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Author Topic: Headphone/Amp Rig  (Read 15162 times)

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Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2014, 12:52:27 PM »
(Computer > USB-in/24bitSPDIF-out box) or (silver disc player's SPDIF out) > Mytek Stereo96 DAC / heaphone amp > Senn HD650

I'm happy with this for home headphone listening and detail checks when editing (although I prefer working primiarily on speakers when mixing/mastering).  I'd like to hear the Senn HD600s and the orthodynamic magna-planars but haven't had a chance.

I sometimes take the HD650s out with me to a session or on the road to listen to playback directly out of the recorders, and their headphone amps all drive them well enough if not as nicely as the Mytek.  Not suitable for monitoring as they are very open backed and keep meaning to pick up the ATM50's (holding out for a deal on the ones with the coiled cord) for that.

I have a pair of Etymotic 4S and an early-model Headroom Total Airhead I used to use for monitoring but I don't really monitor while recording much and haven't pulled those out in years.

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Offline tgakidis

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2014, 01:10:12 PM »
I have been running a ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp > AKG 702's for quite a while now and am very happy.  The open sound of the 702's is amazing and the Zero drives them smoothly!

http://www.head-fi.org/t/269458/review-zero-24-bit-192khz-dac-headphone-amp-pre-amp

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Offline kindms

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2014, 01:20:50 PM »
I run the Audio-gd FUN Headphone amp/dac I think i paid like 300 or so for it.

USB 24/96 coax 24/192. Squeezebox > Audio-gd FUN > MusicHall Mambo > VR2's

extremely happy with this setup. I just got back my marantz sr880 and klipsch 1.5s and Energy sub. I tried driving the VR2s with the marantz and it did a decent job just didnt have the power of the mambo

AKG c426, AKG414 XLS/ST, AKG ck61, ck22, >nBob colettes >PFA > V3, SD MixPre >  TCM-Mod Tascam HDP2, Sony M10
Little Bear tube Pre >Outlaw Audio 2200 Monoblocks > VR-2's

stevetoney

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2014, 01:41:58 PM »

I have been reading though that Tube Amps don't play well in terms of noise when close to a computer.

In my experience they are environmentally sensitive. I had a Little Dot and it needed to be about 2' away from anything electrical (computers, power cables, cell phones, hard drives, etc).

So the tubes buzz if they're too close?

buzz, chatter, all sorts of noise. Some of it's super noticeable, some of it's rather subtle.

It's not a vote against tubes, just a nuance you have to be careful about. I was able to get my tube amp to get really close to that inky black background that I covet, but it requires effort. Thats all.

Right, I was just asking for knowledge's sake.  Puttin' in the noggin' for the future.

Offline OOK

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2014, 01:48:02 PM »
I keep coming back to Audio-GD too..  I woul like to try some of their gear.  Seems like really good quality for the price.
DPA/HEB 4060's > R09HR
MBHO648/KA100Lk/KA200/KA300/KA500 > SD702

Offline page

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #20 on: January 24, 2014, 02:05:19 PM »
As to the tube noise of a headphone amp, most headphone amps have exposed tubes, so I've got to believe shielding has alot to do with how much noise you'd get from nearby devices.

EDIT:  Jon beat me to the answer about shielded tubes.

Yeah, I can shield the amp and cut it out, but I found it easier to just move it a foot or two away. Amps are all designed different, some will be better than others. ymmv and all that.

I have been running a ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp > AKG 702's for quite a while now and am very happy.  The open sound of the 702's is amazing and the Zero drives them smoothly!

The Zero was my first DAC/amp and for the price it was one of the best things to happen to personal audio, sorta like the UA-5 for taping; really helped bring the entrance fee (in terms of effort and price) for a quality headphone rig down.

I run the Audio-gd FUN Headphone amp/dac I think i paid like 300 or so for it.

I keep coming back to Audio-GD too..  I woul like to try some of their gear.  Seems like really good quality for the price.

If I was getting a cheap solid state amp, I'd totally pick up either something from Audio-GD or Schiit. The Audio-GD even has coloration control modules IIRC.
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Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #21 on: January 24, 2014, 02:40:58 PM »
Red sports cars always appear to be faster.

