Time
for this year's audio post.
August 24, 2008: Five Audio Systems
The
big-rig horn system is gone. The Ubangi basshorns were bought by an
enthusiast in Hong Kong (the shipping on those sofa-sized monsters was no
joke), and the Western Electric horns and drivers went into storage. It was
fun ... but we moved to a smaller location. Plus, the care and feeding and
incessant tweaking of a hyper-complex system like that gets to be a bit of a
pain-in-the-AAAASSSSSS if you know what I mean. I figured I should spend my
time searching for and listening to good music. Time for radical
simplification.
So,
this year we've gone to a headphone system. Actually, I just dug my old
headphone system out again -- I built the amp and bought the headphones in
2002. The amp has been through a couple rounds of tweaking and rebuilds since
then.
This
is a good strategy that can work for a lot of people. You don't have to worry
about the neighbors. You can listen late at night. It doesn't mess with your
home decor. You don't have to worry about silly stuff like room resonance.
There is a big minus: headphone listening loses the visceral quality of
in-the-room sound. I find that, with a good system like my previous
mega-horn-rig, it's like you are listening with your skin. There is a tingle
that covers your whole body. With headphones, you only get the in-your-ears
part.
Also,
headphones just don't satisfy the gizmo-freak aspect of this hobby. It's like
taking a potted plant to a custom motorcycle show.
Well,
everything's a tradeoff. To the headphones' advantage, we can add the radical
simplicity of a single point-source driver, compared to the
multi-way-plus-crossovers necessary for speakers. And, they are
hyper-efficient at 97db/mW. Given the 117db peaks of the loudest real
performance volumes, we can get there with a lackadaisical 100 milliwatts of
output, or 0.1 watt, which makes it easy to design the associated
electronics. With speaker amplifiers, you're constantly working the tradeoff
between power and refinement.
The
last thing in headphones' advantage is price. For under $2000, you can get a
tippy-top class headphone rig (headphones and amplifier). You could easily
spend 10x or 100x that on speakers and amplification. I suggest sticking with
the best in headphones -- not only does it solve upgrade-itis from the start,
but remember these things are clamped
to your head. There's nowhere to hide from the electronic
irritants of mediocre equipment. One reason that there aren't more headphone
fans, beyond the iPod white earbud level, is because these electronic
irritants start to bother people after a while.
My
headphone amp is major silly. Because the actual technical needs of
headphones are so modest -- 100mW of output -- it is relatively easy to be
over-the-top about it. I made a two-stage amplifier using the 01A tube and the
71A tube. The 01A dates from the earliest days of consumer audio. My tubes
were probably manufactured in the late 1920s. The 71A is from the Golden Age
of Radio, the mid-1930s. Does this sound better than using a much simpler
6SN7 or 6N1P? I dunno. Maybe.
Since
we're working the 1930s theme here, I went with all battery power. Radio was
amazing stuff in the 1930s, and everyone wanted one. However, not everybody
had electricity in those days. So, they had battery powered radios. Unlike
today's transistor jobbies, vacuum tubes take a lot of juice. They used
rechargeable lead-acid batteries, like small car batteries. Once a week or
so, the battery guy would come by and replace their batteries with freshly
charged ones.
The
funny thing is, all this caveman-era electronics actually sounds quite
wonderful. The tubes from the 1930s are still today considered some of the
best-sounding ever. This is in part because, in those days, they built them the way they should be built,
rather than the cheapest
way. And, batteries are a near-ideal power source, as they are
independent of all the grunge and hash on your electric utility connection.
Best
of all, you can't buy this kind of thing in a store. Manufacturers don't want
to commit to a product using hard-to-source antique tubes. And, all the crazy
battery stuff would drive the price way, way up. If you were to release
something like this commercially, it would probably cost around $5,000. Or
maybe $15,000? Radios in the 1930s cost major coin. The top-of-the-line Zenith
Stratosphere radio cost $750 in 1934 -- even after the devaluation of 1933,
that was 21 ounces of gold, or almost $21,000 today.
