Iron Pumpkin(s) and other smaller vegetable animals

Official Court Jester
Joined 2003
Paid Member
I'm usually not scared to show my ignorance in public, if that way I'll be given with proper info, so I can learn more......... so, when you see that I have opinion, be sure that I'm informed a priori.

Wasn't belittling Korg B1, I was making differentiation of 2 absolutely opposite things.

Different goals, different performance.

I'm living with tubes for more than 30 years ......... I don't need to build exact Korg B1 to know how it sounds
 
Last edited:
Official Court Jester
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Soundhappy - is that problem with French/English?

I wasn't speaking about quality (of all Greedy Boyz I'm last to question Pa, being uber-biased), I was speaking about two diametrally opposite approaches

Korg B1 is made to give you Sugar

Iron Pumpkins are made to be invisible in system, as possible

you're having problems to understand that, or you're having problems with me?

in both cases , you're the one who is inventing conflict here, when there was none

regarding your impressions of tube technology ....... that's your impression, and - again - you're putting words in my mouth, while I didn't said anything
 
Difference between us Zen Mod is You don't build and use Korg B1 Triode but have imaginary opinions..
I have done B1Triode so my write is not abstraction.
Soundhappy don't build Iron Pumpkin and don't write how is sound or not ~ salt ~ sugar ~ pepper...blablabla
Invisible preamplifier haha we get the Champion :D
 
My Iron Pumpkin is finally singing :)

First impressions:
No listening fatigue, natural voices, can play loud and still enjoyable.
Bass is better defined and more controlled.
My system has now a higher foot tapping/head shaking factor :)
Nice :D

Regards,
Danny

All you say I (and others) found to be true as well, but it's one thing to read and another to actually know and enjoy, eh?

Welcome to the club.
 
Hello,

Yesterday my friend Bernard came along with some goodies :)
We had a small listening session, we used in our setup:
Soekris DAC, AYA DAC, Iron Pumpkin, passive preamp, Pass Sony VFET amp, Alpha20 amp, RefSpeakers V2

In short: the Iron Pumpkin sings beautiful
Whatever we used in the setup the effect of the Iron Pumpkin was always positive.

When using the Soekris DAC directly to the Alpha20, there's plenty of detail but sometimes also some harshness,
With the Pumpkin added, all the detail is still there, but it sounds more natural, the music is more layered,
it's easier to hear the different instruments separated.
Bass is better and more controlled,
there's more foot-tapping fun, so all good :)

The AYA DAC had some last minute changes that made it sound harsh with some female voices, back to the drawing board for Bernard ;)
The Iron Pumpkin didn't obscure it, so it's rather faithful to the quality of the source.

Using the Iron Pumpkin with the Pass Sony VFET amp was great,
you can check all the checkboxes of the audiophile mumbo jumbo talk: soundstage, 3d depth, width, controlled, natural, ... :)
Too bad this amp left my setup when Bernard went home.

But not all returned back with Bernard, something nice that he had made was added to the Iron Pumpkin: a remote control
It works great, volume control and input selector all from in my lazy chair, very nice :)
Thanks Bernard!
Thanks Zen Mod!

Grts,
Danny
 

Attachments

  • P00925-224543s.jpg
    P00925-224543s.jpg
    432.7 KB · Views: 344
  • P00925-224609s.jpg
    P00925-224609s.jpg
    393.9 KB · Views: 351
  • P00926-141057s.jpg
    P00926-141057s.jpg
    464.7 KB · Views: 308
  • P00926-141445s.jpg
    P00926-141445s.jpg
    420.4 KB · Views: 300
  • P00926-141529s.jpg
    P00926-141529s.jpg
    443.4 KB · Views: 286
Last edited:
No, it was the DAM1021 v1, but fully tweaked:
shunt PS, onboard regulators replaced with MuzgDIY regulators, additional vref caps, vref PS changed to low impedance transistor mod, better clock decoupling, separate PS for Amanero
The stock v1 wouldn't have a change in this setup.
 
It works great, volume control and input selector all from in my lazy chair, very nice :)

Happy you like it! It is funny about the AYA... thinking I could make it sound a tad too sharp and again we prove last minute tweaks are a bad idea..., but now we have an ideal excuse to have another session pretty soon for a rematch :D
True the turtle is a nice preamp. Kudos to Zenmod.