Black Widow [Update] - Second round official, 100 amps total, single chassis

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by purr1n, Oct 5, 2015.

  1. sheldaze

    sheldaze Friend

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    What amplifier are you using today to drive your HE1K? To my ears the sound is superb on both low impedance planar, such as my HE1K, and high impedance dynamics, such as HD800S. However I find it far easier to define "how it sounds" relative to what you are accustomed to hearing.
     
  2. Uchii

    Uchii New

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    Hi, and thanks for replying! I'm a gen1 Gungnir/Mjolnir HE-6 user. I loved that sound but couldn't listen to it for more than an hour tops. Sometimes it had too much glare/etch or vocals were shouty.

    My BW is finally shipping and I thought about selling it but it's rare enough that also as a collectible it makes me happy. Thinking about an HE1k/V2 pairing with Gungnir Multibit.
     
  3. sheldaze

    sheldaze Friend

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    One of my earlier setups was Gungnir Multibit/Mjolnir (first generation) into HE1K. Directly from my update history, I would state that Cavalli Liquid Carbon is a step up from there. And the Black Widow is about a step or two up from there, this despite the need to use the single-ended outputs from the Gungnir.

    I wish I could also state that the HE-6 will run well from the BW. But one of the friends in my area already tried this, without much success.
     
  4. Uchii

    Uchii New

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    Sometimes I think about grabbing an HD600 and just calling it a day.
     
  5. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Black Widow + black metal = good. Black widow + pounding bass stuff = bad.
     
  6. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    Holy balls, @MoatsArt! Great to see you around here again mate...
     
  7. desu

    desu New

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    Hi,

    I would like to ask for an update on the current run of 50.
    How many is left to be shipped from this run?
    I'm just curious, because I haven't been contacted yet and my current amp broke down. :(
    (pre-ordered on 23th March)
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2016
  8. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    I typically dont listen to pounding bass music, but on heavier tracks I find it still performs really well. I don't want the impression that this amp is only good for speed metal recorded on a tascam 4 track in a dank dungeon. When I play bass heavy songs, I dont feel as if I'm rolling on molly at the club.

    I find the Black Widow bass is spot on, not loose, sloppy, bloomy or boomy. When people think warm, they tend to also think wet or uncontrolled. They are separate in case of this amp. In the case of BW the warm label just means not lean, not dry, not prone to etch / glare. Alot of other SS fall into that category. Would someone who is used to other similairly priced SS amps find this amp to dark, probably, but they have come to appreciate that absolute dryness.

    But in my case, I moved up from the BH Crack + SB, Schiit Lyr2, and Vali2. I find the BW to refine that warm tone that I sought into something that is super resolving and detailed without sounding grainy and boring. When compared to Ragnarok, I can see the warm comparison, but BW is only one tick on the warm side, where rag is a couple ticks the other way.
     
  9. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    I mean the technicalities are superb but the amp doesn't do well with rapid fire blast beats and double kick drums that have a natural tone or already hit hard through samples or subkick synthesizers. Some 2-4 beat rock beats on it are fine but Dave Lombardo, the Bolt Thrower dude who sounds like he's shooting AK-47s into the air like a mad Arab, or some crazy shit like Autechre will all be a little too off. Black Widow has a great quality with making tascam 4 track basement music with the thin old school heavy metal "necro" sound feel fatter/better recordings than they really are but with recordings that don't need any wetness/fullness added sound worse.

    For example, Motorhead Ace of Spades on CD (and probably on the og tapes) has no bass and sounds like it was recorded in a public bathroom stall but the original Bronze Records LP despite keeping the bathroom stall feel has a bassy equilization (they really bumped up the punch frequencies) that makes the kicks hit at slightly more "fun" levels but messes up Lemmy's distorted bass tone that has no actual bass in it. The CDs sound great on wet/warm/bassy rigs but the LP doesn't and is better served by brighter/more neutral rigs that will keep the "enhanced" by vinyl kicks but restore the distorted bass tone.
     
