The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by shotgunshane, Mar 27, 2022.

  1. Entropy

    Entropy Facebook Friend

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    Hm. A retailer (Apos audio) Has been trying to push me around. I returned a product to them in November. First, they informed me the product was OOS and they gave me a sales voucher, then they said OOP and told me they'd get me a black model sometime, now they want to offload an OOP, Likely-defective unit in the wrong colour to me. If you didn't know, I'm referring to the Topping Pa5, which has seen a myriad of reliability issues. How would you guys deal with this? Send them a strongly-worded message detailing my displeasure, File a complaint somewhere? Just take the loss?
     
  2. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Ask for refund and/or file dispute with credit card.
     
    • Agreed, ditto, +1 Agreed, ditto, +1 x 3
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  3. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    Storage Solutions... after seeing a brilliant (but should have been obvious) tube storage solution in @Greg121986 's for sale post:
    [​IMG]

    I figure that someone here has another brilliant (but should have been obvious) solution for storing the myriad of cables that I assume we all have. HDMI, RCA interconnects, USB, SPDIF, etc, etc, etc. I'm tired of rooting around a cardboard box looking for the right cable, of the right length, that I need.
     
  4. Greg121986

    Greg121986 Almost "Made"

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    I use two of these tote drawer things but I've been wanting a more substantial solution for awhile. I move a lot so it has been nice to have something lightweight that I can carry around when the time comes. I have an assortment of crap in here for audio and PC hobby. I use a few of the wider 3-drawer units as well. Maybe when I can stop spending tens of thousands of dollars I will be able to own a house that has some real drawers and cabinets in it.

    Global Industrial also has a bunch of stuff. I need to look deeper into their catalog. I've bought a lot of stuff from them for work purposes and it's all been solid.
     
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I make generous use of velcro ties to loop up my cables, and the stuff that isn't super long I tend to put similar cables into big ziploc freezer bags to keep them organized. For chunkier things like extra IEC power cords that aren't mondo thick, I will velcro or zip or twist tie them tight, then stuff them into an old Fostex T50rp box or similar. All the other ziploc bags go into another filing box.
     
  6. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Asking for a friend of mine because all my advice is a decade old. He needs a headphone and dac/amp recommendation.

    He has a gaming PC. Only has motherboard sound at the moment but would like a serious upgrade. Would consider all budget levels. He is admittedly a gearhead and likes toys for the sake of toys.
    - not opposed to external dac/amp, but slight preference for something that fits inside his PC/uses pcie slot
    - shares an office with the wife so closed back or minimal leakage is preferred
    - mostly plays semi-competitive FPS, wants exaggerated stereo/positioning
    - listening to music/movies is secondary
     
  7. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    DAC/amp: Schiit Fulla or Hel - external but have small footprints and mic inputs for yelling at other gamers
    Headphones: AKG K7xx - not fully closed but famous for the L-R separation because of that 3k dip. He'd need a mic to go on them too I guess.
     
  8. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    Pretty sure people still use the AD700s they were the king of affordable positioning when I used them. They have nearly zero bass though and the fit was weird on my head, I really did not like them for music. They didn't last long with me but a lot of gamers love them.

    I used K7xxs for a very long time and they were pretty good, again a bit light on the bass, but good, if not great, for the money...for gaming.

    Eventually fell on the HD6xxs after for some reason avoiding Senns because of the "veil". There isn't really anything I can say about the Senns that haven't already been said, theyre great even with my modest setup. I enjoy them for music much more than the K7xxs, but I chose them for the music performance, not gaming.

    I run a M3+ and an MM1 and they get the job done quite well and are a massive upgrade over onboard audio. That said just about anything is, a Fulla or Hel would do just fine. I tried a first gen JDS element for a while and never really liked it, too flat, too neutral. That was enough for me to basically stay away from JDS after that.

    I ran an Antlion Modmic for a long time. I just superglued the little magnet thing somewhere onto my headphones to hold the mic on. Worked fine, but all the wires got very fiddly eventually, so I ended up going with a Blue Yeti desktop. Its 100 percent overekill for what I use it for, discord and in game VOIP. A 50 dollar Snowball would do just was well and it takes up a lot less desk real estate.

