Musical Fidelity X-Can v3

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3073307799

Cheers

 

An expensive way of doing home demo's Paul . Still all part of the hobby i suppose. There's no substitute for personal experience of a product i suppose. Good luck for your sale.

 

Tell me about it. I was toying with the idea of getting it hot-rodded, but to be honest, I think I'd prefer the idea of a hard hitting but musical solid state amp. I'm looking at a few options at the moment, homebuilt Chiarra or PPA amps seems to be good options, but as a commercial option, the Perreaux SXH-1 might be worth a look as well.

The X-Can v3 is a nice amp for the money no doubt, but I have my reasons for the sale.

The problem is, I seem to fail to be bowled over by most headphone amps I tend to hear - its a pity Rotel dont make headphone amps - I bet they'd rock!

 

So, my three week prediction was a little too pessimistic, but not THAT far off the mark....

iirc, you WERE bowled over by it. And the Corda...

 

The Sugden Headmaster got a good write up in a recent HFW review, might be worth a listen, if you can find one nearby and it seems like it doubles up as a pretty decent Pre-amp too.

 

Good luck Paul!

A great bit of kit apparently and very well reviewed.

I think you're after a very particular sound (forward and a little bright, but not ear busting), as you've said yourself and these would probably do the job for the majority of users!

 

Yep I admit that I do seem to hear the best in things at first, and then go off them, but I do have genuine reasons for this sale and I'll leave it at that, all I do know is that my future will be solid state in terms of headphone amps.

But what I can say is that I have not only VERY fussy taste, but a pair of cans that are extremely difficult to match up with amps. Too analytical and they sound sterile, so the amp in question does need to be quite warm and euphonic. I want a sound that is engaging without being too bright, and X-Can v3 is a good amp, but its simply too bright with the Sony (but at least its not sterile), and although i realise I can change the tubes, I've decided that I dont wish to pursue this route - and I do have my reasons for this...

 

I wasn't being too serious there paul... I know how it is when you're trying to find a sound exactly as you want it.

Not sure it's possible though...

 

Paul

http://www.billyvee.co.uk/

I see Billy Vee have a Sugden Headmaster second hand for 350 quid.... Might be worth a look/listen.....

 

you'll find it under their systems and offers page, then click on the pdf icon at the bottom of the page, sorry I can't post a direct link it it...

 

Stunning price for a very good product.

 

I used to have a Sugden Headmaster, and the matching power amp. Excellent headphone amp, not, with hindsight, nearly as good a preamp IMO. £350 is a very decent price, you might want to check if it's the later version with remote volume control.

-- Ian

 

Paul,

noticed on your ebay listing your in Chester le street, my girlfriend is from Stanley just down the road.

Cheers

Martin

 

Hi John,

I've been doing some pretty comprehensive reading about the Sugden Headmaster today, and it seems that while it was a good product a little while back, newer products have since come out that outperform it for less money than that even costs used.

The Sugden does seem to need to be extensively modified to see the best out of it. Certainly, theres little comparison between this amp and something like a PPA or Chiarra, both of which can be had for less than that Headmaster. Even the Graham Slee Solo Mk3 has had a very recent (i.e. in the last week) modification performed to it that allows it to compete with some very high end amps.

The Slee is looking like an interesting underdog at the moment to be honest...

I am considering the Perreaux SXH-1, PPA with bassboost, Chiarra, Solo Mk3, and Corda HA-2.

 

Hey Paul

It was funny I read your thread, bid on your x-can's (purely to reunite it with the 650's I got from ya) and then ended up on Billy Vee's site where I saw the Sugden, don't know nothing about it myself but thought I'd mention it incase someone wants it.

Myself, I don't want it as I've got a 3 week old X-can's V3 arriving in the post in 10days time.

 

:lol:

PS. Its 7 weeks old this one