NKOTB - TTVJ/Millett 307A Headphone Amp

[spritzer]

Originally Posted by 909

i don't buy new and (expensive) audio shit unless i hear it first without obligation and like, plus the 307A as fantastic as the impressions have been doesn't have speaker posts and i ain't itching to drop 5 large ones...

Excuses, excuses...

[grawk]

Oh don't mind 909, he'd buy it if it was Moth or EddieCurrent

[909]

not so true, i've only purchased one headphone amp and it does drive speakers. i didn't jump for the zd either... and i am not super interested in paying a premium for balanced shit when i don't really foresee ever re-cabling my l3000s. and i've read so many reviews/impressions that don't hold water to my ears after i've had some serious listening time with the gear.

[Icarium]

Dunno I am liking the Nautilus a lot. It is eddie current and balanced.

[jp11801]

after hearing this amp while 6K is alot of cash and I prefer a different look it is easily a top flight amp and taken in context of other top end offerings stands on it's own given the price. If I were looking for an amp that kicks ass with a wide variety of headphones and sounds great with them all this would be one of 2 or three amps at the top of my list. At 6k I would take it over the B52 and it right up there with my HD2 and the SP SDS xlr amps. It has the added advantage of being readily available as well.

[ldj325]

Originally Posted by Icarium

Dunno I am liking the Nautilus a lot. It is eddie current and balanced.

As a slight digression, how did you like the Qualias with the TTVJ Millet at the NorCal meet?
I listened to the Millet quite a bit with various balanced headphones. I thought they all sounded very good, except the Qualias (I thought they were yours). Its not that the Qualias sounded terrible, its just that I remembered them as sounding better a year ago with your Rudistor RP010 (and maybe it was the DV-50 as source that made the difference). (I know its a year ago and audio memory. But this time, as I did then, I compared them to my Edition 9s for a reference point on the TTVJ.) I didn't hear the level of detail and resolution that I associate with the Qualias. I didn't spend a lot of time with the TTVJ & Qualias, so I wanted to get your impressions and forgot to ask at the meet.

I liked the Nautilus as lot but didn't listen to it with the Qualias.

ldj325

[n_maher]

I wonder if there's a weird impedance thing going on with the qualia's that doesn't play nicely with the trafo-coupled amp? I can't find specs for the Sony's anywhere and Headroom doesn't have measurements for them either.

[tkam]

the qualias have a pretty low impedance if i recall correctly.

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by tkam

the qualias have a pretty low impedance if i recall correctly.

Ok, then I wonder how uniform their impedance is over the full frequency range. Some headphones, like Grados, are very uniform in their response while others vary greatly - the HD650s vary some 200 ohms. Not saying it's the reason for what's going on here, but it might be worth looking into.

[Voltron]

DrJ/ldj and I had quite the opposite impression of the TTVJ-->Qualia. I posted the following on H-F and I am going to port over my pics and such shortly.


"TTVJ 307A:
Todd kindly agreed to rhythmdevils' initial suggestion to send out the new TOTL amp designed and built by Pete Millett and sold exclusively by Todd and TTVJ. I heard it first at CanJam and was equally impressed here even with the Meridian 808 as a source. I tried it with my own PS-1, Ed. 9, and HD650/Equinox (all balanced), with Guzzi's balanced HP-2, and with Icarium's balanced Sony Qualia 010 with the SinglePower headband. The PS-1 cannot have had more bass response and power. It is amazing if you like the sound of the PS-1, and the entire spectrum is presented well not just the bass. The HP-2 sounded even better, and it is consistent with my thought at CanJam hearing the RS-1 -- this amp does great things for Grado cans. Amped not as well, the great HP-2 can sound too neutral the the level of being boring. Not so with the 307A. It has life and flesh and texture beyond most any other amp I have heard it with. The Eddie Current and SinglePower amps are my other favorites with the headphone, but the 307A just too top honors no question. The Ed. 9 and HD650 both sounded excellent, but I did not spend as much time listening to them.

The true shock was how GREAT the Qualia's sounded on this amp! The sound was rich and full but fast and dynamic and very lifelike. It was a great match and really made the Qualia sound better than they ever have. I liked them on Ray's B52 in Florida one other time, but this was certainly better and made them a much more accessible can.

Not only does this amp do balanced amazingly well, but it has single-ended covered from IEMs to full size of high and low ohms. It makes so many cans sound their best, that Pete and Todd have the high-end Swiss ARmy knife of all time, in my opinion. Great stuff."

Now, in my experience, the Qualia can sound like utter crap when they are not sitting right, fitting right, or just don't feel like sounding right. Maybe Laurence didn't have a good seal going or maybe we just want different things from them. I was truly surprised by how much I liked them, and I used the Low Z setting throughout. Another thing to keep in mind is that the source I had was just OK -- the Onix CD-1 with balanced analog outs -- so the TTVJ could have been happier. We should have moved the NWO across the room because it did not sit well with the BHSE in my opinion, but Neil was only at the meet for about 4 hours or so.

