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Tristor
97
Dec 12, 2013
I've been reading more into this, and although this is a current amplifier, the output power is provided by voltage, making it a voltage source amplifier. I'm a bit disappointed in that, because it'd be interesting to use orthodynamics with a pure current amplification circuit (it wouldn't work well with normal dynamic transducers due to their need for electrical dampening). After all, headphone drivers are essentially motors, so a high current low voltage signal would be in theory superior, because current can drive both magnitude and phase, voltage only drives magnitude.
I'm still very tempted though considering project86's take. He actually considers this better than the Bryston BHA-1, which is really saying something. I don't know that it's worth almost twice the price in order to be able to do balanced or dual-mono configuration, though, which if you're going into the end-game is where you want to end up.
yzap
14
Dec 13, 2013
TristorI'm in a similar boat. This amp looks great for standard 1/4 jack, but having to buy two of these to achieve a balanced configuration via dual a mono-block setup definitely dampers my excitement because I don't feel like buying two at this moment or in the very near future.
It would have been nice its design also allowed for balanced mode with just one amp, but I suppose that would added significantly to the price of a single unit...
Tristor
97
Dec 13, 2013
yzapYeah, I've been demoing the Bryston BHA-1 for awhile from a local audio shop, and it's really awesome. I was considering it as my end-game after I get a new DAC (and as it happens I was going to order the DA8 as an upgrade from my D100 Mk2, after getting to extensively demo it in a comparison against the Benchmark DAC2, and it just went up on Massdrop). I want to go balanced is my primary motivation, with the BHA-1 being ~$1500 vs ~$2000-3000 (depending on if you get in on the drop or not) for the CMA 800R, is it worth almost twice the price?
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