recstar24

Kelvinz, If the issue your holding is that it is too expensive for a headphone amp, that is fine as your opinion. For others, not necessarily so. $6000 to you and me is very different to someone else. The few owners who have the 307A, have already determined for themselves that they are willing to pay $6000 for an ultimate, true hi end performing amp that can play any dynamic can. Just for reflection, the Original Xana from Moth Audio was slight under $6000 and could only play into hi impedances. There have been people who felt comfortable (at the time) to commission Mikhail $5000-$10,000 for the hopes of having a superior product. What people do with their money is fine by me, I envy them because damn that 307a is the finest freaking thing I heard with the hp-1000's, balanced, that god willing if I had $6000 to make it rain I would. The part of your argument that really doesn't make sense is comparing the headphone amp to the speaker amp. Yes you can get a really nice speaker amp for less than half of that, and for that price, your getting into the higher end of speaker amplification, but quality headphone amplification doesn't really share much with speaker amplification. The noise requirements of a headphone amp are much more demanding because you are dealing with transducers millimeters away at milliwatt sensitivities; therefore, it is my opinion that a headphone amp power supply needs to be about 10x stiffer with less noise and hash than a comparable speaker amp. This requires well thought out design, good iron, probably a choke in there, quality rectification, some of which is right up there, if not dwarfing, the quality of speaker amplification. Though a headphone amp does not need to output as much raw power as a speaker amp, the quality of that first "milliwatt" is so crucial that power output truly is meaningless in the headphone amp world. The amp itself needs to be designed to be able to operate as an effective buffer into a WIDE range of impedances, whereas a speaker amp can be dedicated to the standard 8 ohm. The headphone amp, on top of being able to handle all impedances (or a top of the line one), needs to also be able to supply the necessary voltage and current demands on hand, which are different for every single headphone. On top of that, some of the impedance variations across frequency for these cans can be dramatic, and we "expect" a headphone amp to handle all those dips and bumps, and be able to manage and produce a somewhat transparent and neutral pairing with whatever variety of headphones at your disposal. In conclusion, it is my opinion that the TTVJ 307A does all those things listed above. I truly feel it is the 1st amp that I have heard that plays music equally as amazing with low and hi impedance, and believe that you could throw any damn can at it and the 307a will play beautiful music through it. It performed functionally perfect, with no hassle, hum, or noise. It revealed zero transformer colorations to my ears. It played music through a clear, open window of transparency that is unrivalled to what I have ever heard. For me, and maybe others, that is worth $6000. It is clear that it is not to you, and that is just fine, the world keeps on spinning last time I checked. There are always compromises in gear - I have no idea how much money you would have to throw at something to make it sound "perfect", because money doesn't necessarily equate itself to performance. For what I look for in a headphone amp, the 307a is about as near to perfect as I have ever seen or heard, but like you said, it doesn't change the fact that $6000 is a lot of money, which I will probably never have to spend on something so luxurious (but we can always dream, no?)

The sound goes direct to the head (ba dump tish). Thanks asr for the pics and impressions.

Ah, the never ending debate between grado vs. sennheiser. However, if the HD800 does indeed have a more lively, dynamic sound, it might cause a shift towards one side. I am sure it is tweaked differently but a completely new driver design is probably unlikely. Zanth would be the one to ask, but he is probably tight lipped since its not released into the wild yet. The gs-1000 drivers look exactly the same as every other grado driver, but they do sound dramatically different, specifically in the bass region. Only exception of course are the hp1000 drivers but last time I talked to Joe he is the sole proprietor of those drivers.

It's ok - I wouldn't pay too much for it, if any at all in my position. I borrowed it from a local audio dealer, and actually preferred the sound of my CD player vs. its output into the dac (jolida 100 at the time). I remember it having that vintage, analoguey sound, which may suit your listening tastes. I could not tell you what the dealer was looking for it used.

Thread crap warning. Though I would really like to hear this new monster, a part of me is way more interested and curious in hearing the senn's HD800. All of Grado's stuff to me seems more like variations on a theme, albeit quite good to amazing sounding variations, whereas the hd800 is at minimum a step in a completely new direction in driver tech, construction, and sound (possibly). And if we haven't already figured it out with cars, ze Germans sure know how to make a quality product vs. the American counterparts. Man I feel kind of dirty saying that since I am pretty much a grado guy, but that's how I feel.

