4N6

100% agree. I have had the B-52 and just recently sold it as the 307A is better and more flexible (any and all dynamic headphones are supported). It is "only" $650 more expensive but ultimately I think you would enjoy it more. It is also available rather quickly, and comes with the impecable customer service of TTVJ. See my comparisons in this and "the other" headphone site. Now, if you need the headphone amp to pull double-duty as a stereo preamplifier, then I would go for the Cary SLP-05. Built-in dedicated single-ended headphone amp using 6SN7 tubes. Sounds great and is a little better preamp than the B-52. However, it can't do balanced headphones, and if that is your fancy, then the B-52 will be a close 2nd. And no, a separate power supply, in and of itself, means nothing as to the sound quality.

After reading this entire thread, boy am I glad I went the TTVJ Millet 307A direction! Two weeks wait. Great build quality. Prompt and honest communication via Todd. All the things that this thread is saying SP doesn't do. Edit: I have heard two of the SinglePower Amps at mini-meets, namely the "Dragon" and the SLAM. Yes, the sound is very good. However, due to the other factors mentioned throughout this thread, I am glad I went a different direction.

By comparing the TTVJ vs. B-52 vs. Cary SLP-05 vs. Cary SLI-80 they all sound different and mate best with different headphones. The TTVJ, as mentioned earlier is NOT a "bright" amp, it just does not roll off the treble like the others in the comparison. It is the most neutral amp I have heard (also comparing my old Headroom maxed-out Desktop amp), and mated well with ALL the headphones I used it with. The B-52 is warmer, with slightly rolled-off highs. This makes the TTVJ seem "brighter" than the B-52, but it is definitiely not "bright." If you can afford it, the TTVJ is wonderful and the best I have heard. And as far as Reks' comments about getting a good set of speakers, well, he is right. Problem is, the price/performance ratio of headphones vs. speakers HIGHLY favors headphones. To get equally "high-end," full range sound from speakers you need to spend a lot of money, and then you need to consider room effects and amplification. Worth it in the end? Only you can say. But if you have the money and a dedicated room to properly place the speakers in, then I would go for speakers. If you don't have the ability to set the speakers up properly, with a dedicated space and sufficient distance from rear and side walls, then they will NOT perform up to their ability and headphones are a better way to go. Good luck in the hunt!

Riceboy, have you received the AR CD7 yet?

The Cary V12i monoblocks are the best amps I have owned by far (compared to Bryston monos, Parasound JC-1 monos, NuForce Reference 9 V2 monos, and Musical Fidelity amps). The sound with the SLP-05 preamp in the chain is gorgeous. I love that Cary gear!

Congrats on an outstanding CDP! I hope you enjoy your CD7! I am a little biased, but I think it is one of the best CDP's on the market today. Now, has anyone heard the new Cary 306 CS/SACD Professional Version?

Unfortunately, I have not heard the EAR preamps or amps. I really enjoy the 834P, which I had modified by Great Northern Sound in Stillwater, MN. It can now keep up with all but the megabuck phono preamps. The value of the dollar really hurt the prices of the EAR components, and when I was in the market the Cary equipment was the better value.

After a number of different amps and preamps of various brands and models, I have found that I am a huge Cary fan. Something about the sound signature, not to mention the great build quality, that just strikes me as being "right." Also a very good value for the money, even now when a large portion of todays tube gear is being built in Asia. Also, their customer service with this issue was beyond exemplary. I also very seriously thought of the Manley Preamp. But as I had the Cary monoblocks, I just wanted to stay within the family at first. I am glad that I did! Yes, it is just the main power supply on/off switch. You know what they say, "the size of a man's knob is directly proportional to the size of his..." Oh wait, there may be children reading this!

Yes. I pray that I don't have to retube those amps anytime soon! Yes, the B-52 is out of the system and replaced by the Cary SLP-05. So the system is much more worthy of worship. Say, by did I just break one of the 10 Commandments?!? No worries! Welcome to Head Case! Yes, the 307A is fantastic and you will not regret getting one should you decide to. As far as a source goes, you already know that the Cambridge 840C is pretty darn unbeatable at the price. If you want to up the ante a little, I also have heard the Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5SE to very good effect, of which there are three on Audiogon (one a smokin' deal at $2695!). I will also pimp the Audio Research Reference CD7 as a fantastic CDP, but at $9000 retail that may be stretching the budget a little. I have not heard the other CD players mentioned already so I can't comment on the rest. Good luck! Riceboy, you are very welcome. I am glad that you were able to come over. Looking forward to the next beer drinking excuse, err...meet, in the future!

