Question about sibilance

[red_ryder 0]

Bought a Spark Cayin HA-1A today! hooray!

 

Brought it home and listened to the same tracks that I used to audition the amp at Precision Audio. Specifically I'm referring to Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem. At Precision Audio the track sounded fantastic, smooth, mellow with Rebecca's voice seeming to float in mid-air. Back home, I encountered sibilance, especially on the "sh" sound when she pronounces "spanish". The floating feeling is also gone.

 

This leads me to conclude that sibilance is the result of the source or CD player. In Precision Audio, I used my own cans, the head amp was fresh out of the box and not burned in, but the CD player used there was a Spark HDCD player (can't remember the model, but it costs about $1100). In other words, the setup was almost the same except for the cdp and the interconnects. Dunno what interconnects were used there but I'm using Klotz-Neutriks at home and a Denon DCD-810. Also tried my philips DVD player as a source but the sibilance is the same.

Edited March 25, 2004 by red_ryder

[N@Z 0]

Congratulations!

 

You're using the HD25 with it right? Check the impedance matching if you haven't already. Did you allow the amp to fully warm up before listening to it? My normal routine is switch on everything wait at least 15 mins. Then pop in a CD to play through the whole system to make sure everything else is warmed up (including the headphones) too. When mine was new there was a hard grainy sound as well which reduced after 100hrs burn-in. In the future you can tuberoll the stock tubes to tailor the sound to suit your taste further.

 

One thing I like about this amp is that it can sound pretty fast. Rock music & electronica sounds great with it unlike the MG Head OTL. Yet it still sounds fantastic with Jazz & acoustic music.

[red_ryder 0]

Yup. I waited for the amp to warm up before playing. Anyway, during the audition at the shop the owner also did not warm up the amp. I saw him take out a new one from a sealed box, plug it in and let me audition. It wasn't burned in, yet sounded much better than at home.

 

Conclusion: My cdp sucks. Sibilance is very probably caused by an inferior cdp, since I didn't encounter it during the audition with the SAME cans and SAME cd.

 

By the way, my cans are DT931s. Haven't updated my profile in a while.

[lengcm 0]

Yup. I waited for the amp to warm up before playing. Anyway, during the audition at the shop the owner also did not warm up the amp. I saw him take out a new one from a sealed box, plug it in and let me audition. It wasn't burned in, yet sounded much better than at home.

 

Conclusion: My cdp sucks. Sibilance is very probably caused by an inferior cdp, since I didn't encounter it during the audition with the SAME cans and SAME cd.

 

By the way, my cans are DT931s. Haven't updated my profile in a while.

It may not be your CDP, it could be your interconnects.

[red_ryder 0]

Well, I'm using Klotz GY107 + Neutrik Profi RCA interconnects. Don't think they should cause sibilance.

 

(Edited at 2358 hrs) --

 

Looks like Noz was right. My post was premature. After warming up the amp for 3 hours, the sibilance I first heard was greatly reduced and it now sounds much smoother.

Edited March 25, 2004 by red_ryder

[N@Z 0]

That was certainly the case with my setup too. The longer I left it on the better it sounded. Enjoy!

[Northern Oak 0]

This baby has alot of potential! Enjoy red_ryder!

[Mackie 0]

Another example of "self scare" huh? Redryder, have confidence in your fellow mates here. We won't recommend a dud u know. Congrats on your purchase for I still deem it as one of the few, if not THE gear, that offers a good balance of sound quality, build, flexibility of use and price between S$500-1000.

 

Down the road, U might think of tube rolling to Mullard CV4003/4004/ECC83 and Yugo Ei EL84; change power cord to a Belden 19364 or 83802/3. I suggest not to undertake this course of action until U're familiar with the sound of your amp, sufficiently run in and source quality is rectified beforehand.

 

Btw, I was told Triode mode is especially good for vocals and Ultralinear for dynamic music. Check it out.

Edited March 26, 2004 by Mackie

[red_ryder 0]

Whoa whoa whoa!

 

Change power cord? Power cord is important? oh oh...I used an old generic power cord last night because couldn't plug in the one that came with the Cayin. It was some weird 3 pin that I've never seen before, top pin is round while the bottom 2 pins are flat.

 

Hmm..do you guys think that the power cord could have something to do with the sibilance I experienced? If I buy an adaptor for the plug, would the quality of the adaptor have an effect?

[Sipher 0]

well u can try changing the plug if u know which wire is which

[Mackie 0]

Redryder, give the amp sometime to run in dude. I didn't bother to listen to the amp until it was powered on for 24 hours with a fan providing ventilation for it can get pretty hot.

 

Listen to it in stock condition before making any tweaks. U can use an adapter for the stock power cord or use any generic PC cord in the meantime.

 

One more thing, U can select the impedance to 120ohm for your DT931 to hear it perform differently. It should also reduce present sibilance to some extent. Switch between 120/250 ohm to experiment on which sound U prefer for now.

Edited March 26, 2004 by Mackie

[Rameish 0]

Red that's an american power cord.

 

Oak,

 

Did spark audio ever get back to you about the output selector bit. Does it indicate the amps output impedence? I don't think so as the higher output you select the bolume gors up. So I suspect when you select 300 ohms the actual output is nearer zero ohms.

 

Does this make sense to you LOL