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Rolling to the course.

It's been a month but the CRBN is finally here, well this is actually the second set I've received. First set was one of two units to have an assembly issue which Audeze have now identified and fixed. I sent that one back and they sent a new one out. Now these are loaner sets but if I want to keep it, I will buy it. Just wanted to make that clear as I always own everything I tear down. The first set was setup to make it easier for me to take a peek inside so the pics I'll post later, will be of that unit. They are identical though and to say the CRBN looks gorgeous... well that would be an understatement. First thing that came to my mind when lifting out of the sturdy aluminum flight case, was a comparison to the Hifiman Shangri-la jr. Similar price range (I paid 4000$ for my set back in the day) and by comparison the Shangri-la looks like a 200$ Aliexpress special. The carbon fiber headband, the forged carbon earcups and nice thick leather earpads. Yeah, this is for sure no Hifiman product and it really puts Stax to shame with their shitty SR-009 headband design. Not that I was expecting anything less from Audeze but the attention to detail is nothing short of exemplary. Nice long strain relief on the cables as they enter the cups, the quality of the Stax plug, the sheer comfort of having these on the head (even with my melon of cranium) and the list goes on. The only issue I could find with them (and it was true of both sets) is a rather strong chemical smell as they are fresh out of the box. It doesn't bother me at all but it might bother some so best mention it. In terms of amp requirements, they are rather power hungry. It was a clear design choice to make them a bit less sensitive so the amps need to be pushed further in terms of volume level but it's nothing extreme. I had a KGSSHV in my system when the first unit arrived so I kept that to compare against the new one. It drives them just fine but the Carbon is a better choice with roughly 4 times the power. I would place the KGSSHV/KGST as the baseline for them to get excellent performance and it only gets better from there. Now it's been only been an hour or so with this second set (a few days with the first one) so it's early but first impressions are great. To keep it short, it's what the Sennheiser HE90 could have been but never managed to do. The CRBN has that same ethereal, diffused quality but with far more midbass and bass presence. They are not the bass monsters which the 007's can be but there is enough there and they are not bright or forward sounding at all. I'll post some more impressions later and the teardown pics as well.

While we're on the subject of chocolate, that is a native word in the Mexican Indian native language of Nahuatl. As is avocado and tomato. 🍅

Forgot to say - keep the chocolate McVities in the fridge. Double delicious.

Well, two years later, I'm thinking about finally finishing up a Mini Dynalo build. Last time I was working on it, I stuffed the boards but failed to solder the on-board regulators (even though I used a stencil with solder paste, I still suck at such fine hot air work). I picked up the AMB sigma78 and sigma79s, and noticed they mismatch the U5 and U7 areas on the PCB. U5 and U7 have holes for 5 pins, but the regulators have 3. It looks from photos others have posted that the outside pins are ignored. What's up with the extra holes on the board?

working on this megatron disaster from the pictures. Awaiting delivery of the item to confirm i have not made any mistakes in diagnosing the mikhail class fuckups. 1) The filament windings for the output tubes are all tied together. The 4 current sources are limited to +/-100v before the tubes arc. The gain output tubes are all referenced to ground and that violates the maximum cathode to filament voltage by 300v. This is the same as the singlepower esx disaster and every one of those also blew up. The filament transformer MUST be replaced and all the tubes rewired. which requires removal of the amp board. You need 6 filament windings for the output tubes plus a winding for the input tubes plus a winding for the -15v. left transformer left filament winding (blue wires) (notice tied to ground) for the current stage tubes and right filament winding also tied to ground for gain stage tubes. Since the amp board is missing the first stage current source which was replaced by a resistor to -45v and the second stage current source is missing, its easier to do a new board. 2) The high voltage transformer is also fucked. each 400v power supply is running on half wave rectification which results in amperes of ripple current at 30hz. 2 center tapped windings at 630v required plus pair of filament windings necessary to convert the tube rectifiers to dual full wave rectification. Guess what, new transformer required. even with a solid state rectifier a new transformer is required as the high voltage winding has no center tap. major stupid here. pretty sure i have identified a source for replacement transformers, just need to know the hole sizing and spacing. 3) have not even figured out the +300v supply yet, so many fuckups. So pretty much this is a complete and total rebuild. With the covid economy, could be months to get the repair parts.

The flavors listed aren’t quite what I got. But it was a lot of chocolate. To the point where I kinda wondered “does his have cocoa powder?” I’m still thinking about that cup of coffee. Maybe I’ll make another in the morning.

The treble is similar but that's really where the similarities end as they are very different headphones.

McVities Chocoloate-covered....my wife LOVES them!

Digestive biscuit And then you can get ones coated in chocolate. Yum yum.

Good stuff, ER. I'm not a fan of Mexican coffee and that flavor profile noted is why....but glad you found something you like so much. grawk - love my Niche grinder! That was a great suggestion on your part. Wife even doesn't mind it on the counter given the nice design. HS

It is, I took elements of things I like and kind of put it together in my head. So far so good🤞

Working on my first ever coffee table. Have the base built, but not finished. Next up is making the top which is going to require me to learn Fusion 360. Top is going to be 2” thick in the middle with a radius on the bottom following the radius on the top of the base.

It’s funny that the size of the transducer is exactly the same as my DIY headphones - 120mm x 90mm.

I agree, a complete rebuild is in order. Nothing really aside from input wiring, attenuator etc. could be reused. I would ditch that stupid tube PSU and just fit a new PSU board there. We could whip up something nice and simple but yeah, part shortages now are a total nightmare. Want a 10M90S... that will be 50weeks...