True: The power makes a difference. If you ever look at frame rate test on PC they use a high end CPU to remove it as a limiting factor. Volume matching is very slightly the same idea as power doesn’t necessarily scale with volume.
Ex. The Magni 3 has more thump/impact in the bass compared to other $100 amps… this is due to power. But… The results are the same across all the headphones tested on it. Sure power hungry headphones are going to sound better to a degree on a more powerful amp…
At the same volume level with headphones around the same power requirement / ohm load. All things even the amps should really close. Or rather they did In my A/B testing.
To your point though. The 600 ohm DT880 requires the volume to be much higher on something like the Archel vs the SP200 vs the Heresy.
I used a sine wave and meter to volume match the amps…
But again the Heresy VS the SP2000 is a much close match in terms of power… but I get your point. That’s why i mention the headphones I use for testing in the article.
It absolutely screams quality. The volume knob is now the nicest one I’ve ever used, even better than the NFB1’s pot. The unit is a lot heavier, bigger and especially nicer looking in person than I had anticipated. It looks actually really nice in person.
The input selection LED is (as mentioned before) really bright and in dark environments I’ll probably have to tape over it with some electrical tape.
Even the 1/4" jack is so nicely done. It’s just snug in there without any play whatsoever.
Will now give it a quick test listen and report back with my first impressions!
Alright, after a quick listen to them on my Amiron Homes, Sundaras and TIN T2s:
I went into this test thinking It’d be the THX sound but just … better, which isn’t true at all.
The amp sounds noticeably different from the THX offerings, by a good shot. Compared to the SP200 and the Atom the RNHP sounds a lot more musical and lively, however at the cost of precision in my opinion. It doesn’t sound as clinical as the Atom and the SP200. The RNHP sounds like everything’s getting a lot smoother and laid back. In my opinion it depends on what the expectations are whether or not this can be classified as an upgrade.
For me personally, I love how my music sounds more lively and coherent on my Amiron Homes and Sundaras, however I have problems with my T2s.
Even using an iFi iEMatch my T2s have a noticeable whistle sound, even when the volume is set to 0. Mind you this isn’t noise, it sounds like someone is blasting their whistle a good 500 meters away and I can hear that. Even when the source is switched / unplugged and the pot is set to zero, it’s still audible. Interestingly enough this is a constant whistle sound and won’t worsen the louder I go. It’s so audible however that I can hear it through music and that’s kinda … worrying? I haven’t had this issue on my Atom at all and on the SP200 I only had background noise but not this weird whistling. It’s also not present on my overear headphones, just the T2s.
So my first impression is kind of mixed. It trades absolute precision for smoothness and thus sounds more musical which is really nice for enjoying music, however it absolutely ruins my T2s.
Anyone got an idea? If this isn’t anything fixable I might not keep this unit as I’m getting more and more into IEMs and there’s plenty even more sensitive IEMs than the T2 who’d probably even suffer more.
That’s very strange, my t2 does not do this with my rnhp
Also regarding that amp, it’s not going to sound as apparently detailed as the thx stuff at first, you gotta grow into it and then you see how accurate it actually is
I’ve plugged the shipped power adapter right into the wall socket, no extension cord or power strip. Is there anything I could try? If it’s even audible at zero it should be something with the power?
So are you in a dorm or at home? I recall in a dorm I was in that the power was pretty bad and it was causing issues like this. If you unplug the t2, turn on the unit, wait a few minutes, and then plug in the t2 is the noise still there? And it happens with all inputs unplugged?
@giova05 It’s doing the same even when the unit has no sources connected to it. Just power. Unplugging the DAC to eliminate it completely out of the equation also didn’t work.
@M0N I’m at home, the house was built around 2002 if I remember correctly, so it’s not too old. Yea, the noise is still there even after a few minutes like you instructed and the noise is still there even if all inputs are unplugged, just power in.
So yeah, it either sounds like you are having some noise issues, or you got a unit with a bum psu which would suck. With higher end gear it gets more sensitive to power and stuff like that
Last thing I could try is using the outlets at another location. I could go to a friend real quick and test it there. If it’s no good there either, chances are the PSU isn’t good I suppose, right? Oh well, just my luck hahaha.
