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I recently went thru my whole cd collection disc by disc, and have
embarked on a project to listen to each disc therein over the next
3 to 4 years. It has occured to me that I might want to improve the
sonics of my rig.
It consists of: Singlepower PPX3 amp with 6cg7 tubes; Bryston cdp;
Sennheiser HD600 cans, with 10' cardas cable; old audioquest ICs; and
power cords made from Belden 19364 cable. I'm not going to replace the
Singlepower or the Bryston, but everything else is fair game.
I'm thinking that some new ICs, new power cords, or new tubes (currently
using RCA clear top 6cg7). The cans themselves are 10+ years old, so
maybe it's time for a new pair. I like the HD600s, but am willing to
consider something else.
My hearing is pretty decent for my age (67), or at least I think it is.
I'm not dis-satisfied with the overall sound of my rig, I just want to
improve it if I can do so for reasonable sums.
My budget is $1000 or less.
Your input greatly appreciated.
Follow Ups:
Singlepower amps have been known to go up in flames. Those types of problems (and poor customer service) caused the company to go belly-up. Or so I've read.If I were you, I would turn the amp off before leaving the house...
Edits: 05/20/14
Especially the pre-2007 models. His early models had some minor safety problems, but the real problems started after 2007....many problems. I never had a problem with my MPX3 model except for lack of bleeder resistors and an undersized switch I never used.
Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
This was above par for the course, for Singlepower -- at least the bigger caps are all tied down. Air mounting was very common.
What keeps the big blue power caps from twisting and shorting out the high voltage supply?
And this pic shows the ludicrously large PS caps -- no way those were fitting inside the chassis. 3300 µF @ 350V each. These should've had bleeder resistors from day 1.
Edits: 05/21/14 05/21/14
I have some experience with this, having owned a couple and hearing (locally) a few more. Even met the owner a couple of times; "nice" guy until that awful, awful end. The ones more likely to be a danger are the later builds, when the owner seemed "cracked out", right before he disappeared (holding others' amps and money).His workmanship was always sloppy. There were problems especially with the more "tricked out" amps, especially near the end. For example, I foolishly had my SDS (the 2nd made) "enhanced" to put more voltage on the output tube plates (6SN7/6BX7) -- never mind the lack of any tangible sonic advantage to this mod. The Black gate output caps he chose for this upgrade (2 in series, which does NOT guarantee an equal voltage distribution) did not have sufficient voltage rating, and it melted the voice coil on a nice pair of Sennheiser Jubilees (almost my friend's R10) with a epic POP when the caps inevitably arced in spectacular fashion.
The other common problem was HUGE power supply caps without bleeder resistors among them, allowing dangerous voltages to build up. Because of the amount of energy stored in these ridiculously large caps (comparable to those in a huge power amp), the potential for disaster was likened to a hand grenade. Basically, the guy couldn't be trusted with high voltages and proper cap selection/configuration.
With the OP's early PPA build, he PROBABLY has a relatively safe amp which probably sounds wonderful (I would guess better than what can be sourced today for equivalent prices -- these can be GREAT sounding amps). However, it's not a bad idea to get it checked out by a competent tube tech. Especially that PSU section (bleeder resistors). The PSU caps in a PPA are going to be much, much smaller than those in Supra/SDS models.
Edits: 05/21/14 05/21/14 05/21/14
Nothing wrong with what you got, those older Audioquest ICs are hard to beat. If it were me I'd try a few tricks if the trade, like using a Herbies tube dampers and removing the grills and foam of the HD600s, things of that nature.
Cheers
That's a pretty nice rig your've got, from the era when I was into headphones. Certainly it's possible (probably even likely) that you could find headphones more suited to your tastes, but it's going to be difficult (and probably expensive) to ascertain what without attending a head-fi meet.You can increase your chances by taking inventory of what you'd like improved about your current setup. If you want to change headphones, the HD600 are still great but not without flaws. They have a very good overall balance with a good head-stage and airiness. The flaws are that they're not as resolving as the state-of the art. The mids and especially highs are a bit grainy (what folks used to refer to as the Sennheiser veil) -- the HD650 made the highs a bit cleaner (though slightly subdued; the HD650 is a darker headphone) and mids a bit more forward, but there is still a touch of dryness and grain left in the mids (compared to the best headphones). The HD600 bass is good but could stand to be deeper, more powerful, and taut -- the HD650 improved on this significantly. Overall, though, they are sonic siblings. If you want what I've described of the HD650 but with mitigated darkness, the Zu Mobius cable w/ 650 works magic (and that same cable is just awful on the 600 -- with the 600 I preferred smooth warm copper, like the Cardas, which of course was awful on the 650).
As far as your amp, those Singlepowers had a sound quality all over the map, but most of them sound shockingly good when paired with the right headphone, despite their build and reputation. Yours sound like a rather early non-SLAM unit (SLAM used 5687 outputs and had lower output impedance i.e. much more drive); using lower impedance headphones may result in significant distortion.
The HD800 sounds totally different than the HD600 & 650 -- much more detailed/faster but very analytical and somewhat bright. So yeah...upgrading from a system that's nice is hard :(
Edits: 05/19/14 05/19/14
HD800 also suffers from a "flat" treble. What it does deliver is reasonably good bass and wide, if artificially so, sound stage.
HD650 and, better yet, K-701s worked really well on my MPX3 model.
Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
I'll give a nod to the 650s and 701s as well.
The biggest improvement I made to my cans was incorporating a Corda Crossfilter into the Bottlehead Crack amp, which drives HD800s. It doesn't help with everything - in fact, on some recordings it's awful, but on others it is invaluable. The crossfilter sends a small, variable amount of signal from left to right with a tiny delay, and vice-versa. It reduces the hole-in-the-middle or ping-pong effect of headphones in a very natural way. The down side is it reduces the perceived dynamics slightly. The circuit is completely passive.
Meier Audio published the schematic for the crossfilter on the web. If you know the input impedance of your headphone amp and the output impedance of your preamp/source, you can simplify it as you won't need the two rotary switches and associated resistors that adjust for this - just install the individual resistors you need for your gear.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Well, looks like you have a pretty good system already.10 years for a headphone is not much. I got some old 30 year old Beyer DT990 that will blow away many headphones of today.
Would not want to spend more money on exotic cables, they won't make that much of a different.
I would rather suggest to invest your cash in some additional headphones, just so you have the option of having different flavors of sound.
my main headphones are AKG K501, Sennheiser 580 (de-foamed) with 600 grills and 30 year old Beyer DT990, besides some other fun headphones.
Edits: 05/20/14
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