax's ) through the original energizer box and for the hell of it wired in my ASL UHC headphone adapter and damn if it didn't sound better than 75% of the dedicated headphone amps I have either built or heard My Stax/RS cans require POWER and that in the 15-25 watt range or they sound distant but the Grado RS-1/PP EL-34 Booster synergy was a total surprise and will need to be taken to a conclusion ( one of these years ) or i will always wonder if the REAL answer is a single "in system" amplifier with proper interfaces/termination for ALL transducer driving be it loudspeaker or headphones Kinda makes me question a lot of assumptions and former opinions BTW-Both the Slee and MF have a true output stage so satisfy the "mini power amp" requirement and the Heed looks good on paper/in theory plus early reports positive
|
|
|
Post by PinkFloyd on Oct 8, 2006 12:37:50 GMT
Hi. I currently have a V3 Xcan which I have enjoyed a lot but I am into HipHop and feel the bass is a bit light.. (although I am used to listening to my HiFi with a rel stamepde which I adore!) I was thinking of upgrading to a slee with the psu.. would I get more bass from this amp? I am using HD650's, hand made silver connects and an AVI labs latest version cd p. Many thanks. The Solo will certainly satisfy your urge for bass, of that there is no doubt whatsoever, especially with the HD-6** series of headphones it's very extended, deep and tight. I wouldn't class the V3 as bass shy, all the same, but you're not going to get that kind of LF "feel" that you do from the REL.... headphones are a different animal you'll never physically "feel" the bass the same way you do from your stampede. If you want to alter the bass in the V3 you may want to try a slightly more mellifluous sounding valve such as the 6H32N-EB or maybe even the Electro Harmonix 6922. It certainly won't do any harm to replace that 500mA wallwart with something a bit beefier either. Worth experimenting with the V3, it's surprising just what you can get out of her with a little trial and error
|
|
|
Post by crimpshrine on Oct 8, 2006 18:15:57 GMT
Thanks Guys. I am in Folkestone Kent.
As for changing my cans as initially suggested I dont think I would want to do that. Do you think the slee would be bassier thank a stock xcan Pinkfloyd?
I was going to bid on a slee.. it just went for just over £300 with the supply but decided to wait and get the new version. Does the power supply make a huge diffence to sound or is it subtle change?
|
|
Fergus
100+
Done a David Ike and is now known as Godkin
Posts: 197
|
Post by Fergus on Oct 8, 2006 19:28:27 GMT
There's certainly plenty of great headphone amps out there, and the GSP Solo with the PSU-1 upgrade is one of them, especially with Sennheiser HD650s. However, being a bit of a tube freak I would certainly go with Rick and try the MAPPLETREE EAR+ Purist HD (£267) and the CHAZZ (£308) - www.diyhifisupply.com. I've also heard good things about the BADA PH-12 (£240) - www.pacificvalve.us. And then there's the lovely looking ANTIQUE SOUND LAB MG Head DT/OTL MK III (£215) and its big brother, the MG OTL32DT (£375) - www.divertech.com. Or try Mike's mods to the V3 (caps and tubes): they will give you more bass. Fergus
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 8, 2006 22:18:07 GMT
pretty cool.the ECC99 is one of my favorite noval headphone driver tubes
|
|
tomo
250+
DIY Supremo
Posts: 368
|
Post by tomo on Oct 11, 2006 12:21:51 GMT
Hey, Rickstar.
Can you direct me to ECC99 schematics? (Other than that Millet one. That one I am not interested in)
Thanks,
T
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 11, 2006 17:04:44 GMT
The ECC99 is a strong tube for driving either headphones or the output stage of a power amp and can be used as you would a 6H30 or 5687 in a headphone amp wiuth minor changes.For tube data do a google on "JJ ECC99" and compare to the above The Millett is actually a nice design if you look at the "normal" schematic and not the K1000 driver schema that if nothing else provides good data on the mating of the Sowter headphone trafos and the ECC99.A bit tight in the chassis construction and would look better with the output trafos inside the chassis proper but still the ECC in SRPP is a pretty good way to go other interesting schemas : Blue Ears members.home.nl/deckersmoll/index.htmnovotaone www.novotone.be/fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=34PP balanced amp nutshellhifi.com/Raven-MarkII.gifThread on the ECC99 as a line stage (no difference really) www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=40425"The One" CRAP !!!!! My computer is going wonky on me for a couple of days and I can't even post another frikkin link Off Topic : Pages freezing up,right click disabled for no reason including the desk top unless I close all browser pages and in general shitty perfromance,cut and paste disabled............ No spyware,no viruses,all diagnostics seem to check out yet can't even do a simple Scan Disc without pulling the friggin' plug out of the back of the computer,letting it sit a couple of minutes unpowered then booting back up.even tried a "restore to previous point" and IT WON'T #$%^%&&*^& WORK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any ideas out there ? This is totally unacceptable and if it don't stop soon i swear the hole shit is going straight into the fkn wall as hard as i can throw it then out the damn window ! Winblows XP BTW
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 11, 2006 18:08:25 GMT
|
|
tomo
250+
DIY Supremo
Posts: 368
|
Post by tomo on Oct 12, 2006 10:43:56 GMT
Hey,
Thanks a ton, Rick. I might wanna try out Blue Ears. Very simple. Do you think it's better than using 5842 or 5687?
Tomo
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 12, 2006 13:55:01 GMT
not better just different.Kind of like when you swap out EL34's for KT-88's.Pretty much the same power levels but with the sonic profile skewed a bit different. Comparing the 5687 to the ECC99 I would say the ECC99 can be more clean or maybe even solid state sounding (not really but the only word that comes to mind ).Maybe sounds like the power is even across the board top to bottom with the 5687 going more to upper mid down in dominance.Not soft or rolled but the feeling is different.
|
|
rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
|
Post by rickcr42 on Oct 13, 2006 0:16:35 GMT
BTW-may need a grid stopper resistor to get rid of oscillation (think the gate resistor like on your szekeres )
|
|