I reread the posts of this topic to try to explain the B’ASS principle to an audio friend.
[...]
Excuse me for asking, but could you, in short, explain what the B’ASS exactly does to the signal arriving from the NOS1 and why the amplifiers [...] benefit from the B’ASS?
Never try to explain anything to a friend, as this is audio; audio (at least "ours") lives by means of empirical finding with a good electrical setup as a base. Next, in my view, empirical findings should be able to be justified.
This is explicitly NOT :
I can clearly see distortion on an analyser, but hey, it sounds better !Not Not NOT. But ten to one that any regular audio friend will claim the above. Maybe there isn't even anyone on this globe who is 100% sure that the least distortion will bring the very best sound, despite it sounds as logical as it is ...
Except for me of course.
The above actually tells half of the story because when we measure all to be "100%", there's a whole galaxy beyond what measures "best" but may sound like sh*t and what measures as "best" but sounds very good. Besides that, what is good today is sh*t next year.
That told it all.
Try to explain to random friends or people or even electrical engineers why an interlink which is capable of 6GHz of frequency over a length of 160 meters, sounds better than an e.g. 1MHz capable cable which won't do that any more at a length of 20 meters. In case the audience does not know that we tend to hear not beyond 20KHz, be sure to obfuscate that into 60KHz because of the crazies who are sure to hear that 60KHz sounds better to them, because it is in the material.
Now wait for the response.
FYI : I would not be able to fight that response either, while they will imply that I am crazy. Okay, you are, because you came up with the story, but you can always blame me for it.
... Which doesn't mean you were able to explain it ...
Of course I am making fun a little about that friend, but the story won't change because you are now my friend and I am the story teller. And that in poor English.
No amplifier is going to benefit from any B'ASS "driver" (let alone the speakers). It is the signal (towards the amplifier) which is improving;
Sadly I have no pictures of the situation, but when the "load" is too high (which means the resistance too low between signal and ground), then think like the current flowing because of that is going to influence the outgoing signal. Think like it can't flow freely any more and that a normally nice sine is going to exhibit harmonics. It could look like this, with the notice that the first picture is the reference, while the second is compromised because of too much current flowing, that not being suffciently under control :
Also notice that this is a "showcase" of what happens, and not the real situation (I just don't have picture of that, but I know the exhibit is the same).
If you look closely, you see that the 3rd (at 3000Hz), 4th and 5th harmonic not only have risen, but also are of equal height;
Compromise this signal even more, and the 2nd harmonic will also rise, a 6th will emerge of again equal height like the others and the THD figure will again be worse.
On a side note, see that the 2nd marmonic in the first picture is ~103dB down (and not ~91 as it seems). This is because the output is +12V (91 + 12 = 103).
You are used to these figures, because from the NOS1 (which is not what you see here) this is about the same (a little bit better). So what is the difference ? what you look at here is connected to an input impedane of (IIRC) 6.8 Ohms, while your power amplifier will normally have an input impedance of 47000 Ohms (or much higher).
Might you connect your NOS1(a) to such a low Impedance, you will have a virtual melt down because nothing can deal with the current flowing (
wanting to flow because of this low "resistance" implied between the output wires, but that current not being available).
Still there ?
I ask, because I can see that you wonder how this is all related to the actual question ...
Supposed we act like the real audiofool, then we possibly would say that the first picture is sufficiently good enough for good sound;
I told it was the reference, but ... notice that I only said that because I can't make it better anyway. Oh, in this case I theoretically could, but do notice that the anlyser won't show better than 0.00073%, so whatever I might improve beyond that, will not be made visible by the analyser.
But does it mean that we can't improve further ?
Of course we can. But small problem : we must do it in the blind. We must start to work with theories only. Or better and back to the beginning of this post : we will now live by empirical finding, try to reason out the parameters involved and how, and proceed with that. Does it work out for the better ? then we continue that route. We do, until it stops (say, collapses). Small danger in this case : all by my ears, once we are operating beyond the analyser limits.
So remember ? Our 6GHz interlink sounds better, even at 2 meters of lenght than any audio voodoo interlink around. With no single means I could proove the difference, and the impedance - or reflection - or whatever vector (network) analyser I lack, so we have to believe in the rubbish. But don't tell there wasn't a strategy behind the Blaxius ! Same thing with Clairixa and same thing with now B'ASS;
It will be a repeat of an earlier post, but the capacity (as in capability) of the setup is causing the better sound. Thus, even with the 47000 Ohm input impedance at the other side and the "no current flowing at all",
allowing for the higher current improves anyway. In the end it will spring from the same phenomenon as why the Blaxius improves so vastly, because what did that do ? ... it combines the very low capacitance with ultra high frequency capabilities into something which is well beyond what was there in the first place : something like 20 meters for 20KHz at the current which is present. Notice that varying ("improving") the parameters of the cable, does extend the length of the cable, but of course it still requires the current to drive it (so now we have two angles of current). But, this is non-sense because we are not lengthening the interlinks at all; All we do is making that theoretically possible, which has to imply that it even will be better at the short length BUT of which everybody says it is idiot to begin with (but read : at the short lenght the cable for sure can do 6GHz already).
It is for a good reason that right from the start (of this topic) I talked in terms of overkill. This is because it is exactly that, and it means that no math tells us (or at least me) that what we do here could be required or even help. Still the phenomenon of overkill in general, does help. It is only that we don't know how it works and that foremost is because we can't measure any more beyond the limits in order, which limits we already reached long ago.
In general terms we could say that I added a buffer where a buffer is not required (and there is math for that, so this is how we know).
The amp required to drive the Abyss to its best should deliver at least 2.5 Watts better 5W at 50 Ohms impedance.
Remember, P = U x I. From that follows that I = P / U. Thus :
For 2VRMS :
I = 2.5 / 5.6 = 0.446A.
or if 5W is better :
I = 5 / 5.6 = 0.983A.
This, while 500mA is at your service. This implies that sort of like the "Nick" situation, you'd need twice the current from the standard, which can just be applied.
But tell me, why would 5W be better than 2.5W while 2.5W is fine ?
IOW, you could ask your question to Abyss too. Maybe they have a similar answer, maybe they claim voodoo and maybe they say that you now can play 6dB louder.
But why would you improve SQ if you put a device between the Phasure and the Amp, in my case the headphone amp.
Well, according the principle as applied with the power amp, this should work out the same, although I'd readily agree it would be stupid to do. So there's one real solution to this only : leave out the headphone amp (why ? because B'ASS *is* a headphone amp already).
But my real advice in your case, Michael ? leave it be; it would be a typical situation that I really wouldn't know the outcome in advance and only if you have measurement figures of your amp and they show worse, it would be worth a try. And oh, I tried to find figures/graphs myself of your amp but I failed on it. Maybe one I found but I don't trust that (but doesn't look to good to me at all (for figures)).
Btw, that your headphone requires a balanced input, only implies a connector which provides that (plus some wires).
I am sure it all doesn't make it really clear, but I tried.
Best regards,
Peter
