Been dealing with headphone amps again. This time an accident caused me to fall onto a discovery. In short, my SPL Phonitor SE died. It was my fault. Ok, so it has been sent off to the repair people who will shock me with a quote. There is that. But then, I knew that I was not going to be happy until I had a headphone amp of decent quality to replace it with for the meantime. I looked plenty and came upon the Whammy. I would have built one but as it turns out 6L6 had one already to go and so I bought it. Case almost closed. Did a little fiddling with the chassis because that is what I do and then listened. Volume wasn't quite right, but resoldering the volume control seemed to remedy that (more on that later). I really liked what I heard, but my Hi-Fi 400SE cans are pretty good but need help in the bass and maybe just a little in the treble. When it was up and running, I placed it next to me Black Ice SS-X soundstage expander or what ever they call it no days. Designed by Jim Fosgate, this unit uses crosstalk, has a sort of bass control and the total effect can be adjusted for anywhere from slim soundstage to wide. That is the selling point to me. No preset buttons, you dial it in. It then dawned on me to hook up the SS-X in front of the Whammy. In short, the sound is some of the very best that I have heard. I forgot to mention that the Fosgate unit also incorporates a tube buffer adding fulness to the 400SE phones that they need (at least some of it).
While messing with the Whammy I think that I may have caused another problem that first seemed to be about the volume control, but I am not so sure right now. One channel is still way behind in volume compared to the other channel, and since I listen pretty loud, the volume of each channel is the same, but less than 1/2 volume one channel really drops off.. I plan to attack this, but I must admit that I am very taken by this great sound and want to listen for a while.
I should add that I am even tempted to buy another Whammy while I get this one just right, but we'll see. The power supply voltages are in good shape and so the problem is beyond that point.
While messing with the Whammy I think that I may have caused another problem that first seemed to be about the volume control, but I am not so sure right now. One channel is still way behind in volume compared to the other channel, and since I listen pretty loud, the volume of each channel is the same, but less than 1/2 volume one channel really drops off.. I plan to attack this, but I must admit that I am very taken by this great sound and want to listen for a while.
I should add that I am even tempted to buy another Whammy while I get this one just right, but we'll see. The power supply voltages are in good shape and so the problem is beyond that point.
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rayma,
I certainly hope that it is that easy. Had some trouble with it from the beginning. I actually have 50K in stock, so that helps. Truth is, I bought another completed circuit board so that I don't skip a beat. i like what I like, and I haven't heard something this good a long time. Sometimes, it is the combination of gear that does it best.
I certainly hope that it is that easy. Had some trouble with it from the beginning. I actually have 50K in stock, so that helps. Truth is, I bought another completed circuit board so that I don't skip a beat. i like what I like, and I haven't heard something this good a long time. Sometimes, it is the combination of gear that does it best.
Is the Black Ice something similar to this?
https://www.bellariaudio.com/index.php/products/se560-audio-sonic-exciter/
I remember many moons ago something called the BBE sonic enhancer which also sounds like it maybe something similar, although the BBE is long gone now.
https://www.bellariaudio.com/index.php/products/se560-audio-sonic-exciter/
I remember many moons ago something called the BBE sonic enhancer which also sounds like it maybe something similar, although the BBE is long gone now.
No. And neither is the BBE. Jim Fosgate designed this SS-X soundstage expander. You should look it up at Black Ice. This unit is somewhat similar to the Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Unit. Each one of these products are very different. Just like the Hughes AK100. There is more than one approach designed to attempt the effect.
So I looked up the Black Ice, amongst several others. Never heard of Black Ice before but certainly know of Jim Fosgate. It appears there are several of these product types presently in existence and many that are now history. I have never really paid much interest into these devices before unfortunately but that has changed as of today.
There is numerous expanders, sonic maximizers, stereo widening effects.
I also used synthesizer software, which has numerous macros of everything imaginable and built my own.
Some just panners, others filters with delay lines, lots of ways to do it.
People made the mistake of running full mixes through them in master, we would just wake up a few mono instruments here and there.
Would listen with headphones straight from my mixer. Also remember many of the BBE rack units also had headphone output/monitor.
With computers, far far far more interesting widening effects now. With VST plugins.
Some of the early VST effect packages went for around 2 grand. Amazing stuff when I got the bundles years later.
Some full FFT and had perfect reverb impules responses for every frequency taken from many famous churches and grand halls.
I also used synthesizer software, which has numerous macros of everything imaginable and built my own.
Some just panners, others filters with delay lines, lots of ways to do it.
People made the mistake of running full mixes through them in master, we would just wake up a few mono instruments here and there.
Would listen with headphones straight from my mixer. Also remember many of the BBE rack units also had headphone output/monitor.
With computers, far far far more interesting widening effects now. With VST plugins.
Some of the early VST effect packages went for around 2 grand. Amazing stuff when I got the bundles years later.
Some full FFT and had perfect reverb impules responses for every frequency taken from many famous churches and grand halls.
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I have tried quite a few of these sorts of products just because. Some are BS, and then some are actually overkill. I had one that might as well put the music floating out there in space, but you know what? The real deal is getting to fool the ear/brain thing. The times that I have been successful with that are rewarding to me. It's like polarized sunglasses man. With them there are some things that you just couldn't see before because of the noise.