Slightly OTT headphone amp

[alexs2]

I saw something I'd been after for while the other day and finally decided to give the credit card a workout and bought a Cary 300B SEi.

I've not had a chance to test it yet(hopefully this evening or w/e when my wife wont find it),but it's a single ended triode 300B based amp with a headphone outlet coupled straight to the 300B's via the output transformer,and pretty much unique amongst tubed amps in that respect.

I've been looking for some time for something to improve on my Earmax,both in sound quality terms,and in power output for driving a pair of Sennhesier HD600s,which the original Earmax(not the Pro) does struggle a bit with.
Hopefully this should do the job,and if the reports on some of the US based H/phone forums are anything to go by,it will be worth all the lugging around(22kgs worth,so definitely NOT in the portable audio area).

In any case,it will also double nicely for the ESLs at home....(still have to find a way of getting it past the wife though)

[Paul Williams]

Originally Posted by alexs2

I saw something I'd been after for while the other day and finally decided to give the credit card a workout and bought a Cary 300B SEi.

In any case,it will also double nicely for the ESLs at home....(still have to find a way of getting it past the wife though)

If I remember correctly, didn't one reviewer compare the sound quality to that of the Sennheiser Orpheus? Anyway, very nice bit of kit - does this mean your WAD 300b's will be looking for a new job?

Paul

[doctorjuggles]

Wow! Nice purchase, congratulations! I've heard great things about the Cary 300 design as both normal and headphone amp.
Let us know your impressions when you've had time to listen.

[russelkhan]

Hi alexs2, I've been considering buying an Earmax for my Sennheiser HD600 but what you said about the output power has me worried. Should I go for the Earmax Pro instead?

Congratulations on your new purchase, I can only imagine how good it's going to sound!

[alexs2]

Leave a thread for few days and look what happens!

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

If I remember correctly, didn't one reviewer compare the sound quality to that of the Sennheiser Orpheus? Anyway, very nice bit of kit - does this mean your WAD 300b's will be looking for a new job?

Yes...Stereophile compared it very favourably to the Orpheus and HeadFi had some very good things to say also.

No...my WAD 300Bs will be staying thank you...Adding to the pile of HiFi around the place!

Originally Posted by doctorjuggles

Wow! Nice purchase, congratulations! I've heard great things about the Cary 300 design as both normal and headphone amp.
Let us know your impressions when you've had time to listen.

Thank you!...I'll tell you why I havent fed anything back yet at the bottom of this post.

Originally Posted by russlekhan

Hi alexs2, I've been considering buying an Earmax for my Sennheiser HD600 but what you said about the output power has me worried. Should I go for the Earmax Pro instead?

Congratulations on your new purchase, I can only imagine how good it's going to sound!

Thanks again...on the Earmax....I'd definitely go for the Pro version as it does have considerably more output into high impedance 'phones like the HD600s,although the standard version does work fine,although not to ear-splitting levels...thats the only drawback,it otherwise works beautifully,and is a superb headphone amp,and one which I've been very happy with over the years.....until this opportunity presented itself!

Now...the Cary arrived by courier the day after I'd bought it,and looked superb.
I'd given it good looking over,and connected everything up,hoping for a good bit of headphone R&R,and then turned it on,to be greeted by a nasty red/purple glow from one side of the right hand 300B,and immediately after,by smoke,and a loud pop from underneath the amp.

I think the transit had damaged the 300B(a meshplate) and allowed filament and grid to come into contact with the obvious results...one cooked coupling cap.
So,it's being repaired at the dealer's cost,and hopefully should be back soon.

[Paul Williams]

Originally Posted by alexs2

Leave a thread for few days and look what happens!

Now...the Cary arrived by courier the day after I'd bought it,and looked superb.
I'd given it good looking over,and connected everything up,hoping for a good bit of headphone R&R,and then turned it on,to be greeted by a nasty red/purple glow from one side of the right hand 300B,and immediately after,by smoke,and a loud pop from underneath the amp.

I think the transit had damaged the 300B(a meshplate) and allowed filament and grid to come into contact with the obvious results...one cooked coupling cap.
So,it's being repaired at the dealer's cost,and hopefully should be back soon.

OUCH - isn't it a bit disconcerting that a valve problem can take out some of the other components? I know I've read of instances of valves doing this, but always assumed an element of protection in higher quality/priced kit.

Paul

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

OUCH - isn't it a bit disconcerting that a valve problem can take out some of the other components? I know I've read of instances of valves doing this, but always assumed an element of protection in higher quality/priced kit.

Paul

I think if you view the internals of a triode as normally being separated by a few mm and several hundred volts,it's easy to see where the trouble lies when the two meet!

There's no easy way of protecting the circuit from what in effect is a short,without introducing lots of extra circuitry which will almost certainly limit the sound quality....just a pity the courier didnt read the Fragile signs.

