Drop 101: What Is An Amp?

Mar 28, 2023

markinbhamIt's more "Linear Power Supply" vs "Switching Power Supply." Switching power supplies are like those common wall-warts, while linear power supplies are less power efficient (they always consume the same amount of power regardless of how much is used to amplify) but are always immediately "ready" to respond, generally bass has better impact and the amp is always performing optimally.

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MikeSattler

Jun 12, 2018

"They’re also touchier and more sensitive, because they produce an analog signal, and the resulting sound—generally warm, sweet, and natural—is a favorite of music purists."
This sentence doesn't really make sense, every amplifier produces an analog signal whether it's tube/solid state. Why would that make a tube amp touchier and more sensitive?
In my experience, tube amps are touchier and more sensitive because of RF interference with the tubes as well as the fact that most tubes need at least 100 hrs of burn-in to sound their best. Not to mention it takes 10-30 min for tubes to stabilize once you flip the power switch.

Mar 28, 2023

MikeSattlerIn my experience (tho you can also look up the Schiit Ragnarok as an example), solid state amps also have a warm up period to perform optimally. I can't speak to why the OP said tubes produce an analog signal... I agree amps operate in the analog domain. I suppose you could argue tubes present a "more analog" sound when a DAC is clipping a signal or under sampling: instead of producing a sharp square wave, the transients for clipping are a little more rounded off and less harsh sounding. OF course, this depends on the tube, and some will clip in just the same way as solid state amps XD.

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coolerking

164

Jun 5, 2018

There are two issue folks. 1/ Audio enjoyment is a subjective endeavor. Period. In this world we strive to obtain objective information, desperately. The only real objective information is empirical, meaning, what are other peoples experience with a given product. 2. Secondly, there is a lot of what I call digititus out there. We have, through huge marketing efforts in all consumer endeavors, been lead to believe if something is named digital, it is one of two things, period - on or off, high or low, works or does not work. This leads people to black and white thinking, and/or zero sum gain thinking. It amazes me. No signals or products are purely digital, period. I see people constantly labeling products and technologies as thus, where as in their respective field they would never do this. Can you imagine someone in criminology after 20+ years experience saying that all criminals are either evil or not, period, there is no in between. Or a teacher saying kids are either dumb or smart, period. Hardware is analog. It is exists in the physical world, and thus, it has many aspects to it. Just because it is difficult to articulate this does not make it true.
So my advice is to try to see what people have to say about the sound of the product, in unfortunately qualitative language. With a degree in Electronic Engineering and going on 30+ years in many different facets of the hardware industry, the more I know, the more I realize I do not know. It is damn near impossible to explain to someone with no experience why a better "digital" cable makes a difference. Just as it is someone in banking to explain what money really is.
Read reviews and comments. Stay away from advice from folks who say things like "you cannot tell the difference between a MP3 signal with X resolution from one with Y." Come on, how the hell do they know? What they can offer is that they cannot hear the difference. If you like music then take the jump, and see for yourself.
Good Luck and Enjoy - the more people joining this hobby, the more we all benefit.

tinamou62

Nov 25, 2018

coolerkingI love this comment. I think too often we forget the point of the hobby - it's not to get the absolute purest, least distorted, perfect signal. It's just to enjoy the music. And that is so subjective.

Mar 28, 2023

coolerkingThe priests of bit perfect declare this post as HERESY! haha, but honestly I agree with you, we learn a bit and fill in the rest with assumptions, and then it's all too easy to believe we know it all. Absolutely USB cables carry analog pulses of electricity that are interpreted as digital signals, hopefully as close to a perfect square wave as possible, but theory and practicality are different and subject to imperfections and interference.

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living fossil

Jun 2, 2018

The balanced amp with the Massdrop logo on the top. A NEW PRODUCT ?

IvanDaTerrible

Apr 26, 2021

living fossilSince it says massdrop and that is the old name, now Drop that would imply older unit.

