The All Purpose Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by purr1n, Sep 26, 2015.

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  1. Tchoupitoulas

    Tchoupitoulas Friend

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    The HD 800 are unquestionably bright and, for many, excessively so. They have a notorious treble peak, one that can be wince-inducingly painful to those who are sensitive to it. The SDR mod that yotacowboy mentions is designed to tame this. See here for more on it. With the HD 800S version, Sennheiser sought to provide a correction of its own, like the SDR mod, to reduce the treble brightness. The bass is also slightly thicker, apparently. This thread will be a big help to you; it certainly was for me.

    The brightness of the HD 800 isn't too bad for me but that's because my preferences already lean in this direction, and I'm middle aged and have suffered some hearing loss. I doubt I'd have liked the HD 800 all that much twenty years ago. Even today, though, I find the HD 800 fatiguing - as do most people, I'd guess - and I typically listen to music with acoustic instruments with these headphones (primarily classical and jazz).

    The HD 800S is less bright, then, than its predecessor. But it's still a pretty bright pair of headphones. And both are slightly thin sounding. You'll need a warmer DAC and, in particular, a warmer amplifier, ideally a tube one. This thread here is essential reading for information on amps.

    If you're inclined to try a pair of HD 800 or HD 800S and can't audition then go used. The HD 800 sells for ca. $650-800 used these days. Ones with the SDR mod also come up for sale every so often. If you don't like the HD 800, their price is fairly stable, especially as they're no longer in production, so you wouldn't lose much from the resale.
     
  2. corzendonk

    corzendonk New

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    Wow, thanks for the wealth of info! Looks like I've got more reading to do...
     
  3. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Help me out her guys. Multichannel amplifier decision.

    I scored a sweet local deal on some JBL 8340A's. Pro Cinema surrounds. Now it says 250 watts RMS, 1000 watts peak.

    Now I already run an Emotiva preamp (unbalanced) into an Adcom GFA-5800 for mains into a pair of JBL LSR32 (the unshielded version of the LSR6332).

    My question is to go consumer amplifier, like an Onkyo M-501 or a higher power pro amp like a Crest FA901 or QSC RMX850. I'd love to go up to a better amp, but that is not in the budget.

    I'm kind of worried mostly about the wattage really needed for surrounds for these cinema speakers as well as unbalanced source with a balanced amp input. The speakers are also Curve X compensated, which I probably don't really need in my bonus room, but oh well.

    So, keep it simple with a consumer amp even with low watts, or go pro amp with pro speakers with higher watts?
     
  4. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    @corzendonk HD800 takes EQ very well and if you have that option it will give you as much tight impactful bass as you want. Mods will help with the higher frequency issues, but EQ can fix them to a reasonable extent. Amp pairing is very important though. Read through the appropriate threads here.
     
  5. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Can anyone tell me if there's a key change / modulation going into and out of the chorus? It's not one of the standard cheesy ones used for emotional effect, but there's something going .
    on there.

    Skip to 90 seconds in if you want to minimize exposure to 80s rock ballad.
     
  6. corzendonk

    corzendonk New

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    Yes, the verse and prechorus are in B flat minor, the chorus modulates up to E flat minor. It's pretty subtle since these keys use many of the same notes. I'm sure there's a technical music theory term for the relationship between these chords, but I'm too far removed from my music lessons to remember.
     
  7. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Good ear!

    B flat and E flat are next to each other on the circle of fifths. B flat minor has five flats and E flat minor has six, only adding C flat.
     
  8. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Your mains (LSR32) have a sensitivity of 90 db/W/1m
    Your new surrounds (8340a) have a sensitivity of 96 db/W/1m

    In terms of overall system power in what I'm assuming in a large-ish living room, you really don't need much. If your current amp for your mains is enough, then you arguably need even less for the surrounds. If anything, you'll want something with a lower gain or use another preamp or attenuator to bring it down.
     
  9. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Thank you. You are right. I need to think in terms of sensitivity and not necessarily power handling. I need probably way less than what I was thinking.

    I just know it its better to over power than to under power because of distortion and small gap tolerance in pro speakers. I knew a guy that blew a pair of passive JBL EON's back 8n the day by hooking them up to his Sony integrated receiver.
     
  10. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    If you're trying to crank huge volumes with an amp that's underpowered for the speakers, you risk running the amp into clipping. Doing that for sustained time means at the clipped portions the voice coil is just passing current like a heater instead of using the energy to generate motion/sound.
     
  11. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Cool. I don't listen to movies for full dynamic sound anyway and surround is never sustained for high volumes anyway.

    I think the example I provided was a seriously underpowered cheapo integrated. Square wave bad.
     