[Paul Williams]

Originally Posted by alexs2

I think if you view the internals of a triode as normally being separated by a few mm and several hundred volts,it's easy to see where the trouble lies when the two meet!

There's no easy way of protecting the circuit from what in effect is a short,without introducing lots of extra circuitry which will almost certainly limit the sound quality....just a pity the courier didnt read the Fragile signs.

Anyway to do a basic reliable test on the 300b's prior to switch on, if your valve tester dosen't do these? Continuity/non-continuity through the pins, or will this only really show-up with current and heat? As you know I'm considering building those Bottlehead 2A3 amps and in the end bought and refurbished a specific tester to handle these.

Paul

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

Anyway to do a basic reliable test on the 300b's prior to switch on, if your valve tester dosen't do these? Continuity/non-continuity through the pins, or will this only really show-up with current and heat? As you know I'm considering building those Bottlehead 2A3 amps and in the end bought and refurbished a specific tester to handle these.

Paul

Well...in the end I trusted the courier and switched it on(my AVO MkIII isnt working at the moment)but if it the tester had been available and working,it would have shown up as a continuity problem.

Which tester did you buy?

[Paul Williams]

Originally Posted by alexs2

Which tester did you buy?

I-177b circa 1957, up and running nicely - just got to build the equivalent of the matching MX-949 adaptor panel to test new(er) valves.

Paul

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

I-177b circa 1957, up and running nicely - just got to build the equivalent of the matching MX-949 adaptor panel to test new(er) valves.

Paul

Funnily enough I have one of those as well,but I need a 110-240V transformer and a few other bits for it.....I did find a very good website that may be of use to you if you want...

[extremelydodgy]

Bad luck on the cack-handed courier! I hope it comes back OK. Couriers just throw those boxes around like anything

Originally Posted by Paul Williams

If I remember correctly, didn't one reviewer compare the sound quality to that of the Sennheiser Orpheus? Anyway, very nice bit of kit - does this mean your WAD 300b's will be looking for a new job?

Paul

They would have been smoking something illicit no doubt - Cary + Sennheiser HD6xx gives shadows of the Orpheus as do many other decent phone combinations but it doesn't approach the whole rendition of the Orpheus to mark it out from any other half-decent tube amp by any stretch of the imagination.


The Cary was one of the amps which weaned me off the 'overtly tube' thing, along with the Audiovalve RKV (this time a dedicated headphone amp, another one which was 'flavour of the month' like the Cary for a while on Head-Fi) as the other primary culprit. The SEI is a nice integrated though so it's excellent dual-purpose.


I enjoyed having it around for as much the looks as the sound with a small, efficient set of speakers... but my personal taste seems to run to high-end solid states as far as integrateds go, and the SEI didn't do it for me as a headphone amp.

[Paul Williams]

Originally Posted by extremelydodgy

They would have been smoking something illicit no doubt - Cary + Sennheiser HD6xx gives shadows of the Orpheus as do many other decent phone combinations but it doesn't approach the whole rendition of the Orpheus to mark it out from any other half-decent tube amp by any stretch of the imagination.

The Cary was one of the amps which weaned me off the 'overtly tube' thing, along with the Audiovalve RKV (this time a dedicated headphone amp, another one which was 'flavour of the month' like the Cary for a while on Head-Fi) as the other primary culprit. The SEI is a nice integrated though so it's excellent dual-purpose.

I enjoyed having it around for as much the looks as the sound with a small, efficient set of speakers... but my personal taste seems to run to high-end solid states as far as integrateds go, and the SEI didn't do it for me as a headphone amp.

Well all this is well out of my league - I've no real interest in headphone listening, accept out of necessity. So for the foreseeable future I'll stick with my ancient Sennheiser 540 ref's and the Meyer Headfive amp.

As for the general direction of interest for my main gear - having been through both Hi-end SS and Valve (depends of course where you consider that to start) valves, price for price, seem to win hands down for 'musical presentation'. Its just as well we have preferences as this will at least ensure not everybody ends up with what one dealer I was speaking to recently terms 'supermarket Hi-Fi products' although this was mainly aimed at speakers, you can bundle loads of other mainstream products under the same banner these days.

Paul

[Nic Rhodes]

Have you got the amp back yet Alex2?

[alexs2]

Thanks to extremelydodgy...I'll be interested to see how it compares,but it's ages since I heard an Orpheus,but then I do love the tubed sound in any case!

I can only hope the 25kgs worth of iron made some impression on the foot of the person who dropped it.

Nic...I havent got it back yet,but probably at the end of next week,couriers and repairmen permitting,but the cause was exactly as I'd thought...a damaged 300B had taken one of the coupling caps out and overheated another.

Thanks to all for the interest,and I'll post more when it comes back.