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Post by garbulky on Jun 16, 2015 9:33:08 GMT -5
I have been lately interested in these pre-amps. Mainly because they appear to be dual mono (with dual power supplies) and fully balanced. The HE series version has regenerative power. Has 260 watts of power transformers and 100,000 mF cpacitance. Is pure class A (70 watts) and from what I'm gathering no op amps etc. With a S/N ratio of 130 db and an output impedance of 10 ohms. Vishay resistors. Nova capacitors. As well as something called current conversion rather than voltage conversion similar to Krell's CAST technology. In comparison a XPA-200 has 80,000 mF capacitance which is considered quite abundant imo...and it's a power amp! The HE runs for about 2k. The Master 9 runs for $1200 but has no regenerative power. Anybody heard audio gd pre-amps? Reviews are scant on the web. I'm interested if it contains the same musicality as the XSP-1 or if it's more straight wire with gain of the DC-1 pre-amp. I hope that it's more like the XSP-1 than anything, He-1: www.audio-gd.com/HE/HE-1/HE-1EN.htm  The HE-9 version of the same thing for a few hundred more comes with an inbuilt headphone with 9 watts (!!) into 25 ohms and 1.2 watts into 300 ohms in balanced mode! Master 1 www.audio-gd.com/Master/Master-1/Master-1EN.htm |
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Post by garbulky on Jun 17, 2015 12:55:13 GMT -5
It doesn't look like this unit has bass management......I wonder how I would go around doing that. I plan to have stereo subs.
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Post by tchaik on Jun 18, 2015 13:59:45 GMT -5
i can't imagine either being anything but stellar. they look great. specs look great. although cost is more than my pocketbook would bear. it would be interesting to hear from someone who
has done a side by side comparison with the xsp-1.
tchaik………………
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Post by garbulky on Jun 18, 2015 16:04:45 GMT -5
Yeah I imagine it would sound very good. Hope to hear from somebody with impressions from these preamps.
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Post by generalkorrd on Jun 18, 2015 16:07:44 GMT -5
It doesn't look like this unit has bass management......I wonder how I would go around doing that. I plan to have stereo subs. An active crossover will do the trick. |
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Post by garbulky on Jun 18, 2015 16:14:10 GMT -5
It doesn't look like this unit has bass management......I wonder how I would go around doing that. I plan to have stereo subs. An active crossover will do the trick. Is there one you would suggest? |
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Post by generalkorrd on Jun 18, 2015 16:23:17 GMT -5
An active crossover will do the trick. Is there one you would suggest? You know, there are probably quite a few out there, and I'm sure some very high end ones at that. With that said, I have heard nothing but great things about DBX crossovers. And they wont break the bank either. A simple 2/3 way will do the trick. Downside from what I see is that they are pro oriented, meaning 19 inch rack width. |
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Post by garbulky on Jun 18, 2015 17:04:28 GMT -5
Okay thanks! I think my worry with that is with all that dough going to regerenative power 2 channel only pre-amp. I'd hate to then kind of have to pass it through an active crossover if it degrades the sound. I mean I don't know if it will, I don't know much about it. But that's my worry!
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Post by generalkorrd on Jun 18, 2015 18:35:18 GMT -5
From what I've heard dbx crossovers are pretty neutral.
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Post by brutiarti on Jun 18, 2015 21:08:13 GMT -5
Audio-GD has really cool stuff. Impressive numbers and the reviews are always positive. I was interested in the same pre and a Dac but for warranty hassle i never pulled the trigger. Would be nice if you get one and share your impressions...
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Post by guzz46 on Jun 18, 2015 22:30:50 GMT -5
I don't know if this is going to be of any use, but a mate of mine recently brought a Chord Hugo dac and he said it sounds better than his Audio-gd Reference-10.32 dac/preamp, so he brought the Hugo around to my place to see how it compared to my Cambridge 752, so we took the optical out of the 752 into the Hugo which then fed my XPA-1's, then we compared it to the 752 going direct into my XPA-1's.
I was struggling to hear any difference, my mate was struggling to hear a difference too, we both thought there was an ever so slight difference, neither better nor worse, but it was so small that I doubt we would be able to pick it in a blind test, but he said the Hugo made a pretty big difference on his system (which he said was less high end than mine)
So I don't know if that's an indication on how good the Cambridge is, or it's just a system matching/synergy thing.
I guess if there's a moral to this story it's try a piece of audio gear in your system before you buy it, but unfortunately that's not always possible.
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Post by garbulky on Jun 18, 2015 23:50:54 GMT -5
I don't know if this is going to be of any use, but a mate of mine recently brought a Chord Hugo dac and he said it sounds better than his Audio-gd Reference-10.32 dac/preamp, so he brought the Hugo around to my place to see how it compared to my Cambridge 752, so we took the optical out of the 752 into the Hugo which then fed my XPA-1's, then we compared it to the 752 going direct into my XPA-1's. I was struggling to hear any difference, my mate was struggling to hear a difference too, we both thought there was an ever so slight difference, neither better nor worse, but it was so small that I doubt we would be able to pick it in a blind test, but he said the Hugo made a pretty big difference on his system (which he said was less high end than mine) So I don't know if that's an indication on how good the Cambridge is, or it's just a system matching/synergy thing. I guess if there's a moral to this story it's try a piece of audio gear in your system before you buy it, but unfortunately that's not always possible. Wise words! Right now I am very happy with my DC-1 gift from the kind members of this lounge. My next DAC upgrade shall be the schiit ygdrassil which from what I'm gathering from people who made direct comparisons sounds better than the Chord Hugo which is also supposed to be a really good DAC! So I figured if I'm trying to hit insane price points....at least for a budget minded person like me....then I need to complement it with a nice pricey pre-amp. Right now the mighty XSP-1 is the pre-amp I shall use simply because 1. I've heard it in my system and it sounds oh so very very good. 2. It has dual subwoofer outputs which I intend to use with stereo PSA XS15 subs eventually. But then I came across audio GD's new reference pre-amp and the idea of regenerative power really intrigued me. Audio gd has always impressed me with their serious build quality. Though I don't know exactly what it is, the impression I get is that instead of just relying on a supply from the wall, a real transformer is used to provide a clean 50/60 hz power to the additional transformers in the pre-amp. Apparently there are 260 watts of transformer power in there with 70 watts of it in class A! So basically it's like a power conditioner without all the negatives like current limiting etc. That coupled with dual mono transformers and fully balanced architecture sounds like it would definitely complement the dual mono fully balanced architecture in the Schiit ygdrasssil. But... No bass management of any kind! Boo! How am I going to shake my walls now?!  |
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