I have this Fireye HDB amplifier. I use it with my Pono Player in balanced mode to drive my more power hungry headphones like my Beyerdynamic T90 and HD 650 phones. The Pono Player can drive both these phones, but I find the HDB adds girth and solidity to the mids and bass giving an overall punch up. I use it in balanced mode from end to end with Pono and HD650 and my Sony MDR Z7 phones.
It is the size of a pack of cigarettes, so it is not big at all and it is well made.
That sounds like a great setup! I am super curious so I apologize in advance for the following questions.
So did you use dual 1/8" out the Pono, adapted to RSA ^ amp^ RSA out adapted to dual 1/8" again, for the MDRs at least?
Did you make any of the cables or purchase?
Do the ground connections coming out of the Pono (as well as MDRs Grounds) become drain wires when adapting to RSA?
Cable nerd checking in.
Hey Von Braun,
Yes, I had a couple of adapters made that have exactly as you described. One for the Pono (two male 3.5mm plugs terminated with the RSA adapter) and one for my headphones (two female 3.5mm jacks terminated with the RSA adapter). I had previously made balanced cables for my headphones, so I didn't want to redo them and thought an adapter would be the best solution.
The thing is, they give you two RSA adapters to start you off with making some sort of cable for yourself. Making a balanced cable is really easy since it requires no ground (basically positive to positive and neg to neg for Left and Right, 4 wires total). I would have made my own adapters, but I just didn't want to put in the time to order all of the parts. But now I have a pair of iems with a 3.5mm TRRS plug and I think I will make my own adapter with the RSA plugs that were supplied. It's all good fun.
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So did you use dual 1/8" out the Pono, adapted to RSA ^ amp^ RSA out adapted to dual 1/8" again, for the MDRs at least?
Did you make any of the cables or purchase?
Do the ground connections coming out of the Pono (as well as MDRs Grounds) become drain wires when adapting to RSA?
Cable nerd checking in.
I hear people mod their T90s into balanced. Adding an RSA could be neat.