  10. Wfojas

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    Ah, you're here. Congrats on the BW, and hope it serves you well!
     
  11. Wfojas

    Wfojas Friend

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    @sheldaze very kindly passed his BW on to me. Hot ziggity, let the poppin begin!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2016
  12. brencho

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    awesome congrats!!
     
  13. Faker

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    Wtf? How come none of the people on the waitlist who haven't gotten their amp been notified? I've been waiting 4-5 months for this amp. EC should have notified everyone immediately. I would have bought a different amp long ago
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    We are still fulfilling the second run of 50. There will not be another run after this one.
     
  15. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    BW in the house. It's possibly the worst weekend for it to turn up though; working overnight Friday, family gathering all day yesterday and horse riding with my kids today.

    This amp REALLY sucks you in. I was up until 1am last night, trying to figure out what is going on. Wide awake again at 5am. I need to listen to this amp.

    Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section.

    I'm not really feeling warmth & bloom™ as described in another thread. With HD600 there is this palpable mass and dimension to notes I haven't really heard before. Perhaps with warmer headphones it becomes overbearing, but with the HD600 it feels so f'ing right. I will have to get my 650's out of the cupboard...

    I get the feeling this is like a gateway drug to EC higher offerings, but with HD600 it seems pretty damn endgame.

    (Disclaimer: I haven't listened to headphones for about a week and my Modibit has been 'burning in' pretty much the whole time. Last weekend I was listening to Jotunheim. It's an astounding amp in itself, lively and dynamic, but there is definitely some secret sauce going on with this BW. I would be kind of scared to hear what this setup could do fed by Yggdrasil)
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The BW2s uses a completely different power supply from the BW1. Also, some parts were tweaked. BW2 might be a bit more expansive and smoother sounding. I imagine some people might prefer the more "organic" sounding bass of the first one, but really, changes are not significant. HD600, modded HD800s, and a unicorn edition LCD2 were used during BW development.
     
  17. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
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    Don't worry about Yggdrasil. You have an awesome setup there. If you're ready to upgrade some day, go transducer first, then DAC, then amp. Honestly, I wouldn't if you're happy. Hell, I would be happy with that setup. It's better than the multi thousand dollar setups of just a few years ago.
     
  18. SeaBupter

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    I’ve been listening to my BW2 for a couple of months; here are my impressions so far.

    My system: MacBook Air -> Wyrd -> GO450 -> BW2 -> Senn HD800 (no mods, Norne Draug V2 cable)

    The BW2 replaces a Schiit Vali 1 - it's a giant upgrade in every way.

    Yes, now I need a better DAC; the GO450 is clearly holding the BW2 back.

    I’m a former jazz and classical listener who’s turned into an EDM fanatic in his old age.

    First impression: immersion
    I’m not listening to music, I’m being immersed in it. In my mind’s eye, I’m floating in a giant music-filled aquarium. Is it even possible to listen analytically to this?

    Next impression: all my bass are belong to it
    A whole new world of bass and sub-bass has been opened to me. I had no idea my HD800 could even produce bass like this; I guess that’s what they mean by scaling. The effect is present for all genres of music, but is most striking with EDM. Because it’s electronic, I can’t say that EDM sounds more ‘natural’ with the BW2, but I feel like I’m hearing much more of what the artist originally included in their work, and that it sounds more like what they themselves were hearing. The bass is tight and agile - it augments the rest of the music without obscuring it. The whole universe vibrates just right!

    Third impression: sweetness
    There’s an underlying sweetness and relaxation to everything the amp does, even when it’s playing fast, hard-hitting music. The overall effect reminds me of the bittersweet chocolate that I’m addicted to: a beguiling combination of power and sweetness.

    Final thoughts:
    If you’re into EDM, grab one of these before they’re gone.
     
  19. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    I just can't see an transducer upgrade path for me at the moment. After listening to pretty much everything I could I ended up back with HD600. There is Utopia, but AUD$5500 is just too much for me.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2016
  20. Faker

    Faker New

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    Great impressions

    Can't wait to try these for EDM
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2016

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