  12. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    Does anyone have any experience with a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for Android? Any recommendations?
     
  13. Climber

    Climber Facebook Friend

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    I have a Hidizs S2 Sonata. It's ... fine.

    Better than the stock Samsung one I lost, and much better than the Google Pixel one that lives in a drawer and the Venture Electronics horror show someone gave me and I literally tossed in the trash, but all that's not saying much.

    Certainly not as good as an AQ Dragonfly, but that's a whole other form factor. I wasn't really interested in paying more than the $20 (used) I did, so for what it is and what I needed, I'm satisfied.
     
  14. Biodegraded

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  15. Baten

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  16. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I’m going to just post a letter I wrote to Schiit about a problem I’m having with a Gungnir a local SBAFer is loaning me. And their response which goes against what I was previously told here. Am I getting bullshitted by Schiit?

    —————-

    I’m borrowing a friend’s Gungnir A2 gen5 usb (not sure if you recognize A1 and A2 so if not then it’s a “more recent model”). It’s still under warranty.


    I’m using the RCA se output until I get some XLR cables in. I have it running 3 amps but no splitter cables or switch boxes. The first two amps are the massdrop 789 and Liquid Carbon X which both have SE PASS RCA outputs so I’m stringing the 3 together. I never use 2 headphones at once but I do have 2-3 amps on at the same time occasionally.


    I’m using an iPod 7 with cck adapter as source via usb.


    So it sounded fine for about a week. Then I unplugged my iem’s and plugged in an ortho into my SOHA1 (3rd amp at the end of the daisy chain) and it was super distorted. I thought the tube finally went bonkers in my SOHA1 but when I checked the other amps they all sounded distorted as well. Heavily distorted like blown headphone drivers. I then switched to my massdrop Airist R-2R DAC and there was no distortion.


    I turned off the gungnir for a few minutes and turned it back on and the LED on the furthest to the right was blinking for about 30 seconds which it didn’t do when I first turned it on. I don’t know what this means.


    It has been running pretty hot the whole time, as hot as my SOHA1, and I think I remember reading other people say that their Gungnir’s and Yggdrasil’s ran cool or luke warm.


    I’m writing you for my friend since it happened on my watch. But I haven’t touched the Gungnir since setting it up and first turning it on. It went from sounding fine to super distorted without anything changing except me switching headphones which I had previously done with no problem.


    Any ideas? Is it overheating? Does it just need to be sent in to you?


    Thank you!


    ————————————

    Reply from Schiit:

    “You shouldn't really daisy chain amps to it. The Gungnir has 3 outputs - 2 RCA and 1 XLR. You should really be using them like that, otherwise it will cause distortion and draw power from the DAC. “

    ————————-

    These are passive connections and work even when the amps are off. Does an amp simply being on really draw power from the DAC? I have my RDAC setup the same way and no distortion.

    if I ever own a gugnir I’m planing on using the XLR output with a Passive switch box but I don’t have the XLR cables yet.

    I’m hesitant to turn it back on since it’s here on my watch and I don’t want to damage it.

    any thoughts? Could Schiit be right?
     
  17. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    I've been using my portable rig in my lab a lot, which has very low humidity and thus very high static electricity this time of year. Connecting the xDuoo X10T II to the Chord Mojo via coaxial cables can cause constant shorts on the input due to static, all I have to do is touch the connector of the coax cable and it will short the input. Even trying to walk around outside, from my building to my car, with the units in my pocket, the music will constantly cut in and out.

    I want to get a nice, short glass optical cable. I'm having a hard time finding someone making really high quality glass cables that are short enough for portable use... something that could fit in my coat pocket with the xDuoo+Mojo, about 5-6 inches, preferably mini-Toslink to Toslink. If someone could recommend a seller that can do that, I'd appreciate it!

    edit: I did manage to find this cable (https://www.thecableco.com/opt-mt-toslink-toslink-to-mini-plug.html) which is reasonably short and priced well, and I think that might be as good as I'm going to get... although I'm having a hard time figuring out what material is used for the actual fibers.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2020
  18. EagleWings

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  19. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    The output buffer and I/V can only handle so much. Just like a power amp, each source continues to load and too much may cause stress on the DAC.

    Now the Gungnir has an active summing circuit and this is what might be failing. It might be fine on balanced output.

    Is it still distorted when just using one SE out to one amp?
     
  20. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Thanks for the reply! It’s not mine so I’ve been hesitant to toy with it in case something is very wrong. But I just turned it on again to warm up and try with just one amp plugged in.

    I was under the impression that it was ok to “daisy chain” amps via the se pass jacks. Otherwise why are they there?
     
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