[yellowblue]

Some more owners in Europe? A Silver Fox is on its way to me from KVS Audio in Bulgaria (which even is distributor for Denafrips in Europe). They give me 2 years warranty for the unit. I will test it in my chain with a Grimm MU1 and a Chord Dave (and I hope so even with a Mola Mola Tambaqui which I have as a loaner just now).

 

[Slim1970]

Some more owners in Europe? A Silver Fox is on its way to me from KVS Audio in Bulgaria (which even is distributor of Denafrips in Europe). The give me 2 years warranty for the unit. Will test it in my chain with a Grimm MU1 and a Chord Dave (and I hope so even with a Mola Mola Tambaqui which I have as a loaner just now).

The Silver Fox is great with the DAVE. The energy and resolution of the DAVE mixed with the musicality and tone of the Silver Fox makes for some good listening. I’m curious to get your thoughts of the Mola Mola Tambaqui with the Silver Fox. So please let us know what you think of the pairing.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Well, I’m struggling to decide between the Silver Fox and the Little Silver Fox. Has anyone heard the Little besides @project86? My main headphones are the Meze Elite, but I don't have a TOTL DAC. I will probably upgrade my Bifrost 2 at some point to some variety of Yggdrasil, but I'm happy with it for the moment.

The question is whether I will be able to tell the difference between the two amps. I know technically the Silver Fox is better than the Little Silver Fox, but is it $1800 better for my use case? That's a personal question obviously, but I'd like more info about the differences before I decide on which amp to buy. I know @project86 is actively comparing them now, so I will probably wait on his impressions/review.

Has anyone besides him heard the Little Silver Fox? A google search brings up absolutely nothing, at least in the English language.

 

[iFi audio]

Has anyone besides him heard the Little Silver Fox? A google search brings up absolutely nothing, at least in the English language.

I'm fairly positive that at some point 6moons will get one just to compare both amps.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I'm now adding the Holo Bliss KTE as a possibility, along with the Silver Fox (big and little). Has anyone had the change to compare the Bliss to the Silver Fox yet?

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Currently really interested to know the differences between Foxes (drive Elite and Caldera).

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Currently really interested to know the differences between Foxes (drive Elite and Caldera).

Lots of us are! @project86 is our guy for this info. He has both Foxes and the Elite. I'm not sure about the Caldera though.

 

[ken6217]

I wonder how the Little Fox in high power mode sounds compared to Silver Fox in low power mode?

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Is "low power mode" on the Silver Fox when the amp is set to "normal" and only half the amp is being utilized?

 

[RobertSM]

On the subject of power modes. Does anyone know if the different power modes have any positive or negative effects on audible distortion? Or any other metric that would be of interest to the way one perceives sound.

 

[project86]

Currently really interested to know the differences between Foxes (drive Elite and Caldera).

I've got both amps and both of those headphones as well.

Shooting from the hip here, I'd say the improvement by moving to the big amp is more obvious with the Caldera, which to my ears is more analytical and incisive. I find the Elite to be the more "fun" headphone if I am just listening for pleasure rather than comparison. In that instance the difference between the amps is smaller, though still noticeable. I'd say it's a big improvement with Caldera, moderate with Elite, and fairly small with Empyrean which is less capable of resolving the differences.

This obviously varies based on the DAC involved and how capable it is of showing off those changes, as well as the recording/mastering quality of the music.

I wonder how the Little Fox in high power mode sounds compared to Silver Fox in low power mode?

I haven't specifically compared them in that context. I suppose it would depend on the headphone and how much juice it needs. Also the volume levels involved.

Is "low power mode" on the Silver Fox when the amp is set to "normal" and only half the amp is being utilized?

The "normal" settings have extra resistance in the output stage, so you get less power overall. But I wouldn't say only half the amp is being used. That reminds me of something like a balanced Violectric amp where using the 1/4" output literally only uses one physical half (two of the four channels) of the amp. In this case we are still using the entire amp, just with reduced output voltage/current.

Actually now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the Cen.Grand amps do the same thing as Violectric when using the 1/4" output. I use balanced 99.9% of the time so I haven't clarified that point.

On the subject of power modes. Does anyone know if the different power modes have any positive or negative effects on audible distortion? Or any other metric that would be of interest to the way one perceives sound.

I don't know the answer there as far as measurements would go, but when using sensitive IEMs it can sometimes be beneficial to use Normal or Active Ground modes with their reduced outputs.

Honestly it is unpredictable and pretty fun to hear how changing from BTL to Parallel to Normal to Active G can really significantly alter the presentation with some headphones, and with others it barely makes any difference. In some cases it drastically changes the soundstage and focus. Certainly a larger impact than switching digital filters on a DAC, or even tweaking upsampling settings in most cases. I'm not sure why some headphones respond the way they do and others hardly respond at all.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Looking at the diagram, I believe only two of the 4 channels are being used in “normal” mode, but I could be misinterpreting it. Could you clarify if only half of the amp is being utilized in “normal” mode @cengrand @ArthurPower?

I feel like “Parallel” mode makes the most sense for the Meze Elite, lots of current without the added gain of “BTL” mode. Definitely don’t need more gain with the Elite. What mode have you Silver Fox/Elite owners found to sound best or does it depend on the music?

 

[project86]

It's funny you say that because I do tend to like parallel most with Elite. Also you might be right about normal mode, I had not noticed that part of the diagram.

 

[ken6217]

It’s still something you need to experiment with. I was using two relatively easy headphones to drive, and even though I got plenty of volume using normal mode, if I changed to BTL and turned the volume knob down lower and so achieving the same volume, the music sounded much more dynamic.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

@ken6217 How did Parallel compare to BTL with your easy to drive headphones?