The problem with Choosing Amps…

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[@xxGSSDxx]

Just recently I found this channel. You make very good informative content. It is not boring to listen to you guys even if you are not knowledgable in the field like me. I already learned a lot from you guys. Thank you so much for those videos, keep em coming. :)

[@mariosalazar4404]

I find it so cool that you are one of the very few brands that makes an effort on keeping in touch with the costumers and audio enthusiasts, maybe a Q&A with people as knowledgeable as you would be cool, I appreciate a lot the information on these videos, thanks a lot, keep the awesome work :) Cheers all the way from México my friends

[@NanoDex]

These discussions are FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much!

[@Findyourtriib]

Love these videos so much! Thanks guys! I dream about trying song then owning the TC one day!

[@chuckmaddison2924]

It also helps going to a dealer and do some mixing and matching. But then you get home , what happened.

[@stimpy1226]

Nelson Pass declared ratings amongst other great designers are honest power ratings with solid, ample power supplies

[@stimpy1226]

I am loving this discussion! First time watching your channel.

[@aceofspades6667]

My Maggie’s used to clip most of the class d amps I fed it even if they had a ton of watts. The issue would be they would dip down to 2.8 ohms and it would just bring these mega watt class d amps to their knees and trigger thermal protection.

[@m.b.6129]

As an owner of the Sennheiser AMP ,it works with planars fine,too. For example The Audeze Lcd4 have an impedance of 200ohms,it sounds amazing with the senni. Low impedance planars could have a little less bass.

[@electrobob1]

What a great topic! As a beginner audiophile, I chose for (upgraded crossovers) Scanspeak DIY speaker monitors 80W/4ohm which was demoed by the designer with a powernode N330 (same power output). Luckely, Bluesound added balance control to the N330 recently which was the main reason to shy away looking for an alternative around the same price range. I did not take the risk to buy something else and went for the N330 which I am pleased with in my appartment! Still a 4500Euro combo when purshased new but I was lucky to source this at 40% 2nd hand. The headphone output is pretty bad for the Sundara I have And the only way to tackle is with bluetooth output and add a BT+dacAmp . Having seen many reviews for an Amp to match Sundara I'm pretty stuck on the IFI Zen One Signature/Zen Can Signature HMF exactly because this is designed to match. The Fiio K9pro ESS is highly recommended by DMS for the Sundara as well which gives me a choice to consider Which is to go for a tailored IFI or a "beefier"K9 and nothing else seems to matter anymore after seeing your topic. I'm hesitant to follow the Sundara dealer's recommendations after blowing up a Dragonfly Cobalt (in demo) and an IFI Xcan (under warranty the Bluetooth/Amp chip fried after 1 year use). A Decibel meter App showed I like 78dB max comfortably thus it's not me cranking up noise level beyond sane. Leaning to the K9 now in modularity for future headphones thanks to DMS. Lesson for me today is not to thrust on aestatics, datasheets or dealers too much but more rely on MF tailored hardware or reputable reviewers and in this regard DMS won me over IFI...I guess. Thank you!

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Well exploring HIFI and so much to discover over the comming years ...................to finaly understand that it's essentialy important to listen to something that sounds believable instead of high end ..........sometimes the solution is more simple than one thinks and would pay for ( an illusion with a very high price tag and never ending changing/comparison of highly praised components )

[@electrobob1]

@@frankgeeraerts6243 I noticed sometimes it takes time to dial in a setup. It took me a while to understand I could bump up the mid range of the N330 by closing the base ports and add 4dB to the lower end. It cancelled out the rear port base reflex a lot. I went this route after Darko mentioned he likes closed ports which worked out well for me. and I might try Hires later instead of spotify, tough I noticed a cd sounds much better vs a subscribtion which seems to be a downgrade anyway. I have an IFI Gryphon now to power the Sundara but wired it sounds better as bluetooth but struggle sometimes with Xbass and Xspace depending on recordings. The base can be felt on your eardrums if desired, however, the batt level loses a bar on higher volume LOL!! Still I have to get used to the details reveiling which is tyresome sometimes. Maybe it's the HSP mindset which makes me sensitive to this. I may consider a Lyngdorf amp but on the other hand I might settle as it is now I'm enjoying my hardware. I could upgrade to beryllium tweeters as well if desired but I am very happy I went the DIY route on the speakers. I think there is a real risk I getd issapointed going on "off the shelf" speakers. cheers!

