bpribadi

I agree with the name... it is a very BIG headphone amp

Probably if Huangyong and Jtfoo can spot to us interesting items from the website, it will be very usefull to us. So later we list down what we interested and want to buy, then can start a new group buy thread in classified. Thanks a lot!

What's the switch for, Digi? How's OPA2604 compare to the OPA2134?

I see that the Canare L2T2S (as other normal mic cable), it's core for Left and Right channels are not individually shielded. Do you guys now, is there any advantage or disadvantage over the individually shielded left and right channel? Just curious

Thanks Yongchris! I got it

Thanks for the review! Very informative! I'm a bit confuse that sometime it sounds good, and sometime it sucks. Is the difference so huge? I mean different music can make it sounds from good to bad?

Thanks for the info jtfoo! Pop when turning the volume is not a nice thing Anyway they have other good stuff The DAC3 looks interesting

Oooohhhh..... slurp... slurp... very tempting Anybody interested?

HungBros only has AT, Senn, AKG, Beyer, and other brands, but not Grado. So far I heard, only Music By Design carry Grado. Sorry for the confusion, what I mean by 'them' are the AT and Beyer.

Not at all. It is good, but I prefer the 'level' of treble to be reduce a bit.

The Pimeta has been 'burnt in' for about 15 hours. The sound improved, the slightly harsh treble has been smoothen. Let me share my impression from a few hours listening with it. The test gear, Sony XA3000ES (which is going to be sent to my friend this week ), PCDP Panasonic SL-CT810, Grado RS-1, and Audio Technica ATH-EW9. The treble is still a bit sharp, but not harsh. It sounds fast and detailed, pretty good seperation between singers and the musical instruments. Very revealing. It is a 'bright' type of amp. Good and well controled low bass. probably because of the absence of capacitor in the audio line What it lacks to my taste is the midrange, I wish it sounds thicker. Probably the bright treble makes the midrange sounds a bit thin. But it is all within the my acceptable range So still enjoyable to listen to it. Before I continue, I would like to introduce the players and the headphones (base on my listening and taste): Sony XA3000ES: Very natural and very high resolution (you can hear more detail) player, but still has a tad of the Sony sounds. What I mean with sony sounds is, the midrange is a little bit thin, and overall sounds a bit dry. The bass is tight and well controled. Panasonic SL-CT810: Nice sounding player, not as high resolution as the Sony. The treble sounds silky smooth, and the midrange is thick. The bass is fine, but not as tight as the Sony. Not very fast and detailed, but the overall sounds very good for the price. Very enjoyable sounding player. Grado RS-1: Bright, open, very revealing. It has the most amazing bass I ever hear. Good sound stage, and gives more space between the singers and musical instrument than other closed type headphone. It sounds BIG. ATH-EW9: I think this is the best clip on for the price range. Open and bright, but not as open and bright as the Grado. Very nice warmth and thick midrange, good bass, and treble level is just right for my ears. The conclusion: Pimeta with XA3000ES and RS1. A bit out of my taste, the treble became a little too bright and sharp. Still very nice listening to Chesky recordings, but not for some bright recordings. But the detail is amazing! Pimeta with XA3000ES and EW9. The treble is better, it doesn't boil my ears anymore, enjoyable but sound a bit dry. Pimeta with SL-CT810 and Grado / EW9. Not as high resolution as the Sony, but I like the thick and warmth midrange. The Pimeta adds the detail, and makes the SL-CT810 sounds faster and snappier. Better and thicker bass (than without the Pimeta). The Pimeta makes the SL-CT810 sounds better. I guess what I described is more of the sound characteristic of the AD8620 Op-Amp, the Pimeta as general, as it will sounds differently if we use different Op-Amp. AD8620 is bright and fast sounding Op-Amp, good to be paired with players and headphone with thick and warmth midrange. Thanks for reading this long post !!! Any comments are welcome

Hi Heady, I would say that you better take sometime to try those headphones. I know Douglas from Hung Brothers, he is very friendly, and for sure you can try a lot of headphone there, like what I did . Me and my friends have bought some headphones from him. I can company you to Hung Brothers if it is your first time to go there Just PM me. You may want to try the Audio Technica as well. They sounds open and bright like the Grados (Hung Brothers has them).