I love this amp, and I am going to listen as much as I can over the next few days before sending it back. I was rocking the balanced RS-1s last night and it was good shit. But for the redundancy in my current amp holdings and the price tag, I would own this beast fo sho!

[Icarium]

I think it sounded really good. Very balanced, incredibly accurate and very good imaging/soundstage. If I were to liken it to anything else... it sounded like my SS1-XLR. It sounded like the ideal qualia sound which I had previously thought you could obtain with high end solid state.

I am positive if I had brought my amp there we could pick out some of the tube/transformer coupled sound differences but.. yeah I mean this amp is a serious testament to how accurate/neutral a transformer coupled tube amp can be. As with the best amps there was no shallow WoW factor.. no over-warmth, over liquidness, over sweetness. It is a sound with much depth that remains fine and good when examined thoroughly.

The Rudistor RP010 sound was not that sound. It was a more organic sound with more punch. Part of that organicity was fuzz due to distortion.. of that I have no doubt. It is one of those more wow factor amps. It was a fun amp. I do miss it a bit.

I have no need of the 307A the SS1 fulfills the need I have for an amp of that type. I could use a fun amp though. The SDS is pretty darn fun... but the Nautilus though...
I mean me and Craig talked about it he agreed if you are looking for accuracy/neutrality the 307A has the Nautilus beat hands down. But the organicity/engaging/funness of the Nautilus is undeniable. May have to invest.

[Icarium]

Oh yeah the Nautilus is transformer coupled so there's no way it's a problem with amps of that type.

[deepak]

Quick question, why are some people saying it's transformer coupled and some saying it's OTL? (referring to the TTVJ amp)

[grawk]

because some people know what they're talking about and some don't

The transformer-coupled output is capable of driving virtually any headphones, including notoriously hard-to-drive models like the AKG K1000 and low-impedance phones like Grados. A selector switch allows the user to select balanced or unbalanced outputs, and provides two impedance settings to optimize coupling from the output tube to the load. A special setting for high-sensitivity in-ear monitors (IEM's) is provided as well.

[deepak]

edit: nevermind, VV knows his shit

[ldj325]

Originally Posted by Icarium

I think it sounded really good. Very balanced, incredibly accurate and very good imaging/soundstage. If I were to liken it to anything else... it sounded like my SS1-XLR. It sounded like the ideal qualia sound which I had previously thought you could obtain with high end solid state.

I am positive if I had brought my amp there we could pick out some of the tube/transformer coupled sound differences but.. yeah I mean this amp is a serious testament to how accurate/neutral a transformer coupled tube amp can be. As with the best amps there was no shallow WoW factor.. no over-warmth, over liquidness, over sweetness. It is a sound with much depth that remains fine and good when examined thoroughly.

The Rudistor RP010 sound was not that sound. It was a more organic sound with more punch. Part of that organicity was fuzz due to distortion.. of that I have no doubt. It is one of those more wow factor amps. It was a fun amp. I do miss it a bit.

I have no need of the 307A the SS1 fulfills the need I have for an amp of that type. I could use a fun amp though. The SDS is pretty darn fun... but the Nautilus though...
I mean me and Craig talked about it he agreed if you are looking for accuracy/neutrality the 307A has the Nautilus beat hands down. But the organicity/engaging/funness of the Nautilus is undeniable. May have to invest.

Thanks Dan,

I figured you'd know and certainly have more experience with the Qualias and the RP010. Maybe it was the effect of the DV-50 I was remembering. I just remember being very impressed with the high end detail/resolution of that rig in comparison to my Edition 9s (not yet fully burned in) on the same rig. It may also be the different reference Cd I used then, or that the Edition 9 has picked up more high end detail with full burn in. Who knows. I could even be full of it--that has happened once or twice in my life.

Voltron, I know about the fit of the Qualia and I did adjust it, but again who knows if I had it right. It was simply the one can I put on where I didn't immediately go, "Wow" with the sound. Otherwise I loved the TTVJ Millet. I was focusing on the Senn 650 and Edition 9s, and the Qualias were just a hit and run. That's why I figured I'd just ask Icarium.

All that said, I am trying to figure out a way to afford the winner of the Nautilus/Balancing Act run off. As much as I liked the TTVJ Millet, I nearly liked the Nautilus as much, and it is much more within my current financial reach.

That was quite a corner for balanced tube amps. Did either of you guys listen to the HD2? For me, that was neck and neck with the TTVJ.

[aardvark baguette]

Do you guys think this will be a limited run kind of thing, or something that will still be available new in, say, one year's time?

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by aardvark sandwich

Do you guys think this will be a limited run kind of thing, or something that will still be available new in, say, one year's time?

I'd say it's pretty likely that it'll be available for a while.

[aardvark baguette]

I hope so. I'd really like one, but have so many other things on my to-buy list at the moment, some that really cant wait.

[Icarium]

Oh yup I'm quite familiar with the HD2 since I live near JP. It's a fabulous amp. But given that it may take 5k to get Craig to reproduce it and he probably wouldnt even be able to source the tango transformers in JP's I have curtailed my lust for it.