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I used to talk from time to time about some of my
audiophile pursuits. I thought I would update this a bit.
June 21, 2009: Summer Slack-Off 1:
Headphone Audio
August 24, 2008: Five Audio
Systems
July 15, 2007: Give Yourself the
Gift of Music
I like music. If you like music too, it is worthwhile to arrange things so
that you can have satisfying music reproduction in the home. This is more
complicated than it sounds, especially since so many can get lost in a miasma
of gear-twiddling. Here are a few things I've learned over the years.
These days, there are really only a few "modalities" which I find
are the most productive. One is the high-efficiency horns route. Another is
the dynamic driver on open baffle, often a wideband or full-range item. The
third is headphones. I've done all three in style.
For a big horn rig, I once had some RCA "Ubangi" bass boxes, with
twin Altec 515s per channel, topped by a 5-foot-long 200hz horn run with a
pair of Western Electric 720a drivers per side. This was driven by some 45
SET amps, with an interstage-transformer-loaded 10Y doing driver duties. The
efficiency was around 110db. This was really splendid. I would enjoy having a
big horn rig again sometime. I couldn't find a buyer in the Northeast for the
wonderful RCA "Ubangi" cabs, even at a price ($1500) barely above
the value of the Altec drivers alone. This just goes to show how few people
in the U.S. are on the hunt for the real audio goodies, as opposed to $25,000
shoeboxes from Magico or YL. The RCA basshorns ended up in Hong Kong. It cost
$400 just for custom crating. The sofa-sized beasts shipped on two pallets.
For an open-baffle rig, I had some 8" field-coil Fertin fullrangers,
with a pair of 15" woofers per side for bass. One fellow, who had heard
some very ambitious systems in his New York City audio club, called it the
best-sounding dynamic driver setup he had ever heard. This was even when it
was being driven by a $125 Tripath amplifier. This is a very good way to go
for a smaller space, less than 400sf for example.
For the last four years, I've been listening to headphones exclusively. We
also have a "kitchen system," which consists of some Fostex 120A
drivers in boxes, plus a subwoofer, but that is more of a "fun"
system than a serious one.
Headphones are really one of the best ways to go about this process. That is
one reason why headphones have been a hugely popular corner of the audio arts
over the past ten years or so. You can put together a stonkingly good
headphone rig for $2,500, which barely gets you anything at all in terms of
normal speakers. You can listen to any kind of music, at all hours, without
bothering anyone. You don't need a separate room, or room treatments, or all
the other stuff that tends to go along with more ambitious speaker systems.
Plus, headphones are by nature a lot simpler. Usually, they are single fullrange
drivers, and superefficient at a typical 97db/mW (that's milliwatt). We don't
have the constant battle between refinement and power, simplicity and
complexity, that characterizes regular speaker/amplifier approaches.
Sometimes I daydream about something like the Danley SH-50s, with a multi-amp
setup and a digital crossover. Then I think -- too much bother!
I'm using Sennheiser HD600 headphones, with the Cardas "smurf"
cable. I've had these for about ten years. They are not very fashionable
today. But, they "sing" in a way that some headphones, which are
supposed to be better, do not. This is not a bad way to start, especially
since you can find them used for about $300, with the aftermarket cable.
Maybe I'll try the Sennheiser HD800 this year, and maybe I'll find that I
don't like it as much. I experimented with a heavily-modified Denon AH-D2000,
at roughly three times the price of the Sennheisers, which the creator says
surpassed even the legendary Sony R10s that he owned for seven years. For me,
I couldn't get this to work at all, with much break-in and several amp
combinations. The lowly Sennheisers crushed them.
Headphones are clamped to your head, and benefit greatly from refined
amplification. I have a few items here: one is my homebrew 01A-71A SET amplifier,
with battery power on both filaments and plates. This is a rather exotic
beastie, weighing about 200 lbs in five boxes (amp, battery, separate TVC,
two battery chargers). It took me a while to dial this one in properly. The
result sings wonderfully, especially on the Sennheisers.
For comparison, I also have a Bottlehead Crack headphone amp, fully tuned
with CCS boards. This is an all-tube design, with a 6880 cathode-follower
output. This does not have the same level of refinement, but those Bottlehead
guys have good ears, and it gets you pretty close in a muuuuuch smaller
chassis and much lower level of complexity.
I also have the headphone output of the CEntrance DAC mini that I'm using for
digital duties here. It is supposed to be a class-A jfet output of some
ambition, but it leaves me cold and uninvolved. I would like to try a few
more solid-state amplifiers, but in general I find that I prefer tubes, and vintage SETs in particular. It would have been
convenient if the one-box CEntrance unit could replace my piles of tube gear.
