General Source Gear Help/Discussion Thread

Sovrce Gear
2756

I had an electrician test the amp and he told me he did check everything and it was only that integrated circuit, nothing else, I wouldnt take his word on that but maybe he did…

I just gave it to him for convencie because he owes me a favor he told me he could diagnose the amp and after he did, he said that integrated is only thing he found.

I also found weird how that part just basically melted, the amp mostly works and theres even 1 output working perfectly, and how the hiss started before the burnt chip.

Also that integrated chip is close to the part I hit with the screwdriver but the hit is not visible.

I asked on head fi, around 3 people (ill dm them) have posted photos unhooded but theyre not active anymore, the thread is dead theres two easy questions that are not that recent unanswered

…

whats left is send an email to audio technica I think ill tell them im from the US if they ask ane use my PO, they will 99% likely ask me to check the amp paid by me, so they can diagnose and then ill know the cost

Doesnt sound very good for a $1000 but it is a pseudo-limited edition short run incredible sounding amp

So there is probably a heavy cost investment in shipping only, and maybe my country will even make me pay taxes to get it back because they are corrupt

The other thing is I wanted to upgrade that amp anyway with something that also has a tube amp, I use this burnt amp as a tube preamp 90% of the time, its the first time I ever hear a preamp improve the sound of my chain

EdIT: already dm’d several bha100 that owned it And hope they still do, and im asking audio tech if they sell the part, but theyll probably offer to diagnose the amp instead

2757

IMG_9417(2)

@Polygonhell This is what burned, I cant find the part with any of the numbers except the first row its a TL7712AC

Theres little info on the chip, not available on mouser, theres some chinese retailers with TL7712AC but every other character on middle and bottom row are different

Its a voltage superviser, do you know anything that could help?

2758

As far as I can tell from the datasheet, it basically triggers a reset pin on a timer or if the sense voltage drops low, it’s part of the power on circuit. I don’t know why it would cause the noise you’re hearing in failure. But it might be the amp isn’t completing its power on cycle, or something else was damaged by whatever blew it up. I’d assume something exceeded its maximum voltage on the sense pin or VCC.
You can get a replacement easily enough.
Replacing surface mount parts like that isn’t for the faint of heart, I wouldn’t do it yourself unless you’ve done it before, and as I said before. There is a chance it’s not the root cause of the issue.

Digikey has it here
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/TL7712ACD/372267
Mouser here
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/TL7712ACD?qs=Zu35EjizYSTwMyZyzDe6ow%3D%3D

3 Likes
2759

Man, cant find enough words to thank you

Mvp tonight

2760

MDHT Atlantis and Exogal Comet Plus. From their original MSRPs, I take it they are not on the same tier. Is the Exogal “better” in every regard?

2761

What would be a dac or dac/amp upgrade to the zen dac v2 + zen can?

I like the spaciousness, warmth, and clear highs of the ifi stack with my 24 Ohm Sony MV1.
I tried RME ADI2 Pro, Chord Hugo, SMSL 500mk3 and the hyped Merason frerot (EDIT: Merason plays now really well with a different amp) + amps Rnhp, Lake People, zen can and i preferred the zen dac and zen can combo.

(I preferred the MV1 over Arya Organic, HD800S, Composer, Auteur Classic, HD600.
I have to admit that i suffer from mild hearing loss and do low volume listening only. The the v-shaped sound on the MV1 (and Arya Organic) helps a lot. But it is a more in your head experience.)

I am ready to spend up to 1.5k Euro (used prices) for a digital source + amp, to widen the soundstage, improve on rythmic cohesion (PRAT), immediacy and dynamics.

I used a ifi zen stream a while as transport but preferred the usb from my regular PC.

I listen to 16/44 files only and intend to use the setup on a desktop only.

Please recommend ddcs, SD Card Players, dacs, dac amp combos (even portable) or daps (with usb input) for my use case.

2 Likes
2762

Hello, and welcome.

Since you’re still exploring and trying to figure out your next step.

My recomendation besides what you get on the DAC/AMP and rest of the gear, would be to clean up the USB coming out of your PC first. It will help you to get the most out of anything you plug in going forward and give you more information and show you the best out of whatever you plug into it.

So big picture recommendation, clean power and clean signal. Try this, it will be something you keep for a long time as you continue your journey.

2 Likes
2763

Perhaps you could expand a bit on why you preferred the Ifi to some of those.
I’m not familiar with the MV1, and if you prefer it over the Arya and HD800, there is clearly something in it’s presentation you really like, and that will make recommendations difficult.

Amps and DAC’s certainly impact stage, but generally they aren’t going to transform a close in sounding stage to something massive.

I’d probably suggest you upgrade the DAC and Amp separately, so you get a feel for how things change.

