Dreadhead

Well this weekend I got to show off my setup and measure a pair of R10s on the setup. Those phones are sooooo colored, that said they sound nice, especially for classical. The sound is not for me but nice. I also came down that I do not need Qualias (want for coolness but no need on an audio front). Also measured a pair of CD3000 that had been modded and they were the flattest phones I have encountered. Also tonight I had some time and I did some reading on the Etymotic research and it looks like I should drop my target curve by an additional 5 db by 10000hz because even though studio monitors have a flat power output the actual response is not flat and hence the mix has a bump in the highs: Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER-4 - Technical Specifications Etymotic Research, Inc. - How we measure response accuracy Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER-4 - Which ER•4 is Right for You This is likely why most people think my curves are too bright. Sounds plausible to me and Etymotic really seem to know what they are talking about. Also I think a pair of ER4s might be my next purchase.

I'll pay $51

Sorry for my misstatement of what you said. Your reply was "I'd be surprised if you could hear any hiss on high gain with Edition 9s" (which there was when they were balanced, the only SE phones I am discussing are the SE530s) This is all likely due to something stupid I have done to the amp.

$500 a transformer while a lot is a drop in the bucket. Remember this unit is over $100,000.

It's in my nature to obsess about these things. If I know it's as good as it can get then I'm all set and happy again I have enough range to keep the amp at 3/4 max volume on low gain (no hiss on anything except possibly the SE530s) and still drive the phones to well above where anyone should listen for long periods (though not instant hearing damage levels). I think I'm still going to send the amp in to Justin because he said too once he heard about hearing hiss with the Edition 9s. I though this was odd but they are sensitive and have low impedance.

I was listening with no source attached because Justin said that was a good way to test if the hiss is from the amp not from the source. I don't sit there and sit blankly into space One reason is that the DAC3 has a remote control and also that the DAC3's volume control is much much finer (200 steps, math done at 26 bits and dithered back to 24) than the GS-X. For a long time I listened with the DAC3 set to max output and there is no issue over-driving the inputs. I forgot to mention I can hear the hiss with my SA5000s on high gain and with the volume cranked but just barely. I do like having the finer control and not having to put up my recliner when my music goes from modern stuff to (much quieter) classical. The original switch from med to high gain came about due to me having to apply a about -12 db correction in my DEQ to prevent digital clipping within that unit on more modern songs that have no headroom in the digital signal. I have discovered that this can be decreased to -8db or so without any clipping. I am expecting too much I figured as much.

Hello all, First a little background: I recently switched to cranking my GS-X up to high gain and then a buddy came over with Edt. 9s I heard hiss (even when the volume is set to zero). I checked and I can't hear the hiss with my HD650, D5000s or SA5000s. I tried my Shure SE530s and the hiss was there with them too. I did all these checks after disconnecting it from my DAC3 at the back of the amp. On medium gain the hiss is inaudible with the Edt. 9s and slightly audible with the SE530s. On low gain the hiss is barely audible with the Shures when the amp is cranked. This all makes sense since the gain switch is in the feedback loop on the amp so it should drop gain and also cause the amp to be more stable and hence less hiss. I've spoken to Justin and after a meet this weekend he's going to take a look at the amp. If he doesn't find anything then so be it. My understanding is that Justin's stuff is as quiet as it gets for SS headphones stuff. I'm just wondering if I'm just expecting too much? I would think you should be able to have a dead quiet amp (with no input) even with SE530s. I even invested in a PS Audio P300 power re-generator that did lower the noise floor of my setup by getting rid of some transformer noise that my Linn Classik had been introducing to the interconnected system. It unfortunately does not lower the noise floor of the GS-X when it's the only thing plugged in though. I should add that I want to be able to keep my amp set to max gain etc and use the volume control on my DAC3 since it's theoretically better and any noise should be below anything audible. The noise floor of the DAC3 is below that of the GS-X that's for sure, when you plug it in there is no appreciable increase in the hiss.

blashemy!!! It's incredibly expensive so it must be good! ps. The measurements section of the Stereophile review of the Wavac nearly made me pee myself at how horribly it seemed to perform.