No luck.
Vintage single-ended triodes, those vacuum tubes from the 1930s, took the
audio world by storm in the 1990s. They are not so fashionable today, due to
their high costs, low power, and limited bandwidth. However, after listening
to many alternatives, I find that they still sound the best by a large
margin. On speakers, I generally prefer SETs on horns. With 110db horns, that
45 can really sing. On headphones of course, power is not an issue. I would
be interested in hearing some of the more refined contenders such as Nelson
Pass's SIT amplifiers or the Burson headphone amplifiers. In fact, I'm
experimenting myself with solid-state headphone amplification here, with a
single-stage, no-feedback jfet-based amplifier for headphones that I call the
"Beast of Ten JFets." (You would have to be familiar with Nelson
Pass's work to get that one.) It is basically my headphone version of Pass's
SIT amp, with a single 92 ohm resistor used as a load. Of course it is a
Shinkoh tantalum. Power will be supplied by a pair of 12V batteries.
Digital-to-analog converters have made huge strides in recent years, and
there are a lot of good items out there now for less than $1000. The
CEntrance unit was a huge step above the DIYParadise "Monica" DAC I
was using previously. These days, it's pretty much a USB-to-DAC world. I
packed up my vinyl turntable (a Micro Seiki unit purchased 27 years ago) and
put it away in the barn for a while. I bet you could find a better unit than
the CEntrance, for the same or less money now.
My suggestions today: go with triodes and horns if you want a big speaker
rig. If you want a smaller speaker rig, go with widebanders on an open
baffle. I could have a lot of fun with simple FE103s on open baffle, crossed
around 200hz to some cheapie Parts Express powered subwoofers -- especially
in a small room. I would power this with a 300B amp or perhaps a Gainclone
amplifier. I would also try the Hypex NCore 400 boards, but my investigations
in Class D in the past have been rather disappointing. The DIYParadise
"Charlize" Tripath amplifier, which is a pretty good one for its
breed and in this case battery-powered, was nowhere near as good as a
Gainclone and not in the same universe as my modest 2A3 amps. I listened to the
NuForce Icon in the kitchen system for years, and recently replaced it with a
$200 Chinese tube amplifier from eBay. The little Chinese job is only about a
hundred times better.
I admit to having a soft spot for vacuum tubes, on the principle and style of
the thing. This is a little like those who insist on Harleys even though the
Japanese bikes are better in every technical sense. But, on top of that, they
also sound better.
For headphones, I suggest starting with the Sennheiser HD600 or HD650, which
are available used (try head-fi.org) for not much money. Even if you later go
to something else, this will provide a good frame of reference. The
Bottlehead Crack amplifier is a great pairing for this. You can get this as a
kit, but I would have it built and add the CCS upgrades. For a source, you
have a lot of options, and I would look at the recent reviews at 6moons.com
for some ideas. The Asus Xonar Essence Muses sounds interesting. CEntrance
also makes DAC-only devices that are quite inexpensive. You give up the
headphone stage and preamp functionality, but as I mentioned these are not
that great anyway. The digital and USB stages are identical, and it's less
than half the price.
The Audirvana music server was a surprisingly huge upgrade in 2012 -- by far
the biggest advance of the year. Use it.
The other big advance of the year is Spotify. At $10 a month, you get access
to an immense library of music. Yes, it is on MP3, but at 320kbps at least.
No, it does not sound as good as 24/96 or even 16/44 over Audirvana. Not
nearly. But, it is still maybe good enough -- especially for those recordings
(all pop) which are themselves rather low-grade at
best. Spotify is undermining my audiophile ambitions, as the lure of new
music instant gratification overwhelms my distaste for the MP3 sound.
The combination of a used Sennheiser HD650 with Cardas cable ($350),
Bottlehead Crack ($600), and CEntrance Dacport LX ($250) comes to $1,200,
which is pretty small beans for admission into
serious audiophile territory. (Note that the Crack amplifier is only
compatible with high-impedance headphones.) I would also consider the new
Burson Conductor, which puts DAC and amplifier into one box for about $1,900.
Apparently it is pretty good, although I would want to hear it myself before
handing out accolades. After the modded Denon experiment, I have learned that
what other people like and what I like can be completely different. Also, my
success rate with solid-state gear is rather low. I remember all the gushing
that accompanied some Class D equipment, but I've never been able to get it
to sound good.
The Asus Xonar Essence Muses ($899) is another one-box solution at a lower
price point, also very well regarded.
Add Audirvana ($49) and, eventually, a decent USB cable (Audioquest Cinnamon
$60, Elijah Audio quad $200). If you're smart, you'll just stop there and
enjoy the results for about three to five years..
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