    If I was setting up a gaming setup right now starting with nothing I would probably go with a Hel, K7xxs and a Blue Snowball. Should be killer for not a ton of money that would be plenty for most people.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2023
  9. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Stuff like the AKG K## and Audio Technica AD## family were my first thoughts too, but he's leaning towards closed back which stumps me a bit for this application.
     
  10. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    the only closed backs I consider worthy of time on my ears are as follows, in order of my preference ranking:
    1. Focal Stellia
    2. ETA mini Closed (very close behind Stellia)
    3. Audio Technica ATH-M50x
    4. Sennheiser HD280 (distant 4th but really good isolation)
     
  11. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    Same. I used dt770 pro 80s for years for gaming but I definitely wouldn't call them good for positioning. Fantastic for immersion though. Once I moved on from those it's been all open back for gaming.
     
  12. Renekton

    Renekton Acquaintance

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    Hi, help. I blew out a tweeter and still cant recover from the devastation. I want to ask about how it even happened.

    Brand new Dali Spektor 2 (recommended 25 to 100 watt amp in official specs; 6ohm, dips down to 5ohm in reality);
    Pioneer A40AE (rated 60W into 4ohm and 30W into 8, but some review site has measured it as more like 90W and 60W respectively); later added Valhalla 2 as pre.

    Everything worked good.

    Everything was connected, amp on and halfway up on the volume (12 oclock).

    I added Valhalla 2 as pre. When I turned on Valahalla, its volume also halfway around 12 oclock, high gain (which I have previously confirmed is not much louder than my phones headphone jack as line out, at full phone volume).

    As valhalla was warming up, it sent loud pops and cracks into the speakers. It sent the amp into protection multiple times, like for like a second at a time and as soon as the amp turned itself back on, it almost suddenly played loud pops and stuff into the speakers again and going into protection again. And off and on again and again, until the valhalla was fully warmed up. Ever since then one of the tweeters sounds louder, much dirtier, painful, shattered almost, brittle, shrill. Stripped voice coil???

    I just want to know is that a normal thing for the valhalla 2, considering it otherwise works normal and hasnt ever done anything like those loud pops while warming up into headphones??? Only happened when used as pre. I dont know stuff about this, is this normal valhalla behaviour or is there some ground loop happening, what is this. Different power outlets, same room.

    Everything still works good as normal, only the tweeter is damaged.

    As a separate question, how can i deal with this emotionally, I was in complete despair and surrender for hours and still feel like I never want to see any kind if loudspeakers ever again in my life.

    From what I understand, I think the valhalla threw out some huge voltage spikes that overloaded the amp inputs and made it for a split second much more powerful than its rated power? And blew out a tweeter.

    Sigh!!! I dont even know if I want this fixed, Im devastated and feel dumb and lost, but I now regained myself a little so I wanted to at least share what happened and learn more about why it happened. How is it possible.

    Btw, again, everything worked normal before, and actually it wasnt the first time using valhalla with this system, too, just this time everything was on when i turned valhalla on and yeah its warmup did all this. Isnt that, like, illegal, why did it do that, why did it throw violent electricity out of its pre outs.

    Im scared to even say this, but the whole thing happened twice, not sure if the first or second time damaged it, but one of the times music was playing from modi into valhalla. Other time it wasnt. But even then, yes, both times, violent cracks and pops occured, sending the pioneer in and out and right back in, into protection, until fully warmed.

    Btw the speakers are barely 3 days old, not familiar with them yet, so could as well be the other tweeter that has gone bad - since it js sounding muffled and dull compared to the other... Cant be super sure which is the damaged one... But really I still think its the louder, dirtier one being wrong. It's just wrong. Super splashy and piercing, it wasnt like that earlier.

    Or maybe it was defective from the start and now that the valhalla thing scared me so much, Im imagining this whole blown tweeter thing.

