solderdude
Grand Contributor
One of the problems here is Tyler (Hands on SBAF) who has virtually no real understanding/education of electronics.
Jason is a technical guy with excellent writing skills and knows extremely well how to cater the 'hearing' crowd and use the right words to get their interest.
SBAF folks that believe in fairy tales (not all do) swarm plenty around Schiit.
An amplifier can NOT change properties of a driver. A driver simply reacts to a voltage (current) which is applied. This is an electrical signal without magic or 'the unknown' signal.
IF one does want to change the sound the voltage applied to a driver MUST change as well.
You cannot change the sound in any other way electrically (of course you can acoustically)
A driver just has 2 connections so how can one 'change driver properties' without changing the input signal other than in fairy tales.
This means the voltage across the driver HAS to change for something to sound different. One can simply measure the voltage across the driver. The AP555X from Amir can do that with great accuracy which is over 100000x more accurate than any acoustic measurement.
So the 'one must measure acoustically' in this case is a complete bogus story and makes no sense at all.
Schiit are just winging it here. It is very obvious, at least for high impedance headphones that there is no effect measurable. Not electrically (well there is, XLR is slightly worse) and not acoustically.
There could be in low impedance headphones and why I suggested the very insensitive, low and varying impedance and low distortion DCA Expanse to be measured.
IF something indeed improves it could and should be with this headphone.
IF something changes in the sound the voltage across the driver MUST change. These are 1:1 coupled. There cannot be an acoustic change without the voltage across the driver changing.
I read the marketing blurb. It is filled with 'grandpa Paul' theories and makes no sense at all. It is important that 'mystery' remains.
Jason has an AP (and used it) and as he said he has no evidence of 'Halo' working and wants to involve others.
Funny as you really cannot possibly 'null' the sound of headphones and Jason (should) know that reallllly well.
That's why he expects nulls as they will show differences but only because of unavoidable acoustic errors with magnitudes higher differences depending on each run you make.
When @amirm can not show any improvements with the Expanse all that remains is placebo. It is either that or the voltage across the driver is changed is such a significant way (VERY measurable) that it would even become audible. The changes shown now (by Amir and Schiit) and as claimed by Jason seems not to be measurable do not point in a direction indicating something actually is different enough to claim: we don't know how but trust us it happens magically.
There is no such thing as 'magic' and 'yet unexplained/unmeasured' in the electrical domain (what the Midgard is). People have looked for it and no evidence is ever found.
None will be found here either. There is an electrical change (measurable) across the driver or there isn't.
/rant
Edit: regardless of the workings of the 'Halo' circuit the amp itself seems fine. Good performance, much power, good looks (to me) and great price, certainly for a US made product. I would recommend it as long as no reports are coming in from failing amps in the future.
Jason is a technical guy with excellent writing skills and knows extremely well how to cater the 'hearing' crowd and use the right words to get their interest.
SBAF folks that believe in fairy tales (not all do) swarm plenty around Schiit.
An amplifier can NOT change properties of a driver. A driver simply reacts to a voltage (current) which is applied. This is an electrical signal without magic or 'the unknown' signal.
IF one does want to change the sound the voltage applied to a driver MUST change as well.
You cannot change the sound in any other way electrically (of course you can acoustically)
A driver just has 2 connections so how can one 'change driver properties' without changing the input signal other than in fairy tales.
This means the voltage across the driver HAS to change for something to sound different. One can simply measure the voltage across the driver. The AP555X from Amir can do that with great accuracy which is over 100000x more accurate than any acoustic measurement.
So the 'one must measure acoustically' in this case is a complete bogus story and makes no sense at all.
Schiit are just winging it here. It is very obvious, at least for high impedance headphones that there is no effect measurable. Not electrically (well there is, XLR is slightly worse) and not acoustically.
There could be in low impedance headphones and why I suggested the very insensitive, low and varying impedance and low distortion DCA Expanse to be measured.
IF something indeed improves it could and should be with this headphone.
IF something changes in the sound the voltage across the driver MUST change. These are 1:1 coupled. There cannot be an acoustic change without the voltage across the driver changing.
I read the marketing blurb. It is filled with 'grandpa Paul' theories and makes no sense at all. It is important that 'mystery' remains.
Jason has an AP (and used it) and as he said he has no evidence of 'Halo' working and wants to involve others.
Funny as you really cannot possibly 'null' the sound of headphones and Jason (should) know that reallllly well.
That's why he expects nulls as they will show differences but only because of unavoidable acoustic errors with magnitudes higher differences depending on each run you make.
When @amirm can not show any improvements with the Expanse all that remains is placebo. It is either that or the voltage across the driver is changed is such a significant way (VERY measurable) that it would even become audible. The changes shown now (by Amir and Schiit) and as claimed by Jason seems not to be measurable do not point in a direction indicating something actually is different enough to claim: we don't know how but trust us it happens magically.
There is no such thing as 'magic' and 'yet unexplained/unmeasured' in the electrical domain (what the Midgard is). People have looked for it and no evidence is ever found.
None will be found here either. There is an electrical change (measurable) across the driver or there isn't.
/rant
Edit: regardless of the workings of the 'Halo' circuit the amp itself seems fine. Good performance, much power, good looks (to me) and great price, certainly for a US made product. I would recommend it as long as no reports are coming in from failing amps in the future.
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