The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

Never heard Bifrost Multibit, but BF2 has the advantage of being modular/easily upgradeable by the user.

 

BF1 responds well to mods supposedly and I had mine for years. Multibit + Gen 5 USB had me satisfied, but BF2 OG is absolutely a step up, yes. It will depend more on your chain and well it synergizes. If you end up really into how it sounds, always follow “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” if you can get yourself to.

 

The real thing for me is getting the unison USB and not having to have the eitr in the chain. Simplify the stack.

I would have went with the MMB2 when it came out but the consensus on how it sounded here was that it was quite different from the OG and I didn't think I'd like it. A BF in some form or another was always the next move for me and the end point. I won't need anything beyond it for my computer set up.

 

Has anyone ever heard of this headphone amp before?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134659461224

Or maybe some of you DIY guys can decipher what's happening inside? it's interesting that there are three transformers. One is for power obviously, but the other two have me confused. At first I thought transformer couple output? but with maybe an option for a tiny bit of gain? that's only about 2dB which seems weird.

Klein & Hummel was before Neumann before Sennheiser.

 

Output transformers for the balanced speaker taps? It looks like the feed to those transformers comes from the same bus as the unbalanced headphone output. Would make sense to have just a couple of dB of gain.

 

Still, 8.5->11V is such a small gain that it seems out of place. It piques my curiosity, but they're asking way too much money with one channel busted.

 

But point is, it does give a true balanced output. I bet many line level transformers have similar low-gain specs.

 

hello,
any suggestions for a carry case for ETA Mini Closed? i really want to take these out with me.
cheers!

 

I have an old case like this one that I used for my very old pair of Sony h.ear on 2 headphones. It fits my ETAs just fine and is relatively compact. if you just search Amazon for “MDR 7506 case”, you should find several to sift through.

LTGEM Hard Headphones Case for Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone - Travel Carrying Storage Bag https://a.co/d/j4xsmvu

 

hello,
@edd, thanks ever so! ordered, AMZ sez will be here tomorrow!
cheers!

 

Is there a thread/list of all electrostatic headphone makers somewhere? It feels like everyone and their cousin is making planars now, but electrostats are still kind of a nichier niche.

I know of:
Stax
Sennheiser Orpheus and HE-1
Koss ESP 950
Shure has a couple of those earphone models
Dan Clark Voce and Corina
Audeze CRBN
Nectar Hive
Hifiman Jade and Shangri-La
EnigmaAcoustics (electret/dynamic hybrid?)
Monoprice
Kingsound
ESLab ES-1a
Sonoma Acoustics

Who else is there?

edit: adding more names to the list

 

That would be a long list of small Japanese and European companies making a single estat phone.

You did miss Monoprice, ENIGMAcoustics and Kingsound off the top of my head.

 

I am sorry for bumping my own post.

At this point I think I am ready to give up my hunt for classic EC Balancing Act. I located 1 or 2 445 amps but from what I read the 445 seems to be tuned differently than the BA so I am a bit reluctant to pursue this path because importing stuff from the country that the 445 is located in is a logistic nightmare (and not cheap surely).

I think I saw a DNA Stratus v4 for sale in the other forum. Will this amp give an experience close enough to the classic EC Balancing Act?

 

Another one is ES Lab with its ES-1a

If you're looking for individual models there's the new DCA Corinna and the Hifimen Shangri-las.

 

Wasn't the Dharma an electret/dynamic hybrid rather than a "proper" electrostatic?

 

https://www.soltanusacoustics.com/soltanus-acoustics-euridiche-electrostatic-headphones/

How could I forget: https://www.quad-musik.de/index.php/en/products/jecklin-float-qa/float-qa

There are also a few stats on Taobao, if I remember correctly. Like this one https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...resting-chuxin-electrostatic-headphones.9907/
Unsolicited contribution:

Stax SR-007 mk1 with leather "CD3000 pads" from China - sounds quite a lot better than stock pads imo (solves the "lack of body" and an irritating peak somewhere in the mid-treble), probably because the ear cavity is much smaller and has no parallel surfaces.

 

Another tube-ish question. Can stacking adaptors and socket savers affect sound in any way or is a no no?

I got a set of 5670s for m Val2 which require adaptors and they look really nice so I would like the get them higher and out of the top a little more, which would also make swapping a lot easier too, but I don't know if plugging an adaptor into a socket saver is ok or detrimental to anything.

 

What's the best Android app to stream music that's sitting on a PC?

I've got a PC with 2Tb of music that is always connected. Would be nice to stream my music from that PC to my phone.. I know there's a few ways to do it, but was wondering what you all have tried and liked, thanks!