HeadphoneAddict

I don't know what I was thinking and forgot where I was, and just responded to the topic on hand with a sample of a different kind of write up and review. Somehow the thread had derailed into a "let's criticize Larry's reviews" thread around the time I said I was on the list to review the A-10. But it is too late to edit it now - I hate that time limit on edits. Can a mod move my post above, or kill it please?

A Very Compact Hybrid Amp - Page 55 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio I am not doing a full blown review of the Cavalli CTH (compact tube hybrid) - but I will post my impressions so far of its sound and a few comparisons. I have spent a couple of days with the CTH/Mullard short-plate and find it to be a nice detailed and warm powerful tube hybrid, with above average soundstage and no glaring negatives or complaints in the sound. My main complaints are the lack of a power switch, no RCA input on the rear, and less transportability due to the protruding 12AU7 through the top cover. I spent some time comparing it vs my Head-direct EF1/stock RCA clear-top 12AU7. One observation was with Giovanni Mirabassi "Prima O Poi" the song Symphomaniax - With HD600 the CTH presented more body to the trumpet, the piano was smoother/refined and more up front, and the sound was mellower overall and slightly darker. But, the sound was also fuller and more refined like you would expect from a bigger amp. In general listening to the CTH was more engaging than the EF1 with stock tube, which seemed a little more distant and presented a slightly less solid image of the instruments. Switching the EF1 RCA clear top to a Mullard long-plate in the EF1 resulted in the two amps coming much closer together. The EF1 picked up more body and refinement, and became more engaging as well. With the Mullard in the EF1 the treble did become a little more recessed than with the RCA, but not lacking. At this point I cannot pick one amp over the other as the two sound very similar. The volume control on the CTH is much better than the EF1, and I am now convinced that I need to send the EF1 back to have the volume control looked at. I also compared the CTH to the ALO/RWA Amphora which seems to have a little bit more transparency and detail and yet still has a fairly rich tube-like sound similar to the Cavalli. Yes, sound signatures are somewhat similar but they are not exact. I have not been able to compare their soundstages or bass/treble extension with test tones yet, but I can say the Cavalli has a little too much bass with the Sennheiser IE8 which sound better on the Amphora. I still don't think I would change anything about the Amphora or CTH with most headphones. With the Grado RS-1 the CTH, EF1 and Amphora also seem to come closer to each other in sound. (can't use the IE8 on the EF1 due to the volume control). Most of the listening has been with my iMod and portable Vcap dock as source (using Soloz 12-strand Litz-braid mini-RCA or my ALO SXC mini-RCA). The RSA P-51 Mustang was velcro'd to my portable Vcap dock, so I tried it out in comparison too. The P-51 has slightly more treble presence than the CTH or EF1 with Mullards or the Amphora, so it's not quite as mellow as them, but that is about the biggest difference. The other thing you notice is the P-51 is a little more forward and energetic or aggressive sounding, but not in a bad way. The CTH, EF1 and ALO Amphora are a little less aggressive and more refined sounding than the P-51, but the P-51 holds up well against them. The CTH is a good sounding amp and well worth the money and time to build one, and that is all that matters. I (and others) hate ratings, so I am going to nip the requests for one in the bud. Don't ask me. As you can see from my comparisons, it competes well vs other amps costing more, and as an added bonus it can be used with IEM while my son's Millett SSH and my EF1 cannot, due to poor volume controls. (Millett SSH not compared directly this time around)

Yet I was one of those that you inspired to write their own reviews. It's your fault I do them, so now GPH can be mad at you too.

