The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

Thanks for the recommendation. Really appreciate it since I've not experienced much pairings personally, and the ones I've tried may not be on par with what most of us here are listening to.

I've googled them, and realised that my issues would be to find them here in Malaysia. It's very hard to get most of the products recommended over this site, and the reason I tried what I tried is because of availability. For Schiit's stuff, I think there are a few used units in Singapore, but dealing with imports would be pita.

I kept seeing Yggdrasil being recommended, would that be an endgame for HD800s? I saw a gungnir and bifrost multibit being sold used around Singapore, wonder if they're worth the hassle to import them, and lack of warranty with the purchase.

Anyway, will keep looking if there's an option to have these recommendations shipped here as "easily" as possible.

 

Everything is ok now.

Big thank you. Everything you said then was everything i needed to hear and to know, zonto. Thank you btw also for being one of the first people to welcome me on this forum quite a few years ago.

Ironically even though i was hurt from that faulty equipment for a long time, it actually turned out that all the gear is healthy. Except the root cause for my hysteria - the treble knob loses contact at some positions with the right channel, even at centered position and when that happens lots of treble is lost on that side. Or something like that, but I finally recently confirmed said knob was the issue. (And I was not using direct mode. Coming from HD600 I wanted the tone controls for bass attenuation).

That defect also stacked together with another thing: My asymmetric room echo/reverb/mode causes the left side to have annoying levels of wet and bloomy mids. So that combined with loss of treble energy on the right resulted in a quite very broken sounding stereo image.

And first i was thinking broken tweeter. Then I even thought damaged amp channel lol since one of my earlier troubleshooting confirmed the speakers healthy - it was to switch up just the two speaker's positions (with newly corresponding speaker wire connection so *NO* L/R channel flipping) - and then the exact same sound persisted.

A slight move on the treble knob fixes it most times, weird how it's super prone to lose contact close to or inside the very center position. I wonder if it's bad design or just faulty unit (Pioneer A40AE). I got it "brand new" off some local tech-ish website. Weirdly it arrived with speaker A terminals unscrewed alot and terminal B neatly screwed in, also balance knob full right lol? I presume as likely: Someone returned the unit then the seller tested it to make sure it works and sold it this time to me. As a new part, meh.

As of the last few days I got used to, and then started quickly liking, and loving, the pure sound signature. So I ultimately finally just use direct mode.

Also after lots of genuinely excited sessions of moving furniture around and listening etc, the asymmetry of room reflections has been moderately to nearly fully diminished. As a final touch I popped in fresh new triodes into 'halla 2 and the whole setup in the end is very synergistic, very spectacular and satisfying. (dead and lifeless without Valhalla 2 as a pre btw).

Speakers (Dali Spektor 2) - to my noob estimations - have average technicalities (as expected for the price), but no single thing sticks out much though! System as a whole has huge melodic energy and engagement. Lacks both speed and transparency btw, I bet that's just the speakers. They still have good crunch and great heft though and nothing fatiguing! Experience is great fun factor.

And with the final room positionings that expansive 3D cinema feeling is achieved. Not ultra vast, not much depth, but quite rich, super-continuous wide image! And somehow very surroundy, too??? Makes me wonder if a specific wall geometry can physically decode stereo into a 5.1 surround - like how schiit Syn does that electrically??? Im perfectly serious, some songs sound eerily precicely exactly like they have their two extra distinct back (surround) pair of ghostly speakers‽‽‽ It's absolutely nuts, most notably "Doom Eternal OST - Gladiator Boss" at 3min30s, on HD600 I only get the barest hints of directionality and really though it's 2D sounding, whereas now on speakers... ... Vocals are mad chanting at me in a whole circle. It's still not uninterrupted all around directional localization, it's not, but it literally sounds like a real physical 5.1... WHAT‽‽‽ Also moving the listening position fore and aft by a few inches adjusts width.



Im happy.