Help from stateside headfier/caser = $1695:)

RS-1i - dude I invented that thing with goredwings back on april fools 2006 I think:D

Thanks guys for your comments, good to know that the shure se530 has withstood somewhat the FOTM of the westone 3 and triple fi10 as well as the other balanced armature universal.s To my ears, the shure guys way back with the e4 and e5 to now, simply understood what music is supposed to sound like. Reks, I will experiment with the triflanges more. I loved the triflanges and used them exclusively with the e5. But these triflanges for some reason just don't sit well inside my ear when I tried it. I will try shortening the stalks a little bit more than where I had them, and pj I will try again and literally give them a nice wedge in there, though I don't like the idea of shoving things too far down that canal wink wink. JBLoudG20, do you snip the smallest flange or the largest one? Medium olives are good for me, though I think the smaller olives would work better as I have pretty small canals for really big ears.

The shure se530's came in today. Was able to play with them a good chunk of time due to no school. I mainly was using my moth si2a3/45H with meridian as I am still waiting on my new 6g ipod to come in. The fit is excellent to my ears, nice and easy to insert, stays in place, and all the tips work just fine. I would say the triple flange is really awkward and I probably won't bother with it anymore because it places it too far out the ear. I tried the small rubber ones and the medium sized olive foam I believe, those are the ones I like so far. The olive foam though seems to fit in more snug and seems to isolate much better, though the smaller rubber tips go in and out faster. I am really impressed with the sound. I guess I was somewhat expecting the shure e5 soung sig and did not hear that at all, what the se530 provides is a league above and beyond what the e5 was. The highs were excellent, and I did not hear any rolloff or veil up top whatsoever. With the small rubber tip there is just a tad bit of sibilance and hotness up top, but I think I am still working and experimenting to get the fit just right. The foams are a tad darker but still very detailed, nice sparkle and no rolloff to my ears. I really like the bass presentation. Not muddy at all, very tight and impactful, not bloomy or saggy nor does it mask or muddy the mids. It reminds me just a bit of the HP-1000 bass response, has that same kind of linearity that I am used to, I am super impressed by it. The e5 bass could get kind of ridiculous at times, but the se530 bass is extremely controlled and just really really good bass response the way I like it. If I am being picky maybe there could be just a bit more bass body and bloom but as it stands the bass response is way superior to the e5 bass and I think it could compete with my HP-1000's (which should be coming in by the end of the week woot) The midrange is pretty fantastic, but with the e5's I owned and playing with the e500's I always felt the shure guys knew where the magic in the music was. Somewhat forward, but not overly obtrusive of the whole picture. Very engaging quality. Overall imaging is excellent, and though the soundstage is typical of an IEM, I do get a nice sense of air and ambiance. OF course, using Emission Labs 45 tubes through Electraprint iron does not hurt either. Qualms? For some reason, there is just a tad of hotness up top, maybe somewhere between 5-10 khz. I think this is more a fit issue and I am sure my ears will adjust and I will eventually get the fit perfect. As mentioned previously, could use a bit more body and bloom in the bass, again could be attributed to fit. Other than that, very comfortable for the past couple of hours I have had them on and excellent sound through the moth. BTW - I never realized how dead silent the moth is, no hum, no hiss, no noise, just the occasional tube ping here and there, but what a well designed amp Craig made here to be dead silent on sensitive IEM's. Questions: I believe the serial # is 0568 (it was written on the cable modular connection next to se530). Do I have to worry about the cable splitting issue, or is this cable the new formula that prevents that? What are your thoughts on the comply tips? Thanks for taking the time.

Based on my impressions, which took place many hours at the meet, in a hotel room with no background noise whatsoever (don't ask), the output transformers exhibited no coloration to my ear, or at least any I could detect. Usually you can hear a thickening of tone, a slight smear of transients, maybe even an image slightly off-focused - nope, none of it was there. Really really really clean, focused, direct, detailed, but had great tone, just so damn good. I used APS balanced HP-2's and that was probably the best I had ever heard them. The combo was the definition of dynamic, musical, yet so harmonically detailed and full, the top end was perfect, and I have always loved the bass and mids of the HP-2's, yet noticed the midrange just really opened up and the soundstage deepened a couple of layers behind the voice, so that you could hear some real space in the recording. Those output transformers are a big part of what I heard IMO, and would imagine they are probably at the higher order of what Jack at Electraprint would charge, especially for a custom job that would be limited in quantities. Based on what I have read about Jack's silver secondary winding output trannies, I would not be surprised to find out later on that maybe those are the ones used here, as there was an air and refinement in the top frequencies that you don't normally here with good iron.

Thanks for the info - being a fan of Craig's stuff I have always loved the sound of the electraprint iron (though I admit not having that much experience with different iron other than hammond, james, and tango). If anything that is a huge selling point the fact that todd and Pete would get custom electraprint iron for the 307a, good for them, and good for whoever has the luxury of having such a fantastic amp.

