CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound  (Read 4117 times)

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Out Of Your Head

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    • Darin Fong Audio
Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2014, 05:07:58 PM »
I asked the designer about using 600V bias instead of 580V. He mentioned that the Stax amps like the 007t can have large voltage swings as high as 800V. He said 580V vs. 600V is not a problem. Or I am guessing that he is saying that it doesn't matter. I don't know about these things though.

OK, I got permission from the designer to post some photos of the inside. Here's the photos he sent me:





DAC:




Stat Amp:


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Out Of Your Head

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2014, 12:32:01 AM »
Quote from: Out Of Your Head on March 20, 2014, 03:15:17 PM
    Dimensions          10.25 x 7.1 x 2.5 inches (260 x 180 x 65 mm)
    Weight                  3.1 lbs. (1.4 kg)

Sorry but I realized the size and weight were from the prototype.

Here are the right dimensions:

    Dimensions:       11.8 x 6.7 x 2.25 inches (300 x 170 x 57 mm)
    Weight:          5.05 lbs. (2.3 kg)

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Anaxilus

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2014, 01:51:14 AM »
I don't recall the impressions I heard being all that positive or holding it's own.  Maybe some were being nice if that was the case.  I certainly thought it was underperforming for the price (by my standards) and the Electra was broken so only Marv and myself heard it before Marv went Norman Bates on the pot so I'm not sure how anyone would make that comparison.  That said, any improvement would be welcome IMHO.  I doubt it could touch the Malvalve even with the improvement, an amp which surprised me as being rather acceptable and pleasing sounding for a Victorinox amp.  Plus I bet I could possibly build a better set of component pieces for the same price as the AIO.
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Out Of Your Head

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2014, 02:44:30 AM »
Fair enough. I stand corrected.

Maybe people at the meet were just being nice and didn't want to tell me what they really thought! I also don't want to put words into people's mouths, etc.

For me, when comparing to the Woo WES, I felt that the WES had a "tube" sound and the Vostok did not. Both sounded great to me, but I guess it's a matter of taste with tubes vs. SS.

We'll see what people think who are much more familiar with the other TOTL electrostatic amps, like Anax, when they hear the latest version.

It would be great to be able to compare a similarly priced combo of amps and DACs to the Vostok. That's really what it comes down to as far as price vs. performance. Compared with the WES, BHSE, Elektra, Cavalli, you would still factor in the cost of a DAC on top of the cost of those units.
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Anaxilus

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2014, 05:24:17 AM »
Quote from: Out Of Your Head on March 21, 2014, 02:44:30 AM

For me, when comparing to the Woo WES, I felt that the WES had a "tube" sound and the Vostok did not. Both sounded great to me, but I guess it's a matter of taste with tubes vs. SS.


Not really.  The WES had that gooey euphonic tube sound but other tube amps can sound more proficient than the Vostok did.  The basic Tube v. SS debate thing is really a false dichotomy.
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n3rdling

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2014, 08:59:36 AM »
I was pleasantly surprised by it.  I went in thinking it'd be way underpowered but that was not the case.  If I had to place this somewhere it'd be between the SRM-1 and SRM-717.  Pretty good sounding amp, but I didn't think it'd cost so much.  Admittedly the size had much to do with that.  I was expecting this to be in the $1500-2500 range for whatever reason.  It sounded better than the WES though.
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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2014, 09:34:20 AM »
Maybe it will sound the price if you look at as a combo instead of discrete components. I'm surprised that they were able to stuff that all in though.
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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2014, 05:26:40 PM »
Quote from: n3rdling on March 21, 2014, 08:59:36 AM
If I had to place this somewhere it'd be between the SRM-1 and SRM-717.  Pretty good sounding amp, but I didn't think it'd cost so much.  I was expecting this to be in the $1500-2500 range for whatever reason. 

Exactly this.  I didn't think much of the dynamic amp or DAC section if I recall, O2/ODAC or Modi/Vali would be better.
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Out Of Your Head

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2014, 05:37:47 PM »
Quote from: Anaxilus on March 21, 2014, 05:26:40 PM
Exactly this.  I didn't think much of the dynamic amp or DAC section if I recall, O2/ODAC or Modi/Vali would be better.

The prototype I had at the meet did not have a dynamic headphone amp, so no one has heard the dynamic amp yet. That's probably why you said you didn't think much of it. ;-)

I have also been told by the designer that the units I have do not have the full power dynamic headphone amp in them. The headphone amp in the units I have is only meant for easy to drive cans or IEM's, etc. He will have another version with a full power dynamic headphone amp.

Although I have not compared the DAC section of the Vostok to the ODAC or Modi, that would be a good comparison just to see at what level the Vostok DAC performs. Compared to my HRT microStreamer, the Vostok DAC is definitely a step up from there.
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n3rdling

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Re: New electrostatic amp, conventional headphone amp, and DSD DAC - Vostok Sound
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2014, 05:58:44 PM »
And while I do think it's admirable that the designer wants to prove size doesn't matter, it very much does in terms of perspective.  Take my initial guess on the price for example.  We've been groomed/come to expect bigger = more expensive in general.  If he put the exact same PCBs in a larger chassis and beefed up the dynamic amp I think he'd be able to sell more.  At that price point he's competing against pretty monstrous amps, and I think most people will be automatically be biased against it unless they're really in need of complete convenience. 
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