AdvanTech

I find the opposite. As if tubes in the chain exaggerate the loudest moments into something that can be a bit uncomfortable to listen to.

Must be the topology used then and the way the tubes are biased, type of tubes, how the power supply is configured...too many variables. Tubes do have more distortion, and will only increase when things get louder, so this might be it.

To build on what @Azimuth is saying, my experience and my limited understanding of the circuit is the opposite of yours @AdvanTech , its SS not Tubes that "crap the bed" faster/harder/strained in loud passages. Maybe I am not following you however...

I have a Pass Labs XA25 to demo for a week. So far, I've noticed the Allnic pairs best with Gungnir A2, and Pass with Wavelight. Really different characters from both amps.

Optimal? Old Sumo amps used 26dB overall, and about 10dB locally. These were a typical voltage feedback design with reasonable degeneration and resistive loads on the front end, so not super high gain. When I went to 0dB overall, with 26dB local and error correction in the output stage, it sounded better.

But like Marv said, it's about trade-offs. Magni 3+ uses pretty much all it's got in one loop, because that's what it has and what it needs. Some of our other stuff doesn't have any overall, or is degenerated on the VAS to lower gain and thus feedback. This is part of the tweaky fun stuff.

There is only one general rule: When possible, do not use any!
This is the key to get SS amp to extract from music what used to be totl tubes territory. For better bass, increase parallel devices.

Yeah I shoulda bought that T4 in January when I had the chance. :(

But I'm really enjoying the 3F…I just wanted both. Eventually I suppose.

At like 4x the retail price of 2 Aegirs plus a Freya, not sure I would call them “competitors”, but nonetheless, it looks like a dynamite amp. Congrats.

It’s really just to see how the speakers like tubes vs sand. Prices might be wildly different but the Aegirs are really something if you have the appropriate speakers. I wouldn’t count them out because of msrp

I can’t wait till they bring out the higher powered Aegir (aka “Tyr”) so I can get a set for my lower sensitivity speakers. Still, that Allnic looks like something else.

I have heard many speakers, a handful costing multiples in price of the 3WC-15s, and I think the caliber of speaker you get for the dollar is really great. Better for my tastes than some speakers costing far more. Your mileage my vary, of course. Your choice of DAC/turntable, amplification, etc. will have a huge effect on your enjoyment.

This is not a direct message @Lemonhead I suggest you remove your email and message advan directly

How’s your commissioned build coming along @AdvanTech ?

Slowly but surely. https://imgur.com/a/45d4Sbh

@AdvanTech I care to see his write up

Cloth is decent enough, but frames can be a bear.

Always wanted to tear the cloth off of my Maggie 3.6R's haha. Modern production Klipsch grills are NOT transparent. No difference with the older JBLs I've heard though. Guess it just depends on the design and materials. If only B&W diamond tweeters were heavily stuffed, maybe then we wouldn't have 20dB peaks in the treble lol

@Lyander the switch to W10 actually wasn’t that painful. Maybe it would have been different with the previous iteration of Windows, but it’s not that bad.

Most generic asio software is not really asio. asio-4 all is just a wrapper for a windows driver for example. Asio should come from the manufacturer of the dac or Steinberg who invented it. Sometimes dacs or players do not work or work well with Asio. Waspsi Event is close in sound although asio better on many dacs.

@bixby Right now I'm using VB Audio's Hifi Cable to route all my audio through either my DAC's or Lynx's ASIO drivers. It's the only way I've figured out how to use ASIO without exclusive mode (I miss OS X). Does this make sense?

Thanks for the most hydrating meet I’ve ever been to

A+ for volume switching effort, but I’m still convinced we were just listening to the same amp the whole time lol

I have a Wavelight in my chain, now.

damn....beat me to it. looking forward to your impressions

sphinxvc picked it up for me while I was out on a work trip and did some serious listening and comparisons for a few weeks. He'll post here soon.

A guy on another forum (I left) made himself an extension box. It was well done and a work of art, but... "I filled it with clear acrylic for the insulation." Yes, it looked nice. But WTF does he think the *air* does in ordinary strips? Audiophool.

My plug/socket nervosa is the oxide that builds up. Good idea to keep them clean. Oh, did I mention I'm lazy...

Can someone give me a brief explanation: how do MOVs gimp things?

If used for surge protection they work once and it’s over and they wear out over time so might not even protect fully. That’s how I understood it anyway.

It's not a speaker for pleasure, that's for sure.

I like them with a lot of older records. I wouldn’t touch them with modern digital music or the raw tracks I get sent now that need eq in the air.

@AdvanTech, thanks for sharing! I have used Utopia only on the Ragnarok 1.5 (low gain only) and Torpedo 3 (Li Z). Neither is an ideal pairing, but I hate tube maintenance/nervosa so trying to figure out a budget solid state chain.

Still using Pranafidelity speakers?

For what it’s worth, I feel like Utopia only works in a certain volume range. I use the NIOSH app on iPhone. Anything more than low 80s average SPL measured that way and I can’t handle Utopias. Ragnarok 2 loaner was a little better in this regard and I could do 85 average once the amp warmed up.

My ears can take more with HD650 and the ZMF cans I had on loaner.

Hm, I’m not sure what would fit the bill in your case.

Yeah, The Bhavas are still being used daily.

Interesting about volume with Utopias. I’ll play around with that tomorrow but I’m hoping that restriction won’t apply to my chain. That’s a bit of an odd trait for a headphone to have.

@ChaChaRealSmooth @tommytakis I may have found something that was holding the Auteur back for me, and it is not pads. I will do so more comparisons to confirm before sharing, but this sounds so much better. I cannot believe I did not think of this earlier, after years of owning this headphone. I also use Auteur lamb pads btw. Thanks.

@AdvanTech My inclination for the OP is to aim to at least try both the Auteur and one Focal with the 3F at some point. Those are known to be great pairings. The Auteur gets the most unanimous praise with the 3F. MisterRogers told me it was one of the best amp/phone pairings he's ever heard, in accord with tommytakis.

As for comfort and stability on head, Clear has more clamp than my Auteur. They also fit on the head more snuggly than Utopia, as others have noted, so it may be not all Focals are equal in this regard. I cannot speak for likes of the Borealis, other than that the headband may need to be replaced.

Looks like they revised the Cornwall III with a larger midhorn with "mumps" and horn-loaded ports for the 15" woofer. And likely a significantly higher price to boot... Edit: Yep. $4,400/pr vs. $6,000/pr.

I was never a fan of the Cornwall IIIs, I felt like there wasn't a cohesive presentation between the drivers. Kind of honky midrange. Hopefully the changes make a clear sonic improvement. Dynamic ability was excellent, as is the case with most older Klipsch designs. Forte III had better tone, but didn't quite have the same sense of scale, and was a bitch to place.

Yeah, I wouldn’t put old JBL in the same sentence with these older Klipsch designs. JBL knew their shit.