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Solid state headphone amp with SET sound

166.170.14.62
Posted on September 3, 2016 at 06:27:52
aarocks
Audiophile

Posts: 812
Joined: January 26, 2008
 I love the SET sound but I want to go solid state. I figured this might be impossible but I tried the First Watt SIT-2 solid state amp in my main system and it actually pulls this off. Now I'm wondering if I can do the same thing for my headphone system. I tried the Auralic Taurus Mk2 but the sound was completely solid state for me. Any others I should try?

 

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RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 3, 2016 at 07:03:59
genungo
 Please define what the terms "SET sound" and "solid state sound" mean to YOU.

I'm not saying that those terms are completely useless or meaningless but because they are not in the dictionary (yet), they are in need of clarification on a frequent basis.

Also, there is a dedicated headphone forum here. It's labelled "Head" in the forum list up near the top of this page and, believe it or not, it has nothing to do with either anatomy or sexuality.

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 3, 2016 at 10:07:08
mkuller
Audiophile

Posts: 38130
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: April 22, 2003
 ...if SET sound could be had in a solid state amp, you wouldn't need SETs any longer.

In music reproduction terms they are nearly on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Good luck with that.

 

Is there a DIY recipe for point-to-point headphone tube amp?, posted on September 3, 2016 at 10:53:42
FenderLover
 Or has anyone modified a old table top or car radio for headphone use?

Thanks!

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 3, 2016 at 20:30:53
hahax@verizon.net
Audiophile

Posts: 4310
Location: New Jersey
Joined: March 22, 2006
 The SIT-2 pulls it off because it actually is a solid state triode(an SIT is a triode device with triode like curves). Maybe some one can convince Nelson Pass to design a low power SIT amp to drive headphones.

 

Try this for SS triode, posted on September 3, 2016 at 21:03:37
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 Google on Trioderizer, or "solid state triode". It is possible, but don't hold your breath.

 

RE: Try this for SS triode, posted on September 4, 2016 at 06:14:08
horn kid
Audiophile

Posts: 128
Joined: November 2, 2014
 They have them at the same store that sells cars that handle and lean just like motorcycles.

In other words, no SS amps sounds like an SET, the are different animals, and no 2 SETs sound the same, though there can be some common traits shared by some of the best examples. I have heard NO ss amp that remind me in the faintest way of a really good SET.

 

RE: Is there a DIY recipe for point-to-point headphone tube amp?, posted on September 4, 2016 at 07:12:07
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004



This is basic and easy


ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 4, 2016 at 07:55:50
SoundMann
Audiophile

Posts: 588
Joined: October 21, 2015
 You have the amp. Now all you need is the right value of resistors, and a good headphone jack!

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 4, 2016 at 13:37:11
aarocks
Audiophile

Posts: 812
Joined: January 26, 2008
 Any adapters like that off the shelf?

 

Headphone amp converters, posted on September 4, 2016 at 15:04:26
genungo
 There is a boutique headphone amp converter for sale in the AA classifieds right now (no affiliations), check it out. Like the UHC Signature device linked below, it converts any amp under 25 watts into a "headphone amp". Seems rather expensive for what it is but it is a custom made piece from VTL. A nice box, high quality wires, resistors, binding posts, selector switch, one headphone jack.

But the much cheaper "off-the-shelf" option is the Antique Sound Lab UHC Signature headphone listening device. I used to own one and it works well with low-powered SET amps. $200 new, but used ones pop up in the Headfi classifieds every once in a while ...

 

The Pass SIT amp only makes "some" sense, posted on September 4, 2016 at 20:47:27
RGA
Reviewer

Posts: 15177
Location: Hong Kong
Joined: August 8, 2001
 There is no one SET sound which is why being locked into a Nelson Pass SIT amp still means you only get one sonic flavour. In spite of some of the reviews to suggest that it is THE SET sound you should be after is silly. Take any company that makes a bunch of different SET amps and even within just ONE company line up they sound rather dramatically different from each other - all of them more right sounding than SS amps for far more money.

Not long back I was at the Audio Note dealer in Hong Kong where we went through 300B monoblocks, 2a3 monoblocks, 211 Stereo power amplifier, 45 and 2a3 stereo amps. All of them sounded great but all of them presented things quite differently with their various pros and cons.

So when someone says to me - the SIT sounds like a SET - well which one specifically? Because I can tell you that Audio Note makes $10K 300b and $10k 2a3 monoblocks using the same quality of wiring and parts and I very clearly have my preference out of the two. And so will most people otherwise they would not make them.

And that's just within one brand - those difference will likely be far greater when you compare say a Line Magnetic 300b or a Cary 300B and on the list goes.

 

Try the new Pass Labs headphone amp! nt, posted on September 5, 2016 at 13:21:42
RealStereo
 nt

 

RE: Try the new Pass Labs headphone amp!, posted on September 5, 2016 at 14:12:48
aarocks
Audiophile

Posts: 812
Joined: January 26, 2008
 I thought about that but from what I read about the sound, it is pretty typical solid state.

 

Expensive, partly because the HPA-1 is a preamp/headphone amp, posted on September 5, 2016 at 14:14:05
genungo
 Great idea, but only if you don't mind paying for both things at once.

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 9, 2016 at 01:52:27
triamp
Audiophile

Posts: 780
Location: USA
Joined: August 6, 2008



There is a Nelson Pass "Zen" single-ended class-A MOSFET design that works well with headphones. ONE gain stage supported by constant-current sourcing. Rather tube-like sound but with no output transformer and cable of driving low-impedance 'phones. I built the one pictured and use it with my Audeze LCD-2 planars, which are fairly power hungry.

See http://www.head-fi.org/t/802895/pass-zen-style-class-a-amp#post_12850481


Science doesn't care what you believe.

 

RE: Solid state headphone amp with SET sound, posted on September 16, 2016 at 04:54:13
triamp
Audiophile

Posts: 780
Location: USA
Joined: August 6, 2008
 I think it would be useful to more clearly characterize what you mean by "SET sound." You can't actually hear an amplifier just by itself- you have to connect it to speakers or headphones first....

Do you mean the sound of a good quality SET amp driving high-efficiency horn speakers? That's how most of us have "heard a SET amp," it's what I think of when I think of "SET sound." You won't get that sound from headphones, really. A horn speaker of 2-way or 3-way (or MORE-way) design presents a fairly complex load to the SET amp and there will a deviation from flat frequency response due to ohms-law interactions between the amp's source (output) impedance and the impedance of the speaker which will vary with frequency. Headphones don't exhibit so much impedance variation over frequency as do speakers, so the SET amp and headphones just can't sound the same as that same amp with the 2- or 3-way speakers.

A single-driver speaker would be closer to the impedance characteristics of headphones, but even here the speaker will show a lot more variation of impedance over frequency than headphones will.

So, if by "SET sound" you mean the way a SET sounds on speakers, well, you're just not likely to get that particular flavor with headphones, no matter what amp you use.
Science doesn't care what you believe.

 

RE: What is "SET sound"?, posted on September 16, 2016 at 07:23:57
genungo
 I asked about this at the beginning of the thread. Still no answer.

 

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