Dreadhead Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 Let me get this straight? Damping factor doesn't matter for headphones? WTF are you smoking. Your less circuitry argument is utter nonsense too. Pure bat-shit babbling.
n_maher Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 1. Damping factor absolutely matters with headphones. I say so from personal experience. I tried it, you happy now? 2. Ahhh, the less is always more answer. How about you try a damping factor of 1 week and see how it responds for you? Fitting name for your company. It's very simple: Less circuitry means less effort to get the original information in its most accurate state. This translates to clarity, or accurate reproduction from the source. As a circuit becomes complicated more signal information is lost. As the less dynamic frequencies are lost the signal becomes compressed. For the listener, this is experientially the sensation of congestion. And if I had to guess, Ram Audio isn't high grade parts to compensate for this problem. Instead it seems they took the more power and we can retain some of the information approach. Second, the "shitty" damping factor doesn't matter in this instance since again we are talking about tiny very drivers which despite their low sensitivity, are more nimble than Lowthers, Fostexs and the rest when amped equally. In other words, what you said is totally irrelevant. Give it a shot and see for yourself. Silly you.
Duggeh Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 My Aleph M was a simple amp with hum. My dads 405-2 is a more complex amp with hum. My NAD C352 is a more complex amp with no hum. The T-amp is both simple and complex and has no hum. I may know nothing about electronics. But I can understand conclusions drawn from repeated observation (some people call it the scientiic meathod or something). Not that this matters because 2 posts in and you're already behaving like a dick so I predict you won't last much longer.
atothex Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 Man, how can someone so retardedly wrong speak with such fake authority? It's pretty insane.
Sherwood Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 F1 sounds great with the K1000s, and even better with the Cicadas. I'm using the Moth EC2a3 to drive the K1Ks primarily, now, owing to that fact. I'd love to have the chance to run the F1 against another 10 watt Pass amp of a more conventional design like the F3 and see if The F1 is so brilliant because of the unorthodox design, or despite it. It seems that many here with a much more thorough knowledge of circuits than myself already have their position on the issue, but my talents lie elsewhere, so I'd have to plug them in.
luvdunhill Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 conventional design like the F3 ha! It's rather crowded amongst all the power JFET amps out there. That would be a grand total of one design, and one the way.
Sherwood Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 More conventional, Marc, not conventional. I'd argue every voltage source amp is more conventional than the lone current source amp, whether it uses power jfets or not, no?
luvdunhill Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 More conventional, Marc, not conventional. I'd argue every voltage source amp is more conventional than the lone current source amp, whether it uses power jfets or not, no? sure that's fair. It was just a funny juxtaposition I bet the F3 will be more or less superseded by the new amp though.
Dusty Chalk Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 LOL @ "...damping factor of one week..."
luvdunhill Posted September 23, 2009 Report Posted September 23, 2009 Please correct me if I'm wrong. Looks like your access was corrected.
robm321 Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 The F1, to me, controlled the drivers better than any other amp. It just sounded cold and analytical compared to other amps. I like the Aleph 3 better than the F1. The Aleph sounds much more like a tube amp while giving solid control and helps the bass. It has to be on for at least an hour to really get that lush, yet controlled sound though. The Aleph also has amazing synergy with my speakers which came as a big surprise. Sometimes new is not better. If I wanted to spend a lot more for an amp, a 300b or airtight would be a small step up. And the sky is the limit with the K-1000s since the best speaker amps haven't all been tried.
deepak Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 My Aleph 30 sounded nothing like what you're describing. It's still a transistor amp, is it possible to get a harmonic signature that leans that far towards a tube sound without breaking something in the design? The amp sounded damn good, just IMO not a great match with the K1000.
luvdunhill Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 is it possible to get a harmonic signature that leans that far towards a tube sound without breaking something in the design? nope
robm321 Posted September 24, 2009 Report Posted September 24, 2009 I don't think any solid state amp can do what tubes can, but in my set up it gives the "warm" tube sound, not to be confused with the "warm" that people on other forums confuse as excessive bass. It's more of a lack of that digital edge that many solid state amps have - or that analytical nature I've always heard in the F1. I think what you are describing is the layering and richness that tubes offer, and no, it doesn't do all that. Nothing solid state that I've heard does. The KT88 amp with black plate NOS tubes which I originally used with the K-1000s actually sounded bright and thin in comparison rather than smooth, rounded and detailed like the Aleph oddly enough. I should say I have tubes in my system, including a tubed output stage on my digital source. Pass Labs describes all the technical crap about how he achieves the tube-like sound in the manual if your interested in knowing more.
