Nope, no switches. I'm now really confused. I think the 4B might be too powerful for the OB1s, in that the OB1s appear to distort if I play a loud track at full volume.... the Bryston red clipping leds do not come on so I presume it is not the Bryston amp clipping. If this is the case, the OB1s are being driven beyond their full potential by the 4B and the Transporter combo I guess. I've just looked at the Bryston spec for unbalanced/balanced.
It looks like you get 6db more welly by using the balanced outs. However the inputs figures look like this is negated... but I have to say I am getting very lost here. >From the 4B ST spec sheet: Gain: # 29dB (unbalanced) # 23dB (balanced) Input sensitivity (balanced): # 2 Volts in = 100 watts at 8 ohms # 3.0 Volts in = 250 watts into 8 ohms # 5.6 Volts in = 800W into 8 ohms Bridged Input sensitivity (unbalanced): # 1 Volt in = 100 Watts at 8 ohms # 1.5 Volts in = 250 watts into 8 ohms # 2.8 Volts in = 800W into 8 Ohms Bridged Input Impedance # 50 Kohms unbalanced # 20 Kohms balanced Power Output: # 250 watts per channel into 8 ohms # 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms # 800 watts, bridged into 8 ohms The OB1 spec says: Impedance # 6 ohms nominal Recommended Amp power # Up to 300W It's just struck me that I'm talking mainly about the bass distorting. Maybe that's the key. ----------------------------------------------------------- Nuhi So far, the Bryston compared to the Naim.... it's really a bit too early to be certain and I'll need to add some caveats: My room is bad... large rectangular with speakers at one end. hard wood parque flooring. Not too many soft furnishings. The NAIM amp was not powerful enough to drive the OB1s and clipped before the OB1s had really kicked in. But.... The Bryston imaging/sounstage is much more defined. The sound is more anodyne. It' more exact but has less excitement than the NAIM. It's not as in-yer-face. The Naim amp seemed to project the music out of the speakers into the room more. It was more vivid. Voices (Choral.. Arvo Part stuff, or Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard ensemble), well recorded classsical.. come across really well. However, the background sound of the recording equipment is much more noticeable than ever before. This is odd and I find it extremely annoying. The sound is all very clean generally. Although the Transporter is by far the best of all the network player/Dac combos I've tried so far (amounts to only four) it is still thinner, has less weight and is less punchy than my Naim CDX. I think the OB1s and my damn room sort of exaggerate this and I am left with a sound that is thinner than I want and seems to lack mid bass and enoigh punch/welly. Saying that, the Bryston gives me more punch with the OB1s than the Naim did. But this does not come close the the punch and welly provided by the CDX/Naim amp/Shahinian Arc combo. I've done virtually all my playing around at volume. When I've turned the volume down to background listening levels the sound has become flat, dull, thin, colourless, uninteresting and a waste of time. The Arcs/Naim set up sounded infinitely more likeable and listenable at low volumes. My main love is a certain type of electronic music which really needs a much more prominent mid bass than I've got at the moment.... currently the very low bass comes through really nicely though. I'm looking forward to trying the Naim pre-amp on the Bryston/OB1 set up.. and especially to adding the CDX to this. Last caveat: further listening could entirely alter the opinion above. MC -- ModelCitizen It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Transporter > Bryston 4B ST > PMC OB1s..... or not SB3 > NAIM NAC 102 > NAIM NAP 180 > Shahinian Arcs http://www.last.fm/user/ModelCitizen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ModelCitizen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=446 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34650 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
