[HDCD playback on your computer]

I have Berkeley Alpha DAC and I use HDCD for testing digital output. The HDCD indicator on the DAC lights if and only if nothing messes with the digital stream when HDCD recording is played. Even when volume is adjusted (changed from the default value) in software player, or when OS native digital output is used instead of ASIO/WASAPI, DAC fails to recognize HDCD. Naturally, it also affects the sound.

[Focal Utopia headphones...with Beryllium driver]

33 minutes ago, spritzer said:

Still I really want to try the headphones. 

Based on their specs, what amp would you use for them?

[Happy Birthday, Birgir!!]

Happy Birthday!

[Leaving the amp on 24/7 Is it ok?]

On 4/17/2016 at 11:06 PM, astrostar59 said:

Hi All

Anyone heard this commercial KGBH? Looks nice but no idea how good it is built.

http://www.fluxlab-acoustics.com/Products/18

These guys are all the talk on our Russian local forum. I once considered buying their amp, but bought KGSSHV from Birgir instead. I never talked to the Flux guys themselves, as they presumably don't post on forums, but there are people who do all the apologetics for them. These Flux apologists are quite pretentious for someones who never stick their nose outside the local forum, as they often insinuate that Flux understand Kevin's stuff better than anyone here for one thing, and take the liberty to guess what's really on his mind, stuff he allegedly doesn't say outright, but that could be read between lines. I told them that if Flux are so confident in their knowledge and production standards, they should turn to international community, but they are apparently happy with what little they have from the local market as most Russian and Ukrainian manufacturers are. Can't really say anything good or bad about their stuff, but won't buy anything from them with their current stance. Chances are none of their amps will ever be compared side by side with Justin's or Birgir's.

On 4/19/2016 at 3:22 AM, justin said:

Someone who paid 5k for a BHSE 5 years ago could turn around today and sell it for 5-6k. 

That will not be the case for this amp.

That's the probably the most important thing. Even on Russian local forum, where Flux are well known, it's hard to sell their stuff without major discount as their stuff is quite expensive for the half-dead local market and their sales representative usually have one or two new units ready for shipment.

On 4/19/2016 at 3:22 AM, justin said:

In case of repairs it would also be sent to Russia which from my experience, about 20% of packages never make it to delivery - a major reason why I stopped shipping the jacks directly to Russia

Flux Lab Acoustics are actually located in Ukraine, not in Russia. They do have a sales representative in Moscow and their stuff could be bought there, but in case of repairs shipping to and from Ukraine would be required.

[The Headcase Stax thread]

Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, when in comes to photography I have neither equipment, nor skills.

[The Headcase Stax thread]

Did anyone try making custom pads for the SR-007? I'm glad to share the experience.

 

I own the SR-007 SZ1 with heavily used brown pads. At first I wanted to buy modern (black) STAX earpads per Birgir's advice, however they are pricey, especially if you take into account the shipping cost from Japan to Russia. So I decided to ask the local guy (nickname snorry on the Russian forum) to make custom earpads for my SR-007. This guy is experienced in modding planar magnetic headphones (he even built some nearly from scratch) and he also has the necessary measurement equipment.

 

First of all, the grills were removed from the earpads.

The grills turned out to have strong windage and very poor permeability. Try to blow through it keeping your hand behind it and you won't feel any air coming through. On one hand, it isolates the membrane from reflections, on the other hand it supposedly degrades microdynamics and conceals everything above 10 kHz. We decided to change the grills with more transparent ones, that according to snorry already proofed itself to be useful in his planar magnetic projects.

 

Different materials and forms were tried. Here's what I've decided to stay with.

The form remains roughly the same, however new earpads are more rigid, they don't flatten on head unlike the original ones. Because of this they keep the driver slightly further away from the ear while sitting tight and comfy. This slightly improves the bass. The notch is oval, this form was chosen experimentally for its most balanced FR. Velour strips were added to the internal side of the earpads to reduce reflections of high frequencies.

 

Here is the measurements.

Old earpads:

Note the channel imbalance, it's caused solely by the earpads. No doubt, not every single pair of brown MKI pads out there are as terrible as mine, however that's what I got.

 

New earpads:

The channel imbalance is gone, the bass roll-off is more gentle and there is no midbass emphasis anymore. HF now go well beyond 10 kHz. The second-order harmonics level is slightly lower than before.

 

There was also a more SR-009-like variant with a little peak near 1 kHz:

This forwards the vocals a bit, however I prefer mids to be flat.

 

I want to thank Birgir who strongly advised changing the earpads. That really helped to make already great headphones ever better.

[i'm on a roll... the kgsshv]

Greetings!

 

I've recently acquired Mjolnir's KGSSHV (Thanks, Birgir!). I've noticed that every time I turn the amp off, the headphones make some clicking electrical noise. I've recorded the video to illustrate what I'm talking about: 

Here is the audio-only version (the sound is much more clear there): http://vocaroo.com/i/s1RAotvyJMin

 

It seems that the amp's capacitors are discharging on the headphone's diaphragm. Now I'm a bit worried, is this dangerous for the headphones? Does anybody else have the same problem (if it should be considered a problem) with their KGSSHV?