So I see that you have improve a lot!

Thanks a lot Heady! The story, I have the small die cast casing for a few years in my drawer. So I wanted to use it for a CMoy. But the case is too small for a pot, so I put the pot externally, as well function as interconnect to my PCDP. That's the black box Inside my CMoy: Actually I better don't use the Solen, and put the pot inside... but what's done is done

After around 6 hours continuous 'burning in', I'm glad my Pimeta sounds better now No more harsh treble, or at least, the sharp treble has been reduced a lot, now it sounds smoother, and very 'airy' like you can imagine the space between the singers, and the musicians. I will keep on burning it Now I'm listening Women of Song from Chesky records, and some other albums. More pictures for size comparison with my previous CMoy and ATH-EW9: Just a different angle.

Thanks for bringing this post 'up' again Bose is the first noise canceling headphone I tried, and so far I would say they are out of my taste. May I know why noise canceling is important for you?

Wow !!! Very interesting! Thanks for sharing huangyong! I wonder how much the CD-PRO2 transport kit cost Can start to build our own CD player. I 'm also interested with the Step Attenuators, for SGD 35.- they are really a bargain. Huangyong you can start to arrange a group buy, I can help with the plastic later.

Thanks Heady! You are right, I think the amp need sometime to burn in That's what mukegile told me too. I mean connect it to the RCA cable Now i'm listening to my Pimeta to let it 'burned in' to sounds better.

Are the audio internal interconnects shielded? I guess they should, since the transformer housed in the same casing Nice BW fotos

I had them for more than 7 years, but just recently terminated. Sorry I completely forget the price It is a locking type RCA. Means, you have to loosen the outer (white metallic) cylinder cover, plug in, and then tighten it again. It will push the ground contacts to the socket's ground. After that it will be very hard to plug off. We need to loosen it again, to plug it out.

Just wanna share my Interconnects : It is also very difficult to terminate

My PIMETA finally done In the box. Tight space, precise measurement needed. The die cast case gives it retro look Close Ups: I use DIY interconnect. The cable is very BIG !!! The Setup with Sony XA3000SE SACD deck: Mukegile and I have tested it for a while, need more listening time to give more accurate comments In short, the sound of this amp is: Very bright, very revealing, fast and detailed. Good for soft music, light jazz, and vocal, as you will hear the whole details, the mechanical sounds of the instruments, as well as the very subtle breath of the singer. The Sony SACD player headphone output sounds soft, slow, and mellow compare to My Pimeta. But for loud music as rock, after 5 minutes (with reasonable listeing volume), I think I will need paracetamol. It's so hot, that it fries my ears and head Probably because it paired with Grado RS-1. This PIMETA might be a good match for Senn. I will post more comments later Cheers! Bram

Oke, after a lot of modification, here is the board: It's a bit messy because of the modification , and I left the negative regulator there because it would be to much to take it out and follow the new layout. But next time if I build a PIMETA again, I will follow the new layout. I didn't plan porperly for the ground buffer heatsink, so it push the two capacitors to the side. The main op-amp currently is the free from AD, AD8620 on my selfmade DIP-8 adapter (don't know when Huangyong will deliver the adapter from digi). Now I'm putting it in the box, connecting all the connectors and pot. Oooo my, I hate the Neutrik socket, it is so big, need to cut 23mm dia hole, and it is a pain, because I can't find 23 mm hole saw, and I only have 20 mm one. So, you know, file here and there until the hole fit the socket If you want to cut hole for this socket, you can use 22mm hole saw (Kaichin sell it) and then file the holw a little bit. I will update with more fotos later

Beautiful Very nice silver amp But I prefer not to use plastick knob. Why not aluminium knob? It would match the box nicely

Maksim the piano player Bought the SACD format. I was impressed by his performance on TV, but after listening the album I get dissapointed. 1. He tried to 'rock/pop' classical piece, but the result, to me, is dissapointing. The dynamic classical piece became monotone after he added rhytmic syntheziser & acoutic drum beat. Very bad 2. Most of the tracks sound chaotic, no more beauty. 3. The recording quality is medium, not as good as Chesky normal CD, so SACD for this recording is a waste. I bought wrong album to test the SACD deck