Yeah well, IMO Zeos is pretty much the “budget realm” king, so I don’t care about him saying THX is “endgame” stuff. I know you don’t like this and I understand (and apparently a lot of people here – now with RNHP and SPL amps lol – also believe he is wrong).
But… thinking about it… RNHP and SPL amps are studio amps. Not even targeted at “prosumer”. We could say THX is “prosumers endgame”… but RNHP and SPL is downright professional equipment. So, if you, or anyone, knows what professional equipment can do, and know the “timbre” of everything, well, yes, maybe for you THX is subpar, or even “mid-fi”, lol.
I don’t believe he’s a THX shill either. In the FiiO Q5S review, he tried it with and without the THX module, and basically said “don’t bother”. In the Rebel Amp review, he said he’d prefer “one watt of Class A to 1000 watts of anything THX”.
Still curious about this THX AAA thing anyway, even with my Atom. One day I’ll find a used SP200 or something and bite the bullet. It’s not in my priorities… but it’s in my… curiosity’s priorities is that english? lol.
I mean that’s a strange one as well, if he feels that then why doesn’t he use one on his review desk? It’s 100 more than the thx and clearly to him is a higher tier?
Funny you say that, in the higher tier of studio gear, a lot of studio mastering is done on high end hifi setups from my experience, but that’s besides the point. The reason the Neve and spl get mentioned a lot as they are readily available and tried and true, there are more HiFi oriented products in the price range that do just as well imo, but might be harder to come across
120dB SNR and 6 watts per channel… my guess is, convenience. Also he may listen to music a little bit too loud and have lost hearing a bit (he can’t hear the difference between filters doing things at higher than 15khz etc).
Sorry. I need to stop thinking that a studio room is only Yamaha HS5s or whatever. That’s a mid-fi studio.
I mean stuff like that is still commonly used for tracking and mixing at times on small to mid size studios, I’m just saying the larger players typically use custom monitors and all that jazz, really depends on the specific studio. Again I’m coming at this from a mastering only perspective, and that’s not the same as most studios (as most just combine the mixing and mastering into the same stage, or just send it off to be mastered by someone else, and there are way less mastering studios than general purpose studios)
The other day I was comparing my THX AAA 789 (balanced output) to an old school Crown D-75A (speaker taps, 45W @ 8ohms) (both fed by an SDAC-B) between different cans (HD800S, Arya, and the HE-500). Between the two amps, the THX AAA 789 was more polite sounding than the old school power amp and had a blacker background, but lost out to the power amp (~$100 used) when it came to dynamics and slam. Just my 2c.
EDIT: Of course I have passive pre-amp inbetween the DAC and the poweramp. Controlling the volume via individual channel gain knobs of the power amp isn’t fun and being forgetful can easily lead to blown out headphone drivers.
Yeah, once you get a solid pair of headphones you are content with and have an appropriate amp to pair with them, the dac can really help you out and finalize everything
I was one of the people that got stuck waiting close to 8 months for my 789. In the interim I had already acquired better options, but I kept the order just to see what the hype was about. When I finally received it, I was pretty underwhelmed, but truthfully I probably would have been for any amp I waited that long for. I personally prefer a warm tube sound from my amps, so the 789 likely wouldn’t have been for me even if I hadn’t had the long wait.
We have to remember that most people would balk st spending $100 on a pair of headphones, let alone further investing in a DAC/amp. Say what you will about Drop, but they have done a pretty incredible job of making hifi gear more affordable and accessible. From my experience, the 789 will power every Drop branded headphone, and every collaboration headphone they sell. That alone gives it a pretty decent market space and allows Drop to be a one stop shop for most new enthusiasts. For that reason alone, I won’t kill the amp, but I think this backlash is mainly due to the long hype cycle when no amps were available. Everyone repeated the hype, and by the time people started receiving theirs and weren’t completely blown away, that’s when the sentiments turned.
I said this earlier on another thread, but I think the 789 makes sense if you are capping your purchases at an Elex. They are also really good for sensitive iems. I mainly use mine with my Andromedas. No other desktop amp I own has as silent a backdrop for them.