Beautiful! Your wood work is amazing. I can't wait to hear how it sounds.

d_rayman, there is no point in changing from an RME sound card to another high end sound card just to output digital to a DAC1 (or any other DAC that is jitter resistant). The fact is that because your DAC is essentially jiitter resistant up to a wide range of jitter (due to the reclocking inside the box) the change in transport will do NOTHING. There is a reason the designers generally do not include a clock input on DACs that do reclocking: it removes their ability to reclock the signal. If you don't like your DAC1 change your DAC but otherwise with your setup I don't think you will gain anything (other than placebo like effects) I don't think that you're going to listen to me because you don't seem to listen to anyone else but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

deepak, I have not tried that one. I pretty much only use the DEQ2496 for everything. It has 10 band parametric built in but I'm sure it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that one does.

A buddy of mine came over for a couple hours this morning and we auto-equalized his Edition 9 (to the calibrated curve I got from Room Eq Wizard). He was impressed enough to ask me to store the curve so when he figures out how to get an eq into his computer based system he can match it. I'm looking forward to showing a couple more people later in the month at a micro meet.

Yeah I spoke to him about it too and he said that parts were the major issue but he did build some prototypes. I tried to get him to sell me them but no luck. Essentially all that's different is the new modules would put out more power so at least for a GS-X there is no need other than for K1000s, I still want them though....

In a short answer to your question though I'm going for flat frequency response at the measurement probe. No response curve. I can't acheive it exactly but I'm within a couple dB in most places as it stands I looked into this a while ago and I can't understand why people would say this. Flat is flat in my opinion. The different frequencies do attenuate slightly differently when traveling through air but to be honest if you do your room correction at the listening location then even this doesn't play in. Sound energy is sound energy. My theory is that the reason headphones are better at the details is that they are closer to your head so they only need to put out a lot less energy and hence the drivers are able to smaller and more finely controlled (especially at higher frequencies). Of course I am a lay person so if there is proof of the statement I'd be more than happy to eat crow and use whatever the scientific optimal is for headphones. On the other hand the natural approach to recording that you describe ends up trying to do what I do with a probe. Music on site -> unflat recording tools -> "flat" mastering speakers -> adjustment to "sound like music site" -> send to media -> flat speaker/headphone response -> smile on my face. I am a guy who takes a scientific approach to most things but I am in this hobby because I love music Right now my system succeeds in calming bringing out the bass in music without it being overpowering and still harsh ro shrill, everything sounds extremely natural but all the details are there (even the annoying ones like the violin players breathing too loudly just before they are about to play which I hear in the hall as well). I think people may be pleasantly surprised if they tried this for themselves and that's why I'm sharing it.

In my opinion there is no way to achieve "true to the source" (or musician) there is only true to what is on the media. In most recording studios, it's my understanding that they use room correction etc to get as flat a response as possible in their system and do their mix the way they want. If I match that I'm getting what they recorded to the highest fidelity that I can. I could also go after the "room correction" standard which is sloped 1dB/octave (or about that, my DEQ has it as an option). I read a review of some incredibly expensive eyeball looking speakers in Stereophile recently and the room correction curve was what the manufacturer used (out of his preference). The reviewer said he found it a bit too colored, but that's his opinion too. Some argue about the equal loudness curves but in my opinion that not a good reason for going away from the flat response curve (or room correction curve). If you start trying to guess what the response of the mastering studio was you're just justifying your own flavor to the sound. I'm not arguing that this is inherently wrong I just don't want to do it.

Heard back from Berhinger and there is no proximity effect so I should be set

interesting. Does it happen even if you turn down the volume a bit? To get my open headphones to have enough correction without clipping at low frequencies I have to offset all the gain by a couple db to give me the headroom I need.

Arius sorry if I came off harsh. No harshness intended.

You obviously know a lot more than me so I'll take your word for it. All I know is that I can not prevent the dip at 13.5 kHz (at some of the peaks at other frequencies and troughs at others) no matter what I do to the EQ. The phones just won't respond well there. I interpreted this as a resonance of some sort. If I stated that wrong then sorry. In the end it still does not retract from the fact that I have very much improved my phones performance.

where do you put the CD in? Just kidding. That looks great

New Hand EQ job (blue=uncorrected, gold=hand). Most of the difference between the auto-eq and the hand eq is the fact that the calibration file for the ECM8000. From Now on I will modify the the target curve for the auto-eq to match the calibration curve from REQ. In the end it sounds nothing short of amazing in my opinion. So liquid

Red=uncorrected Green=hand corrected (different than yesterday???) blue= Auto Equalized