Topic: Portable amps (Read 81423 times)

SomeSpace · « **Reply #430 on:** February 12, 2015, 08:12:14 PM »

For those wondering about Leckerton vs Vorzuge, i have both the UHA760 and Vorz Pure. I haven't heard PureII or UHA6.

They are easily two of the best portable amps out there, i have tried bundles and i have ended up with just these two. For me a portable amp is for IEMs or my Beyer T5ps, i have an ALO RX MK3 if i ever take my ZMFs out. The reason i love these two is how silent they are, both give me a black background even with the notoriously sensitive Vision Ears VE6 XC. That being said the two amps are quite different, the Leckerton shove details upon you, is really refined with great treble presence but can be a bit lean and well, dull at times. The Vorzuge is dynamic, bold and balanced. It really breathes life into what your listening two. It is slower and less detailed against the Leckerton but in general i have still found it to trounce most portable in detail. I prefer and use the Vorzuge more, mainly due to great synergy with my source, the PWAK120-B, which has similar qualities to the Leckerton so the two of them combined can be a little overwhelming, an thicker sound with more macrodynamics i get from the Vorzuge pairs it beautifully. Obviously you then have to assess synergy again with your IEMs so with some i will still use the Leckerton.

Both are great amps for sure.

audiofrk · « **Reply #431 on:** February 13, 2015, 02:12:07 AM »

Quote from: Bill-p on February 11, 2015, 11:10:52 PM

Sorry for the late response. But here are some photos:

Voltage-divider to take care of the channel imbalance: (would have tried a pot if it could fit, but I couldn't find a pot that small)

Capacitors (orange thingies) for tuning the sound. They are 1pF ceramic caps. Bad in the signal path, I know, but this is a tube amp, which already colors the sound, so...

Nice I forgot that the ttvj was a hybrid design just got the cypher lab piccolo and it's nice but I wish it was a little richer. May have to learn more about modding and open it up some day

Bill-p · « **Reply #432 on:** February 13, 2015, 05:50:24 AM »

Quote from: audiofrk on February 13, 2015, 02:12:07 AM

Nice I forgot that the ttvj was a hybrid design just got the cypher lab piccolo and it's nice but I wish it was a little richer. May have to learn more about modding and open it up some day

Yeah. It's kinda amazing what you can do to an original circuit simply by switching capacitors around. It does give an unexpected improvement to the sound.

I like the TTVJ hybrid tube amp because it's portable, got long battery life, sounds pretty good/fun/tubey (the right kind of tubey, not the mushy, super slow and laid-back kind), and it can drive either an LCD-2 or HE-560 without breaking a sweat. There aren't a lot of amps that can pull that off...

audiofrk · « **Reply #433 on:** February 15, 2015, 05:58:28 PM »

Quote from: Bill-p on February 13, 2015, 05:50:24 AM

Yeah. It's kinda amazing what you can do to an original circuit simply by switching capacitors around. It does give an unexpected improvement to the sound.

I like the TTVJ hybrid tube amp because it's portable, got long battery life, sounds pretty good/fun/tubey (the right kind of tubey, not the mushy, super slow and laid-back kind), and it can drive either an LCD-2 or HE-560 without breaking a sweat. There aren't a lot of amps that can pull that off...

Hmm have you ever heard any of the analog square paper amps(specifically the tr-07hp)? I haven't but its Vfet transformer interest me.

oh for those looking for a portable amp massdrop has the cypher labs picollo amp currently at $350 (can go as low as $300) I have it and I like it but I never heard the lekerton.

Bill-p · « **Reply #434 on:** February 15, 2015, 06:06:59 PM »

Leckerton is a very good amp. There aren't a lot of portable amps that can best it, and still, its resolution is still among the best. I can only think of a circuit that can best that one when I'm willing to trade battery life, size, and many other factors, which is to say... Nick almost made it as good as can be for the size and that package. It's simply amazing.

I'm also cautiously looking out for Nick's next amp-only device if it can improve upon the UHA-6S Mk.II in a good way. If it can drive some of my orthos, that's even better. I think that's the only area where I'm wishing the UHA-6S Mk.II could do, and then I'd be happy.

