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Majestic DAC impressions
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BackinBlack View Drop Down
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Points: 2020 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BackinBlack Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Feb 2014 at 8:58pm
The Majestic is a pre-amp. The line outs are not designed to drive headphones. They are as it says on the tin - line outs, dsigned to drive an amplifier, power or headphone. Whilst you may get some audio output from the headphones it would not be optimal.
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Points: 4334 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Feb 2014 at 9:00pm
I mean, headphone amplifier outputs and preamp outputs, if I understand correctly, are around the same order of magnitude when it comes to signal sizes and voltages. My headphones sound great from my Bitzie analogue outputs and Graham describes this device as a preamp (for speakers, which need more voltage swing) as well as an amp (for headphones). This was partly why I asked Graham if I could use his Voyager as a preamp. Using this reasoning, why could I not use a Solo ULDE as a preamp to drive Proprius amplifiers? (not that I would)... I envisage preamps and amps as the same principle: increasing the order of magnitude of the signal. And that's it?? Have we all gone along with unnecessary convention or am I being really really stupid?? Confused
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Points: 6017 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Feb 2014 at 11:04pm
Originally posted by Ash Ash wrote:

? . . why could I not use a Solo ULDE as a preamp to drive Proprius amplifiers? (not that I would)... I envisage preamps and amps as the same principle: increasing the order of magnitude of the signal. And that's it?? Have we all gone along with unnecessary convention or am I being really really stupid?? Confused
If you had a source with a line out, it could go direct to Proprius amps as they have their own volume controls - no need to put a Solo into the system. A Solo is optimised for driving headphone loads, and as such is a specialised item.
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
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Points: 479 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote discrete badger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Feb 2014 at 8:22am
Voltage is not current and current must be considered to make sense of line out vs headphone out.

Line inputs should have a high impedance and draw very little current from a line out.

Headphones have much lower impedance so draw much more current at the same voltage RMS. Curremt is what enables the headphone drivers to do useful work moving air.

In order to drive headphones (or speakers) effectively, the amplifier must be able to provide sufficient current and maintain voltage no matter what the transducer draws. Line outs are usually not designed to do this.

It's a common misconception that the job of an audio amplifier is to amplify a 'signal'  measured in volts. Then how can it be that 2V PtP at the line out of a CD player and 0.5V at the loudspeaker makes a comfortable listening volume in many cases?

No, the job of an amplifier is to convert the low impedance of a loudspeaker to the high impedance of a line in.
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Points: 8998 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Feb 2014 at 11:14am
The Solo and Novo have an output stage designed for headphones. It means they can supply the necessary current for high (300 Ohms or more)and low impedance (8 or 16 Ohms) headphones. And they adjust automatically for variations in most headphone's impedance at different frequencies.

A preamp output is not designed to meet any of the above requirements. It is expecting much higher impedance load, say 10,000 Ohms or more, so much lower current draw, with no variation at different frequencies.
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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Points: 16298 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Feb 2014 at 11:16am
Originally posted by Ash Ash wrote:

Graham describes this device as a preamp (for speakers, which need more voltage swing) as well as an amp (for headphones).


A preamp for speakers? No, a preamp for a line input of an amp that drives speakers.

And yes, this one (the Bitzie) will drive headphones too - part of its design.

But not all preamp outs will do the same.
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Points: 6017 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 3:17pm
This weekend I moved my Majestic, temporarily, to my living room AV system to give it go running into a pair of Proprius monobocks driving PMC GB1i speakers, fed by the coax out of a Cambridge Audio StreamMagic 6 network player.

Usually the CA streamer is played via the DAC in an Audiolab 8200AP AV processor/pre-amp as this gives me a more satisfying sound than the CA's DAC. How would these DACs measure up against the Majestic?

The simple answer is, not very well! The Majestic is considerably smoother without loosing any detail, frequency extreme, or sonic impact. I've found with a lot of comparisons, that it's the reversion back to what you had before that can be as telling as the new kit, and going back to music via the Audiolab or CA, the sound was more fatiguing, with a digital harshness and edge to the treble that simply wasn't there with the Majestic. I could play music louder for longer with the Majestic in the system, and it was simply more enjoyable.

There's not much else to say, really, except that when driving the Proprius amps the Majestic was obviously in its element and music-wise it was a wrench to move it back to the study where it drives active speakers. I'm guessing there'd a very long wait for a GSP video-switching multi-channel pre-amp .. .. Unhappy
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
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