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Mar 28, 2023

living fossilThe path of production is littered with the graveyard of "what might have been."

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wohengvanow

Jul 4, 2016

The market demands - today people are willing to drop BIG bucks based on other people's stories on what you should expect to hear and forming big expectations (buy first, audition, then buy again). The suppliers are just jumping onto the demand train to cash in. Hopefully this gets reinvested for some real innovation.
Stax, HD800, headamps, etc used to cost a 'fortune' back in 2006. Now they are "average priced" compared to the Other top of line. People seem very ready to drop 2 to 3 grand on a totl headphone, then another 2 grand on a portable DAC and amp.
There's a lot of variety out there and a lot of schnake oil.
To answer your question is nothing has changed other than the current flavor of the month. It's still just solid state, tubes, transistors, transformers, class a b ab d t, planars, dynamics, hybrids of the above. The wheel hasn't been reinvented yet. The playing field is just a lot bigger.
Here's some designs from the past that I'm waiting to see recycled as "breakthrough new technology". This is exciting times.
Tube + class d hybrid otl... wait it's already here
Akg340 - hybrid planar dynamic headphones
Black Diamond HA - transformer coupled solid state amp

Mar 28, 2023

wohengvanowClass T amps are a blind spot in my knowledge... can you share anything about them?

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swest

Jul 3, 2016

Greetings,
This topic may have grown cold, but, just in case, I thought I'd see if I can get my curiousity satisfied from you guys/gals.
Can someone explain the, seemingly, never-ending proliferation of new instances of the, so-called, 'Headphone Amp' that we have been witness to over the last, I don't know, maybe 5 years?
Maybe it's just that I started noticing, but it seems like this is, as I suggest, a recent and noticeable phenomenon. Another thing about this is that it seems the vast majority of new examples are tube amps.
So, if someone with the benefit of having paid attention to these matters during recent history could corroborate and explain; or contradict and, well... that will be enough. Set me straight and I will go back to sleep ;-).
Thanks.
- s.west

Max_Cohen

Jun 17, 2016

I have just started getting into audiophile and I was wondering about if I need an amp or dac. I enjoy having full audio quality and I was wondering if I would get the best experience with one?

StopMotionAviator

Jun 5, 2018

Max_CohenIt really depends on your current headphones. Some very nice headphones and IEMs nowadays can be easily powered by a smartphone, and may not benefit from an amp. Here is a good articles about amps and headphones. It gets pretty technical in some parts but I've found it's a pretty good covering of what you should know! http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html

Heefty

1387

May 31, 2016

XxMRGAMERZxXDo you have an audiophile music library built up already?

XxMRGAMERZxX

May 28, 2016

Hello guys and gals I am looking for a good dac and amp combo for my new akg 7xxx. Any recommendations.? These are my first audiophile sets

Heefty

1387

May 31, 2016

XxMRGAMERZxXDo you have an audiophile music library built up already?

IvanDaTerrible

Apr 26, 2021

XxMRGAMERZxXIf your looking for Bluetooth Which is nice bonus Es-100 mk2 has a grood dac and can be used balanced 2.5mm or Se 3.5mm under $100 it’s actually a really good amp dac combo despite the inexpensive price similarly priced and just as good Fiio BTR-5 another with good dacs under 200 USD these are best in class performance wise. Good luck have fun

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musikaladin

May 28, 2016

My setup with the TH-X00, and enough amplifying options

oliwek

May 29, 2016

musikaladinlol, quite a contrast with the simplicity of the pictures above (a single planar + small tube amp + plant and headphone rest vs what audiophiles get after some time in their quest)

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Audiophile 101: Essential Gear Overview

Image credit @zhugunic https://drop.com/talk/67372/gl-2-k Do I need an amp? What are these acronyms like DAC, DSP, or DSD? What even are all the components that make up an audio chain? Let’s take a beginner’s look at the core, essential building blocks of a digital audio chain, and lay it plain what each piece does. We can cover the major pieces separately, but I’ll still include a few tips to optimize playback here. Please hit the little bookmark button and feel free to check and share this guide whenever you need a reference! For people who need a visual and audible explanation, or are worried it would take too long to get a working knowledge of the audio chain, here is my YouTube video on this subject that is just 7 minutes long! I like writing though, so let’s get started with an overview, then break it down into what each piece does and how an upgrade would benefit the final sound quality. Signal Path Image credit @SpeleoFool https://drop...

