Blind Virtual Audition of Several Headamps

Which amp provides the presentation that you like the best ?

  • A

    Votes: 1 5.0%

  • B

    Votes: 7 35.0%

  • C

    Votes: 1 5.0%

  • D

    Votes: 1 5.0%

  • E

    Votes: 2 10.0%

  • F

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • G

    Votes: 2 10.0%

  • H

    Votes: 2 10.0%
  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
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#61
I imported all the files into Logic on individual channels so I could quickly switch between amps and loop certain segments of the song. Funny, they all sound better than the original "control" file to me. I listened with two pairs of headphones but did not get to fire up the speakers since wife and baby are sleeping. I did hear significant differences in the vocals between tracks in terms of transparency, timbre, distortion, and forwardness. I felt there were differences in bass as well, but I didn't pay much attention to that since my headphones don't reproduce bass that well, and I tend to always be drawn to the realism of vocals for judging sound quality anyway. I hope I didn't vote for the darn Fiio...😱
 
#62
I am watching this poll with great interest. Interesting to me is that some folks struggle to hear a difference, and others can clearly distinguish differences. I am still busy comparing and am not in a hurry to vote.

To match the clips with the listed amps would be like playing the Lotto to me.

stellarelephant said:
I hope I didn't vote for the darn Fiio...😱
Click to expand...
The FiiO gets rave reviews among the head-fi folks, so yes, it would be very interesting to see the final rankings.

Just a question - what does it mean if you find the reference track the best sounding, or worst the sounding (like someone else observed)? Is that an indication the you need to build one of X's headamps? 🙂
 
#65
diyRookie said:
Just a question - what does it mean if you find the reference track the best sounding, or worst the sounding (like someone else observed)? Is that an indication the you need to build one of X's headamps? 🙂
Click to expand...

I did some more listening today over my near-field speaker setup. Interesting to me is the fact that the vocals sound a little overdriven in the reference track, which makes it hard to compare the samples for realism. Not sure if the singer was mic'ed too close, preamp saturation, compression artifacts, or what. But it makes it a bit hard to judge the headphone amps sounds, since the recording isn't very transparent to begin with.
 
#68
xrk - I note from your first post that you recorded these tracks using a 270 Ohm resistive load meant to simulate your DT880-250 headphones. The problem is, as John Siau of Benchmark has shown in several papers, there are big, and potentially audible, differences between how a headphone amplifier deals with a purely resistive load and a reactive load like headphone drivers, especially for amplifier output impedances which are not near-zero Ohms.

What are your thoughts on these effects on the validity of your poll results?
 
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#69
#70
Gopher said:
xrk - I note from your first post that you recorded these tracks using a 270 Ohm resistive load meant to simulate your DT880-250 headphones. The problem is, as John Siau of Benchmark has shown in several papers, there are big, and potentially audible, differences between how an amplifier deals with a purely resistive load and a reactive load like headphone drivers, especially for amplifier output impedances which are not near-zero Ohms

What are your thoughts on these effects on the validity of your poll results?
Click to expand...

Good point. However, having a fixed resistive load is the only neutral way to represent the amps without adding the bias of an inductive load. However. all of these amps have low impedance drive capability and can probably handle 16ohm loads even. So while not a perfect test, gives us a much better understanding of how this amp tends to sound if you had a perfectly resistive load headphone. A headphone with an AMT pleated membrane would actually be purely resistive. I would not say it invalidates the poll because the poll tests the effect of the amp on a resistive load and some amps are better than others even from that aspect.
 
#71
Gopher,

Simulation is an attempt to control the environment for reasons of comparison. You are right; reactive effects are always ever present, particularly with speakers which their mechanical and crossover effects. ES headphones are the big one since they have huge capacitance, which badly affect the global feedback amplifiers.
XRK's HPA is a pure Class A single ended design. Such topologies have the least issues with reactive loads. Not to say its insignificance, but X's design is one of the very best in this problem area.

HD
 
#75
In my experiments for a blind listening tests, levels need to be matched to 0.1dB or better, otherwise the listeners tend to pick the loudest signal.

I also found MP3 compression even at quite low compression ratios affects the stereo image accuracy and can cause interpritation of transients to be altered.

Tests also found listeners tend to prefer increased even order distortion, increased trebble and bass and increased crosstalk. So are you looking for the most accurate sound or the most euphonic.

Regards,
Andrew
 
#77
gfiandy said:
In my experiments for a blind listening tests, levels need to be matched to 0.1dB or better, otherwise the listeners tend to pick the loudest signal.

I also found MP3 compression even at quite low compression ratios affects the stereo image accuracy and can cause interpritation of transients to be altered.

Tests also found listeners tend to prefer increased even order distortion, increased trebble and bass and increased crosstalk. So are you looking for the most accurate sound or the most euphonic.

Regards,
Andrew
Click to expand...

The poll question is what presentation do you like best?
 
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