Leveraging market percecptions, the savy business perspective is to give customer what they think they need and demand; whether it is truely necessary or not is a correct but more nuanced question. And if it causes no harm, the only downside for those who are truely in the know is some additional cost at no real benifit.

Big diameter wheels, big diameter power transformers. Both are more market perception driven than engineering driven for a vast majority of products, and of course have real applications where they really do matter as well.
musical volition > vibrations > voltages > numeric values > voltages > vibrations> virtual teleportation time-machine experience
Better recording made easy - >>Improved PAS table<< | Made excellent- >>click here to download the Oddball Microphone Technique illustrated PDF booklet<< (note: This is a 1st draft, now several years old and in need of revision!  Stay tuned)

stevetoney

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2014, 02:42:58 PM »
So this is what a tinybox would look like if it was on steroids?
« Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 02:44:52 PM by tonedeaf »

Offline OOK

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2014, 06:00:04 PM »
Geek   ^^^^^^^^^    lol... :facepalm:
« Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 11:51:38 PM by OOK »
DPA/HEB 4060's > R09HR
MBHO648/KA100Lk/KA200/KA300/KA500 > SD702

Offline kindms

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2014, 09:33:46 AM »
No, very different design philosophies.  For example I'd never include a socketed opamp and encourage swapping; firstly, sockets degrade performance (which doesn't matter at AF, but it does at RF, and too often swaps are for very high speed chips that are thus not properly decoupled or their inputs snubbed; the result can be RF oscillation that will degrade AF performance), secondly, sorry but I don't trust customers' listening impressions over my measurement tools.  I pick the best parts for the job designed, you decide whether or not to buy it.

Anyway, the opamp is not even the output device here (which it shouldn't be, but many DIY headphone amp designs use opamps that are not suited for the job), so I'd expect little change in performance unless an inappropriate device was selected, which would only degrade performance of an optimized circuit.  Why would a manufacturer encourage that?

I would also not use a non-feedback discrete topology because I know that a design with large amounts of global feedback (such as an IC opamp) will outperform the discrete non-feedback solution using less space and current.  If I wanted a distortion/saturation feature, I would label it so and make it selectable.

This is not to say the Audio-GD isn't a good device; it looks well over-engineered (3.5W output!)  But it isn't something I would design.  I prefer to push the limits of very small case sizes and see how much I can extract from the resulting circuit.  tinybox, for example, doesn't need a power transformer because it uses a switching supply fed by DC which is about 85% efficient at 16V.

If the question is could I design a circuit that would output 3.5W/channel in a tinybox case?  The answer is yes, but battery life would be fairly terrible.  The problem is in order to output 3.5W into 25 ohm you need a 30V supply, but unless you do something like a class D or G design (tinybox is a pseudo-class G design), you get low efficiency at normal levels (say 100mW).  In order to drive 100mW into 60 ohm, you only need a 7V swing.  So if you have a 30V supply, you only have about 18% efficiency in a class AB amp.  You don't care about that in a wall-powered unit, but you sure do running on batteries.

This will probably show my ignorance more than anything but the FUN can also be used as a Pre-amp. I'm not sure if the design concepts you mention above would be any different taking that in to consideration.
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Offline DigiGal

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #25 on: February 01, 2014, 04:55:32 PM »
 :police:  Is this unit actually UL Listed for the US?  It looks to me that this unit has diodes and resistor connecting the AC ground lug on the IEC to the chassis.  :facepalm:  That's not cool or safe should a line fault condition occur, the NEC prohibits the practice and it would be hard to believe they got this by the UL.



I run the Audio-gd FUN Headphone amp/dac I think i paid like 300 or so for it.

USB 24/96 coax 24/192. Squeezebox > Audio-gd FUN > MusicHall Mambo > VR2's

extremely happy with this setup. I just got back my marantz sr880 and klipsch 1.5s and Energy sub. I tried driving the VR2s with the marantz and it did a decent job just didnt have the power of the mambo


Mics: AKG CK91/CK94/CK98/SE300 D-330BT | DPA 4060 4061 4266 | Neumann TLM 103 | Senn ME66/K6/K6RD MKE2 MD421 MD431 | Shure VP88 SM7B SM63L SM58 Anniversary Cables: Gotham GAC-4/1 Quad w/Neutrik EMC | Gotham GAC-2pair w/AKG MK90/3 connectors | DigiGal AES>S/PDIF cable Preamp: SD MixPre-D Recorders: SD MixPre 6 | Marantz PMD 661 Edit: 2011 27" 3.4GHz Quad i7 iMac High Sierra | 2020 13" MBA Quad i7 Catalina | Wave Editor | xACT | Transmission | FCP X 