 

Anyone ever experienced a very high pitched squeal from a tube amp? As in, not coming from the speakers/headphones/transducers, but an audible squeal from seemingly the tubes themselves. My Studio B has been doing this intermittently. Headphones are dead silent still, no matter where I have the pot turned to. I've tapped the tubes - one of the two Cossor 300B's is a little more microphonic than the other when I do this, but have been since I got it, and doesn't seem to effect the squeal.

Google is telling me it's probably parasitic oscillation, but most of the discussion is DIY/amp design speak that I don't understand, so difficult for me to get a handle on how worried I should be or what I should try to eliminate it. Can't seem to elicit it reliably, either -- once happened when I turned on the amp, and seemed to go away when I stopped playing music, stopped when I power cycled. Today it was happening after the amp had been on for approx. 36 hours, but was quieter than the last time, and seems to keep happening whether I have music playing or not. Some of the discussion I've found via Google talks about audible "gremlins" during playback that can accompany it (clipping, fogginess/mud, etc.) but the SB sounds about as good as ever.

Any ideas? I've got a pair of cheapo Shuguang 300B's I could swap out to see if it changes things, I suppose. PSU trafo is buzzing but it's done that since I got the amp, and my mains voltage is typically above 115V so I always assumed, from bob's experience with eliminating SB trafo buzz with a Variac, that that was the issue there.

 

@internethandle , I had a similar thing happen with a failing 6922 tube in a Valhalla 2.

 

Yeah I've considered that. Chinese 300B's = distinct possibility they're already on the fritz. Possible it's the driver tube, too -- NOS Bendix 2C51, seems less likely, though. NOS-ish Mullard 5AR4 ("forever tube" etc.) seems less likely to be the culprit, especially with the AC filament heating for the SB.

 

From the Ec AF manual: "Once the amp is turned on, you may hear a low level shimmering sound from the output tubes for about 10 seconds. This is normal, and varies with tube manufactures. It takes about five minutes for the amplifier to completely warm up, and sound its best."

I know, i know, different output tubes, but i think it has to do with the topology. My NOS RCA 2A3s squeal on and off for abuot 30 seconds, but my LL E2A3s barely make a shimmering noise for 10 seconds.

 

Yeah I’m used to the start up noises, I just meant that since the tubes are heated by AC in the amp and not DC, I didn’t think it was likely to be a problem with the rectifier tube in the PSU. I’m getting the high pitched noise after the amp has been on for a number of hours, so I don’t think it’s related to the startup heating.

Gonna try just moving around tubes today/seating and reseating. Got a driver tube and one more pair of 300B’s I could try. All the stuff about “squeal” I’m finding on places like DIYAudio seem unlikely to be the problem given it hasn’t happened until now and it’s not an amp I built myself, so I’ll just go with tubes dying as the likely culprit. I have been pushing the tubes pretty hard - multiple days kept on etc. for 3 months or so now - so even though I have an EC amp where the tubes are supposed to last a while, I’m still probably pushing it with Chinese 300B’s and an estate sale driver tube that was “NOS” from FleaBay.

 

I'd love to hear from those of you who have had the opportunity to listen/compare the EAR 868 preamp and the McIntosh C2700 preamp. I prefer a more sharper/less smoother sound to pair with the Mcintosh MC 462 amp. Thanks

 

Hello,
I just got a hd800s and prefer it to my kissmod hd6xx . Especially in the midrange. I have seen many people even prefer the silver hd800 to the black hd800s so I don’t know if I should grab one to compare. I have a deal for an used hd800 at $620. Tks for your all replies.

 

Wait so you have an hd800, but you're thinking of buying another one for $620, or is that a potential deal for an 800S (the black ones, as you said)?

Also, what's the advice question here? Should you buy an 800S if you're already happy w 800? The answer to that question is most likely no.

