HiWire

Value for $$$... a lot of people have tin ears anyway

Rhydon and Kontai have experience with the MS-Pro... give them a shout

Sennheisers make my ears ring too, even at a low volume... I'm glad I crossed over to the other side.

Nope... I go to the symphony every couple of weeks (3 times in the next 2 weeks) and I don't obsess much about my equipment any more. Having a limited budget helps, too.

Koss - KSC75, Sportapro, PortaPro, etc. Alessandro MS-1 Grado (lower-end as it is priced in the USA) Sennheiser PX-100

The sins of the K701 are mainly of omission.

I mostly listen to classical or jazz on the HP-2's. Pop music and rock sound good on them, but deficiencies in their recording are often revealed, or they don't sound significantly better than on my Alessandro MS-1's. I prefer to listen to stuff with actual dynamics and nuance when I'm strengthening my neck muscles

It would be cool if Joe Grado or his nephew started buying up these "loose" HP-series headphones and fixed them for resale. Share the love, so to speak

Train the guard cats to Kill

Sounds like analog sound is really working for you, Aerius. Enjoy the LPs

Aerius, the HP-2 sounded pretty good on Rhydon's Singlepower. We'll have to hook it up to your custom bomb next time.

Welcome to the club. Don't forget to listen to them

Koss KSC-75 or v-moda Vibes?

I thought the CD3000 was fuzzimified... it certainly doesn't have an audiophile sound. It's very warm and diffuse... sadly, it reminded me of my best friend's Bose QuietComfort 2's.

It's a subtle sound distinction between the two amps - I think both are chip-based. Unfortunately, Norm isn't really making the Classic any more, but he must have some of the parts and circuit boards lying around... with the improvements he's made in the Go-Vibe series, one can only imagine what he could do with a home-based amp design I doubt the Classic would completely change the character of your K701s, though... I did try GlendaleViper's set on my Classic and portable source, and couldn't get it to rock out on the guitars and drums like the HP2s (on Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend). It was actually kind of surprising - I turned the volume up, but it just made things louder, not more distinct. I really did want to like the K701s, but I've been listening to Grados for more than 3 years now. Before that, I spent 9 years listening to my Sennheisers. Best of luck on your new setup - don't let my listening preferences get you down. I think that the K701s have a lot of potential, but they haven't met their match yet. A really fast, slightly forward source or amp might complement the AKG's strengths. They don't seem to be the kind of cans that like to get down and dirty, however. Wes Phillips of Stereophile seems to be a big fan of the K701s.

My HP-2s sounded OK on Rhydon's GCHA... even and well-controlled, but I thought it was missing the richness, depth, and dynamics of my Headsave Classic. Give it some more time to burn in, and test it on other sources. I found that the burned-in K701 wasn't a particularly lively or impactful set of cans... neutral overall, but missing exactly the kind of kick you're describing. I didn't test the K701's on the GCHA, but they couldn't rock out on other amps either, in my opinion. It just wasn't happening, kind of like my experience with my old Sennheisers. You keep reaching out, but you never touch it (Aerius, stop thinking it). I'm curious about how a set of PS-1s would sound on the GCHA or my amp. \

For some reason the Magnum's name reminds me of Zoolander: Mugatu: Who cares about Derek Zoolander anyway? The man has only one look for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! Now if it was a ThunderCougarFalconBird...

Congrats... very nice

My computer is my HDTV right now... courtesy of the ATI TV Wonder 650.

Somehow I don't think that punishment equals what his patient is going through.

I respect the vinylist's love of their unique analog sound, but there are too many technical and practical reasons against it, in my opinion.

I remember the original posting about this... Magnum sounds like a condom size. The builder has a pair of HP-2's to use as a reference, so fear not, citizens. I always suspected some of the drivers in the Grado/Alessandro lineups were identical...

The Mazda 3 would definitely be the cheapest to insure... as for the rest, at your age ... not so much.

Very positive impressions from Stereophile. Go and read

I thought this was a thread about amp-porn? Entertaining... I like this place. I hope there aren't any net-nazis coming to mess with our fun. Pretzels, anyone?