Mar 22, 2023

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HoffmanMyster

New Feature—Product Tagging in Photos (+ Giveaway! - Audio Rigs Edition)

Ahoy, audiophiles! Hot on the heels of the launch event for the mech keys community, we are kicking off the Audiophile Rigs product tagging launch event (with a bonus giveaway for those who participate!). Check out all the Rigs submissions thus far! Audiophile Rigs What’s this about a giveaway? More details can be found at the end! The short version: we will be giving away $100 Drop Rewards credit to one lucky winner (randomly selected) from all participating users who contribute and tag their Audiophile photos using the "Rigs" flair! In order to be eligible for giveaway prizes, your photo must include at least two tagged items (not required to be Drop products—see Tagging Non-Drop Products below). Post must be made in the first two weeks (by 2023-05-10 11:59PM PT) in order to be entered. What is Product Tagging in Photos? Product tagging allows you to tag any products in a Photo post—both those found on Drop currently, as well as write-ins that will be manually approved and...

Apr 26, 2023

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dekoni

Introducing Dekoni University

Dekoni Audio is excited to introduce our new Dekoni University video education series. Check back frequently to see our latest videos.

Aug 10, 2021

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krist0f

DAC/AMP choice - please help

OK... I am going thru forums, reading and watching reviews for DAC/AMP combo for my pc and... seriously i do not know which one to choose. Here is my 'wish list'... maybe you can help... Main goal is to... like everybody i guess: listen to music / watch movies / gaming. Gaming is priority. I am not audiophile (sorry). But I do appreciate good sound quality. Wish List: will not 'break the bank' - preferable under $200... I would prefer it to have mic input but it is not a 'must' requirement. I would prefer it to be 'external' device. Not a must though. Need controls on the desk though. I would prefer it to work 'driverless'. So... hardware-based. I would like it to have some kind of hardware equalizer. I would like to be able to connect (computer) speakers and headphones the same time it does not need to be 5.1/7.1 etc. I prefer good stereo over these systems. Does anything like this exist? Closest to all checkmarks is Sennheiser GSX1000... i guess... not the newest technology...

Jan 5, 2021

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Thoughts: The BEST Gaming Headphone for All Time?

Pairing up a gamer with the right headphone is a bit like playing matchmaker! In this video, linked at the end, I boil down over 10 years of community advice into 3 Personality types: • Competitive • Entertainment • Immersion I share a few keywords to look for, as well as some software and settings suggestions. I think everyone has a little bit of each type in them, but which type is dominant for you? Thanks to the sponsor of this video: DekoniAudio.com Dekoni is a headphone accessories company, unique for providing frequency response graphs on their website so you know what effect their various pad options will have. Thanks also to Drop for giving me permission to share here. I hope it helps everyone! The video: https://youtu.be/42SRsSlIj-c

Sep 29, 2020

Guides

Launch of the EvShrug Audio Guides!

Hello everyone! I’ve been here in Drop/Massdrop for a few years, also on Head-Fi since 2008, and I’ve seen a few common questions and gaps in knowledge over the years. So, to try answering them so that I (or you) can simply link a video when a common question comes up, I “rebooted” my YouTube channel with new videos to serve as a guide for new and intermediate personal audio enthusiasts! Thanks for accepting my amateur production with a “shrug” and a subscribe, I’ll try to upload 1-2 videos a week and add them here as well. Go ahead and leave audio questions you think others would also want answered! YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4bc2SQk0h2TrE0K07t2WI5by66ArtDAb

Sep 12, 2020