Bob Katz on the KGSS Carbon and Dynalo Mk II

[JimL]

Just up on InnerFidelity - Katz's Corner has a review of the KGSS Carbon and Dynalo Mk II built by Mjolnir Audio - well done, kevin and spritzer!  He used an SR-007 Mk II with port mod and LCD-4 for the reviews.

Edited September 2, 2017 by JimL

[Jon L]

Couldn't find formal "Reviews" under the KGSS Carbon or Dynalo Mk II names, but they are discussed in Katz's Corner..

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/katzs-corner-episode-18-icelandic-wonder

[Hopstretch]

Quote

The incestuous, liquid-sounding Carbon amp does not sacrifice any sonic detail.

[Dusty Chalk]

It's even worse in context -- he says that like it's a good thing.

He obviously does not have Grammarly.

Or perhaps his sister is hot.  Or perhaps it's a Game of Thrones reference.

[mypasswordis]

Begs the question: How does he know what incestuous liquid sounds like?

Sadly, the article is littered with as much fake news as all the previous ones I read, and I only skimmed through like half of each. Where are all the real reviewers?

"thanks to the large circumaural Stax diaphragms."

"why manufacture an even brighter headphone when the 007 model already sounds too bright?"

"My measurements confirmed that unlike my older, custom AMB amplifier, the Pure Bipolar saturates much like tubes, it gently goes into clipping. In fact, it has such a high output capability that I would have to add an additional attenuator in my measurement setup in order to measure its limits."'

There's so much wrong with everything in this and everything else that I wonder how many times his mom dropped him on his head as a baby. Maybe she just had her way with him.

Edited September 2, 2017 by mypasswordis

[Rossliew]

Finally an in depth review of Birgirs amps.

[sorenb]

 

4 hours ago, mypasswordis said:

Sadly, the article is littered with as much fake news as all the previous ones I read, and I only skimmed through like half of each. Where are all the real reviewers?

seems like a badly done write-up of what Spritzer has stated about the Carbon for the past two years or so, blended with the usual Katz-magic: a touch of EQ ... wonder if Katz is aware of what ever is being written in his corner ...

 

[kevin gilmore]

so he tested the pure bipolar which is a balanced differential amplifier into 20 ohms. I never said it was designed for 20 ohms, and he tested at 20dBu.  Birgir says there are a few iem's that are 20 ohms, have not looked up the specs yet, but this makes an "ELEVEN" look small.

It was designed to drive 50 ohm planars. The lcd4 is a 200 ohm planar, so at 20dBu and a thd of about .002% this is ear damaging loud. The lcd4 specs page says it can handle 5 watts. this is beyond stupid.

if that is the power level you want, get a dynahi.

maybe time to come up with something between a dynalo and a dynahi for people who like to test stuff.

[mypasswordis]

12 hours ago, sorenb said:

 

seems like a badly done write-up of what Spritzer has stated about the Carbon for the past two years or so, blended with the usual Katz-magic: a touch of EQ ... wonder if Katz is aware of what ever is being written in his corner ...

 

There's definitely some touching going on, and apparently for both heads

[spritzer]

Sören being a fucktard...glad to see nothing changes when I take a week off in Niagara.  So pathetic... 

As for the review, if anybody thinks that I had anything to say about any of it... you have clearly never talked to Bob or followed any of his work.  He told me he would write what he wanted and I got zero say in it, which is exactly what I wanted.  This wasn't even supposed to be a review, he just asked me if he could borrow a Carbon to give the 007's an equal platform against the dynamic competition.  I was happy to oblige, sent him my personal Carbon and also offered him a Pure Bipolar to try out, to create an even more even playing field.  Both sets being driven balanced with amps that share the same design ideas.  This was back in February or March and it was only after he'd heard that this grew into a kind of review.  I knew he liked them as he bought the Pure Bipolar and will probably buy the Carbon as well but I didn't have any idea what he would write.  Hell I didn't even know when it was posted, I only heard about it when my inbox lit up. 

Now normally I would never even entertain the idea of having reviews as pretty much all are garbage, done by people with the integrity of used care salesmen/realtors and are just verbal diarrhea.  Just look at the garbage Jude is posting and he's far from the worst.  You may disagree with Bob's findings all you want but he sure as shit is more entitled to his opinion that most.  He did expose Focal and I know from experience that it isn't easy to hold up an opinion that goes against the "norm", no matter how wrong the "norm" may be.  I have fond memories of the death threats I got from some unstable people after I said the HE90's were far from the best.  I can also imagine how happy Focal were about all of this... 

[Whitigir]

More people need to know what Stax is capable of ! This is going on a good direction ! 

[Mach3]

On 9/7/2017 at 4:15 AM, spritzer said:

 I have fond memories of the death threats I got from some unstable people after I said the HE90's were far from the best.  I can also imagine how happy Focal were about all of this... 

Pardon my ignorance, what currently in your view beats the HE90?

[spritzer]

Pretty much everything out there.  The HE90's weren't that good to begin with and the tech has moved on in the last 30 years. 

[Mach3]

What I learnt from 7 years on HF - Expensive = Sounds Good vs What I learnt from 1 post on HC = Stay clear from all the hype train. 

[tumpux]

On 9/6/2017 at 9:15 PM, spritzer said:

sent him my personal Carbon

Just curious, is there any special tweak included in this 'personal unit'..?  

[spritzer]

Nope, it was just the only one I had available at the time.  I later sent Bob a new one when he wanted to buy it and this amp ended up as a gift to Dr. Gilmore.  I don't really do special amps for myself any more, that amp was replaced with another Carbon in my system which has been there ever since.