Augsburger

Thanks Aerius, you are very kind. Truth be known, it was your comment about the Karota amp and trannies that pushed me off the fence. I am glad I made the leap. BTW anyone noticed the "aux input" "line out" jacks on the back? It appears the Head One has a line source capability built in as well.

First A Little Background Trafomatic is a ten employee privately held audio, industrial, medical equipment and transformer manufacturer located in Mladenovac, in the Republic of Serbia. As noted in another thread, the transformers in the Trafomatic line are manufactured in house by Trafomatic but Trafomatic also provides transformers for Korato tube amplifiers, another audio manufacturer whom they declined to disclose, DIYers as well as power conditioners. Head One is their transformer coupled headphone amplifier employing two Russian 6S45P-E triode tubes and one EZ80 as the rectifier tube. A brief internet search found the three tubes costing from $45 to $90 dollars total. When I asked Trafomatic who manufactured the tubes in the event I needed replacements their translated response was: My question The 6S45p's are probably Svetlana or Saratov manufacture or are they really WE437A? How much current are the tubes running? Less than 50mA I hope. Their translated answer "Tubes are 6S45P-E, Russian military, manufacturer known probably only KGB. Every one (tube) has a stamp with OTK and number, so if there is a bad tube out, they know which one of the quality control people is going to end up in Siberia ;-) tubes run at 18-20 mA and are matched for gain. With such a low dissapation and construction they are expected to have a long life. The tubes are similar to WE437A but not identical". "The Head One uses the Alps pot, Rubycon and Capxon (sp?) for electrolytics, with a cathode bypass ..... plus WIMA MKC polycarbonate resistor that is a great match. Tube rectification with input L filter plus CLC filter for anode supply is used". One very useful feature on the Head One is the switch for 30, 100 and 300 ohm signal to better match the needs of a wide range of headphones. One difficulty I have personally experienced was locating amps that work well with my W1000 cans. For cans with 40 ohm sensitivity of the W1000s, Trafomatic recommended the 30 ohm setting. When I inquired as to how the different output values for various headphones was accomplished, Trafomatic stated that the output transformer was wound with multiple taps to allow for different settings and that great care was taken to minimize negative effects but they didn't elaborate exactly how this was done. Next A Little Music I have great familiarity with the CDs I chose for this evaluation. All CDs have very good sonic qualities and each emphasizes a certain portion of the musical range while highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the equipment down stream. As source I used a modded Onix X99 with the Superclock upgrade feeding a PreSonus Central Station DAC and for cans my ATH W1000s. Cables were silver cable Eichman plugs built by some guy name Grand Enigma who no one has heard of I am sure. The selected CDs were: Tord Gustavsen Trio, The Ground (ECM) for the detail and texture of acoustic jazz. A good system can separate each instrument in its own space while the trio is playing. The decay of the piano notes and the absolute quiet background can be quite revealing. On tracks one and eight there is some cymbal work where the initial strike and exceptionally long decay of the notes reveals the detail capabilities in a system. Next was Mater Magnificat (ECM). The strings and chorale passages again require a fast and detailed presentation; there can be no middle ground in this recording. The female voice is very difficult to reproduce accurately and with realism in my opinion and Eva Bittova gives a beautiful and challenging presentation in this piece. The Bratislava Conservatory Choir leaps out at you as a group of individual voices not a mash of music. Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Collosus, a vinyl rip presenting great detail and head room on Sonny's tenor sax, the detail of Tommy Flanagan's piano and Max Roach's drums. I chose this CD because in theory an digital copy sourced from audiophile 45 rpm vinyl should have a large stage with lots of head room, and I was not disappointed. The quartet's music seemed to come from many directions both as source and reflections in a close microphone studio setting. Not the most textured recording for vinyl but still very organic and lively in my opinion. Brian Bromberg, Wood. The album name says it all. Wood is what he plays and what you hear. This upright bass piece has great detail and if you have had any experience with live string instruments close up such as a viola or upright bass, you will know what I mean. The detail of the notes on his passages are superb and very precise. In a weak system this CD can be unforgiving and the bass notes tend to bloat and roll off dramatically, but not here. Presentation, accuracy and decay are very, very good. In closing, I feel the Trafomatic Head One is very detailed and transparent yet adds no coloration to the music. The better your source the more of what is in the music is what you will hear. The sound stage is large, not the largest I have heard but very large and three dimensional. I have never heard of these odd Russian tubes before but they are a very nice musical match to the Trafomatic wound transformer. Definitely worth a listen........if you can find one. MOD EDIT - fixed your first link for you.