Yeah, I thought the Lavry issue was over already too. As for the other part - I start new threads for many of the reviews because I don't want the reviews to be lost in the thousands of posts buried deep in a thread. People miss the review, and then write to me asking what I think, and then I have to deep link them to it. I'm trying to save myself the effort. Other times I don't start a new thread. I posted my impressions in the middle of the ALO MOT thread, and posted updates in the thread. But it was split out by ALO into it's own impressions thread - I didn't start an Amphora mega-thread (I did consolidate all my separate posts about the Amphora into post #3 of mrarroyo's Amphora review). With the Amphora I had already expressed an interest in the Amphora to Ken before I was loaned Zimm's to comment on and was offered the demo model, but I wasn't going to put up the money till I heard one. Zimm's loaner Amphora was a good opportunity to get a no obligation audition because I didn't want to feel obligated to buy the demo model if I liked or didn't like it. I also have my Westone ES3X review in the middle of the "Appreciation" thread, and did not start a mega-thread. Same with the Woo GES being in the middle of the big Stax thread, or the Nuforce Icon in the middle of someone else's thread. I feel many people don't find those buried reviews because they are looking at thread titles to decide what to read, and also the old threads fall off the map and get forgotten. I thought I was just helping people notice the reviews more easily, so they would read them. I started putting links to the reviews in my public profile "about me" so that I could point people to reviews from there. But I don't expect people to find review links on their own by going through public profiles - so I just tried to make them easier to find by starting their own review thread.

I'm spending way to much time on this reply, and I still don't think it is worth it. The majority of my reviews are with equipment that I have purchased for myself, and I wanted to share what I thought with others. I think my first one was comparing a JSeaber cmoy with bass boost to a PenguinAmp Royal and Caffeine Pro summer 2007. I was surprised by the performance of the inexpensive PenguinAmps and wanted to share my impressions. When Robert at PenguinAmp told me about the Headstage Lyrix I went to eBay and bought one to review, and then I got the iBasso D1, and the Meier Headsix and out of habit I continued to review them all. It just took off from there. Although I didn't do a mega-review on everything that I've bought or liked (HFI-700, HD600, CD5001, DV336i, PS Audio DL3, Edition 9, etc) un-reviewed gear sometimes came up in other reviews or got a small mini-review in the middle of a thread somewhere. So, more people would ask me about what I thought about "such and such" and I'd research it and think it looked interesting. Then I'd buy it and review it if I liked it. Later I also did the reviews just so I could point people to the review link instead of answering the same stupid questions over and over. It was fun at first, but now it is just starting to feel like work. Lately, when I am offered something to review I am partly curious about the product, but I partly feel obligated to post a review on it and not say no too. Add to that a lack appreciation for the effort and it just plain sucks.

Thanks for the support, I think. The "a lot of people have issues with larry's posts or reviews" didn't help much.

I thought we had put some of our difference behind us, but I guess not. You say you want to participate in a "rational" discussion, but you act like I ran over your cat or something. And you try to lure me into making statements that you can then attack. I just don't get it. Look, I try to be fair and post what I hear, and I try to help other people with my impressions. Yet I get the feeling that you and others on the forums are so set in their ways that you guys wont give new stuff a fair chance, or at least not without dissecting it and estimating it's abilities based on that result instead of by listening. As for the Amphora - it's biggest audience is going to be those using an iMod as source, as it takes the place of the iMod Vcap dock + separate amp + LOD + mini-mini interconnect. An iQube or P-51 with portable Vcap dock and IC's can cost almost as much as the Amphora. There is not a big audience for them, and only 100 being made. You are not an iMod fan, so I don't expect you to be an Amphora fan. The fact that I have posted in my assessment that the Amphora doesn't match the Woo WA6, and that it sounds closer to a "lowly" single power square wave xl or P-51 mustang, doesn't seem contradictory to your beliefs - so I don't see what the problem is? Maybe the problem is that I like too many of the things that I listen to and review? I am working on a comparison of a loaner Cavalli CTH/Mullard 12AU7 vs EF1/Mullard 12AU7, and have also listened to the Amphora, P-51 and 3MOVE side by side with those. So far with some program material and some headphones, one will be better than the other but not every time. I like them all and can't decide which sounds best this early in the process - they tend to swap places depending on the gear paired with them or my mood. It makes me wonder whether am I reviewing the amp, the headphones or the music. (is synergy a taboo subject?) But, if I were to eventually find the Cavalli my favorite then do I become a shill for Alex? I have lots of questions about how you go about defining me as a shill. As a default it seems like you accuse me of being a shill for whomever I rank first, or is that the case only if I give a good rating to gear by builders that you don't approve of? Was I a shill for RSA because I liked the Predator the most for a long time, and now that I like the iBasso D10 more does that make me a shill for them now? I tried to make it clear that I would be happy with any of my top ranked portable DAC/amps, and that they are very close, but that doesn't seem to help. I tried to give the IE8 a fair shot to unseat the Westone 3 as my favorite universal IEM, but I don't find them to be much better than my Phonak Audeo, does that make me a shill for Phonak, or Westone, or both? I finally found an IEM that is well ahead of the Westone 3, but because it is the custom Westone ES3X I must still be shilling for them. I don't even know why I bother worrying about it anymore...

