New head amp

[wee tee cee]

Just got my mits on the BM MK2.......Only had it on for about 3 hours but straight out the box it has really Impressed me on the cans. I have ran a variety of dac and headamp combos in the past and have a wee stable of cans on a mug tree.
superlux 668b,330,440 and 660 my main cans are HD650s with a 5m grado extension lead.......must admit its by far and away the most neutral and open cans listening I have had.
The BM for me at about 12 o clock is plenty loud on the 650s........my main bugbear with sonics is sibilance, the BM has no sonic character if the recording is poor or good it just plays it honestly.

It wont perform alchemy on "turning shit into gold terms" If you want a real bang for buck headphone rig (regardless that its principally a dac) the MK2 does the business. If you prefer a warm or cold presentation look else where, this thing is as honest as I have heard.

One of the Scottish troops was listening to my rig headphone yesterday, might have to get him to confirm what I'm hearing. If it Improves with burn in it should be on a definite short list for the troops that use cans.

[wee tee cee]

missus gone to bed.....what a head amp rig this is.......only got it this morning -something just right happening with the 650s......

[StanleyB]

I am pleased that you like the Venom2 performance of the headphone amplifier section in the Bushmaster MKII, including the output level. I think I got the latter about right based on the requirements from the average headphone user.

But I myself am using a different configuration for the headphone section, which I have dubbed the Venom3. My 300 Ohms HD800 needs a bit more welly before it starts to spring into life and produce decent low frequency bass. My 32 Ohms D7000, which are infamous for its abundance of bass, uses that extra energy from the Venom3 to produce some bass notes below 16Hz. It's kind of scary to hear some headphone frames creak and buckle at those low frequencies when played too loud. Some earpads also tend to vibrate in tune with the bass at those high levels.
So the V3 is a bit to much for the average listener. But Worrasf has volunteered to try it out since he likes listening to headphones at deafening levels.

[wee tee cee]

Stan,
What I have noticed is that it really calls a spade a spade....I have quite a few pre noise war CDs ( pink floyd the wall/a few John Martyn albums etc before they REMASTERED and threw the baby out with bath water) haven't noticed the cans doing anything I don't like BUT was playing last night on a tisbury audio passive pre/croft 7/spendor sp1 the Bass you mentioned is playing havoc with with my good ladies piano in the room "back-back ,weary blues track" the whole piano is vibrating with the low bass its an alexander herrman upright built like a bloody tank ( harmonic frequency maybe!)

I'm back on the cans this morning played about last night with a few didital co-ax, on a basic toslink I cant really complain....I read you spent a bit of extra money on better toslink plugs......It has paid dividends-asked my mate to give me a few good quality fibre optic leads I loaned him- back.

I'm maybe a bit hungover, but as it burns in does the head amp open up and get louder maybe 1030-1100 o clock on the dial is giving the 650s some serious grunt this morning.

Serious headphone rig for the computer boys methinks......lap top/usb ( or Tims recommended plug)/v-link/toslink ( so far not tried anything fancy £5 5m amazon jobbie routed under the fire place) feed it a good recording this thing will make yer cans sing!!!!

[StanleyB]

haven't noticed the cans doing anything I don't like BUT was playing last night on a tisbury audio passive pre/croft 7/spendor sp1 the Bass you mentioned is playing havoc with with my good ladies piano in the room "back-back ,weary blues track" the whole piano is vibrating with the low bass its an alexander herrman upright built like a bloody tank ( harmonic frequency maybe!)
Once you have any sort of capacitor in the audio signal path between DAC chip output and the RCA/PHONO socket you are going to suffer from a loss of those low down bass frequencies. Since the advent of DAC chips it has been a tradition to put a capacitor in series with the signal, which means that many audiophiles have never heard the low bass that is present in many audio tracks. The Bushmaster can play all the way down to 1Hz, so those previously hidden or subdued bass sounds below 30Hz can now be heard or felt. I got a DVD track with a 4Hz audio signal on it. Scary is too polite a word to use for the experience. But if you have or can borrow any of those Jurassic Park DVDs it will be worth passing the audio through the Bushmaster. You can "feel" a dinosaur close by before you even hear any sound. Mind blowing to say the least.

[Marco]

But Worrasf has volunteered to try it out since he likes listening to headphones at deafening levels.

Everything else aside, that's a very daft thing to do - and a quick route to tinitus!! :mental:

Marco.

[wee tee cee]

EH! WHAT DID YOU SAY!!!!!! The standard one could blow yer head up......got to be very careful, once you damage your hearing you cant really go back!
What about big cans and wear two hearing aids to get more oomph!!!

believe the digital ones are better than the old analogue ones.......this could form the basis of a new thread?

[StanleyB]

Everything else aside, that's a very daft thing to do - and a quick route to tinitus!! :mental:
Says the guy with the house demolition instruments from Tannoy :lol:.

The BM2 has a far more logarithmic volume control setting compared to before. Between 9Am to 2PM the output is less than 40% of what is achievable so that one has to deliberately turn the volume control up to near max before things start to become uncomfortable.

[wee tee cee]

Once you have any sort of capacitor in the audio signal path between DAC chip output and the RCA/PHONO socket you are going to suffer from a loss of those low down bass frequencies. Since the advent of DAC chips it has been a tradition to put a capacitor in series with the signal, which means that many audiophiles have never heard the low bass that is present in many audio tracks. The Bushmaster can play all the way down to 1Hz, so those previously hidden or subdued bass sounds below 30Hz can now be heard or felt. I got a DVD track with a 4Hz audio signal on it. Scary is too polite a word to use for the experience. But if you have or can borrow any of those Jurassic Park DVDs it will be worth passing the audio through the Bushmaster. You can "feel" a dinosaur close by before you even hear any sound. Mind blowing to say the least.Pardon my ignorance but how do you connect it up to the AV amp? If its straight forward give it a go.

[StanleyB]

I have my DVD plugged into the BM. Set the DVD audio to PCM 2 channel. It is normally set to 5.1 or something like that in the DVD menu options.
You can just use your normal stereo amp for the sound. You don't need to use the AV amp.

[wee tee cee]

thanks, thought it would replace the AV amp DAC .......might try it, just out of curiosity.

[wee tee cee]

Had a good listen with a pair of Superlux 668b brighter than the hd 650s but no way disgraced......nice budget combo.

[wee tee cee]

Put a fair few hours on the BM MK2 now with the cans both using the standard psu (ballanced mains) and battery pack. With the HD650s I have noticed it has improved over time, maybe its me but I seem to be turning the volume pot down fractionally as the days progress. I am now comfortable at about 1000-1030 on the dial. It is either getting louder or less contentiously I'm becoming more tuned in to what it does.
In saying that If I play a more recent noise war track I have to turn it down more again. For example the difference between John Martyn pre noise war CD rip and one of his later albums On the cobbles or Heaven and Earth.