Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
This amp is an esoteric piece of audio equiptment. Most of the cost of the amp is in the case and fascia. Based on the review listed in the description it is a smooth, resolving but dynamically castrated sounding amp. This is consistent with a Bent Audio transformer based preamp that I once heard. Great if you like acoustic jazz, acapella and one piece ensembles. Not so great if you like jump factor/drive or high dynamics in your music; EDM need not apply. So, this amp presumes that you already have a suitably equivalent source. If not get the Oppo first.
For what it's worth - by far the most expensive individual components in the amp, are the Cinemag input transformers. But there is certainly cost involved in hand assembly of the cherry wood case, and all the machining and other finish work.
"The physical and dynamic slam factor on this amplifier are low, so there is hardly any wince factor unless the track is seriously walloping and your volume is high enough for it to matter. "
This also accurately describes the silver wound transformer based preamp a buddy of mine has. It is a Godsend in taming his shouty Lowther speakers, but squeezes the dynamic life out of the music on more balanced speakers. As far as headphones I imagine they work well with Grados, AKG and the MD Fostex XX and TH900; V-ish shaped cans. Not so much with dark and/or smooth headphones like Senn HD650 and LCD 2. Perhaps, dynamically constricted/restrained is more accurate than "castrated."
I would hope that the most "expensive individual components" are the two transformers. But I doubt they are significantly more expensive (less than $300 for the pair) probably less than the cherry wood case, multi layered front fascia and volume knob.
Can you post a pick of the inside of the amp?
Taming "shouty" is useful, and I'm not sure I can equate that to "castrated" dynamically. I just don't agree with your assessment that it's not a good match for more dynamic music styles.
Interior is dominated by the giant extruded aluminum heatsink. It's a rather elegant, and thus simple circuit, whose general diagram is provided for on our blog. What are you looking for?
"The physical and dynamic slam factor on this amplifier are low, so there is hardly any wince factor unless the track is seriously walloping and your volume is high enough for it to matter. "
I don't know how, after reading the above statement, that your amp is a good match for dynamic music styles. Of course, you can disagree with this statement too, but this is from a link to a review in your description, which would be inconsistent with your view.
AFA, the interior, just like to see what I might be buying; general neatness of circuit layout, room around transformers, thickness of circuit board, etc. I thought that you would be proud to show this off? Picture is worth a thousand words...
Unfortunately, I don't have any interior shots that I can share at the moment except for an early shot of an unmounted test board. http://i.imgur.com/UDtGduC.jpg
You can see the transformers on the far end on the right, away from the power supply on the left - with the heatsink block acting as further shielding.
Not much has changed except the production boards have a nice black mask, and labelling. They are pretty: http://i.imgur.com/eJcwMK7.jpg
Or course it is your prerogative not to "share" any interior shots. Wasn't looking for glamour photos, just thought you would want to show the quality of your craftsmanship and thoughtful design.
Thanks for your thoughts! We'll have more listening impressions out there in the near future and can give a more complete view of what to expect.