Which interconnects for Rega Ear sourced from my MF gear

gsrai

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Hiya

I've recently decided that to free up some cash I am gonig to stick with my Rega Ear headphone amp and sell the the MF Xcans V3 I have (now on eBay!
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).

I am currently using VDH First Ultimate interconnects between the MF Xpre V3 (from Xray V3) to the Rega ear and wonder if this is overkill/appropriate :Not Sure:. I don't have much experience of brands other than MF and just wonder if the Rega Ear needs such an expensive interconnect or does it need a metal based one. The sound is quite forward (not as smooth as the Xcans V3).

My question is what interconnects (brand and model) are best suited to supply the Rega Ear to get the best sound (by best I mean balanced sound with wide soundstage).

Thanks in advance for all help/comments provided
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dudywoxer

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I think they only do one, called couple - or single if you want just the one.They are a decent interconnect

 

MartinC

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I'm afraid you might find pretty much any IC you change to is likerly to be more forward than the VDH First Ultimate.

 

JamPal

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You will not hear any difference at all between I/C's. I have an Ear and swapped between VDH, Red n Blacks and Cambridge Audio Pacific and there is no difference at all. I tried all weekend to hear a difference and there is none.

I could hear the difference in speaker cables and even in a power cable to my amp. I am not a cable sceptic, but with my Ear i did not think it was revealing enough to show up any difference in I/C.

Save your money.
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Hawk

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The rega ear is a great amp, but id be suprised if it would show up any major differences between cables. Just use something reasonably priced and im sure it will be fine. I had one for a while and it was quite happy on the end of a basic Chord cable.

Hawk

 

gsrai

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Gents

Am I missing something - how come the interconnects dont matter so much on the tape loop to headphone amp but do between CD player and amp :Not Sure::Not Sure::Not Sure:

 

Hawk

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gsrai wrote:

GentsAm I missing something - how come the interconnects dont matter so much on the tape loop to headphone amp but do between CD player and amp :Not Sure::Not Sure::Not Sure:
Its not that they dont matter, its your question of balance and the regas ability to resolve the differences.

If you were plugging your CD player into a £100 amp how much would you spend on an IC????

 

JamPal

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Hawk wrote:

gsrai wrote:
GentsAm I missing something - how come the interconnects dont matter so much on the tape loop to headphone amp but do between CD player and amp :Not Sure::Not Sure::Not Sure:
Its not that they dont matter, its your question of balance and the regas ability to resolve the differences.

If you were plugging your CD player into a £100 amp how much would you spend on an IC????
Exactly.

Interconnect Cable differences are relatively subtle, and as nice a s the Ear is, it is not really revealing enough to show up I/C differences in my experience. I whent from the back of my Naim CD player direct into the Ear with 3 different I/C's and could not hear a difference. I use Beyer Dynamic DT531's btw.

 

gsrai

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Thats a novel way of looking at it!

I thought there was a bit more magic to headphone amps than that - now i am really disappointed
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I thought headphone amps were scaled down stereo amps (you know same technology/intricacy but smaller). From what you are saying my deduction (dear Watson :nerd:) is that headphone amps are actually a lot simpler and not as sensitive as stereo amps - am I right???

This is really interesting and there could be a set of First Ultimates coming up for sale soon!

 

MartinC

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I've got to admit I'm surprised at the comments re. the Rega Ear not being resolving enough. I've only demoed one in a shop and so can't argue with our good leaders experience though.

Headphone listening is usually more revealing than via a main stereo (of similar and somewhat higher cost) IMO, so I'd be surprised if cable differences apparent on a main rig weren't discernable on headphone rig.

gsrai - regarding your particular sitiuation I'll be interested to hear your experiences if you do try an alternative whilst you still have the First Ultimate; this is a cable with a fairly distinctive character to my ears so comparisons relative to this might be easier to spot than some.

 

Sony6million

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If you decided to sell the VDH, and got something cheaper, you could be left with some cash to play with and thats always good. Use it to buy some RDC cones or something.

 

MartinC

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The quick thing to do I guess is to compare the First Ultimate and a freebie lead and see if there's any difference via the Rega Ear.

 

Hawk

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gsrai wrote:

Thats a novel way of looking at it!I thought there was a bit more magic to headphone amps than that - now i am really disappointed
cry_smile.gif.e6f167d6925baafe229b8957ba771316.gif


I thought headphone amps were scaled down stereo amps (you know same technology/intricacy but smaller).  From what you are saying my deduction (dear Watson :nerd:) is that headphone amps are actually a lot simpler and not as sensitive as stereo amps - am I right???

This is really interesting and there could be a set of First Ultimates coming up for sale soon!
Dont forget that a headphone amp is only amplifying the line level signal from the CDP by a fraction of the amount that your stereo amp would....

Hawk

 

Hawk

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MartinC wrote:

I've got to admit I'm surprised at the comments re. the Rega Ear not being resolving enough.  I've only demoed one in a shop and so can't argue with our good leaders experience though.  Headphone listening is usually more revealing than via a main stereo (of similar and somewhat higher cost) IMO, so I'd be surprised if cable differences apparent on a main rig weren't discernable on headphone rig. 

gsrai - regarding your particular sitiuation I'll be interested to hear your experiences if you do try an alternative whilst you still have the First Ultimate; this is a cable with a fairly distinctive character to my ears so comparisons relative to this might be easier to spot than some. 
Martin,

The Rega Ear is a great amp for the money but as you would expect given the price it does have its limitations. I wouldnt go as far as to say that it couldnt resolve the differences at all, but from my experience of owning one its ability is limited to resolving only very very slight differences.

What a first ultimate going to cost? i can see a half meter one on eBay for about £70 at the moment so im guessing a 1m would cost at least £100??? At the end of the day thats the cost of the rega again.

IMO sound for £ it doesnt quite make sense... Better perhaps to spend the cash elswhere where you could get better bang for your buck...

Hawk

 

gsrai

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Guys

The comments make a lot of sense and I will try MartinC's experiment at the weekend (Ear is in transit at the moment) and I will report back my findings.

Just a thought though - if I do downgrade should I change brand or get the Name or D102 or something like that?

 

JamPal

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Currently using £30.00 (IIRC) Cambridge Audio Pacifics. Works as well as the VDH in this application.

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In fact, many rate the Cambridge Audio I/C's in their own right. Build quality ain't too shabby.
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