I'm not gonna take the bait and argue about burn-in or any other crap.

Dunno, that last post sounds more like you are yanking my chain. Then you get to say, "Fished In!" when I bite.

Well, I've been offered the A-10 review job, so yeah, I'm considering it. But that is old news. On a different note, do you really think an iMod with Vcaps and Amphora will be good enough to compare to even an average stat rig? Or are you thinking that the A-10 will be low enough that it wont surpass the Amphora? And what headphones should I pair with the Amphora to compare to the Stax O2? I've been selling off dynamics to get moar stats but I still have RS-1, HD600, ESW10, K1000, modded D2000, K240M and HFI-700. My Woo WA6 would be a more fair comparison (with RS-1 or HD600), since I posted in my review that the Woo was better (lo and behold the Woo has improved as the Blackgates and Vcaps finished burning in). I'll have my EC ZDT by then, and maybe the K1000 via 8-watt speaker taps will be even better competition. Hmmm...

Okay, expensive pre-amp.

I'm not sure I want that responsibility. We'll see, as it will be here at our Colorado High-Fi meet on 7/25/09 before Ray leaves it with me to review. But I'm also worried about what if something happens to it while in my possession. That was partly the reason why I didn't want to review it before CanJam, along with Ray wanting a larger audience to audition it (which meant waiting for our meet here). There will be no hour by hour burn-in impressions, and the A-10 is already burned in anyways (unless you don't believe in breaking in electronics, then it will simply be a used piece of gear with wear-and-tear). At the meet the A-10 will be compared to a maxed GES, Blue Hawaii SE, and a EC ZDT speaker amp with SRD-7 Pro, among others. I understand that none of these for comparison will be an "expensive" pre-amp and they don't cost as much, but wow!

Wow.

My wife just vetoed CanJam, even when I threw in Disney and Lego Land for the kids...

(thanking God right now that the whole house is on Mac now)

Beer Weight loss program: Losing weight while drinking Beer! Video by Clyn† - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=50385567@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@myspace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@50385567

You owe me a new keyboard! Well, the link was payment enough, even if it was the cause to spew pepsi up my nose...

This is a poem, to the head-case freaks, the ones with the cats that use spoons. They hoot and holler, at all the new-bies, and if drunk enough they give them the moon. And if mooning too far, with butt hanging out of a car, we'd see more than a crack, like poontang.

I bought a black and purple one as a gift - the black is here but I can't try it since it isn't for me. Don't want to give it out till the purple one for my friend's wife arrives (backorder). I'll make sure they check out the signal issue, but I thought part of the phone isn't covered so that it wont affect the signal.

Here is a link to a discussion thread about them - Sellout.Woot: The Community: The Community: Woots: XPal Portable Li-Po Battery Pack You could ask about it there.

NICE!

That is helpful info here. I had to switch to Xact to get my 24/96 files into AIFF, since Max started to choke on them when making them into ALAC.

That is very dead. Kinda wishing I hadn't looked.

28 voters in tier 1, only 26 voters in tier 2 - and I'm losing in both votes.

I liked the Lavry DA10 a little more than my Apogee mini-DAC when plaidplatypus brought his over to try out with my stats. It cost a little more than I could afford, and I wanted XLR and RCA out; so I ended up with PS Audio Digital Link III after I compared it with a Stello DA100 Signature for a couple of hours. I really wanted a DA11 with the crossfade.