    Not a room reflection btw, ok, I swear i tried dampening different walls, different listening positions and super near field listening to each speaker, one is just busted and wrong.

    Im sorry for being so confused and probably confusing, Im super lost.
     
  13. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Everything will be OK. They're just speakers. You can get them fixed, and you can use another preamp. Good learning experience.

    Take many deep breaths and go focus on something else. Get out of the house and away from your computer. Go work out, get into nature, or do something else fun, preferably with other people

    If you bought the speakers from a dealer or retailer, contact them next week and work with them to arrange the repair. If you bought them used, contact Dali next week.

    Everything will be OK.

    Edit: You may want to read the Valhalla 2 manual here: https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/valhalla_2_manual_2.pdf.

    If this is your first time using speaker separates, you always need to turn on the source first, then preamp, then (with your preamp) wait for at least 30 seconds, then turn on the power amp. When you are ready to turn things off, you do it in the reverse, so turn off the power amp, then the preamp, then the source.

    It's also unclear to me whether the gain setting affects the preamp outputs. Schiit could confirm on that if you email them. You may want to try low gain if using the Valhalla 2 as a preamp into a speaker amp.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2023
  14. Sonofsin

    Sonofsin Acquaintance

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    At least on Vali2+ gain switch works in preamp mode as well.

    I had 2 children poke my tweeters. Life is life.

    Good luck with repairs!!
     
  15. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    Another hopefully simple question for the general advice thread.

    I just got a Valhalla 2 for my HD6xxs. I'm going from a Magni 3+. Anyone running tubes on the main computer system do you use your tube amp while gaming or just watching YouTube or whatever or do you switch to a different amp to save the life on the tubes or is this something that's not a concern?

    If you switch what's a good switching solution thats obviously not going to affect the sound quality? Hopefully relatively cheap and easy? Is this something that can be done with just a splitter cable? Am I overthinking this?
     
  16. Qildail

    Qildail Friend

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    Maybe a little, but you'd be a bit out of place around here if you didn't...

    I've fired up tube amps to watch movies; depending on the movie it's often better than my AV room. The Valhalla tubes are relatively inexpensive and common (compared to some other crazy unobtaniums), so the end question is your value of a tube's hour of life to you versus the time/energy/hassle of switching back and forth between amps. If you do decide to put in a switch, look at something like the Nobsound Little Bear - passive splitters will be less intrusive to your chain's sound.
     
  17. HotRatSalad

    HotRatSalad Friend

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    @loki993 You could buy more tubes or a passive splitter, or you could buy something like a hella or fulla. If I was a big gamer still I'd grab one of those for sure. Depends on where you find you funds going that's most useful to you or less wasteful. I don't really like anything in the path of my headphones amps personally.
     
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  18. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    My gaming setup is pretty well sorted, up to this point Ive run a M3+ and a MM1. I use a desk mounted mic. If I didnt have all that already yeah the Hel or Fulla would be a no briner. So Im replacing the M3+ with the Val2, but again just sort of wondered if it would be worth it to try to run both. Im not sure it is.

    I definitely don't want anything else in the path either and I dont think I want to use a switcher. Spare tubes are probably the answer here.

    That said, a bit of devils advocate here and satisfying some curiosity, There are Y RCA cables, 1 Male RCA to 2 Male RCA. What would be the harm in running that from the MM out to the VAL and the M3?
     
  19. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    Anyone know where I could purchase an auto cpap without prescription. I think they are called A-PAP or A-CPAP. I've done a sleep study, and I don't want to go through it again. My first test didn't reveal anything, but I am still choking in my sleep.
     
  20. Northwest

    Northwest Friend

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    I use my tube amp for everything now. I thought about switching to a Piety to save life on the tubes, but I like what tubes give to even simple tasks like voip or youtube. When you have a simple and easily replaceable tube compliment I don't see anything wrong using it as a daily driver. Different amps run at operating points, but in 7 years of ownership I've only truly burned out 3 tubes that cost about $275 to replace in total. I'm estimating at least 10,000 hours over those 7 years.
     

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