I don't know about you people but the picture kind of reminds me of Silence of the Lambs. This is my wife's image of how audiophiles hang out.

Happy birthday Jacob. Congratulations, I must say you are not as old as you look.

Thanks. Just as I remembered.

[email protected] You want to correspond with Boris. They are very nice and very responsive. Good luck.

Well I have the only Trafomatic Head One in North America and have been listening to it for the past four days. Initial impressions are very favorable. I will post more details over the next day or two once I have had a little more burn in and listen to some familiar CDs.

Avoid FedEx and UPS at all costs!!!!!! I have a FedEx corporate account so I figured shipping to Canada from So Cal. would be a breeze. Wrong!!!!! Fed Ex tried to nail me on fees and duty and it took three times because they lost the paperwork, then tried to charge me for the screwup.UPS was worse.

Great move! Good luck on the Zana. Did you get the EC/SS loaner anyway? If you did, impressions on how it mates with your RS1s would be interesting. Whe I first heard the newest version EC/SS on Grados they seemed to enjoy each others company very well.

I nominate everyone who makes me laugh. You can guess who the usual suspects are. Y'all are great.....

I have the Oppo 981, the Farouda chip makes for a great picture but I feel the stock rca out sound is not very good in CD mode. If you intend for this unit to play music well I would recommend using the digital out to a dac.

Anyone who throws around a title or degree, especially around family, is reeeeeaalllllly insecure. Better to focus on why she is so insecure, yes? Do you have a lot of outspoken strong personality types in the family? Was her father a domineering jerk? Sorry you got one of those in your family, we do too but I am not going to talk about it because I am trying to forget her.

What headphones are you using? Where did you come across this amp? What do you mean it will only be in North America for a short time. Is it on loan? Tell us more.

Wow! First impressions are impressive. I hope this isn't just the honeymoon period thingy.

Thanks. Hope I don't do it again......... My new headphone amp from Trafomatic, a audio and hospital equipment transformer manufacturer in Serbia. I am excited because this is the first and only one in North America. I will be spending the next week giving it a spin. At least the shipping box is impressive, half inch particle board screwed together with two inch wood screws and filled with foam. Arrived nice and sound in one week.

Thanks. Actually, I thought there was a secret HeadCase way. At least I will make it worth everyones time (I hope). Hint this is the only one in North America and for a short time, the world. fixed your link --admin

Ok, I have a cool thing to show you but I can't seem to figure out how to paste in the picture. Yes I tried the "search" button and the "insert image" button but I am still :useless:

Ohhhhh I would love to post here but I am trying to get myself in a good mood and forget about the negatives.

Merry Christmas to all our military brothers and sisters stationed through out the world. We are thinking of you. Thank you!

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the music.

Nah, that's not overkill. Now a Damascus toothpick, now that would be overkill.

Kevin, I think a damscus volume knob or tube bases would look pretty cool....hint, hint.

My rule is if I think about a piece of gear for more than four weeks straight it is immediately upgraded to "essential". Luckily I am easily distracted.

Might I recommend for step five- apply for SBA loan. Then proceed with steps six through twelve. Justin, you build some mighty sweet stuff!

How many times did you fold the steel? Do you have a Rockwell hardness rating estimate on the chisel?