Massdrop x THX AAA 789

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by neogeosnk, Feb 26, 2018.

Tags:
  1. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

    Banned
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    129
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Northern Colorado
    Hmm, another reference to the "389" - typo or hidden suggestion, who knows.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Typo. Retarded product naming on THX's part. It's not a BMW. Product names consisting of numbers are the domain of BMW. Even then, BMW numbers make sense.

    389, 789, 666, 345, it's all pretty confusing for the customer.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  3. dubharmonic

    dubharmonic Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2017
    Likes Received:
    3,032
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Honest question, what's the deal with the connection between anime and headphones? The association seems to pop up on every headphone forum I've been to.
     
  4. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6,093
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Suburban DC
    Bryston BHA-1 is really nice and works really well with HD800SDR.
     
  5. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,176
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Nation's Capital of failure
    They made less sense when they stopped correlating to engine displacement. Same with Benz.
     
  6. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

    Banned
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    129
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Northern Colorado
  7. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,417
    Trophy Points:
    113
    The op amps in the 789 are probably running class AB and squelching dynamics. Or shitty decoupling. Or both. You know well that the design matters.
     
  8. Driven

    Driven New

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2018
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    AdMo
    Total noob here, but I'm very interested to know what specs I could look at that would indicate an amp that has\does not have these most egregious flaws? Do I simply have to avail myself of a few authoritative reviewers or is there some metric that can help me as I grow my understanding? I've lurked for a good long while and just don't see how to correlate these important factors back to specs. Would hate to make a mistake with my next purchase.
     
  9. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

    Staff Member Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,145
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Exit stage left....
    1. there is not one holy spec.
    2. you need to research the reviewers and their chains to learn from within.
    3. don't correlate. listen to music
    4. learn from your (minimal mistakes) it's normal.

    for Fcks sake- this is sub $400 amp IIRC in this thread, not some TOTL monstrosity.
    if too rich for your current budget. all respect. don't buy it, and get a Magni 3 until times change.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Yup. You cannot. It's important to understand that specs do not measure all aspects of reproduction. They typically measure a single tone, two tones, or sometimes a set of tones, all steady state, with results calculated in time windows, and then averaged / smoothed 4, 16, maybe 32 times over.

    Measurements are merely indicators. Many people do not realize just how ghey and unreflective of how humans experience sound phenomena they truly are. I mean, you could have super credentials at a big tech company, and help run HDCD, Zune, and then HD-DVD, to the ground, open up audio gear cases, look up parts, and parrot datasheets to look like an expert, mistaken opamps used as DC servos as output stages, and brag about how you know about the secrets of linearity tests more than the AP guys themselves, and still not realize this.

    The "problem" with most amps and DACs is that they have THD under 0.01%, which is -80db, which is the difference between ambient levels in a library and standing right behind a jet engine at max thrust. The only answers we can get are "hmm, this looks funky" and "not shit" when it comes to most DACs and amps.

    Measurements only make sense when errors are gross, such as with headphones and speakers.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2019
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    To assess for "not shit", which does not necessarily mean good, or that you will actually like the sound - again "not shit" criteria:
    1. 0.05% or maybe as high as 0.1% THD depending how loud you listen. More allowance for deep bass.
    2. Flattish FR with no more than 1db rolloff at extremes (last octave), otherwise +/- 0.2db throughout.
    3. 12 Amir-bits or 13-14bits ENOB or SINAD.
    Now it would appear that some people, like A-GD people, actually like the sound of distortion.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2019
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Therefore, based on measurements, the Massdrop THX AAA 789 is "most definitely not shit". Now whether you will like it nor not, there is no guarantee. Even moreso since no one here knows your preferences and we have no references from you as what you like or dislike so it is impossible for anyone here to triangulate to your tastes.
     
  13. Driven

    Driven New

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2018
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    AdMo
    I really don't want to go down that rabbit-hole, since it seems to contradict my physics education & background, and I know there are strong (almost religious) opinions about this. Kinda like arguing for Ganesha at a tent revival....no one wins.

    I guess what I'm confused about is the contradictions. You have @Psalmanazar who thinks the 789 sounds like sticking his head in a garbage can full of marbles, and you have @purr1n who says it is definitely 'not shit', but still sounds bad. I've heard it and think it sounds great, and so do a lot of folks on this thread, but would really love to be able to identify for myself those lacking qualities of 'microdynamics' and 'slam' and 'plankton' without coming off like Fremer.

    It sounds like I'll just have to get a 789 side-by-side with a 'good sounding' amp and try to blind AB them, since I don't have an expectation bias pot to twiddle. I'll just have to accept that my ears are just not good enough to distinguish and isolate these aforementioned vital differences, and just go with my preference. Maybe one day I'll be able to listen better! Until then, thank you all for your patience and guidance.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Where did I say it sounds bad? I've highly recommended this.
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Banned for six months:
    1. You asked. A few people answered in earnest. You replied. You already went down the rabbit hole.
    2. Every other person and their aunts here have math, physics, engineering, music, magic backgrounds here. Neither science or magic is your exclusive domain.
    3. Yes, you do have expectation bias. You stated: "it seems to contradict". Expectation bias doesn't work one way. It works both ways.
    4. You haven't earned the privilege to be facetious yet.
    5. Overall poor reading and comprehension skills.
     
  16. Roen

    Roen New

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Location:
    NYC / TO
    Measurements to reference only really indicate how close to reference things sound.

    Now you have to ask yourself if you actually like reference. I feel like a lot of measurement objectivists (of which I am one of) forego their own personal sound preferences to chase graphs, which is misguided at best.
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    And are absolutely meaningless if they show performance not audible by humans.

    Can you hear a pin drop at 10db while you are pushing a running lawnmower running at 90db? Surprising how many people supposedly well-versed in physics and math don't think about what measurements really mean, what they can tell us, and what they cannot.

    Humans are not high-bandwidth telco devices where a few db lower noise will matter. Ask @ultrabike.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2019
  18. Roen

    Roen New

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Location:
    NYC / TO
    I thought we all had superhuman hearing on the internet? At least that's what a lot of these personas seem to be.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX

    What the f**k is "reference"? Jot and AAA 789 measure super good and extremely similar, yet they sound different. $10,000 bet that I can tell the difference in a triple-blind test. Don't even need practice. Just hook both up and volume match (volume matching actually makes it x3 easier to tell). I will tell you which is which.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
  20. money4me247

    money4me247 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    18
    triple blind?
     

Share This Page