Capella headphone amp

[robohifi]

Just got my Capella home burning it in my first headphone I am going to try with it is the akg340s
There 600 ohms I have tried several others they just will not drive them
To my suprise Capella does ! Now I have akg340 s with a lower end Nice one Stan You done it again
Love the mid range its valve like like the depth control it works.
Let you guy s know how they sound when it's burnt in

[StanleyB]

Mods, can someone move this thread to the Beresford Banter section?

As Robert indicated, the Capella is now available on the Home Hi-Fi website. See http://www.homehifi.co.uk/S2/tc-7110.htm
I am busy emailing those who are on the waiting list. So if you don't hear from me and you think that you are on the list, best PM or email me right away. I only have limited stock right now for November.

[struth]

there you go Stan

nice little amp too. interesting that your using it as a pre in your system.

[StanleyB]

Cheers Grant.

I decided to develop a high quality preamp stage for the Capella so that it can be used with something like my TC-7240 LINE IN/OUT selector as low cost preamp solution. That's my personal intention as well.

[struth]

i was thinking it would work well with one of those amptastic amps that have the link moved to bypass the volume control and use is as a power amp along with a dac. tt could go into front connector.
its a tbought:)

[StanleyB]

I have had my long term stock test unit on burn in since yesterday, plugged into the mains on my Mark Grant 15Volt linear power supply. I tend to use the Mark Grant and Lurcher linear power supplies for burn in so that I don't have to worry about a flat battery if I forget ( or don't want) to switch of a unit for a long while. The Capella has been driving my Denon D7000, which is a bass heavy 32 Ohms headphone. I couldn't help noticing that the bass on reggae and church organ music sounded a bit more controlled and deeper on the 15V linear PSU. But that effect was only noticeable on the D7000, and my HD800. I couldn't replicate the same results with my cheaper headphones. I can't yet explain what the reason is behind these findings, but I intend to play about with it a bit more and see if I can narrow down the reason. But my gut feeling is that the good expensive headphones diaphragm are made with a far better frequency producing material. The regular complaint leveled against the HD800 is its lack of bass and excessive harsh treble. Well, plugged into the Capella, those complaints sound utterly laughable. These cans are worth every penny of their ridiculously high price. They also bring out the best from the Capella.
No doubt some of you might have a Mark Grant or Lurcher/MCRU linear power supply for use with one of my DACs. Check if it is the 15V version. I think that the Lurcher/MCRU power supply can be adjusted to work on 12 or 15V, but check with MCRU. If you got some expensive headphones and love deep down bass sounds like me, then give your MG or MCRU power supply a try as well for good measure.

[worrasf]

I took delivery of my Capella yesterday and cold straight from the box I knew Stan had come up with another stunning product.

I am using the flying DC lead so am running both the Capella and Caiman 2 from Anker battery.

To date have only listened to Digital input from the CDXT se2 and main listening is with Grado GS1000's. The only setting I have changed is to turn the gain down to suit the 32 ohm impedance of the Grados.

Sound matured and improved after about 4 hours of burn in/warm up.

Listening was mainly simple instrumental (lightnin' Hopkins, Jorma Kaukenen, RyG). I made a brief A/B comparison to the headphone output from the Caiman 2.

The impression is of great grip and tonal neutrality with a phenomenal soundstage and musical presentation. Bass is deep, detailed and controlled. The hollow woody sound of guitar hand-slaps on RyG tracks is faithfully produced whereas all too often these can sound dead (more like wood blocks) - really difficult to get right. The mid-range has an almost liquid quality - rich and full but not at all over-blown. PRaT is excellent - Notes are precise, start-stops controlled with no bleed. Nuances and inflection in vocals - esp spoken voice on Lightnin' tracks make them sound natural and life-like.

I could go on and bore the pants off readers with quasi HiFi journo lingo so I wont. Suffice to say after only a few hours I am really liking what the amp does - tonal balance is just to my taste and it's perfect with the Grados. With all the options for tweaking the sound I guess it will be a perfect match for a wide variety of cans. My previous favorite headphone amp was my SOHA II hybrid - the Capella sounds more natural and open with more fine detail in comparison.

At under £200 it's a bit of a bargain IMHO.
:cool:

[TAD12]

Hello there,

Picked up the H/amp from Stan this morning. nice cuppa tea (thank you) and a chat always helps.

At home, set up and connected within minutes. using a spare Ankaka battery, which I bought last year and never used. Unfortunately they are no longer for sale. if any reader has one, then hold onto it. It's a gem. Back to the task in hand. using a pair of HD 650's, Cappella connected direct to a Panny Blu ray recorder/player via RCA.

Have been listening/watching to live sport, various blu ray, and cds. Must say first impressions very favourable . Have not tried to play too much with the controls except for the gain. Sounds produced reveal much about microphone placement in music such as quartets and small groups of musicians. Cannot wait to play some live jazz cd's to see how the soundstage is dealt with.

Will play more over the rest of the week and see if the unit needs more running in time, expect this is unlikely.

A bargain and in my opinion, another winner. Thank you Stan.

I suppose I'll eventually find I'll have to improve the phones, but that's for another day.

Will post an update later this week.

T12:)

[Harvey13]

Good Evening,

I have had the Capella Headphone amp for over two weeks now and can say what a great bit of kit it is! I use the 600 ohm Beyer DT 880's and really wasn't sure at first whether this would be power full enough but boy was I wrong, Just turn the gain to full and you don't even need to turn the volume halfway up to have all that you would ever need. The sound is superb, many settings to play around with, fast delivery, great customer service etc the list could go on. Stan is a person you can always contact with any query and he will always provide you with the answer you need in a short time period.

Cannot recommend enough!

Currently considering the Caiman Dac to match it up with

Thanks

Rupert