The 800S has more (purposefully added) 2nd order harmonic distortion that results in a slightly warmer tilt and a bassier response, it's not a direct upgrade from the 800, just a different flavor.

 

The HD 800 without the SDR or other mods is a good deal brighter and peakier than the HD 800 S. The SDR mod generally accomplishes the same kind of change to the HD 800 as the HD 800 S, although there are differences. It's said by people who know more than me about this that the HD 800 SDR has better bass than the HD 800 S. I've not been able to compare them directly.

 

I've owned the HD800 and have listened to an HD800s. Primarily - if you are treble sensitive and are prone to fatigue, you should stick with the HD800s (or HD800 + SDR Mod) The original HD800 really has peaky treble, I personally couldn't listen to it more than an hour at a time without serious fatigue. The HD800s also has a touch warmer/better bass that in comparison, would make the original HD800 sound a bit brighter.

However - finding a used HD800 at that price of 620 is pretty good, and with some EQ, you could essentially attempt to tame some of those highs / add a bass shelf to the profile, and value wise, is really good in that respect.

 

Hi again. Tks for you guys’ replies. My English is not good and I meant I just bought a black HD800S. I cannot cease to stop listening to it. However I wanted to buy an original silver HD800 to mod and compare to my new HD800S.
I can only keep one. When I asked above question I has a thought of selling my new HD800S in case I prefer the silver cheaper one in the future (and save hundreds of dollars). But after reading many thread about modding the original HD800 I give up that though. Because there is too many stuff for me to buy to do the modding. And I may be at risk of ruining the headphone by myself. I don’t have the EQ practice unfortunately.

 

So I tried pulling out the black cap that’s in the magnet hole as seen in this pic, but since it was glued on, I had to use a lot of force with a screwdriver to pull it out. In the process, I left 2 scratches on the magnet due to the screwdriver pivoting off.

Will this affect sound quality in any way?

 

I have more technical question to the folks more technically inclined - Does anyone know what would happen sound wise if I am using a headphone with a low impedance of 20 ohms, on a (tube amp) that is, for example, recommended rated starting point at 30 ohms and upward? I usually am a rules follower when it comes to tube amp - headphone safety, and I do not have the equipment to experiment. Am I just asking for audiophile catastrophic fail if I do this? While I don't think things will blow up, does the impedance mismatch = f***ed sound?

 

No, not unless those scratches were deep enough to possibly crack the magnet.

 

Depends on the design and output impedance of the tube amp. If it has output transformers and reasonably low impedance you'll probably be fine. But in general with a high OI amp and low impedance cans you'll probably run into a boost in bass frequencies and poorly controlled bass response in general. Fucked sound is quite possible. Lack of power is also quite possible, if the lower impedance phones require significant current. Most tubes can't provide much current at all.

I suggest "try it and see", you're probably not going to break anything.

My Bottlehead S.E.X. for example has output transformers wired for 4 ohms OI and works pretty well for just about anything. My Bottlehead Crack has high output impedance and sounds like crap on low impedance cans.

 

Thank you so much. That was very helplful. Sorry, I wasn't more specific - as I am looking at the whole "plausible tube amps" with planars rabbit hole right now. Being that one of the amps I was considering is transformer coupled, I think that would have a shot. And yes - I do understand the whole 'enough current' issue with planars. I wish I could try and see - but like alot of people, I am not in the position to audition the amp. Really appreciate it!

 

I found this great description in HF while researching tube amps.

Do you guys think Eddie Current amps fit this description? I definitely prefer a solid state-ish sound, drier I guess? And not romantic sound.

 

Using SJR here, I would say they are. The EC amp itself adds little to no coloration to the sound, but you get the great dimensionality of a tube amp. I had a friend try it out and he was also surprised at how uncolored the sound was for a tube amp. That being said, tube selection will also play a part in it. For example, the Chinese TJ Full Music tubes I am using right now are bloomier and warmer compared to my past Electro Harmonix 300Bs.