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earmuff

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About earmuff

  • Birthday 09/07/1955

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    SW WA

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  1. earmuff

    LS3/5a

    I had a pair I bought at a local Goodwill thrift store. I paid $30 and they were in remarkable shape. They were the Rogers 16 ohm version. I couldnt make myself love them. Lifeless, with very little dynamic drive. I sold them for a bit of a profit, restored some Sonabs, and bought a nice pair of Magneplanar MG-IIIA's. I'll have to admit to being a planar nut. bb
  2. A follow up to ASR's review of the Shanling PH3000. I bought a Shanling PH3000 From Echo Audio (Echo Audio - Your source for the finest Home Audio and Hi-Fi Audio Equipment) and received it via DHL on 11/22/2008; just short of three weeks ago. Straight out of the box I cranked it up to full volume fully intending to return the amp if it had the hum problems mentioned in ASR's review. I have a box stock pair of AKG K701's and heard no hiss or hum at max volume. I heard absoulutely nothing approaching the "noise at a distracting level" mentioned by ASR, not even through my Grado SR60's as might be expected due to them being so much more efficient. The amp is very high gain, and using the AKG's I seldom use more than the first 3 steps of the volume pot. Speaking of which, it's sure a nice volume pot (Alps 27). To recap, the amp, even with its high gain is as quiet as most of the quality amps I've heard. The first week I used the amp 5 or 6 hours a night and things were a bit bleak. Bass was tight and the highs, even with the tube buffer, were a bit strident. I was starting to worry a bit that this wasn't the amp for me. The second weekend I had the amp was a pretty dreary Northwest weekend and I used the amp for maybe 8 hours on Saturday and close to twelve hours on Sunday. Things were starting to look up! The bass started to come around. One of my favorite bass tracks is on the Bobo Stenson Trio's War Orphans CD on ECM. The track "Natt" starts out with a minute and a half or two minute bass solo by Anders Jormin on an acoustic double-bass. Give it a listen! Anyway the bass had been missing the overtones and some of the purr that make this cut sound so real. Happy Days, the amp was changing for the better. Some call it burning in. I'm not sure what to call it, but this amp was coming around and that's all I care about. Later that day I started to notice the mids and the treble sweetening up. The mid range got pretty and cymbals started to actually sound like cymbals. Brushes started to sound like brushes instead of hissing spitting tweeters. It's been another two weeks now and the Shanling continues to impress me. I haven't noticed much change in the last week or so, so figure on a two week burn in time if you play the amp for 6 plus hours a day. I'd say a continuous 100 hours at 80 to 90 db will just about complete the process. As for the overall sound I hear; A very balanced overall portrayal. Good dynamics with no particular part of the spectrum over or under done. Transient snap is average as are dynamics. Voices, especially those of the female variety are enchanting. Trombones have the blat that you hear when listening in a small club. Very realistic. Congo drums have that loose skin chicken skin sound I like so well while toms are a bit blunted and not quite so lifelike. Guitars sound like guitars. Electrics sound accurate while acoustic guitars sound like they are in the room. Almost all of my listening has been through the AKG K701's. ASR is correct in saying this amp is "clearly for very inefficient headphones". The Grado's are not a match made in heaven with the Shanling. The only other pair of cans I have that will work with this amp are a vintage pair of Pioneer SE-305's. I've never heard this pair of headphones sound better than through the Shanling. I'm fairly new to the headphone addiction although I've almost 40 years invested in being an audiophile. I'd like to think I know good sound when I hear it and the Shanling through the AKG's sound pretty good to me. For comparison I bought a SS Grado knockoff amp at about the same time I purchased the Shanling. The knockoff is battery powered and built in much the same manner as the Grado RA-1 although I'm told the parts mix is of much better quality. The Shanling has the stereotypical tube sound compared to the knockoff. The Shanling is a hybrid and the tube buffers make the bass just a bit flabbier than the solid state competition. The Shanling also has just a bit of that tube midrange magic. Not as much as a true tube amp but enough to make me smile from ear to ear. To conclude: I paid $325 US Dollars for the Shanling PH3000. At this price I can heartily recommend that everyone give this amp a listen. While the sound may not be to your preference, it's a quality piece of equipment for the price. If the sound is to your preference it's a bargain that you will enjoy for hours and hours of musical bliss! Next up is to try it in my main rig as a pre amp and see how it sounds pushing a signal through the big Magneplanars. Should be interesting...
  3. I havent popped the top but my impression is that the tubes in this unit are soldered in. Anybody know for sure? Bob B
  4. My PH3000 arrived today. Using my 701's I can turn it all the way up and I hear no hiss or tube rush. I'll share more in the next few days. bb
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