I just received back from Cary Audio in North Carolina the Cary SLP-05 preamplifier. This is their top preamplifier and was purchased a couple of months ago to serve as my main preamp in my speaker-based system. I also wanted this to work as my home headphone amp when the wife and the neighbors want me to keep it quiet. The preamp is fully balanced and sports something unique in the high-end stereo preamp world, namely a true dedicated built-in headphone amp. The headphone amp section uses two 6SN7 tubes to power the headphones, while the preamp section runs off another six 6SN7 tubes, for a total of 8 tubes. The separate power supply uses 5AR4 tube rectification. You may have noticed the beginning of the paragraph and asked why I just received the preamp back from Cary. Well, despite the good intentions of the engineers at Cary, there was one small design flaw. The faceplate of the SLP-05 is quite thick and the headphone recepticle is behind the faceplate. The round opening within the faceplate was unfortunately too small and narrow to allow the full insertion of the 1/4" headphone jack into the recepticle, therefore not allowing a complete connection. I sent the preamp back to Cary and they made me a new faceplate with an enlarged opening for the headphone recepticle. Problem solved!!! Well the news from here on out all all fabulous! The preamp sounds amazing in my speaker system and the headphone section is terrific! Driving the JVC DX1000's seems like a match made in heaven, with beautiful mids, sparkling highs, and awesome grip on the lows. For this headphone, there is better synergy with the Cary than with the RSA B-52 and comparable to the TTVJ 307A. Some may even prefer the Cary with this headphone as the 307A/DX1000 combination has almost a little too much bass. I am really smtten with this preamp and my speaker system has never sounded better. If you are looking for a top level balanced preamp and are only going to use single ended headphones, the Cary should be on your short list to audition. Wonderful. Cary SLP-05 preamp Cary SLP-05 Power Supply Preamp - right side. The "Input Level" is actually more of a balance control, as the "Listening Level" knob controls the volume. Preamp - left side. Two fully balanced inputs and three single ended inputs.

More B-52/307A comparisons... I have been A/B'ing the two amps using the 840C CDP. The differences with every CD I have used have been consistent, and for the most part, pretty easy to identify. The tonality of the two, as mentioned previously, is different. The 307A tends to the brighter side, with a seemingly lighter touch with instruments and vocals. This is in no way a thinness, as there is plenty of body and three-dimensionality to the sound. It just seems that the 307A "lets go of the notes" slightly quicker than the B-52, which has a warmer and fuller character. The warmth is addictive and makes some of the more "digital" sounding CD's a little easier on the ears. The B-52 definitely is an amp that you can listen to all day, with very little listening fatigue. The brighter character of the 307A had me at times reaching for the volume control, especially with poorly recorded CD's. Not ruthlessly revealing, but certainly an amp that will tell you everything that is going on. Which brings us to the other main difference, the reproduction of musical detail. The warmth of the B-52 seems to mask out spatial details, which then leads to a flattened picture of the musical landscape. I did consider that the overall brighter nature of the 307A could be adding an illusion of more detail. But with that thought in mind, the perceived detail retrieval and reproduction via the 307A was real, and all instruments and vocals had a more unique position in the soundstage along with more surrounding air and body. Hall reverb, whether natural or artificial, was better reproduced by the 307A, further adding to the larger soundstage. Enough for tonight. I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty terrific with my first listen to the "King of Headphones." Hopefully I can find myself a pair of these at some point. Have a great week!

I compared the PL8 to the 840C a few months back and found the 840C to have better clarity and delineation of detail. Overall, I liked it a little bit more and it is ~$750 less expensive. However, I just got the PL8 upgarded with a new op-amp board and have yet to compare the two again. I would direct you to the review of the PL8 in Stereophile but that review is next to worthless for many reasons. I hear that Wes Philips is going to do a Follow Up review is a short while and hopefully a better review of the CDP will be forthcoming.

OMG! A BEARS fan?!? Just two words for you...Rex Grossman!!! Enough said about the future of your season! And no, I am not from Wisconsin or any surrounding state. I just have good taste in football teams! Seriously, I have been to Lambeau Field twice to see the Bears vs the Pack. Always good games and the rivalry is as good as there is in sports. Great fun.

This was an informal meet. The Spam does not come out unless we are using the fine china and drinking expensive red wines!!

Personally, the orientation of the XLR jacks is immaterial. Once they are connected, who cares what direction they are? The important thing is the sound, and the B-52 does sound great. Different than the 307A? Definitely. "Worse" sounding? Depends on personal preference at this level. If a person likes the sound a little bit warmer and richer, then I could easily see them prefering the B-52 to the 307A.