[@peterrichard3706]

I run an Emotiva Basx A 100 . The headfones are AKG K240. monitor.600 ohm. The Emotive is a headfone amp but you can run speskers. I use it for fones mostly. Plays clean. Loud too. I dont get it too loud, bad hearing. Its just a amo . No. Tone control. Use it for a telephone amp. Manual says 50 wts into 8 ohm, 80 into 4 ohm. Days 220 resistors on out put stage, that are removable then full power to head fines. That day BEWARE IT CAN GET LOUD. I've never tried that, plenty loud with em in. Price was excellent. Great service.big dollar headfone amp can't be any better.

[@Djbz170]

I own a McIntosh mha200 rated 500mw. using it on 1266 OG it sounded like some amps rated over 1 watt heck some over 3 watts. but when I got XIaudio broadway the volume increased a goodbit despite it being rated same as "X" brands amp.

[@mikeg2491]

I have the same amp, it’s highly underrated for being able to work with a variety of impedances

[@jonbikaku6133]

I'm unable to find who the guy with the glasses is :3 I love it when he talks, it's soo informative and such a unique perspective!! Thanks for the amazing content Abyss!

[@ABYSSHeadphones]

Eric

[@ConnorHammond]

I agree. Eric always has a valuable input and perspective, It would be nice to hear more of his thoughts.

[@renr17]

Are you dating yet?

[@stephenbeaumont-adam7702]

Is this why 13ohm planars sound so good on my 22ohm amp, and better than my old 0.2ohm amp?

[@HiFiInsider]

yeah more power is not always better. I've seen people pair 8w-10w amp with Focal Utopia. lol... Tesla cheated 0-60 with a rolling start. lol...

[@ydid687]

32:23 hey i stared myself for multiple minutes Abyss! such an unprovoked shock is not cool team hehe jokes aside thank you for this podcast video sir

[@janinapalmer8368]

You can't talk about power amplifiers and headphones .... to drive headphones you need voltage only ... not lots of Watts ... you just need a voltage follower that will deliver linear responses to headphones With big power amps all you need is excellent low source resistance and high damping factor .. Most amps fail abysmally with their power supplies thus making it sound dreadful when driving speakers with a bad dip in their impedance response ( due to poor XO design ...)

[@nenadkojic7125]

It's not rocket science; an amplifier designed to supply voltage works with speakers that maintain impedance; amplifiers designed to supply current work with lower impedance speakers; and then everything in between.

[@nashsanadiki3104]

I love that ever time I get recommended abyss videos I alway learn something new

[@nelsonang]

it is exasperating that some insist on cold hard measurements and call everything else snake oil… try telling that to musicians, that their talk of dynamics and tonality are just snake oil, placebo effect…

[@benderong4478]

The thing is, no one is saying that dynamics and tonality are measurable, because they are! Any musician worth their salt would tell you the effect of dynamics with each section down to the part, and if they can’t then they shouldn’t be trusted with a recorder.

[@woopygoman]

There's still a lot that can't be measured and a lot that science can't explain. 1 great example is Stradivarius violins. SciShow made a video about it.

[@nelsonang]

@@benderong4478 see reply below... care to explain why different instruments tuned to the same frequency still sound different? are you going to tell me that the Strads are snake oil and that $100 violins sound just as good?

[@94e88]

​@@nelsonang They have the same base frequency of the vibration of the string and harmonics from that base frequency. What makes an audible difference is how exactly was the instrument built. For example, varying the the shape and size of the soundbox, may increase or decrease certain frequency ranges and harmonics. The amount of different harmonics and/or additional tones generated by the soundbox can definitely have an impact on the sound. Changing the string thickness, altering materials(both strings and body of the violin) affect the sound as they resonate and harmonize differently. Using different bow types and materials can result in a wildly different characters of the sound. You can measure all those factors, harmonics are easy to see on a frequency-amplitude graph, same with the attenuation of certain frequency ranges. Microscopic changes can affect the sound. Strads weren't an exact science back then, they all seem to have certain quality to them but no 2 Strads sound EXACTLY the same, there are tonal differences and I'll bet my left nut, those differences will show up in measurements.

[@spamcan9208]

I thought the wood used in Stradivarius' is what gave them their unique timbre. As in the wood used was denser than usual because the climate (which was observed in the record) had temporarily changed, alerting the way the trees grew.

[@MismanagedFutures]

What kind of snake oil company is this? I see on their website they are selling a $5000 power cable which “isolates and absorbs all forms of noise between the wall outlet and the component for pure clean power”. Right, never mind the 300km of cable between my home and the power station, it’s the 1m between my socket and the amp that is going to make the difference 😂

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Finaly a happy and conscious consumer ........and the good news is there are very cheap amplifiers also with outstanding measurements ....

[@chuckmaddison2924]

As they say, a fool and their money are easily parted. I'm into audio and also in the electrical trade, and I do wonder what dick came up with it.