Offline cheshirecat

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #26 on: February 04, 2014, 06:28:14 PM »
:police:  Is this unit actually UL Listed for the US?  It looks to me that this unit has diodes and resistor connecting the AC ground lug on the IEC to the chassis.  :facepalm:  That's not cool or safe should a line fault condition occur, the NEC prohibits the practice and it would be hard to believe they got this by the UL.



I run the Audio-gd FUN Headphone amp/dac I think i paid like 300 or so for it.

USB 24/96 coax 24/192. Squeezebox > Audio-gd FUN > MusicHall Mambo > VR2's

extremely happy with this setup. I just got back my marantz sr880 and klipsch 1.5s and Energy sub. I tried driving the VR2s with the marantz and it did a decent job just didnt have the power of the mambo



UL is an independent body and listing is only required if you live in a municipality that requires appliances to be certified.

At any rate, I would think the circuit in question is there to prevent ground loops, and would solve many more problems than it causes.  You would have to fry those devices to kill your chassis to earth ground connection

It sounds good go with it, if you're that concerned, lose the diode/resistor and replace it with a jumper and you're good to go... if you're constantly putting voltage on your chassis, rethink your hobbies.
SB2 / Rega P1 > Modified Dynaco PAS2 > Modified Dynaco MK-IV monoblocks> Axiom M22 v2

Offline DigiGal

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #27 on: February 04, 2014, 07:33:38 PM »
UL is an independent body and listing is only required if you live in a municipality that requires appliances to be certified.

At any rate, I would think the circuit in question is there to prevent ground loops, and would solve many more problems than it causes.  You would have to fry those devices to kill your chassis to earth ground connection

It sounds good go with it, if you're that concerned, lose the diode/resistor and replace it with a jumper and you're good to go... if you're constantly putting voltage on your chassis, rethink your hobbies.

Of course they did it to mask a ground loop problem, the point is it's not safe.

Do you think it would be able to survive a 100A fault for 2.5 seconds or a 1,000A fault for 2.5ms without opening up?  The UL determined these numbers represent a realistic range of short-circuit current and time taken for the circuit breaker to trip open. Safety grounding must return to NEUTRAL to provide shock/electrocution protection if a fault should develop. The practice is no safer than a ground lift plug during a fault condition.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2014, 07:50:40 PM by DigiGal »
Mics: AKG CK91/CK94/CK98/SE300 D-330BT | DPA 4060 4061 4266 | Neumann TLM 103 | Senn ME66/K6/K6RD MKE2 MD421 MD431 | Shure VP88 SM7B SM63L SM58 Anniversary Cables: Gotham GAC-4/1 Quad w/Neutrik EMC | Gotham GAC-2pair w/AKG MK90/3 connectors | DigiGal AES>S/PDIF cable Preamp: SD MixPre-D Recorders: SD MixPre 6 | Marantz PMD 661 Edit: 2011 27" 3.4GHz Quad i7 iMac High Sierra | 2020 13" MBA Quad i7 Catalina | Wave Editor | xACT | Transmission | FCP X 

Offline cheshirecat

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #28 on: February 05, 2014, 12:29:28 PM »
The practice is no safer than a ground lift plug during a fault condition.

Exactly.
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Offline OOK

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Re: Headphone/Amp Rig
« Reply #29 on: February 05, 2014, 09:15:45 PM »
I will say this for Audio-GD products...  Although I don't own any I have not seen any issues reported by anyone on HeadFi regarding the above concern.  That community is as crazied about their gear as we are here on the section.  If there were problems, even minimal ones they would show up in the online forums.  There must be something we either can't see or know what it is on the circuit boards to address the above concerns.  But hey what I know.  I know next to nothing about electricity except it hurt when you do something wrong.... :P  Hence I leave that stuff to others....

Peace OOK   
DPA/HEB 4060's > R09HR
MBHO648/KA100Lk/KA200/KA300/KA500 > SD702

 

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