If you can't find anyone in the US, I will volunteer.
I'm not set up right now for casework, but like qusp,
I can do the boards.
Yes, I have...
I am using a Wire SE-SE (pics can be found in the thread) and recently aquired a set of the HE-500's.
The Wire is absolutely up to the task and pairs very nicely with the Hifiman's sonic character. I wanted to upgrade from my Sennheiser HD600/650 (I am using HD800 with my tube amps) and as said the combination sounds excellent! I have also not experienced any sign of compression, yours ears are the limit (at least in my case
).
I am using a Wire SE-SE (pics can be found in the thread) and recently aquired a set of the HE-500's.
The Wire is absolutely up to the task and pairs very nicely with the Hifiman's sonic character. I wanted to upgrade from my Sennheiser HD600/650 (I am using HD800 with my tube amps) and as said the combination sounds excellent! I have also not experienced any sign of compression, yours ears are the limit (at least in my case
).
Hi Ian,
even with the HD 800 "The Wire" sounded really good... and when I say even this refers to the sonic character of the HD 800. They are not the most forgiving headphones and can sound a bit "edgy" on certain sources with certain material.
The Wire is one of the few SS amps that sounds good on them offering immense detail and a vast soundstage without having an unnatural treble region. It is actually the only SS amp I own after I sold the other ones (M3 sounded to sterile with AD8610 and kinda muffled with OPA627).
I am pretty much a tubes guy which doesn't mean that I am into the romantic and euphonic kind of sonics... but a good tube amp (my C3G SE transformer coupled for instance) adds a small degree of "chest" to the sound and simply sounds more authentic (to MY ears
) while offering the same resolution and soundstage. I pretty much use my amps and 'phones according to my mood and playlist: when I just want to relax or have fun it's The Wire with HE-500 (or EHHA Hybrid with HE-500
) and when I am listening to Classic or most Jazz it's the Senn's on the tube amp.Thanks for that detail
Across the normal 4 caps on there, I added 4 x 100uF 25V Black Gates F series (the cheaper ones as that's what I had spare) to my Wire BAL-BAL and they did their normal thing. Louder and 'bigger' and more transient bass, a bit coarse.
With all else as it currently is. that seems a better tonal balance.
Across the normal 4 caps on there, I added 4 x 100uF 25V Black Gates F series (the cheaper ones as that's what I had spare) to my Wire BAL-BAL and they did their normal thing. Louder and 'bigger' and more transient bass, a bit coarse.
With all else as it currently is. that seems a better tonal balance.
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I believe opc uses a set of HE-500, so yeah it works
Indeed I do! Much like Stixx, I swap regularly between the AH-D2000 and the HE-500 depending on my mood and what I'm listening to. Also depending on my neck strength with the HE-500
I mostly use the AH-D2000 phones for everyday listening, or when I'm doing layout, watching movies etc...
I use the HE-500 for more critical listening as I find they have a slight advantage in overall detail and a somewhat more refined bottom end. They're terribly uncomfortable compared to the AH-D2000 though, so I rarely use them for anything other than critical listening.
As for drive level, I run the BAL-BAL at unity gain straight off the NTD1, which gives me 2VRMS output at 0dBFS.
I find this level satisfactory for everything I've ever listened to, but with quieter recordings I have found myself running it full out, which is ideally what you want. If you like ear bleeding levels, I might suggest running a gain of 2, but definitely try the default (unity) gain first if you have enough source drive.
Regards,
Owen
Has anyone tried using Twisted Pear Audio Buffalo/Legato IV with the BAL-BAL Wire?
The Legato has a common mode DC bias between the output and ground. I believe it’s about 6 VDC. I do not have electronic engineer background needed to analyze the circuits to know if the Wire can properly accept the balanced output from Legato (either with the ground connected or not connected).
Thoughts?
The Legato has a common mode DC bias between the output and ground. I believe it’s about 6 VDC. I do not have electronic engineer background needed to analyze the circuits to know if the Wire can properly accept the balanced output from Legato (either with the ground connected or not connected).
Thoughts?