Caiman with - AKG K701 or ??

[Rare Bird]

Anyone tried the Audio-Technica 'ATH M50' with Caiman?

[technobear]

Anyone tried the Audio-Technica 'ATH M50' with Caiman?

Yes

[Rare Bird]

Yes

Cheers..But what they like as a match with Rock moosik?

[technobear]

I am spoiled here because I have a dedicated headphone amp - a Burson HA-160 - and both my 'phones sound much better on that than they do from the Caiman.

The sound from the Caiman 'phones out is veiled compared to its fixed output (the same as the pre-amp output is also veiled). The cheap volume pot quite likely plays a large part here. Both 'phones suffer from an overly sibilant and spitty treble when driven by the Caiman.

From the Burson (using the fixed outputs of the Caiman as source) the sound is balanced and natural, very transparent and with no undue emphasis of sibilants or other treble sounds.

As has been indicated in other threads, whilst the LM4562 is an excellent line driver, there are better op-amps for driving 'phones so the answer is to experiment. Stanley seems to recommend the THS4032 in the pre-amp slot if you are using 'phones but keeping the LM4562 in the line slot.

The M50 puts the back into rock. They're fun with drum'n'bass and all things electronic too.

[Rare Bird]

Thanks Chris
Yeh i've seen the Burson (is there a black finish in it)..I like the option of Low or high impedance output also like the large physical size & good construction....The Maverick 'D1' DAC i'm using at the mo can be slightly sibilant on some bright signals & isnt 100% happy with my low impedance phones.

I guess i'll try a pair of 'M50's then..take it from there..Headphones & headphone amps are a nightmare for me to buy..

[StanleyB]

The comments on the headphone amp are very helpful. I have been experimenting with the original design to see if and how much more better I can get it to perform.

[technobear]

Based on my experience so far, I would be sure to give any new headphone at least 200 hours break in before judging the sound.

[Aturion]

@ Marco : Done by now ; )

Technobear : interesting, I do find the trebles on the AKG + Caiman a bit harsh on Some songs but again I can't compare, on the other hand the bass is spot on for me

Anyway using the AKG along with the caiman is a real delight

[technobear]

Technobear : interesting, I do find the trebles on the AKG + Caiman a bit harsh on Some songs but again I can't compare, on the other hand the bass is spot on for me

There are many possible causes of harshness. Sometimes it's on the CD and you just have to live with it. Sometimes it's jitter. Sometimes it's good old-fashioned noise. Sometimes it's the limitations of the headphone amp. Changing the headphone op-amp for one of the alternatives like the THS4032 might solve the problem.

How are you feeding your Caiman and from what?

I have been experimenting with the USB input on one of my Caimans this week. I set up a Vista PC and an XP laptop both with Foobar 2000 v1.1 together with the WASAPI plugin. I compared the sound through the Beresford's USB input with the sound using a Squeezebox Classic and a Transporter both feeding the Caiman via coaxial S/P-DIF.

I found that I could not tell any difference between the USB input and the Squeezebox Classic.

The Transporter leaves them both for dead and ground into the dust for good measure.

Considering its price, this is not a bad result for the Caiman. The SB3+Caiman is already better than most budget CD players. If the same can be said for the Caiman's USB input then that is a good result. It is not a giant slayer as a USB DAC though.

It seems from all the reviews of USB DACs so far, that only 'asynchronous USB' DACs have the potential to topple the Transporter. Roll on the Audiolab MDAC.

Sorry for the slight off topic.