Kane Posted September 28, 2009 Report Posted September 28, 2009 I'm using the Acoustic Masterpiece AM-201 (acousticmasterpiece) It is a budget Air Tight, but it is working rather well with the K1000. Previously I have been using both the Big Joe Power Amp and a Rega Brio integrated (both SS). Both of these was ok, but the AM-201 really has been a step up.
manaox2 Posted September 28, 2009 Report Posted September 28, 2009 I'm using the Acoustic Masterpiece AM-201 (acousticmasterpiece) It is a budget Air Tight, but it is working rather well with the K1000. Previously I have been using both the Big Joe Power Amp and a Rega Brio integrated (both SS). Both of these was ok, but the AM-201 really has been a step up. Positive feedback has to be the least trustworthy large audio review site I can think of. At 24W per channel I'm surprised everyone is calling it a budget amp at $3k, there are a lot of positive reviews floating around for it, surprising that positive feedback is one of the more harsh.
Hopstretch Posted September 28, 2009 Report Posted September 28, 2009 Still, looks like a nice K1K amp. Welcome Kane.
swt61 Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Posted September 28, 2009 I believe this weekend may find Marc and myself having a β22 vs. Pass F5 K1000 amp shootout. Should prove to be a fun weekend if nothing else.
cetoole Posted September 28, 2009 Report Posted September 28, 2009 I bet that will be fun, Steve. Man, I would love to hear the K1000 out of an F5.
swt61 Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Posted September 28, 2009 We'll toast you with a diet Mt. Dew Sir!
HeadphoneAddict Posted September 29, 2009 Report Posted September 29, 2009 I was playing with my K1000 tonight before starting to pack stuff up to bring to CanJam @ RMAF. Even though the ZDT drives my K1000 better than any of my other dedicated amps, I'm still not happy with the sound. They don't seem to come alive like my HD800, sounding duller and less articulate/detailed. Bass is stronger than you'd expect, but it's slow on these K1000. It just doesn't sound good enough to showcase a nice headphone rig, which my HD800, LA7000 and RS-1 can do so much better. As a side note - off the ZDT nobody can call the HD800 a bass-lite too-bright can. It's absolutely wonderful vs the K1000. Even my O2 Mk1 on the GES kicks their butt, and most would agree that is not an optimal amp to drive them with. I can hear the K1000 potential and I love the imaging; so I hope that I just need to try them on the right amp, or get them re-cabled, because something has got to change. I really want to keep them as a summer "don't make me sweat" headphone, but my JH13Pro ended up filling that roll this summer. Instead of putting them on display with my dynamic and stat rigs, I'm thinking maybe I could go around trying them on a few amps to see if anything works better. I'm sure few vendors will be excited to plug my banana cable into their amps while they are demoing speakers for the crowds, but maybe someone in the CanJam room will have a better K1000 amp there. Sigh... I'm not gonna be able to buy another amp for a few months, but this might be an opportunity to decide what works. I would hate to part with these without giving them a proper shot at making the grade.
Kane Posted September 29, 2009 Report Posted September 29, 2009 Positive feedback has to be the least trustworthy large audio review site I can think of. At 24W per channel I'm surprised everyone is calling it a budget amp at $3k, there are a lot of positive reviews floating around for it, surprising that positive feedback is one of the more harsh. The positive feedback link was just to have a few pictures of the amp - but I can take it down, no worries.
manaox2 Posted September 29, 2009 Report Posted September 29, 2009 The positive feedback link was just to have a few pictures of the amp - but I can take it down, no worries. Oh no man, its cool. It was me that had the logorrhea yesterday. Welcome to the case.
swt61 Posted September 29, 2009 Author Report Posted September 29, 2009 I was playing with my K1000 tonight before starting to pack stuff up to bring to CanJam @ RMAF. Even though the ZDT drives my K1000 better than any of my other dedicated amps, I'm still not happy with the sound. They don't seem to come alive like my HD800, sounding duller and less articulate/detailed. Bass is stronger than you'd expect, but it's slow on these K1000. It just doesn't sound good enough to showcase a nice headphone rig, which my HD800, LA7000 and RS-1 can do so much better. As a side note - off the ZDT nobody can call the HD800 a bass-lite too-bright can. It's absolutely wonderful vs the K1000. Even my O2 Mk1 on the GES kicks their butt, and most would agree that is not an optimal amp to drive them with. I can hear the K1000 potential and I love the imaging; so I hope that I just need to try them on the right amp, or get them re-cabled, because something has got to change. I really want to keep them as a summer "don't make me sweat" headphone, but my JH13Pro ended up filling that roll this summer. Instead of putting them on display with my dynamic and stat rigs, I'm thinking maybe I could go around trying them on a few amps to see if anything works better. I'm sure few vendors will be excited to plug my banana cable into their amps while they are demoing speakers for the crowds, but maybe someone in the CanJam room will have a better K1000 amp there. Sigh... I'm not gonna be able to buy another amp for a few months, but this might be an opportunity to decide what works. I would hate to part with these without giving them a proper shot at making the grade. What production vintage do you own?
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