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Post by pressureworld on May 27, 2013 2:38:51 GMT -5
I just noticed the UMC-200 has a headphone amp. I'm in need of one and wanted to ask comparison's to the XDA-2.
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hemster
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Post by hemster on May 27, 2013 2:46:52 GMT -5
I have both the UMC-200 and the XDA-2. Using my V-Moda headphones and the same listening material, the XDA definitely sounds better, IMHO. I do have ASRC enabled on the XDA.
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Post by meldhache on May 27, 2013 10:50:43 GMT -5
Have you tried a lower decibel level . 108 dbs seems almost ear shattering levels, have you tried the reponse curve at lower levels . Just wondering! Mel
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Post by avaddikt on May 27, 2013 15:11:27 GMT -5
Yeah, like the 75-90 db range. Above 105 you are approaching the max output of a typical mp3 player.
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Post by srrndhound on May 27, 2013 18:32:35 GMT -5
I doubt the XDA-2 response looks like this: Attachments:
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Post by meldhache on May 27, 2013 20:36:50 GMT -5
Same question srrnhound, have you done the same plot at lower 75-90 decibel headphone level Mel
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Post by garbulky on May 27, 2013 21:10:14 GMT -5
I doubt the XDA-2 response looks like this: Ouch... where did you get that graph? You should know the xda-2 isn't really the best for high impedance headphones like the 300 ohm sennheiser hd600 and higher. At that resistance, it only produces a few milliwatts. That's not a terrible value, but not really what I would jump for to power those impedances. But on lower impedance stuff it should be pretty adequate.
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Post by pressureworld on May 27, 2013 22:29:44 GMT -5
I have the Beyerdynamic DT 770 80, and Sennheiser hd600 cans and love them both. I recently bought a XDA-1, but still not sure what to do regarding a HP amp. I was hoping the UMC-200 would be the answer. Any suggestions...
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bootman
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Post by bootman on May 28, 2013 7:45:19 GMT -5
I doubt the XDA-2 response looks like this: Ouch... where did you get that graph? You should know the xda-2 isn't really the best for high impedance headphones like the 300 ohm sennheiser hd600 and higher. At that resistance, it only produces a few milliwatts. That's not a terrible value, but not really what I would jump for to power those impedances. But on lower impedance stuff it should be pretty adequate. \ That is the headphone out of the umc-200. Tells me the headphone out is useless. I don't think Emotiva has stated anything official about this flaw.
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Post by srrndhound on May 28, 2013 11:23:28 GMT -5
Ouch... where did you get that graph? Errr, from the headphone output. To see what it should look like, see the line output posted here: emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=preamps&thread=30699&post=527820The problem, in large part, stems from the fact that the headphone output takes whatever signals are created for the line outputs, including surround processing and EQ, and downmixes them. It should be defeating all that stuff. Just listen to the headphone output and step through the surrounds modes (a button that should also not be operating, BTW). Some sound better than others, but none are flat.
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on May 28, 2013 11:59:53 GMT -5
And what load and signal levels was it measured with? The headphone output does indeed carry a "mixed down" signal from the main outputs. If you want to test its performance in stereo, then you need to feed in a stereo signal and set it to Stereo Mode. It would not be proper to simply route the front channels to the headphones and DISCARD all the rest; and the only alternative there is to do a mix-down. (Well, there are fancy ways of using phase shifts to make " phony surround" from a pair of stereo headphones, but we don't even try to do that.) Ouch... where did you get that graph? Errr, from the headphone output. To see what it should look like, see the line output posted here: emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=preamps&thread=30699&post=527820The problem, in large part, stems from the fact that the headphone output takes whatever signals are created for the line outputs, including surround processing and EQ, and downmixes them. It should be defeating all that stuff. Just listen to the headphone output and step through the surrounds modes (a button that should also not be operating, BTW). Some sound better than others, but none are flat.
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bootman
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Post by bootman on May 28, 2013 12:33:23 GMT -5
So anything that downmixes a 5.1 would get a response like that?
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Post by srrndhound on May 28, 2013 18:45:19 GMT -5
And what load and signal levels was it measured with? Are you telling me that when you perform response tests at the headphone output in a system calibrated by EmoQ (or manually) that the responses look perfectly flat from all sources with all surround modes? Please post the plots so I can see them. If you tell me all the setting conditions, I will duplicate them and confirm. Thanks! Actually, the response was made from a stereo source. So you're telling me you really do not know how to make a proper headphone downmix? It wasn't just a mistake after all? Who said anything about discarding channels?? I was talking about all the post-processing that has to be deactivated: EQ, speaker delays, surround processing, speaker crossovers... As Harry Callahan says, "A man's got to know his limitations."
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Post by srrndhound on May 28, 2013 18:47:16 GMT -5
Same question srrnhound, have you done the same plot at lower 75-90 decibel headphone level Those SPL numbers on the Y-axis mean nothing since I was feeding the REW system with a direct electrical connection.
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Post by srrndhound on May 28, 2013 19:00:11 GMT -5
So anything that downmixes a 5.1 would get a response like that? Dunno. I only used a stereo test signal. After what I saw was not improved from the original F/W, I stopped testing.
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bootman
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Post by bootman on May 28, 2013 19:54:38 GMT -5
You know the cirrus chipset does allow for dolby headphone if Emotiva chose to licence it. I figure that alone would add about $50-75 a unit. I would pay for that personally since I use cans a lot but I'm not the majority here.
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Post by arthurz on May 28, 2013 20:06:34 GMT -5
Srrndhound, very interesting data! Have you, by any chance, tried anything like this with other AV pre's or stereo preamps?
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Post by srrndhound on May 28, 2013 21:50:07 GMT -5
Srrndhound, very interesting data! Have you, by any chance, tried anything like this with other AV pre's or stereo preamps? Yes. Both AV processors and outboard headphone amps. Never seen anything like this. A wild as it looks, the problem is actually quite simple to solve. If one wants to solve it, that is. It's just firmware. The hardware is fine.
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