Oh, and I haven't heard the Analog Squared tube amp, but I have heard about it. I hope I'll have the chance to try it out at CanJam.

audiofrk · « **Reply #435 on:** February 15, 2015, 06:32:12 PM »

Quote from: Bill-p on February 15, 2015, 06:06:59 PM

Leckerton is a very good amp. There aren't a lot of portable amps that can best it, and still, its resolution is still among the best. I can only think of a circuit that can best that one when I'm willing to trade battery life, size, and many other factors, which is to say... Nick almost made it as good as can be for the size and that package. It's simply amazing.

I'm also cautiously looking out for Nick's next amp-only device if it can improve upon the UHA-6S Mk.II in a good way. If it can drive some of my orthos, that's even better. I think that's the only area where I'm wishing the UHA-6S Mk.II could do, and then I'd be happy.

Oh, and I haven't heard the Analog Squared tube amp, but I have heard about it. I hope I'll have the chance to try it out at CanJam.

yeah the leckerton was my front runner amp but i heard a lot of indirect comparisons with picollo and decided to go with that but I never personally a/b them.

the tr-07hp is different from the rest of the line in that it is completely solid state but uses a transistor design (Vfet) that was developed in the 80s to give the transistor the soundstage of tubes with the benifits of a transistor. The amp is small, about the size of an ak120, so I have become currious.

some literature (overviews)
http://www.firstwatt.com/sitintro.html

http://blog.sony.com/press/sony-demonstrates-pass-laboratories-40th-anniversary-commemorative-vfet-amplifier/

Bill-p · « **Reply #436 on:** February 15, 2015, 06:54:22 PM »

That seems interesting. Will definitely have to check it out when I see it.

Anyway, about the Leck... while I think it's good that it's so brutally honest, it also sort of takes away from the enjoyment of sound. Hence why I prefer the TTVJ slightly to the Leck for my brutally honest headphones.

The Leck would be good for headphones that are less resolving, IMO, because then its brutality won't be spotlighted by the headphone. I can sort of imagine it will be a poor pairing with the HD800, even though I have not admittedly heard the pairing.

In the same vein, I also preferred the HD800 out of the Balancing Act (barring any upper midrange weirdness) versus the Ragnarok. Ragnarok is... well, maybe a bit too brutally honest, much like a grown-up Leck.

audiofrk · « **Reply #437 on:** February 15, 2015, 07:58:32 PM »

ugh yeah the ragnarok + hd800 paring was horrible, however I never had the pleasure on listening to the balance act (at all). best paring for the hd800 I ever heard was the dna strauss I liked it over the the hd800 + cavalli liquid glass combo (hugo & audiogd master respectly)

coincidentally my picollo +uerm combo sound a little bright like the hd800+ragnarok but not as bad.

Bill-p · « **Reply #438 on:** February 15, 2015, 08:28:00 PM »

I see. Glad to find another comrade who hears the same way I do.

Funny thing is... I don't think the Leck is bright. Rag is kinda bright. A bit of sharpness around 4-5KHz is emphasized, I think. Not sure if that's intentional or if it was just the HD800.

Leck is just brutally honest... as in... it'll reveal everything, and it scales very well with upstream gears up to the point where the output is clipped by the headphone (so no planars!), but other than that, I think Leck could be "the amp" to go to for ultimate resolution in a compact form factor. It honestly doesn't get much better as far as sound goes. I know some prefer the UERM out of Leck, and I have been entertaining the thought of getting UERM myself... probably after I let go of some of my other gears to make way for the UERM. (most likely the modded ES10)

But from looking at graphs, I don't think UERM is that bright at all. Or... am I mistaken?

shotgunshane · « **Reply #439 on:** February 15, 2015, 10:14:47 PM »

The UERM is bright at 10k, so it can sound a bit thin in treble but never harsh or piercing to me.

Author Topic: Portable amps (Read 81423 times)

SomeSpace

Re: Portable amps

audiofrk

Re: Portable amps

Bill-p

Re: Portable amps

audiofrk

Re: Portable amps

Bill-p

Re: Portable amps

audiofrk

Re: Portable amps

Bill-p

Re: Portable amps

audiofrk

Re: Portable amps

Bill-p

Re: Portable amps

shotgunshane

Re: Portable amps

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Author Topic: Portable amps (Read 81423 times)