The All Purpose Advice Thread

New to this forum, hoping to get some help from bros here.

I'm looking for an amp for adx5000.
Now using an old msb as da, hoping to get an amp between them. Solid state or Tube all fine.

I'm hoping to keep the budget under 3k, second hand also welcomed.

I'm mostly into classics and focusing the stage size, density, things like this.

In my humble view, adx5000 is somehow similar with hd800. So I think maybe the amp good for hd800 could be fine. Is there bros who can give some precious advice?

 

I'm looking for Bluetooth full or medium sized cans as a gift for my son between $200 and $300. I'm looking for near- HiFi quality, I understand I cannot get any close to Sennheiser HD 650 by quality, but if I can have 70% as good with the convenience of Wireless it would be great. For example, I have myself some older Sony WH-1000XM4 or similar and they are kind of acceptable, definitely better than any popular crap like Bose or Beats. I asked this question in a separate thread for future reference:

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...i-or-cheap-near-hifi-headphones-advice.11768/

 

Friend looking for a closed back. Sonically, what they want is a closed back HD650. They're treble, weight and price sensitive.

Atticus would be the winner but is out of their price range. Aeon Flow Closed probably won't work because they like dynamics. Elegia is probably too bright for them.

Amp could be part of the deal if sonically hits the mark and whole setup is under $1000.

 

Any closed backs with soft leading edge like the HD650, but with more bass and more recessed upper mids?

Price around €150

 

Nope..............close to your target would be emu teak,or Shure 1540 both not cheap. Why not try Senn Hd-569s and use some eq?

They are in your price range and after giving up my dedicated HP setup that used Senn 600s, they work well with a super phone or better source.

 

Hi, everyone. I’ve been using my Soekris as both a preamp for my active speakers (Kanto YU4s) and as my headphone amp for the past few months, but I’ve started to really encounter its limits, especially when I added the HD6xx. I know I haven’t been getting the most out of those headphones, so I’ve been thinking carefully about what amp to add to my system. Yesterday, after spending a couple of hours doing some more reading around here, I surprised myself and ordered a Lyr 3 (I’d been assuming I’d go solid state this whole time, but I’m increasingly tube-curious).

My question has to do with using the Lyr as a preamp in my desktop system, and specifically with volume control. Right now, I have the Soekris LO volume fixed at -2db and use the speakers’ volume knob. With the addition of the Lyr and a third volume control to my chain, though, I’m not sure what the best way to control the volume of the speakers will be and I’m hoping to get some advice on best practices. I’m assuming I should keep the LO volume of the Soekris fixed and use the Lyr to control the volume on the speakers, but is there an ideal setting for the volume knob on the speakers? Alternately, since I enjoy the sound I get from the Soekris as a preamp with my speakers, could I use a splitter to keep using it that way while also having it feed the Lyr for headphone use, without experiencing any degradation in sound quality?

Thanks in advance for any help. I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the all-purpose thread or the two channel thread - hope I made the right call…

 

I suppose the theory would be to keep the gain high from the source in order to keep the S/N ratio high thru the chain. If the Soekris does not have issues with being at highest gain then, that is where I would run it. You could probably test to hear if there is any impact with the respective pot in the Lyr or speaker at highest gain. If one degrades at your normal listening volume, then run that one full up.

Since many pots are not linear and give you a bunch of signal with the first half of their travel, I might run the speakers volume up to where you don't get significantly more gain as you turn and control volume with the Lyr. Or vice versa, bearing in mind that some volume pots have channel imbalance at the low end of travel. In my experience keeping pots at about 12 o'clock or so (if that is where gain increases start to peter out ) a good rule of thumb for balance between small changes in volume and sound quality.

In the end it all depends on the volume pot. I run my dac / amp which has a physical pot at about 12 o'clock and my integrated amp same, sounds fine and give a wide range of control. Good luck and enjoy your new amp.

 

That's very helpful, thanks. I'll have to experiment a little once the amp arrives.

 

Short version: in my experience with Sorkris DACs the sound quality degrades ever so slightly if volume is set to anything other than 0 - probably not audible with casual listening. Unfortunately with volume at 0 or above, I did get a little clipping with the DAC. Did not get clipping at -1 (or maybe barely got it, don't recall RN). See the soekris thread for the long version.

In general, I just tweak volume on everything until I find what sounds best. Yes, there is SNR, but each component may have its own quirks (such as the clipping above, possible distortion at a given point, needing more useable range in the amp, etc) as well and IME these things combined make a bigger difference during actual listening than a “theoretical” SNR.

 

Thank you. The clipping on the Soekris is why I've had it set it to -2 (a lot of my 90s-era stuff clips even at -1!). I'll play around with the volume control on the Lyr and on my speakers. I'm also toying with the idea of using a splitter between the DAC and the amps, just to take some of the guesswork out.

 

My Sennheiser Momentum 2 has served me well for years, but the battery life is waning and the pads are peeling and sometimes my connection gets grumbly. Time for a replacement.

