Neurochrome HP-1

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Cspirou, Oct 26, 2016.

  1. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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  2. murray

    murray Friend

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    It's good to see a photo of you with all your equipment on display.
     
  3. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    Thanks. That's actually a subset of my equipment collection. I've had test equipment build & repair as a hobby for quite a while. :)
     
  4. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    I have another request of the SBAF community: As many of you know, I'm working on a psychology degree. I'm currently taking a Consumer Psychology class and am working on a market research project. I figured to use Neurochrome as my research topic. I would greatly appreciate it if you'd take 5-10 minutes and help me out by completing my marketing survey: https://ucalgarypsych.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4Ysedh1YPDx35eR
    The survey is anonymous. The data are stored securely. I'll greatly appreciate your help as you'll likely help defining the future direction of my company.

    Thanks in advance.

    Tom
     
  5. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    Competed!
     
  6. BMF Flyer

    BMF Flyer New

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    Completed
     
  7. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    the eagle has landed

    IMG_4541.JPG
     
  8. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    Folks,

    I'm about to order another stack of enclosures. Given the debate earlier about chassis colour, I figured I'd get your input before I blow $1k+ on a chassis order. I have narrowed the choices down to four colours: Gentian Blue, Carmine Red, Graphite, and Black. All have a slight texture to them. All will have white silk screen text and legend just as the current blue chassis.

    I have a Google survey running and would greatly appreciate it if you'd let me know of your preference. I will post the survey results here. The survey is anonymous but does require sign-in to Google/Gmail to prevent multiple responses. There are two questions:
    1) Favourite of the four colours.
    2) Favourite between only Graphite and Black. ​
    If you don't have a Google account and would like to cast your vote, please just toss me a PM with your preferences.
    The survey is here: https://goo.gl/forms/LUEsX0WhPoKxJAww2

    [​IMG]

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    Thanks,

    Tom
     
  9. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    @brencho Any update on sound impressions so far?
     
  10. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
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    Graphite or Blue. Red reminds me too much of the GSX 2 or Focusrite; black is super generic.
     
  11. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I chose Red because red and black looks bad ass! Graphite is my next choice and is the safe one, looks miles better than black.
     
  12. SSL

    SSL Friend

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    Voted blue. Also, V2 needs a blue velvet pot. Mini-pots suck.
     
  13. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    I like the ALPS RK271 ("Blue Velvet") pots as well. Unfortunately, they're commonly stocked only in 100 kΩ, which will blow the noise floor of the HP-1. I need to get down to 10 kΩ. 5 kΩ or 2 kΩ would be even better (assuming they can handle the power). I'll see what I can do. Maybe I'll have to order 100 of them from ALPS or something...
    I'll stick with the RK097 pot for now.

    The small pots are actually only marginally worse on the channel tracking than the bigger pots (2 dB vs 3 dB max tracking error - and even then only in very narrow ranges). The larger pots do provide a better feel to the volume knob, though. That's important too.

    Another thing in the works is making the top plate out of steel rather than aluminum. It's slightly more expensive (I'll eat the additional cost), but it would prevent the top plate from flexing. That was one of the criticisms of the HP-1, that the top plate flexes slightly when you push on it (e.g. while plugging in your headphones). The steel will also add a little more heft to the amp.

    Tom
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2017
  14. jelt2359

    jelt2359 Friend

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    Voted for graphite or blue. That red looks too much like a toy. Black is out.
     
  15. jelt2359

    jelt2359 Friend

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    Done!
     
  16. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    thanks to everyone involved in the loaner to letting me join in at the tail end and listen to it for a while! i apologize for the delay, it's been a bit hectic over here. i've had a chance to hear the HP-1 in a couple setups and compare it directly to the jotunheim on one hand and torpedo 3 on the other via Modi Multibit and Gungnir Multibit. both the hd650 and the code-x for most of my listening. i'll keep it brief and limit the comparison to just the jotunheim and torpedo 3 that i had on hand at the same time as the HP1 was at my house.

    i was initially surprised how similar the HP-1 is to the jotunheim! both have plenty of power and kick with the 650 and code-x. the stage is pretty similar and they're both very clean and clear. compared to the HP-1, the jotunheim sounded a bit shouty and bright with the 650, and similarly bright and dry with the code-x. the HP-1 seemed to get the treble more "right" than the jotunheim, sounding smoother and sweeter up top, but not rolled off or less sparkly, just, smoother. less shout and sibilance. the main drawback for me is that i have no DIY skills so can't build one for myself! i think for the money it would cost for all the parts it would make for an interesting solid state amp with plenty of juice, since it does seem to do a few things better than the jotun (less bright with smoother but equally resolving treble), and it is certainly better to my ears than the cavalli liquid carbon i heard for a while back in the day. i also imagine that building a DIY amp will carry with it a sense of satisfaction that is also worth something to those who can do it!

    compared to the modded torpedo 3 with the hd650, it wasn't that close of a contest for me. bear in mind that i've spend several months with the torpedo and it's an amp i know quite well. the torpedo 3 was more engaging and involving overall, the stage was more enveloping, notes had more realistic bite/ impact and decay with nice sweetness and slight warmth. it's such a perfect match with the 6x0, balancing bite and dynamics with sweetness and warmth, i honestly don't think you can get a better synergy with the 6x0 family until you jump up to the ZDS at roughly 1.5-2x the cost of the torpedo. but the torpedo can't handle the code-x or any other hard to drive headphone in my experience, whereas the HP-1 has no problem. so it might come down to priority, versatility and pairing objectives here.

    thanks again guys, very fun time with the amp. looking forward to more impressions when it makes it's way over to europe this summer.
     
  17. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    As promised, here are the results of the chassis colour survey. Graphite seems very popular. It also seems people are either "black" or "anything but black", indicated by the rather large slice of "graphite" in the graphite vs black pie chart.

    [​IMG]

    The next stack of enclosures will have a couple (2 of 10 probably) in blue and the rest (8 of 10) in graphite.

    Tom
     
  18. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    Folks,

    I have one last survey request. This is for my Consumer Psychology class. I would greatly appreciate it if you'd spend about 15 minutes answering a few questions about a handful of Google ads and Facebook ads ("suggested posts") for me by taking this survey: https://ucalgarypsych.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Ys8lFknxxawAYJ

    Thank you. I really appreciate it.

    Tom
     
  19. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    You're doing this for the government, aren't you? Damn it, how did they find me?
     
  20. tomchr

    tomchr MOT - Neurochrome

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    Just ignore that helicopter with the searchlight hovering over your house. It's probably nothing... :)

    Tom
     

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