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morphsci

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Posts posted by morphsci

  1. Pics please as it is most likely just a shared connection of the stepped attenuator.

    I have already agreed to send some HiRez pics to KG when I open up my amp and PS. So I will take one picture of the whole board in each box and then four separate ones of each quadrant with some overlap. It will probably be some time next week at this point but he can probably host them and then we can certainly continue the discussion concerning this particular amp. I look forward to it.

    P.S. There are actually two seperate volume controls on this amp. The two stepped attenuators and then a digital volume control which is separate from that.

  2. OK, I guess I was being too subtle (Note to self: Don't hang around Ingwe as much at meets). Look at the excerpt below, keeping in mind that English does not appear to be Shinichi's native language:

    The RSA B-52 may be used as a headphone amp and as a preamp. So may a few other brands, such as most Headroom amps.

    The TTVJ 307A is JUST a headphone amp. It cannot perform the duties of a preamp as it does not have the outputs to drive a speaker amp.

    An electrostatic headphone amp cannot be used as a preamp due to its topology.

    While the last statement is technically true it does not really get at the OP's real question. It obfuscates the issue and makes it seem that there are no electrostatic amplifiers that also have preamplifier CIRCUITRY in the box as well. In fact you can build a box that has both preamp functionality and headphone amp functionality whether the headphone circuitry is meant for dynamic or electrostatic phones. A case in point is my ES-1 which has additional preamp circuitry. There is no such thing as a standard ES-1 so making blanket statements about the ES-1 will result in a probability of 1 that you are incorrect.

    Also it appears that some people are claiming that a preamp has to be active to be a preamp (but maybe the communication is just unclear). But if that is the case I completely disagree with that statement.

    That being said I would also add my voice to not buying a new ES-1 at this point because of business issues at Singlepower. Only buy a used one if , again at this point in time, you can fix it yourself or can get it fixed locally. As far as the sound, I like it but you may not so you have to decide that one on your own.

    I would suggest the same as far as the B52: Decide for yourself if you like the sound, unless you think people posting here know what you like better than you do. As far as customer service RSA has very few complaints so that is unlikely to be an issue.

  3. An electrostatic headphone amp cannot be used as a preamp due to its topology.

    Now you tell me ... :palm: There is nothing inherent in the "topology" of an electrostatic amp that prevents its use as a preamp. I can certainly hook the preamp outputs of my ES-1 to the analog inputs of my TACT s2150 to route music sources to and control their volume through my speakers.

    @shinichi - My suggestion is to first decide what phones you like and then find sources and amps that complement and synergize with those phones. Comparing a dynamic amp to an electrostatic amp is like comparing elephants to gazelles as dynamics will give you a different presentation of the music compared to electrostatics (some will be closer and others farther apart obviously). The only real way to tell is by listening yourself and making that decision. In the end you may want both electrostats and dynamics >:D

  4. Well if recommending something because it a.) sounds good and b.) is a good deal, then I am an 840c shill. It is what I currently recommend a lot as a digital source. Is it better, or a better DSP/DAC implentation than the AA? I have no idea because I have never heard the AA, why would I recommend the AA? This isn't headfi.

    As far as Icarium goes; Dude he likes the Qualia :eek: That was a low blow with the Jamato and Trose comment, but at least he didn't say you were the HC Icarium ;)

  5. Got up at 6:30 am, checked turtle traps at Lake Charleston with my graduate student and undergraduate intern from 8:30 - 11:30, went back to the lab and stowed away samples. Ate lunch, answered insipid emails for a few hours while listening to Mudcrutch, went home and picked out CD's for the DC meet :D. Played power rangers, ate dinner, played some more power rangers, did some Super Why computer games, chilled while my son had his bath. Now have to head back upstairs for movietime.

  6. ..., and room acoustics which all play a really deal role in a setup other then $500 speaker stands.

    I guess we will have to agree to disagree there. When listening in the nearfield I would rank speaker decoupling and speaker positioning (including height) ahead of room acoustics. That is exactly why I bought the headroom stands even though they cost about 50% more than my speakers. They are extremely rigid and the rubber gasket effectively decouples the speakers from the desktop. The height and angle adjustment makes them super easy to dial in. When people have commented on my desktop setup, the only thing they have ever mentioned are the stands.

    For far field listening, I agree 107.654% ;D

  7. i've spent plenty of time with a few high end active studio monitors (Genelec, JBL and Tannoy) in professionally treated rooms, and i never thought they were giant killers. good, sure, but not something i would personally want to own for my main system. of course, a lot of it might be that a lot of "pro grade" source components and linestages, while expensive, really aren't that great sounding, as a lot of the money goes into utter reliability instead of the sound, so take what i just said with a grain of salt.

    Well I hope I did not come off as implying they are giant killers. They compete well on price since you have to factor in the price of a power amplifier (or amplifiers). They compete well on SQ with higher but comparably priced speaker amp combinations. They also do very well for nearfield listening which is what I assume for a desktop rig unless you have one big ass desk ;)

  8. how important is the essay on the gre? the essays on the mcat really don't matter, since most of the med schools don't give a shit how well you did on the essay portion.

    Ah, that explains a lot. ;)

    It really doesnt matter (or thats what people say) but I would at least like to have a finished essay :P

    I wouldn't count on it. It depends a lot on where you go and who you want to work with in graduate school. I personally weight the verbal more than the analytical since IMO it's easier to teach the latter than the former at that stage.

  9. You need to decide if you really need to go balanced at your desk. If so then you can't really beat the price (commercially) of the Headroom desktop balanced. I actually use the desktop portable (SE) in my home office and am quite happy. If you really need (desire) the preamp outputs then I would go with the Headamp GS-X. IMO it is the best deal in a full sized and full-featured SS balanced amp and it is dead-on neutral, so you get to hear everything upstream.

    As far as speakers go, active monitors are the best bet for space and cost savings and they compete well with passive speakers on SQ. One thing to do is to make sure you isolate them from the desktop. If you do not want to go the Headroom speaker stand route (which BTW work very well and are cool as hell) try looking at THESE .

  10. A couple of thousand. Soft constraint, but less is better. I'm not chasing the last 0.0001 percent.

    I can certainly recommend the GS-X as a great and very flexible balanced amp. At $2195 however it pretty much eats-up your whole budget and you will need some room for it. As far as the speakers my suggestion is that if you like the sound of the Audiengine A2's you should try a pair of A5's. Pretty inexpensive but very good sounding, especially if you can decouple them from your desk.

  11. MP3s are by no means the end all of music formats but they aren't THAT bad ...

    Well they do not have to be that bad but ...

    .... I know you may recommend me to use flossless files but I mainly download music from internet so flossless files are hard to find

    Most of the dreck "available for download on the internet" is that bad. If the expectation is that the music should be free and quality doesn't matter then just download a CDP.

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