4 Likes
2764

The MV1 sounds soft but at the same time detailed and has good crisp dynamics. It sounds very 3D, and has a bass and treble boost (its marketed as studio headphone :slight_smile: ). But its still natural unlike the offerings from Beyerdynamic.

I like the R70X too which is a bit better in technicalities but the MV1 is just richer, more enjoyable and easy to listen to. The MV1 is extremely comfortable too. It has very soft earpads and is even lighter than the R70X.

Because i like the R70X i have an eye on the new ADX3000 or ADX5000. But i didnt like the Composer and HD800S so its uncertain if i would like them.

2765

I preferred the Ifi because it was more spacious, had better imaging, better tone, crisper highs and PRAT.

Chord dacs sound wrong to me. I hesitate to try the Exogal Comet+ because it uses the same interpolation concept as Chord dacs do. The RME sounded too technical to me, SMSL and Merason lacked in imaging, contrast and microdynamics.

2766

I found the Ifi DAC’s positively warm sounding (in a pleasant way), though I haven’t heard that specific Unit.

The RME did nothing for me, it might as well have been a generic entry level DAC, if you don’t need the EQ, I don’t see a good reason to own one., SMSL was just a generic clean sounding DAC. The lower priced Chords I find so-so, though I quite like the Mojo as a portable piece.

In that <$1000 price range for DAC’s I like the Schiit Gungnir A2, the Soekris get’s a lot of positive feedback, as does the Denafrips in that price range, but I didn’t do a lot of listening around that price point and it’s been a while since I was looking there.

But I’m not sure DAC would be the first thing I’d look to upgrade, I’d probably look more at Headphones (Though I hesitate to make recommendations there) or the amp first.

4 Likes
2767

I had a Zen Can as a first amp, it is a nice one, I sometimes think about buying it again as it is hard to beat the bass!

Amp wise it sounds like you like the qualities associated with class A amplification. I’d suggest maybe a Bifrost as Dac but I think for your budget the amp would be a better spend.

3 Likes
2768

I’d argue that Chord DACs typically excel at spaciousness, imagining and PRAT. It may have been the particular model of DAC you heard didn’t pair well with the amp/headphone that you were using.

1 Like
2769

I heard the original hugo and the TT2 + Mscaler as DAC into headamp and as all in one. To me Chord dacs excel in detail, but they miss out on the correctness in timing and dynamics. They lack rhythmic cohesion (correct timing, correct micro- and macrodynamics) which to me is the most important factor in digital source gear. Rhythmic cohesion is what makes vinyl so special. Maybe i have to try a real NOS dac.

1 Like
2770

Hey guys, there is an ongoing discussion in the Tungsten telegram group about the Violectric v281 LE not being “more powerful” than the original v281.

Maybe someone can properly explain how the extra +6dB switch for the pre gain can or can not make the LE more powerful?

My understanding, and i know i barely scratch the surface on this matter, is that the amplification section will be able to amplify the signal it has on hand, and if the signal is 6dB stronger than the OG, the output signal will be X times stronger than that 6dB.

There seems to be a confusion about what “more powerful” means, and my understanding is that even if the amplification section is the same, the amplifier as a whole is “more powerful” if it is able to work with a stronger input signal before amplification.

If they were equaliy powerful, the output signal with a maxed out volume pot would be the same?

Any takers :slight_smile: ?

2771

Yes, but it’s limited by the Voltage swing of the output stage.
If the output stage has a 20V (Or whatever) PSU, all it’s ever going to swing is somewhat less than 20V making the input bigger just means it’ll clip sooner.

Short version it depends on the design, if they increased the power supply rails, yes it will produce more voltage and hence more power at higher impedances where power is voltage limited, if they left the power rail as it was, then most likely all it means is you get the same maximum power from a lower level source.

Even shorter version Gain <> Power

And just to be pedantic

Because dB are logarithmic, multiplication is addition, so the output would be 6dB more if your measuring it in dB’s.

2 Likes
2772

I guess this is the most important thing to find out then.

There would be no point on adding that extra pre gain without any additional changes, right? I will send them an email, see if i can get that information.

2773

It would allow more power from low voltage sources, i.e. improve the input sensitivity. line level isn’t really a thing, it varies all over the place, I have sources here that put out everything from 2V Pk2Pk to 7+V RMS.
It’s why a lot of preamps have input sensitivities under 2V.
It probably also sounds different, because if it’s adjusting gain it likely decreases feedback to do that, though it’s hard to guess how significant that would be.

1 Like
2774

I’ve never heard of this headphone amp, has anyone here have?

Screenshot_20240907_020725_X
Screenshot_20240907_020725_X1440×3120 270 KB

It looks interesting!

1 Like
2775

You can get almost that exact case from a variety of Chinese manufacturers.
I’d never heard of them.
Looks to be a Japanese company, and given there is no English translation of the page I’d guess not broadly available.
Prices are highend, one is ~3500, and the other 10K,

2 Likes