neo_the_one

Is the cost of entry and the like for planars lower/easier, possibly linked to Asian sourcing? Is the engineering/design barriers lower in addition? Honest questions, but neo is right there seems to be 3 or 4 new mid/upper market planar for every dynamic.

Designing a good ortho should not be cheaper than designing a good electrodynamic. What we have is garage shop companies making ethos left and right with not enough research into the drivers, not enough research or experimentation with the acoustics and not enough knowledge. I hate how ortho tech is judged by current stock orthos as it is not a good representation of their potential.

ETA headphones are great and easily TOTL, at least to me. Don't let the price fool you.

I'm in Portland and depending on timing would happily drive up to Seattle for a meet!

Went to several meets before the pandemic happened. Not sure if there have been any recently but they get announced in headfi and the facebook group canmeets

I vaguely remember about this guy on head fi: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/seattle-meet-6-11-22-at-broadview-library-postponed.963343/

responsibility, saying "little hum is common when operating power tubes" and "We also advise headphone users that using 300B's in headphone amplifiers is a non-traditional application and may cause more unwelcome microphonic noise" . Is that the experience with these tubes?

I know tube hum, this is not hum. Its annoying crackling sound that never goes away even after 2 weeks of purchase.

I get a bit of crackling on my tube amps in my room even with a power conditioner and trying different tubes. Plugging them into my dining room outlet with no power conditioner, it is quiet. Could be your power, try plugging the amp into a different outlet in a different part of the house.

Go to the homepage, scroll all the way to the bottom and look for the Donate (PP) and Patreon buttons.

Also I wish I had the funds to buy a VPI classic :(

@loadexfa how do I become a contributor? what is the process after that to be able to post a [FS] ?

I had a hectic weekend, wasn't ignoring your follow up question, I'm glad it was answered. Good luck with your sales!

If you're using the Pi2AES, Michael Kelly suggested keeping it short https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/dummies-guide-to-pi2aes-throw-away-your-pc-or-laptop.8878/page-64

Good source + V200 + Utopia = Weird abomination! Just sounds awful.

I find that believable. Bright sibilance is usually the primary complaint on the Utopia. I've also heard a rig where someone produced a weird abomination with Utopia and a good source.

1. I can dial up the volume pot on the amplifiers to much higher levels - more than 3'o clock
2. For good amps (both SS and tubes) dialing up the vol pot seems to increase the dynamic range in general
3. Listening at a lower vol (controlled by preamp) is much more enjoyable.

For reference
Amps: EC Studio Jr, Violectric V200
Headphones: Utopia, He1K, LCD 4z

Yee

Not sure I'm understanding - Dante is a transmission protocol, no? HQP is a resampler. Or are you talking Dante vs NAA?

@neo_the_one , like GoodEnough says these things are two different animals and are not directly comparable if I understand Dante correctly. Are you referring to a resampler that is part of Dante, or do you mean an HQPlayer *over* Dante (so a Dante & HQPlayer) writeup?

If so, are these the drivers https://www.kitsunehifi.com/holoaudio-5-00-drivers-firmware-2020-same-firmwares-from-4-67-driver-pack/

I am guessing its still high margin business vs high volume? Or is the answer much more nuanced and use-case specific?

Lol. Bose and Beats would each crush Schiit, Ifi and Audeze combined with the weight of the cash they take in each year. Look them up on Wikipedia, they do like $3.6 and $1.5 BILLION respective in annual revenue. Bose has 7000+ employees. Beats is owned by Apple. Those other companies all probably have less than 100 employees each.

Goldensound is a Friend. Here's his https://youtu.be/Wa3sOSRa-U0

Holo May and stuff like that is out of the norm for the gear usually featured on SBAF. Honestly, the Rockna Wavedream review here is kind of a one-off. Probably the most ORFAS level thing I've seen on here.

That being said those rules seem to get thrown out the window when talking about headphones. For some reason those get a pass from everyone.

Soldering is not necessay when there is good enough screw terminal design. Like those on Neutrik connectors. The fewer metal transitions, the better. The wiring geometry (EM coupling), materials, even the insulator material all matter, when the system is transparent enough.

I use Furutech FI-11m copper and the associated iec. Easy screw terminals. Legit supplier in the US is https://www.vhaudio.com/connectors-ac.html

For my next DIY power cables I would tin the wires to ensure the best contact.

Also found a commercial implementation - https://www.jensen-transformers.com/product/pc-2xr/

depending on XLR pinout and topology, you might be able to use a XLR->RCA cable with pin 3 floated. I do this with Burl B2 Bomber DAC into Schiit Saga preamp. Benchmark sells this type of cable for this use specifically. Transformers for this case will change the sound, in my case drastically for the worse.

Search for @atomicbob's advice on balanced>SE. Beware of "magic smoke"!

I think using tubes make it easier to avoid a sterile sound. This is more noticable in amps than DACs but should be audible in both. Implementation is key though, I'm sure crappy tube DACs exist.

A tube dac has a tube buffer or linestage, different than a tube amp. Some dacs like Metrum don't have anything after the D/A converters, others have this buffer, SS or tube.

I think @Luckbad might have more experience with tube DACs than most people.

Those Linlai and Psvane AMCE tubes are on my radar. Kind of ashamed to say I'm still waiting on my Elekit 300b amp to come home from the shop, otherwise I'd prolly be farting around with Chinese tubes of questionable repute.

Second the recs for JJs. They sound great.

I really enjoyed the ACME 300B with the Utopia. Great tube with a blacker background compared to other 300Bs I heard. Too sweet for a Verite Open but perfect for the Utopia.

setup you would make (everything included)? To make it a little harder the upper limit is 30,000$

Lately when I go through this thought experiment I end up with: VPI or Well Tempered Labs turntable, Tavish Adagio Phono, Yggdrasil dac, Tavish Minotaur Integrated, and Graham LS5/8 or 5/9 depending on room size. All stuff I have been drooling over, who knows if synergy is there.

Depends how it sounds but I am interested in a Decware Zen(tube amp), Ls3/5a / Zu Omen Book shelf / Salk Sound Wow1 / Fleetwood Sound DeVille, and a tube dac, maybe the abbas audio one.

How much of a difference does it make? My understanding is it is required for LPs of different thicknesses. But is it really required? Do you ever end up changing the VTA of your TT?

VTA does make a difference. On the fly is not required, the regular VTA adjustment is just fine. I set the VTA with one of my medium thickness (the majority of my collection falls into this category) record and it does just fine with the thicker and thinner albums. Occasionally I get the urge to fiddle with VTA, probably as the stylus wears...

Here is the regular VTA adjustment http://www.vpiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7175

https://www.apple.com/airpods-max/?afid=p238%7CsSzojmYtB-dc_mtid_5iuwnp2za0_pcrid_485047296870_pgrid_114756246437_&cid=wwa-us-kwgo-wearables-slid---productid--Brand-AirPodsMax-Announce-

Reading 4 and 6 posts lower, also a thing ;-)

Yup my bad.