Options I'm considering:
Sennheiser Momentum 3: known entity (assuming minimal changes from v2), and currently on sale on Amazon for $330CAD for boxing week
Sony WH-1000XM4: also on sale on Amazon for $350CAD, or $250 used on canuckaudiomart
Audeze Mobius: just for something different? there's one for $350 CAD on canuckaudiomart, not sure if that's worth it

Any advice or other options I should consider? Noise cancelling is not strictly necessary but it's nice. Being able to pair to two devices (namely my laptop and phone) without having to redo the bluetooth pairing each time is important. Strong preference for over ear as on-ear tends to hurt with my glasses.

I find the Momentums very comfortable and the darker tilted sound is fine by me. My only gripe is they do get quite warm.

 

Question 2 that is partially related to above:
Since I use the headset these days primarily for zoom/discord/MSteams rather than on-the-go music, I would consider just sticking with my current Momentum 2 for light phone or music duties and get a wired gaming headset with a good mic for everything else. I really don't know this realm though, so any suggestions are welcome. Mic quality and comfort are the most important features here. Could be a usb or TRRS (if usb, preferably driverless because my work laptop is shut down pretty hard on installing anything). Do any TRRS headphones even have decent mics on them? I would not be opposed to buying something like a Schiit Hel if it makes a difference... a simpler setup is better, but the urge for new toys also has its appeal.

 

Looking for help. Going to send my Jot 2 in for repair for the third time. Same issue: Right channel is garbled. When I turn the volume all the way up I hear a lot of noise coming through both channels.

Applying Occam's Razor it is more likely I am doing something wrong. Attached is how I have things setup -- Windows 10 -> Modius -> Goldpoint SA1X -> Jot 2. What am I doing wrong?

 

More information might be helpful:

1. Are you describing two separate issues (right channel is garbled + at high volume there's a lot of noise in both channels), or one?
2. When you sent the Jot for repairs the first two times, what did Schiit say was the problem and/or do to fix it? Did they fix it?
3. Can you describe the garbled right channel? For example, does it sound like clipping (i.e. like the distortion you'd get if the volume were turned way too high)?
4. Can you describe the noise in both channels? For example, is it a steady, low-frequency hum or buzz? Or a steady hiss? Or an intermittent, sharp buzz that maybe happens when your phone is nearby or when the computer is doing some particular thing?
5. Did you change anything just before the problem started? Does the problem only occur when everything's warmed up (or only when everything's cold)?
6. Have you tried to isolate the problem by replacing the headphones, headphone cable, amp, interconnects, SA1X, DAC, computer?
7. Have you tried unstacking the components and spreading them out far apart from each other, as far as all the cables will let you?
8. [Edit] If your computer is a laptop, does the problem occur only when the laptop is plugged into AC, or also when it's unplugged and running on battery only?

 

One issue. It sounds like fuzz distortion. Sounds just really broken.

1. Op amps on both channels and tested on APX 555
2. Input jfetts Right channel

Nothing changed and occurs when amp is warmed up.

Yep tried all the above including using RCA instead of XLR.

Yep moved into another room just to try.

 

I'm refurbing a pair of Quad II mono amps. These were designed to take AC power from a matching Quad pre-amp via a custom umbilical. I won't be using the pre-amps so I need to modify the power inputs.

My plan is to hard-wire a polarized 2-prong cable into each unit, adding a SPST switch along the way. There's already a fuse in the circuit. My concern is that by adding a 6 foot power cable I'll make the amps susceptible to RFI via the new 'antennas'. There's no bypass cap in the units as designed; I don't know if they weren't worried or if the custom umbilical was part of a solution.

My question, Is there any reason I should NOT go ahead and add a bypass cap from neutral to ground when installing the power cables? I may be worrying needlessly about noise but I'd rather just do this once & sooth my nervosa at the same time. Any thoughts?

 

Any ideas for the cheapest tube pre amp, I'm just curious what my Jot2 would sound like with a tube preamp but don't want to go in for an Elekit or something to find out it's a bad idea.

 

You won’t get to spend a bunch of time rolling matched sets of tubes, but you could do a lot worse than a Vali 2+ acting as a preamp…

 

Ah! I forgot Vali 2+ has an RCA out. That might actually work, as I don't really like the nervosa of rolling tubes.

 

Is there any reason not to get an Audeze LCD-X (2021 version)?

I just got a LCD2C here out of curiosity that I can still return and just got aware of the new 2021 iteration of the LCD-X that I somehow missed.

I quite like the LCD2C and if the X does everything better for not too much extra charge, I'm in. Extra weight is known to me.

I guess my question is: Are there any alternatives with that kind of sound signature that I am not aware of?

Verum is out of the question and I might demo Focal Clear Mg, but I didn't like Utopia and Elear, so I am kind of hesitant to get a Focal again. Also thanks to @Vtory 's great comparison here I am pretty sure I will prefer the X.

Don't know about Hifiman and ZMF, though.

Stack is Bifrost 2 and Jot 2, no changes planned. Roon has the Audeze presets, which comes in handy, but I also have SonarWorks.