“THX-amps” all share one fundamental feature: Super-fast high-current Op-Amps to drive the output.
The Texas Instruments OPA564 for example is a machine! 24V @ 1.5A is enough to drive very chunky motor drivers.
While motor drivers, as in stepper motor drivers on robot arms, are not relevant for HiFi, that just shows how accurate at max power these little chips have to be (rogue robot = no bueno).
So what does one do with something meant to control lasers, robots and other industrial equipment at high precision?
Nope, not yet. I got my little JDS Labs Atom during the 789 hype, 1dB better SINAD than the 300$ THX 789 for 100$ (nyah, nyaaah!).
Seriously though, I made this thread because I’m really curious about AAA tech (numbers don’t mean everything!). And I wanted to know the opinions of everyone about AAA. Some people praise it, some people don’t (I know it’s not endgame… nothing is “endgame” ? lol).
My impressions now? AAA tech is overpriced… like every brand new thing.
AAA would be 100% worth it… for half the price. Like, make a one watt AAA headphone amp for 150$, pretty please?
And “AAA” as in “achromatic” as in “wire with gain” is… probably a lie? Because some people find the treble excessively sharp. But it’s still worth it for detail retrieval and critical listening. I mean, it’s not shit. In my head now there’s Class A amps, Class D amps, AAA tech… choose your flavor of ice cream and enjoy (but the AAA ice cream is sadly only available in 6 gallons format – 6 watts lol).
If you compare a Benchmark with THX stuff to a $400 and the lesser cost variants…its a steal!!!
1 db!! OMG most folks wouldnt have a clue or be able to tell that difference IMO…
But I do understand where your coming from…we all want good stuff at the best possible price…
Regardless of what you or I think AAA really is…the measurements are spectacular and its probably one of the best definitions of a straight wire with gain on the planet…whether it sounds good or not good to you and many of us will always be debatable for sure!
AAA to me is without color. Simple as that, no gimmicks in the defintion…just a device that doesnt add anything to the signal as best possible…and the THX engineers think they have come the closest in this technology…
And I agree for the most part…that said I am listening with a EL84 parafeed tube amp with lots of distortion and loving it!! LOL.
I think we agree its not all about the specs, price alone, and yadda, yadda, yadda…
This is an audiophile nitpicking theory against THX removing “color” from all the music ever recorded without THX AAA equipment.
I dont think its about removing the “color” from the music, its about letting thru whatever the source is, good or bad…its not filtering out something in the source material…
Its about not adding and “color” to the source coming in…yup thats the straight wire with gain wish for the engineers “dream amp”…
Agreed. That’s exaclty what Soundnews said when comparing the SP200 to his HPA4. SP200 was like “90% there” vs the HPA4… and it’s what… 400$ vs 4000$ ?
My main gripe is, most people don’t need 6 watts per channel… and that’s like, half the price or even more, for that. Right now I think they just choose that to show what their tech can do to, like, “every headphone ever”.
I had a Burson Fun amp which I just sold, and a dozen op amps,like NOS tube rolling…and endless rabbit hole…fun for sure…but like always the actual real world discernabale differences cary widely and lots and lots of opinions here as well…
As an engineer the circuit that the op amp or tube is in, plays a signifcant role in the end result. Each device has operating paramaters and linearity “conditions” if not met can produce negative results or damage to the circuit.
The Burson Fun was desiged to allow you to take off the covers and play with op amps…and not void the warranty…of course they make discrete op amps!!
But even with the FUN, there is a list of op amps to try…and some that are not supported…so all things electrical have boundries…
Just sticking in an op amp into a socket because it will fit, might not be a good idea!!
Take a look at the op amp data sheets and see what the reference circutis look like and the recommended components they recommend for safe operation…does it match with your amp?
is that english? lol.
.
Because some people find the treble excessively sharp. But it’s still worth it for detail retrieval and critical listening. I mean, it’s not shit. In my head now there’s Class A amps, Class D amps, AAA tech… choose your flavor of ice cream and enjoy (but the AAA ice cream is sadly only available in 6 gallons format – 6 watts lol).
