Project Polaris Discussion Thread

Thanks mate. Yeah it's looking more n more towards that direction, either the Ember one of the other tubes. I might head to the Ember post soon.

I'll keep the SS to be clean, the tube for "different".

Cheers!

 

I disagree with the jumpers being gimmicky. Sometimes I change the jumpers the differences are minor, but sometimes they are huge like the bandwidth jumpers. It also depends on the headphones. For example, for the HD 800 with Superdupont mod and stock cable, I find these settings to be the best: attenuation off, high bandwidth, low gain, and medium resistance.

 

Trying to get everyone's opinion on these for a pair of HD650s or if there are other amps (around the $450 mark) I should look at as well (Ember II, Schiit jotunheim, bottlehead crack + speed mod (most expensive one))?

I'm interested in this because it's supposed to be a solid state that has a tube like sound, but I'm not sure what the tradeoffs are.

I'm looking for a warmer, but detailed sound. Bright treble and sibliance are not for me at all.

 

The Polaris has 6 different gain settings, 3 different output impedance settings, and three different bandwidth settings that allow users to adjust the frequency at which, and the aggressiveness with which, the high frequencies start to roll off. In addition, at purchase the buyer will be asked to specify which of two baseline settings they prefer for the bandwidth adjustment. When I got mine, they also included at no charge an additional input gain attenuation module, giving 3 additional gain settings. The result is that I can drive everything from my most sensitive iems to my he500s, including my hd600s, which sound great driven by the Polaris using the middle, 35 ohm output impedance setting as well as the lowest setting. While all the user-adjustable settings have been criticized in this very thread as "gimmicky," I disagree totally (in fact I don't even know what that term means), as I would always prefer to have the option to make changes myself rather than those decisions being made permanently for me by the manufacturer. I'd rather have them and never use them, than want them and not have the options. The overall voicing of the amp is intended to be more tube-like than is typical of a solid state amp. I can't speak to that, as I don't think that there is really any one "tubey" sound, but it is a pretty laid-back or "warm" sounding amp for ss. I find it very pleasant sounding while still being detailed and revealing. Given all of the above, to me it was a no-brainer, especially at the price. Beware however, as many around here apparently would accuse me of being a no-brainer, so take it for what it is worth to you. The Garage 1217 website has a lot of info re all of the above, including graphs for power output by gain setting and transducer impedance and fr curves for the different bandwidth options/settings. Jeremy there is also very responsive via email and can answer any questions you may have. Good luck.

 

For me, the Polaris has not worked well with low impedance headphones, I can't imagine using it with IEMs. There's too much noise even with my TH-X00, also I've found that using the attenuation module degrades sound quality. I think it's basically a good amp, but in my experience, it isn't as versatile as it should be.

 

Fair enough, my iems are also relatively old and therefore pretty high impedance/insensitive as compared to most modern kit (40 and 56 ohm vs. the 16 and lower that is more common now), but as the question was about use with the hd650, well, that is a very good match to my ears, so I probably should've specified.

 

If you want warmth, then go for the Ember II paired with a warmer tube. Or, Bottlehead Crack if you're going outside the Garage 1217 family.

 

I also agree with the polaris being a poor match with sensitive IEM's, but a good pairing with the hd650's, especially in high output impedance mode.