I am with you. I pretty much was listening to the 307a about 95% of the time at the last Chicago meet. To my ears, playing a diverse set of recordings, the 307a showed off a transparency and overall neutrality that it was just like stepping into the music, something that I last experienced with the Zana Deux. I could not detect any output transformer coloration to my ears, compared to my moth si2a3/45H. If it didn't cost as much as an organ transplant it woulde definitely be an option for me. I was not aware that the output iron was Tango - do you have a reference for that fact? I do not question it, just curious, Todd was pretty tight-lipped with me, just saying they were "custom"

You got it - I'll let you know when I start getting antsy:D I am glad Todd and Pete are on board with this. I think the market could really use another sub $1000 discrete solid state design. Justin's GS-1 is utterly fantastic, one of my first real reviews I did for 6moons, but it never hurts to have more options for the consumer. Craig never went forward with his mid priced solid state discrete, and was supposed to release discrete modules for the EC/SS, but that never bore any fruit.

Have fun with her Al - remember to send her my way when your done:D Will be nice to compare to the EC/SS on my end as well. Really excited to hear it perform as a preamp in my speaker system.

Ryan and Jacob = win. Damn man, you and me have been on the same page recently. next thing you know it my basement will start piling up with random bodies next to shovels.

Thanks everyone for the impressions and insight. Especially those that I exchanged PM's. I decided to go with the shure se530's. I went with the conservative, close to the vest route. I really enjoyed the e5's and by all impressions that I have read, they have improved the sound in the 500 and 530, specifically up top in the treble. I listened to the 500's for a short demo and I always thought the shure's did bass very well, and I really liked the midrange presentation. I am sure the TF10's and senn IE8's are great as well, but decided that for a IEM I would keep it close to the vest, as the shure sound is what I am familiar with, so there you go.

darn it, sorry to throw another wrinkle into the mix... I know I truly won't know until you try them on, but I just don't see how the TF10's are comfortable, or can retain their fit. They literally look like they jut out from the ear almost perpendicular (90 degree angle sort of). The shure se530's though I am sure would fit much better. I do like the shure sound, the e5's I owned had amazing bass and good mids but a somewhat dark sound sig in general due to the rolled treble. I have read some random bits and have exchanged PM's with a local headfier that the 530 improves a lot on the original e5. If you take the e5 and maybe give a bit more sparkle up top and some extension I think I would be very happy. Thoughts? Jacob I know you had the 530's for a bit, elnero I believe owned the e500's as well. BTW - thank you elnero for the incredibly detailed impressions you left me in PM, I appreciate it.

Thanks Elnero for your extremely detailed and helpful impressions. I know I cannot truly assess the comfort level until I try them, but I have read a fair amount about the TF10's odd design leading itself to not fitting well in the canal, thus losing that precious seal. But it seems from reading about the UE sound signature that it would be totally up my alley.

I concur with billy and pj. My speaker setup is very modest, and my acoustics are crappy. Yet damn those little single drivers that cost me $400 can really sing, and with the help of my sub I get some pretty darn good bass and extension. I can only imagine what it would sound like if I had symmetry between the left and right wall placement (as currently my right speaker simply extends out to an open room, whereas the left speaker is a couple of feet from the wall). I would agree with pj on amplification. Headphone amplification need not be heroic. Some of these darn speakers you guys like to talk about require a good chunk of wattage for sure.

Any comments on the Sleek Audio 6? Here is where I am at, possibly looking into a long term portable set-up: Westone 3 Etymotic Er4s Yuin PK1 Sleek Audio 6 Triple Fi 10

Ouch - arcy/sparky no goody with headphones and single driver speakers:palm:

I have always been curious by what appears to be a wide variety and diversity in the various permutations of the above rectifier tube. They seem to come in all forms of mullards and rebranded mullards as well as philips, with fancy bases and logos and others that are more basic pedestrian looking, all seeming to garner outrageous prices and others being more modest. I have never even bothered to roll or even think about the concept of the rectifier having an impact on the sound signature, probably due to spite. Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

Congrats, with those senns you should have a really good time with the pairings. The ZD I am positive was always planned on being a limited run of some sort. If you look at the current data and track record of the value moth and eddie current gear has maintained, you will see that they usually garner near their original retail price and sometimes even more. When I posted my ec hd-25 for sale, I received 5 offers within a hour, 3 at original retail price. Don't be an idiot like me and sell it hold on to it and its value and sound will only mature. Of course I was able to offset that loss with the acquisition of the last and one of the most tweaked si2a3 moth's to be created but that's another story:p

Outside the typical SS vs. tube debate, the Zana is freaking ridiculously good with the 650's. Gives it just the right amount of damping factor. The luxman was a fine amp when I heard it in TTVJ's room at the Chicago meet and really liked it with the grados though.

The idea of a high quality earbud that sounds good amped is highly intriguing. Care to share your impressions of its sound signature (my only experience with earbuds are the craptastic sony's and ipod buds unfortunately)