Come on, were on island time!!! Here are some pics of the mini-meet... Important stuff first...food and beer! Some miscellaneous headphone goodness! The "I've gotta get me a pair of these!!!" Sony R10's. Cary SLI-80 Signature F1 and PrimaLuna Prologue Eight CDP A VPI Scout/EAR 834P with the Cary SLI-80 system. Some SinglePower please!!! The "Dragon" next to the R10's. Beta 22 and 840C. Great DIY amp! I was most impressed, especially with the K1000's. The listening room (AKA The Man Cave!) Closer view of the B52/840C/VPI Aries 3/Cary V12 monoblock/Sonus Faber system. A Cary SLP-05 preamp with a built-in dedicated headphone amp is coming on Monday. Yea!!!! TTVJ 307A/Audio Research Reference CD7 system. Not half shabby sounding! Riceboy listening to his R10's via the TTVJ/CD7 system. 4N6 with the R10's. I could curl up with these and be REAL happy!!! I have never had the opportunity until last night to listen to the R10's. All I can say is "WOW!" By far the best and most balanced sounding set of cans I have ever heard. I was also impressed with the AKG K340's which were modified by Headphile. When using the "HiZ" setting on the 307A, they were quite detailed and with a good, mostly even tonal balance. I also confirmed to myself that I am not a "Grado Guy" and am still on the fence and the K1000's. As far as the B-52 is concerned, my initial impressions are still holding, that it is warmer with less treble sparkle and slightly ill-defined bass as compared to the 307A. Could it be the tubes I am usuing with it? Sure could be. I have some others in the stockpile so I will see if anything changes. My thanks to Riceboy for bringing over all of his fantastic gear and the great food. It was a fun evening!

I used to own a pair of HP-2's and now regret selling them. Perhaps I will find another set in the future.

I agree that "burn-in," whether it being the brain or the equipment (or both), is not always a good thing, and that could be an argument against the cynics. If is was just your brain, then one could postulate that all equipment would sound "better" over time as your brain got used to it. As we all know, that is not always the case. As with Spritzer and the HE90, I have had negative reactions over time with AKG K701's, NuForce Reference 9 V2 Signature amps, and the AT W5000's. Upon initial listening to all of these, they were impressive, but over time the flaws came out (and so went the equipment via Audiogon or Head-Fi!). In the end, this is not a simple science, whether psychoacoustically or electronically, and there are likely many as yet undefined parameters involved in human hearing and the electronic reproduction of music. To think that we "know it all" at this point is to me a little naive, and to definitively state that something absolutely does or does not happen may be inaccurate. As such, I won't side with any camp as far as whether "break-in" is real or not, and will hope that my ears will tell me "the truth." Yeah, right! Alright, enough bull. Back to the topic! So far, thankfully, the 307A is getting better and better as I am discovering its virtues. Man, the midrange of this amp coupled with the JVC DX1000 is KILLER!

I switched sources over to the Audio Research CD7 and this makes for a SWEET sounding system. All kinds of vacuum tube goodness but without the excessive "tubey" sound of some. In my initial comparisons against the B-52, that was my first impression, namely that the B-52 sounded a little more tubey than the 307A. Definitely warmer and fuller sound via the B-52 with less extension and sparkle in the treble and just a tad less definition and detail in the bass. Both were beautiful sounding, but that was the biggest initial difference perceived. More to come. Riceboy is coming over this afternoon for a quick listen and impromptu meet. It will be interesting to hear his impressions.

Very interesting opinion via Pete. There are certainly two points of view on this issue. I must admit, however, that I cannot confirm or deny that it was my "brain" burning in or the amp, as I was listening to totally unfamilar headphones (K1000's), and their inherant changable sound due to different positioning of the earspeakers relative to the listener's head. All I can say is that my first opinion of the K1000's via the 307A (with less than 15 minutes of use) was that they were excessively bright and thin, with exaggerated sibilance. Now, they sound more fleshed-out, warmer, but still with a little "thinness" (some would call it "airiness") to the sound. As mentioned, however, this could also be due to me positioning the drivers in a different location. Regardless of this issue, the amp is sounding fantastic now. This should be a fun day rexploring my music collection.

With all joking aside, I have noticed some difference in the first 15 hours of use, mostly in smoothness of the treble and tightness of the bass. I do not know if the unit was burned in at all prior to shipping, but Todd told me the 307 tubes would require some burning-in before perfoming their best. I also noticed that you have to pay attention to the connector at the top of the 307's. If this is loose, then there is a mechanical hum created. However, when this is in proper position, this is the most dead-quiet tube amp I have ever heard. Now where is Riceboy with those R-10's?!?

Thanks to all for the nice comments (except Dusty who threatened imminent banishment and ridicule)! To appease Mr., ney SIR Chalk, here are some pics! And one of the competition. I'll post some listening impressions after the weekend is through. Aloha!

Patience, my friend, patience. Oh, and by the way...anyone want to buy a B-52?!? Just kidding (at this point at least). Initial impressions listening to SA5000's, K-1000's, HD650's, and DX-1000's is that this is the best amp I have ever heard. All of my favorite headphones sound better than I have ever heard them. Also, if the Moon Audio recabled SA5000's truely are "a poor man's Qualia" then I NEED to get some Qualias. WOW!

It's here!!! I have it hooked up now driving some K1000's (thanks Riceboy!). I am totally unfamiliar with the sound of K1000's as this is the first time I have heard a pair. First impressions are VERY good. I will play around with my other sets of headphones and do comparisons to the B-52. Thank goodness for the approaching holiday weekend! And, most importantly, I'll post some pics!!! Keep tuned!

I just heard that the 307A should ship on Monday. WooHoo!!!