The All Purpose Advice Thread

$1k to $2K tends to be a no-man's land for amps. Hard to get a good value there that significantly breaks beyond the sub-$1K market unless going DIY (T3/EHHA), used (Super7), but there are exceptions (BW).

@Hands Does the Super 7 driver orthos?

 

how does the decware taboo compare to amps in the 1k-2k range? or even lyr 2

 

Ended up just buying the pm3. Will compare them to my Momentum 1.0 when they come in later this week.

 

Liquid Carbon is the best I've tried in that pricerange. But you'd have to find a used one since they don't make them anymore.

 

Hey guys, i'm currently running a bottlehead crack amp with speedball and found a woo audio wa7 selling second hand for a decentish price. Currently using cetron 7236 and mullard 12au7 tubes. Wondering if it'll be a worthwhile upgrade? I'm running hd800 headphones.


Cheers

 

I'd keep the crack and roll some tubes if you want to tweak the sound a bit.

 

I think it would depend on the headphones you use or are going to use. The Crack is far better with high impedance phones. But the WA7 might be appealing if you like easy to drive stuff like Grado or TH600/900 or the easier planars.

I personally wouldn't want a version 1 WA7, as the DAC is not great. But a V2 WA7 has a revamped DAC (I think its along the lines of the WA8 sabre DAC setup, which I thought sounded great considering)

 

Using just hd800's. Also i have a separate dac already so that's not really a concern.

 

Yeah, I agree with @Ice-man then. Maybe a new tube or two, or maybe a mod or two for the HD800 if you're looking to tweek the sound...

 

For the HD-650, I have owned both amps. Sold the WA7+tp. The Crack is a more enjoyable flavour for me and makes the WA7 sound a bit flat.

Speedball, decent tubes and a few mods elevates the Crack's technicalities close enough to the WA7 for a fraction of the cost. I tried the 800 with the WA7 briefly and it did not blow my mind.

Not sure if you agree but I think the Crack in any form is just a bit smeared & sloppy in the bass. The WA7 is better controlled there. In most other respects I think you might be taking an expensive step sideways, at best.

If you like the Bottlehead sound but are considering a new amp, have you thought about upgrading to the Mainline instead?

 

I like to keep a couple pairs of cheap beater IEMs around in various places as backups, primarily for the gym and exercise. Looking for something cheap (less than $50, but much cheaper also works) with a bassy or v-shaped signature. A fun exciting signature it more important than overall fidelity in this case.

Xiomi Hybrids, Klipsch S4 and SE215 all worked well for this purpose, but all are gone or dead now.

 

Sorry for the silly question but is it possible to have an 1/8" TRRS to 1/4" unbalanced adapter? I was wondering if it would be possible to use a cable between a GOv2 and Valhalla 2. Thanks!

 

Yes, as long as the headphone cable is wired for balanced, one can make an adapter to convert it to single ended safely. So what you are proposing would work fine. What you cannot do is the opposite, take a single ended cable, and make an adapter to plug it into a balanced amp output.

 

Have you had a chance to compare the LC to the Mojo 2?

 

Perfect, thanks for the reply PoochZag!

 

Been to a meet where there were two Mojos actually. Just didn't have time to audition it. I will make sure to do so next time.

 

Anyone have a good recommendation on a input tube on my crack which is speedballed. it's modded to take 12au7 and 12bh7. I have a mullard 12au7 and a hytron 12bh7 at the moment.