Project Ember

The control knob from that expensive company is a heavy duty one in solid metal so it gives more of an 'authority' in the way that it feels, Lot of money for just a knob though.

I'm after a couple more myself as well!!

didnt someone here change the pcb stand-offs and knurled bolts too?
i am sure i read it somewhere but maybe its been deleted.

Just cosmetic but just makes it look posh!! I must admit, I do like the gold knob plus its weight. It also 'feels' smoother.

I've been doing some listening on what some may regard as bass light headphones through the Ember today. The trusty Audio Technica a900 and the AKG K601.

I really like the old a900. For a closed headphone, it's lovely and crisp. I'd call it a very tidy sound. It tails off in deep bass but only noticeable on anything that goes down into rumble zone. Imaging is superb for a headphone and comfort is one of the best.

The AKG K601 is one of my long term likes. It never got too much publicity because of the K701, but I prefer the K601 since the treble doesn't sting quite so hard.

Both headphones sound superb through the Ember. Both low impedance although the AKG takes a lot more to drive it.

I have the amp on 100 ohms output impedance so the top is slightly better controlled and its a warm, crisp sound on both. Really lively.

One strange thing with the AKG. I have been listening to a Prince album and the difference in volume between tracks seems to be much more noticeable. I found that quite odd since the whole album would normally be crunched up to one volume. The AKG seems to giving packets of volume on some tracks and yet on others, they are quite heavily compressed sounding but turned down in volume. Never noticed before but the Ember seems to let more through when it's there. There isn't really any reason I can see for this, so I'll do some further listening on other headphones to the same album.

The album I'm listening to is blue with a headshot of Prince and his hair fluffed out. It's just called 'Prince'.

Either the engineers set weird levels or my ears have become golden volume knobs!!

The a900 and k601 make a good matching pair if you want an open and closed headphone with slightly similar traits.

Jeremy is working on it (doubling the heater current capabilities).
He should be running some tests by now.

Just a question to all Ember owners : Who use the Low impedance setting? and if used please describe your gear (DAC and headphones used, tubes used and Ember settings for gain and input capacitors).

i use the low output imp' setting.
my system is in my sig.
tube is 6h1n-bn
caps bypassed

I use low with a Naim CD player going into a filter for Fostex T40 and 50. The tube is an Amperex Orange label one. I forget it's number because it's rubbed off mostly. They went on about them in Headfi at one time so I got one to try and really liked it.

Low output impedance helps a bit with 'sparkle' imo. Caps bypassed.

Tbh though, to me, we're talking subtleties not the 'Night and Day' rubbish seen in earlier post from golden mouth.