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Geshelli Archel2 Headphone AMP Review: another champ?

ayane said:
@JohnYang1997 My boyfriend bought one last week and I was testing it with my Aeon Flow closed-back cans, and I too noticed the clipping and cutting out.

It happens at less than halfway of the volume knob on high gain and happens at 75% volume knob on low gain. MrSpeakers (TCA) headphones have low impedances and the Archel2 Pro is rated for 16 ohms, but I've had cheap and poorly measuring stuff like the Micca OriGen G2 drive my headphones without problems, so this current limiting distortion is a really big design flaw.
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It's said that the 2.5 version solved it. Essentially quadrupled the power. I think that one should be more usable.
 
JohnYang1997 said:
It's said that the 2.5 version solved it. Essentially quadrupled the power. I think that one should be more usable.
Click to expand...
I still don't understand why the amp can't simply current limit properly (edit: as in clip or cut out) instead of distorting like that. Even my cell phone is able to drive my Aeons, which have a 13-ohm impedance, albeit to not so loud levels, and I measured its output impedance at 1.1 ohms, so output impedance is not the issue.
 
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ayane said:
I still don't understand why the amp can't simply current limit properly instead of distorting like that. Even my cell phone is able to drive my Aeons, which have a 13-ohm impedance, albeit to not so loud levels, and I measured its output impedance at 1.1 ohms, so output impedance is not the issue.
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Properly limiting current is to just cut off. Or you get constant clipping which may damage both amplifier and the headphones.
 
JohnYang1997 said:
Properly limiting current is to just cut off. Or you get constant clipping which may damage both amplifier and the headphones.
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The amp was constantly distorting though - like it would make this weird high pitched sound for a split second in the headphones every few seconds. It wasn't a little bit of clipping or cutting out.
 
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JohnYang1997 said:
It's said that the 2.5 version solved it. Essentially quadrupled the power. I think that one should be more usable.
Click to expand...

I have the 2.5 but never tested with ultra low impedance / current hungry cans. It drives my Ether CX though (which is Amirs torture test), no problems (through balanced inputs, so higher input V , maybe helps)
 
I used a microphone to record the output of my Aeons Flow headphones driven with the both the Archel2 Pro and with the Micca OriGen G2. The music is the first forty seconds of audio of "Motherboard" by Daft Punk.

Control Group: OriGen 2 Distortion (normal clipping)
Test Group: Archel2 Pro Distortion (strange distortion with high frequency noise)

The strange distortion is happening with the volume knob at about 75% on high gain on the Archel2 Pro, a reasonable listening level for these headphones. I was only able to produce the problem with these headphones and not with other headphones, so the amp performs well with all other headphones.

This also happens suddenly after a certain volume position, and making the volume higher doesn't make the distortion better or worse. The volume level also depends on the frequency content of the music; normalizing the volume in software with ReplayGain doesn't change the fact that some songs will cut to this noise at lower volume positions than others. It's a current issue because using a "high impedance" cable (basically a headphone cable with 20 ohms of inline resistance per channel) negates the issue.
 
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Maybe I am going blind but I don't see the power ratings? I wonder if this would be enough power for the Hifiman Arya?
 
Svperstar said:
Maybe I am going blind but I don't see the power ratings? I wonder if this would be enough power for the Hifiman Arya?
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THD+N graphs

165mw @300 ohm
612mw @33 ohm

What impedance are the Arya?
 
JohnYang1997 said:
Idk how but this is single channel driven. One single 2W converter is no power like at all.
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Ah yes, this is the one you questioned a while ago, isnt it? Boss man never replied
 
Does this amp have a turn-on (or off) pop or thump? I looked at the manual and it cautioned the user to turn the volume all the way down before turning off. Not sure what other reasons for that might be.
 
Aperiodic said:
Does this amp have a turn-on (or off) pop or thump? I looked at the manual and it cautioned the user to turn the volume all the way down before turning off. Not sure what other reasons for that might be.
Click to expand...

I aint testing it! Always turn down and even better unplug before power off.
 
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