The
headphones are Sennheiser 600, with a Cardas cable.
OK,
here's my buying guide:
Headphones: Headphones
are a personal thing. Some people like Grados ... some people don't. The
Sennheiser HD600 is a wonderful item. Look on eBay for good prices on new
Sennheisers. The Grado 325i is another classic. You can spend more money for
the higher-end Grados, but they are refinements on this basic design. Sony,
Denon, AKG, Audio-Technica, Koss, and many others also make good-to-great
headphones.
If you
go with the Sennheisers, get the Cardas upgrade cable as well.
If you
want The Best in dynamic headphones, I'd give this guy a try. He does custom
modifications on the Denon AH-D2000. According to him, the result is better
even than the legendary Sony R10 (which he owned for seven years).
LA2000 at
Lawton Audio
They
are expensive, but no more expensive than other top-of-the-line dynamic
headphones like Grado GS1000 or Sennheiser HD800. And a lot cheaper than an
R10, if you can even find one.
If you
have a taste for exotica, and deep pockets, you can try the Stax
electrostatic headphones. These work on a little different principle, using a
membrane electrostatically suspended between charged wire mesh screens. For a
long time, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Stax stuff was a good level higher
than anything else you could buy. However, the "dynamic" headphones
had some big improvements in the 1990s, and now they are competitive with the
Stax models at considerably lower prices. The Stax SR-007 Omega Mark II is
the top of the Stax line, and will cost you about $2400 new. Plus, you'll
need a special Stax amplifier, for another $1000 or more. After all that, it
might not sound much better, but then does a Patek Philippe tell time better
than a Seiko? Personally, if I was going to get serious about the Omegas, I
would put together a custom all-tube direct-coupled amplifier to drive them.
Amplifier:
Good
headphones need a dedicated amplifier. Ray Samuels makes some vacuum tube
items, but they are expensive. Bottlehead's
Single Ended eXperimenters' amp (www.bottlehead.com) can be used with
headphones. They also make a nice Sennheiser replacement cable. Visit their
forum for the details. For a solid-state solution, I'd try the Solo from
Gram Slee in the U.K. (www.gspaudio.co.uk). Get the one with the PSU-1 powersupply,
not the cheaper "green" version.
If you
want a super-duper amp for your Stax Omegas, try Kevin Gilmore's Blue Hawaii.
Blue
Hawaii electrostatic headphone amplifier
If you
want some custom tube amplifier work done, talk to Jim "the
DowdyLama" Dowdy. He's at www.dowdylama.com. Tell him you want a
"71A output transformer amplifier for Sennheiser 650 headphones."
Or, if you want high extrema, a "direct-coupled no-negative-feedback
6SN7 amplifier for Stax Omega." It'll cost you, but he won't rip you
off.
Source:
DIY Paradise Monica 3 USB DAC. This is what I
use, although I have a tweaked DIY version rather than this plug-and-play
model. This has a USB input to connect to your computer and iTunes. It's
about $320. Don't bother with your iPod. They suck bigtime.
Another
nifty item is the DIY HifiSupply Satch DAC.
Major
Headphone Geekfest: www.head-fi.com is the destination for
endless blah-blah about headphones. The "signal to noise" ratio is
rather low, but if you poke around you can learn something useful.
All in
all, it's a cheaper, more fun, and less dangerous hobby than riding a
motorcycle. Heck, some people spend more money each year to mow their lawn. Have a good time
with it.
Nathan
Lewis
Nathan
Lewis was formerly the chief international economist of a leading economic
forecasting firm. He now works in asset management. Lewis has written for the
Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal Asia, the Japan Times, Pravda, and
other publications. He has appeared on financial television in the United
States, Japan, and the Middle East. About the Book: Gold: The Once and Future
Money (Wiley, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-04766-8, $27.95) is available at
bookstores nationwide, from all major online booksellers, and direct from the
publisher at www.wileyfinance.com or 800-225-5945. In Canada, call
800-567-4797.
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